Detroit, Michigan
Mini Guide
All the incredible restaurants, cafes and markets we visited in Hong Kong.
Go to Hong Kong for the food and we guarantee you won’t be disappointed. It’s no wonder you’ll find the world’s best Michelin-starred restaurants, street food and bars here. Hong Kong is a city that thrives on incredible eats, and these are just a few favourites featured in our Hong Kong Foodie episode of Next Destination.
Drink
Our first stop is at Kinsman, where cocktails have a deep connection to Cantonese traditions by using Cantonese spirits. Gavin Yeung is the co-founder of the bar Kinsman, where his mission is to elevate Cantonese spirits through mixology. Gavin says Cantonese spirits have historically been consumed for medicinal purposes or as standard daily drinks. But he wants to transform them into refined mixology ingredients. The featured drink at the Kinsman is the “Papaya Van Winkle,” a complex, herbal cocktail inspired by a traditional Cantonese dessert sweet soup. On the current menu, titled “A Tale of Chinatowns,” you’ll find storytelling about the versatility of Cantonese spirits by showing how they interact with global flavors, featuring cocktails inspired by Chinatowns in Singapore, Manila, Kolkata, Bangkok, and Lima, Peru. Equally as stunning as the cocktail is the bar’s decor–designed to evoke nostalgia, drawing inspiration from the film In the Mood for Love and the atmosphere of Bemelmans Bar in New York City.
Take your food love to the Michelin level by dining at Wing. Chef Vicky Cheng has ties back to Toronto, but has firmly made his name in Hong Kong with his fine dining restaurant, Wing. He established his restaurant, Vea, 10 years ago, featuring a “Chinese French” concept, merging his French culinary training with his roots in Hong Kong. He opened Wing four years ago, focusing on “boundaryless Chinese cuisine”. Chef Cheng creates dishes through imagination and palette rather than being bound by traditional rules or techniques. You can find traditional uses of fish maw (dried fish bladder), sea cucumber and abalone here. Both Vea and Wing are located near Hong Kong’s specialized “dried seafood street” in Sheung Wan.
For local, casual food, this is your spot. Just a few delicacies you can get here include:
French toast–The Hong Kong version of French Toast is two slices of white bread with a smear of peanut butter between, dipped in batter and deep fried until golden. Top it with golden syrup and lots of butter.
Milk tea–Hot or iced, this is the go-to drink in Hong Kong. Black steeped tea mixed with sweetened powdered milk. You can’t go wrong.
Hong Kong red bean drink–also known as Red Bean Ice is a popular, sweet, and creamy iced drink with sweetened red bean paste (adzuki beans), shaved ice, coconut milk, and evaporated milk.
Salted Lime Soda–A classic Hong Kong preserved lemon drink with a refreshing combination of fermented salted lime, ice, and 7-Up or Sprite.
Pineapple buns–thick bread rolls topped with a sugary custard that cracks when it’s baked, giving it the look of a pineapple. Grab them warm with a big slab of butter for an on-the-go breakfast option.
Dive Into
Afternoon dim sum at Lin Heung–one of the city’s most popular spots for dim sum that also stays open later in the afternoon.
The secret to incredible dim sum is all in the cooks behind the scenes, where making the perfect shrimp dumpling is like an art form.
Multicultural cuisines–you can find pretty much any type of food you’d like in Hong Kong, even vegetarian middle eastern food at hotspot, Veda.
This award-winning restaurant may sound familiar because they have locations in both Toronto and Vancouver. But the Hong Kong location takes the lead with incredible fusion foods with a modern twist. Not to mention delicious cocktails too.
One thing I always try to do when visiting a new city is a food tour. It’s the best way to sample some amazing food (that you can go back and try again later if you love it), you get out walking, you see so many sights and you even get some history lessons. This time I signed up with Virginia from Humid With A Chance of Fishballs. Virginia used to live near Vancouver before relocating back to Hong Kong. And she is in the know when it comes to all the most delicious bites in the city. Some stops include: black sesame ice cream, French toast and milk tea, walking through a wet market, slurping hot silken tofu and ending at a traditional street market called a Dai Pai Dong.
