Hong Kong is an icon in Asia, and manages to feel like a cultural epicenter blending old world and new. With one of the best bar scenes in the world, plus endless food options- Hong Kong should be on everyone’s bucket list. Two tips: There are two sides of Hong Kong – we recommend staying in Central. Also, Black Sheep is the dominant restaurant/hospitality group to keep an eye out for – their restaurants are consistently great.
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Top Restaurants
Overall: Recommend
Service: 8.5/10 Atmosphere: 8.5/10 Food: 8/10 Wine List: 7.5/10
Man Wah is a 25th floor Chinese restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental (central side). This was by far the best Chinese food we had in Hong Kong, plus the soup dumplings (xiao long bao) were the best we have ever had in our lives (we would, however, skip the slightly-gamey peking duck). Man Wah is a high end restaurant with comfortable seating, impressive views, and genuinely nice service. This is the perfect place to go to get acclimated to Hong Kong, or if you just want a nice and delicious lunch – we recommend going all out on the dim sum.
Overall: Recommend
Service: 8/10 Atmosphere: 8.5/10 Food: 8/10 Beverage Program: 8.5/10
Prince & The Peacock (central side) is an upscale Indian restaurant located within a private member’s club called The Magistrate. You do not need to be a member to dine at P&P, but you do need a reservation. We loved the naan and curries (do not take a bite of the chilis though, Jess almost died and she’s good with spice). This restaurant is part of the Black Sheep restaurant group, which is a modern and trusted restaurant organization throughout Hong Kong – we specifically noticed that ever Black Sheep restaurant we went to had impeccable service. P&P is comfortable, well designed, and people seem to dress up for the occasion. In addition to having a solid wine list, the sommelier asked about our favorite Semillons and when he recognized the brand we mentioned, he went to a different building to get the off-menu bottle. This place is solid. After dinner, see if a manager can sneak you into Jack’s Racquet Club, a specialty sports bar next door.
Overall: Highly Recommend for Casual Dining
Service: 8/10 Atmosphere: 7/10 Food: 8.5/10 Beverage: NA
This Japanese/Korean yakiniku restaurant was one of our favorite meals in Hong Kong (central side). But, that being said, Japanese/Korean yakiniku (higher end BBQ), is always one of our favorite cuisines. If you like having someone grill your meals in front of you, with delicious sides like kimchi and salads, this is for you. We ordered the pricier omakase called ‘I dont think Sho’, and the beef tartar starter course was the best of all time.
Top Bars
Overall: Recommend
Service: 8/10 Atmosphere: 9/10 Bar Program: 7/10
Caprice Bar at the Four Seasons is where you go for an elegant night out in Hong Kong. Located as part of Caprice (French restaurant with 3 Michelin*), Caprice offers about 6 actual bar seats, and plenty of bar seating. The meat and cheese plate is phenomenal. The furniture is high end and comfortable. This is a great place to go before or after dinner. Beware of natural wine that sprinkles heavily in the list, but other than that it is a standard cocktail bar menu.
Central Side:
Argo – Top 50 hotel bar at the Four Seasons. Worth stopping by for a drink if you are staying there, but we preferred Caprice. Service 6.5/10 Atmosphere 8/10 Drinks 6/10.
Bourke’s – Recommend. Ask for Aled. Australian/ British hybrid pub next door to Francis West. Service 9/10, Atmosphere 7/10, Beverage 7/10
Captain’s Bar (Mandarin Oriental) – Recommend. Ask for Johnny. This would be in our top bars if the glassware hadn’t spontaneously combusted while we were there. We would still return. Careful of your cocktail glass. Dark, moody, old school. Service 7.5/10 Atmosphere 8/10 Drinks 7.5/10
Dead Poet’s Club – Consider. Ask for Mike. Not as grungy as it looks online, kind of fun and modern but no real bar seats. Service 8/10.
Kinsman – Recommend. Went early on a Saturday and had nice service. Atmosphere leans younger. Beverages use lots of traditional local ingredients. Service 8.5/10 Atmosphere 7.5/10 Drinks 7.5/10.
Kowloon Side:
The Bar at The Peninsula – Recommend. Ask for Sebin (pronounced 7). Our favorite bar on Kowloon side. Piano player most nights. Dark, moody. Service varies 6-8/10 Atmosphere 7.5/10 Beverage 8/10.
Quora – Consider. Second favorite bar on Kowloon side. Ground-floor view of the river. Must order the truffle grilled cheese sandwich. Service 6.5/10 Atmosphere 7.5/10 Drinks 6/10.
More Restaurants...
