Hong Kong is a fast-paced, dynamic city, with an intriguing blend of Chinese tradition, hints of Western flavour and bucket-loads of modern Asian flair. Here at Flying Fluskey, we are totally hooked! If you are planning to visit Hong Kong, you may need some help planning your Hong Kong itinerary. Here are 42 great things to add to a Hong Kong bucket list (broken into sections to make things a little easier).
Dim Sum is an oh-so-addictive cuisine made up of scrummy bitesize eats. It has dominated my restaurant cravings for the last few years. I can’t ever get enough, and so every trip we take to Hong Kong is an excuse to cram in just a few more dumplings. Hong Kong has some of the best dim sum in the world and so we wanted to share our votes for the best dim sum in Hong Kong.
Dim Sum literally means “to touch your heart”, and that’s probably why it makes me feel so very happy.
So where do we like to go for the best dim sum in Hong Kong? Read on to find out:
7 Top Dim Sum Spots for the Best Dim Sum in Hong Kong
1.) Din Tai Fung
Located in Causeway Bay (and in locations worldwide) this Taiwanese chain is the best place to go for Shanghai style Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings). These are usually pork-based although there are delicious seafood versions too. A little broth is inside each dumpling and so beware, unless you pierce it with your chopstick and eat it with the spoon (or just put the whole thing in at once) you could end up with a spurt of soup down your front. Yes, I have done this a few times.
The Causeway Bay branch of Din Tai Fung is always busy but seems quite airy. I think it is the overzealous air conditioning.
If you have to queue, or if you’re just curious, you can watch the chefs at work behind the window. You’ll be amazed at how quickly they can craft such delicate little dumplings. These chaps are just churning out the best dim sum in Hong Kong hour after hour. It’s quite hypnotic really.
Our favourite dishes –
Xiao Long Bao – Steamed parcels of pork or seafood swimming in salty broth. Just be careful that they don’t pop en route to your mouth. Note – All the Xiao Long Bao here contains pork broth.
Cucumber with Chilli – A delicious side dish of cooked cucumber drenched in chilli and oil. It is a nice, spicy accompaniment and cuts through the other more meaty dishes.
If you fancy eating a budget lunch cooked by a Michelin starred chef then Tim Ho Wan is for you. The original location is tucked away near the Lady’s Market in Mong Kok. It is very small, and very popular. Take a number and be prepared to wait a while. We went off to browse some stalls for 40 minutes and then returned to wait a little longer. Once you are in though, you’ll know why it is worth the wait. The reputation of Tim Ho Wan as the top spot for dim sum in Hong Kong is very well deserved.
You’ll be asked to mark your first round of food on the provided form whilst you are in the queue so they can take the order from you as you’re seated.
If you are on Hong Kong Island, you can visit the Hong Kong station/IFC location. This has a takeaway service as well as the tables inside.
Our favourite dishes –
BBQ Pork Bun – A light doughnut-esque casing hides a yummy pork in a Chinese BBQ sauce. They are utterly moreish!
Har Gau – Otherwise known as crystal prawn dumplings. The clear rice wrappers of these dumplings show you the plump pink prawns that await you inside. The covers are very sticky, and you’ll lose the inside of the dumpling if you go for two bites. Get it in your mouth in one and enjoy the slippery, seafood treat. A word of warning – The har gau at Tim Ho Wan are quite large so this may not be the spot for a first date…or maybe it is!?
3.) Lin Heung Tea Room
A taste of old Hong Kong awaits you on the first floor or this tea house that has been serving dim sum in Hong Kong for over 100 years.
Lin Heung is one of the only places where the dim sum still comes out on trolleys. These trolleys, pushed by no nonsense, matronly ladies, circle the tea room. If you are looking for a specific dish, you’ll need to jump up and intercept them as they trundle through the tables. If you are just there for pot luck, you can wait for one to come past. The waitress will show you what’s on offer. Pick something that doesn’t look or smell too scary and get stuck in!!
On our visit, we sat opposite a regular who was performing his own complicated tea ceremony with a bowl full of very dark leaves. We looked on, utterly confused, and then I worked my way through a much more British pot of jasmine tea.
We picked two dishes from the trolleys and hoped for the best. The first was a plain char sui bun with turnip. The fluffy casing was familiar, and the chunk of char sui pork was incredibly tender. I thought the turnip an odd addition as it was very drying inside the bun.
Secondly we picked some chicken in a little broth. It was obviously chicken skin wrapped around something and so I made the mistake of unwrapping it. Inside I found some chicken meat, some turnip and something gelatinous. I put it into my mouth but couldn’t quite face chewing it, so it was quickly removed and set aside. I think that if I’d tried it as a whole bite, it would have been fine, but on its own, the jiggly lump wasn’t appetising.
Our favourite dishes –
Roast meat – OK, so this is honestly a bit of a guess. Basically, next time I go back, I’ll get a plate of rice and roast pork. The guy sat opposite us had some and it looked very appetising. Of course we will still try things from the trolley, but just in case…
4.) Maxim’s Palace
Note – Not to be confused with Maxim’s cafe on the outside of the building.
Maxim’s Palace is located above the theatre, of the city hall’s small building. Take the lift to the second floor and you will see a large, bright dining room with a nice view over the bay.
This is your quintessentially Hong Kong nice dinner out. Bring a large group and take one of the big round tables with their blindingly white linen. There is a small dim sum menu full of classics, and a larger menu with a whole host of other traditional dishes.
