Hong Kong and Macau_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 14th Edition) - Andrew Stone [125]
Bah Kut Teh is a soup dish made by boiling Chinese medicinal herbs and spices with pork ribs. Common in Singapore and Malaysia, it’s eaten with chilli peppers over rice. In Hong Kong, Yeoh’s version, served in a claypot with mushrooms and tofu puffs, is the closest you can get to the real thing (bowl small/medium/large $35/70/140). There’s a branch in Jordan ( Map; 2730 1821; 159 Woo Sung St; 11.30am-11pm; MTR Jordan, exit C1).
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CAUSEWAY BAY
Busy Causeway Bay is an eclectic amalgam of restaurants and cuisines, many upscale. It also has a lot of Japanese restaurants because of all the Japanese department stores headquartered here.
DA DOMENICO Map Italian $$$$
2882 8013; 8 Hoi Ping Rd; meals from $500; 12.15-1.30pm, 7-9.30pm Mon-Sat; MTR Causeway Bay (exit A)
Easily the best Italian restaurant in Hong Kong, this place serves excellent southern Italian cooking in an airy dining room. Ingredients including seafood are flown in weekly from Italy. No surprise the mozzarella deserves praise; the linguini with red shrimps and the grilled calamari (both $480) should be enshrined. The Roman chef-owner is a temperamental fellow, but who cares when he cooks this well? Dinner reservations essential.
FORUM Map Cantonese, Dim Sum $$$$
2891 2555; 485 Lockhart Rd; 11.30am-3pm, 6-11pm; MTR Causeway Bay (exit C)
The abalone dishes at this expensive eatery have fans from across the world. What restaurant owner Yeung Koon-Yat does with these molluscs has earned him membership of Le Club des Chefs des Chefs and the moniker ‘King of Abalone’. If on a budget, you can make a meal of dim sum for under $200.
LE MARRON Map French $$$
2881 6662; www.marron.com.hk; 12th fl, Ying Kong Mansion, 2-6 Yee Wo St; min charge $320; 6pm-midnight; MTR Causeway Bay (exit D2)
This could have been Madame Bovary’s boudoir-turned-brasserie had she come to Hong Kong. Gold-framed mirrors, lacy partitions, sunset lighting, a piano even – a cosy place, albeit a little cluttered. The food is good and portions are quite generous. But the noise – Madame would have thought that most unglamorous!
SUSHI HIRO Map Japanese $$$
2822 8758; 10th fl, Henry House, 42 Yun Ping Rd; set lunch $90-290, set dinner options $370/500; noon-2.30pm Mon-Sun, 6.30-11pm Mon-Sat, 6-10.30pm Sun; MTR Causeway Bay (exit F)
This glorified restaurant is one of the many authentic sushi bars tucked away in commercial buildings, much like the way it is in Tokyo. Like other sushi bars of this grade, it offers a seasonal choice of fish that changes on a weekly basis, and the chef will happily pick the best for you.
GOLDEN BULL Map Vietnamese, Chinese $$
2506 1028; 1103 Food Forum, 11th fl, Times Sq, 1 Matheson St; set lunch options for 2 $178/208; noon-3pm, 6-11pm; MTR Causeway Bay (exit A)
The crowds don’t come for the portions (small) and the prices (high), but for the pleasant decor and the tasty Vietnamese and fusion food. The beef pho ($98) and spring rolls ($58) are excellently made, even if not 100% authentic.
INDONESIAN RESTAURANT 1968
Map Indonesian $$
2577 9981; www.ir1968.com; 28 Leighton Rd; meals from $150; noon-11pm; MTR Causeway Bay (exit A)
Despite the year of its establishment (1968), this restaurant is all teak chic and Bali cool. It’s rumoured that the fine-looking brothers who’re sometimes seen manning the restaurant have almost as much pull as the rendang and gado-gado. There’s a branch in Sha Tin ( Map; 2699 8777; Shop 701, New Town Plaza Phase 1, Sha Tin).
PAK LOK CHIU CHOW RESTAURANT Map Chiu Chow, Dim Sum $$
2576 8886; 23-25 Hysan Ave; meals from $120-500; 11am-11pm; MTR Causeway Bay (exit F)
This old Chiu Chow restaurant still turns out reliable crab cakes and oyster omelettes, and you get unlimited refills of ‘kung fu’ tea – ‘Iron Goddess’ tea drunk the Chiu Chow way, using many tea leaves and a short infusion time. The cups are tiny, but downing too many of these will keep you up all night. There’s a branch in Tsim Sha Tsui ( Map; 3691 9168; Shop