Hong Kong In A Hurry: What To Eat, Drink, And See All In One Day

This food-crazy Chinese city can overwhelm most any visitor looking for a few good eats. The problem is, you may only have a full day to check out the sights. The solution? Cram your trip with quick bites and drinks by taking a walking tour with quirky local company Walk-in Hong Kong which happens to offer tours of districts off the usual tourist routes.

Before our afternoon tour, we started with lunch at our favorite spot for HK roast goose, Yat Lok Restaurant. With its one Michelin star, it offers arguably the best roast goose in town. While the restaurant thankfully didn’t have the usual long lines, we were still crammed into a table with another party—not quite Michelin star service, but the roast goose, glistening with fat and smoky crisp skin, more than made up for the uncomfortable setting.

 

Yat Lok Restaurant located at 34-38 Stanley Street, Central

 

After lunch, we met up with Dora Choi, our friendly and very knowledgeable guide from Walk-in Hong Kong, for a walking tour of her quaint neighborhood of Sheung Wan filled with art galleries, hipster cafés, antique shops, as well as glimpses of old Hong Kong slowly gentrifying. Here’s what we enjoyed:

 

Local HK craft beers like Young Master and Moonzen at Craftissimo (22-24A Tai Ping Shan Street, Sheung Wan)

 

Freshly squeezed all-natural sugar cane juice at Kung Lee Sugar Cane (60 Hollywood Road, Central)

 

Best eaten piping hot, the famous egg tarts at Tai Cheong Bakery, baking since 1954 (35 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central)

 

Old school Hong Kong milk tea at Lan Fong Yuen (2 Gage Street, Central)

 

Traditionally fermented light and dark soy sauce at Kowloon Soy Company—perfect as pasalubong (9 Graham Street, Central)

 

PMQ, named for the historical Police Married Quarters, recently revitalized into a creative and design hub for artists (Aberdeen Street, Central, www.pmq.org.uk)

 

PMQ is filled with exquisite boutiques like this one by Chailie Ho offering lovely watercolour print silk scarves, dresses, and accessories (www.chailieho.com)

 

After an afternoon of walking, shopping, and eating on the run, we treated ourselves to a proper Chinese sit-down dinner at one Michelin-starred Celebrity Cuisine located inside Lan Kwai Fong Hotel. Prepared by Chef Cheng Kam Fu, the menu marries culinary traditions with modern executions. We sampled a revitalizing wild mushroom soup with Chinese cabbage, fried chicken wing stuffed with bird’s nest, steamed lobster in egg white, and a lovely, nuanced steamed garoupa with ginger, cilantro, and chili.

 

The steamed lobster in egg white at Celebrity Cuisine (3 Kau U Fong, Central)

 

Adapted from an article published in FOOD Magazine, Issue 4, 2017

Photos by Nana Ozaeta

Lan Fong Yuen iced tea photo courtesy of Lifestyle TV

Special thanks to the Hong Kong Tourism Board. Visit www.discoverhongkong.com