Overall: Consider
Service: 7.5/10 Atmosphere: 6/10 Food: 7.5/10 Beverage: 6.5/10
If you want a break from Asian flavors and are craving something more unique, Francis West has ‘north African’ flavors (think: Israeli food) that are solid. We went for lunch and the mezze (dips, starters) were amazing (the entrees not quite as great). The vibe was casual, but modern – similar to something you might see in LA. The kitchen bar seats are small and nailed to the ground, but we were comfortable nonetheless and even considered returning.
Overall: Consider
Service: 8.5/10 Atmosphere: 7/10 Food: 7/10 Beverage: 8/10
We went for a quick sushi lunch on our last day in Hong Kong, and really enjoyed Imasa at The Peninsula hotel. In our reservation, we stated we were in a small rush and the host was very gracious with moving the meal along at a good pace. The rainbow roll was delicious (but the bites ginormous), and the tempura was equally solid (sadly, skip the house salad). Imasa does a very good job balancing their menu with something for everyone, while still seeming traditional and higher-end. Additionally, they have an extensive sake menu. This would be a nice stop for a longer meal.
Overall: It’s fine.
Service: 7/10 Atmosphere: 7.5/10 Food: 6.5/10 Beverage: 6/10
It’s a Nobu. Certainly not one of the best ones (Malibu), but also not one of the worst. They also have a nice view on the ground floor overlooking the river, plus sushi counter seats. We honestly had a hard time finding restaurants we loved on the Kowloon side, so we were happy for Nobu.
Overall: Recommend
Service: 7.5/10 Atmosphere: 5.5/10 Food: 8.5/10 Beverage: 5/10
We’re not sure how long this Black Sheep popup will be around, but if you want traditional Chinese food and feel with great flavors, Peng Leng Jang is worth the stop. They are trying to bring back the vibe of dying dai pai dongs (basically street restaurants that are going extinct in Hong Kong) but with the perks of modern life (air conditioning, for example). You need to go in an elevator of what looks like an apartment building, and hit the button with the restaurant sign. It is very casual. You must also order all food at once (which we don’t love). But everything tastes worth it.
Overall: Consider
Service: 8.5/10 Atmosphere: 7.5/10 Food: 7.5/10 Beverage: NA
Another restaurant on the central side, Sushi Zo provides an intimate atmosphere with some pretty solid sushi chefs. We only went for the nigiri lunch (which was plenty filling), but we really appreciated how thoughtful the service and food was (they asked when we sat if we like shiso, etc). It was nice and all the fish was fresh.
Hotels
The Four Seasons was the perfect place to stay for us, and we would absolutely return. The Caprice Bar was great (make sure to stay on nights they are open). Highlights were the great pool, gym, views, and comfortable rooms. It is located on the ‘bottom of the hill’ in Central, so walking up to a lot of the restaurants is not feasible. However, plenty of Ubers made this a non-issue.
The Peninsula Hotel turned out to be a good spot, if you want to stay on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong (we very much prefer the Central side). Highlights were the comfortable indoor pool (with all day food/drink service), the fully-equipped salon, and the large bathroom within the room itself. Downstairs tea in the lobby area can get quite busy.
Central: We went to the Mandarin Oriental for lunch and a drink (recommend), and it felt a little more outdated than the Four Seasons. Kowloon: We went to The Roosevelt on the Kowloon side serval times for disappointing restaurants and bars. The hotel itself felt new, but busy (reminding us a bit of W hotels back in their hey-day), and we didn’t love the food there so we wouldn’t stay there ourselves. We enjoyed the Peninsula, but the second best option might be the Regent.
Tourism & Travel Notes
Do not go too early to the Hong Kong airport, because there is not much to do. The lounges are a bit worse for wear (we flew Cathay), but the lounges were the only places we could find to hang out aside from a food court.
Uber worked very well throughout Hong Kong and we would recommend it.
From the Hong Kong airport, we hired a private driver to take us to our hotel through A168 Limo ([email protected]). We also got the additional meet + greet service for a small added fee. We recommend them and would use them again.
Notable Places Visited & Not Reviewed
Central Side – Dragonfly: Don’t go out of your way for it, but it’s not bad. Mandip is a very nice bartender and they open earlier than some other bars nearby. Fiatta Pizza: Skip. Jack’s Racquet Club: They played Formula 1, which was awesome. This is technically members-only but we were able to go after our reservation at Prince & The Peacock. The Old Man: Okay. Heavy on the incense, but contributes to the underground den vibe that some people may like. Most of the cocktails are pre-batched.
Kowloon Side – Felix: Wild, weird and cool bathrooms, but would skip the restaurant. The food was not ideal. Hutong: Did not like the run-down vibe, so did not stay to eat. room3: Moldy smell. Rosewood Hotel Spots…. CHAAT: Bad food. Take the car to Prince & Peacock instead. Darkside: Skip. Henry: A completely average steakhouse, but it’s fine. xx: Average bar.
favorite moments