Our favourite dishes –
Har Gau – I know we have already mentioned these but they are good here too. They aren’t as huge, but the prawns taste great.
Custard/Egg Yolk Buns – These are a sweet treat. The dough is fried but light, like a great doughnut. Inside you will a find a gooey, oozy filling. The combination of creamy egg yolk and coconut is irresistible.
5.) Yum Cha
Do you like your food to be terribly twee, adorable and delicious all at once? Let me introduce Yum Cha! Here you will find many of your favourite dim sum nibbles, but with a bit of a twist.
Pimms O’Clock
Come for happy hour and stay all night. Traditionally dim sum is a cuisine eaten early in the day with copious cups of tea (Yum Cha means drink tea), however, the cocktails at Yum Cha are well mixed and during happy hour, well priced. This is definitely more like hipster glamour than tea house clamour.
Our favourite dishes –
Anything with a face!
BBQ Pork Buns – Nearly as good as the buns from Tim Ho Wan, these piggy buns are almost too cute to eat….almost.
Crab Roe Sesame Spinach – These are an interesting accompaniment to the heavier dumpling dishes. Little fishy pops, iron-rich greens and a sesame overtone. This is your average pile of spinach.
The food at Yum Cha is truly delicious, making it some of the best dim sum in Hong Kong.
6.) Dim Sum Icon
Could dim sum get any more kitsch than Yum Cha!? Well yes.
Dim Sum Icon makes very cute little dim sum bites, but check out their main selling point. “Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?” Your next meal, that’s who! Its the Spongebob Squarepants range. Dim Sum Icon specialises in creating dishes based on cartoons. Last time we visited, it was all about this yellow fellow.
We started our meal with the crispy wontons. I felt they were a little pastry-heavy but they weren’t too greasy and the eyes were fun to eat. They had a slight hint of orange tictacs…?
Next we tried the prawn vegetable dumplings. You could taste the different veggies in the dumplings as well as the prawns, not always the case. The little rice paper wraps with the Spongebob characters on made me smile, but if you are a real Spongebob fan, you may worry about who to eat first and who to save until the last minute.
Our favourite dishes –
Anything with a Spongebob face, or in a pineapple, or really anything Spongebob related….
If you aren’t a fan of whatever the theme is, you might want to stick to Yum Cha.
7.) Dim Sum Library
This restaurant is located within a mall, and that may be its only downside. You aren’t coming here for a cheap, or quick eat. These dishes are to be savoured and accompanied by an excellently mixed classic cocktail The whole place has as a dark and classy 1920s vibe and it’s mixology matches that perfectly. This, in my opinion is some of the most exciting and best dim sum in Hong Kong.
When we arrived, we were a little peckish, but not starving. Oh how I wish we had been (and I fully intend to be on my next visit). I really want to try more of their dishes.
The main selling point of this dim sum spot is flavour. They have taken traditional dishes and given them beautiful new twists with less traditional ingredients. You can spot iberico pork and kimchi on the menu.
Our favourite dishes –
Black garlic pork sui mai – These were to die for. The black garlic is sweet and almost fragrant, the pork salty and melt in the mouth. Gah, take me back!
Leopard coral grouper dumplings – Similar to Xiao Long Bao, these contain a little broth. This is a spicy, gingery soup and it explodes with a huge bit of flavour that somehow doesn’t overpower the fish.
Final Thoughts
If you are travelling to Hong Kong, or if you live there, you simply must get stuck into the world of dim sum. You can head to our favourites, or find some of your own!
Please do let us know if we’ve missed anywhere that we really need to try. We would LOVE to give them a go and make sure that we have tried all the best dim sum in Hong Kong.
Well, I have fallen at the first hurdle here and forgotten to take any photos for this section, but stick with me.
Hong Kong has a train called the Airport Express which leaves from Central (Hong Kong station). Within the station is the “In Town Check In”. This is a very convenient service that allows you to check in for your flight, and drop off your luggage before boarding the 24 minute train to the airport. Philippine Airlines is one of the airlines that uses the service and so we checked in on Hong Kong island before jumping aboard the Airport Express. Easy.
After our arrival at the airport, we were able to go straight to the Terminal 2 security without seeing another Philippine Airlines desk.
Weirdly, although you are processed through security in terminal 2, you will then board a train that whisks you back over to terminal 1 to board your flight. This confused us a little, we thought we had gone the wrong way somehow! Never fear, just head to your assigned gate, you are in the right place.
The boarding process was very easy, and well organised. No complaints here.
Our first impressions were good. The colours are clean and fresh with a grey and turquoise colour palette; it was clearly a new plane.
There was no music when we boarded but there was some when we landed. I always like a bit of music, I think it adds to the atmosphere.
The Seats
The seats aren’t hugely spacious but are perfectly acceptable for economy. They have a pitch of 32″ and width of 17″. This is enough to sit comfortably, but not to curl up (I struggle with this on long flights).
The headrest is pleasingly adjustable. It goes from my head height, to the head height of a much taller person. The best bit, is that the flaps to either side really do fold all the way in properly and can actually support your head.
There was a small recline but as food was served quickly, and people were asked to put their seats back up for the service, I didn’t bother to use mine.
The tray table had a button that you push in to open it, and that you click back shut again. At first I thought it was pretty nifty, but I realised that you have to push quite hard to open it, and even more so to close it. This puts pressure on the person in front, and I can imagine it getting quite annoying for them over a long haul flight.
The seats on the Airbus A330-300 V3 are set out in a 2-4-2 configuration, my preferred layout. The other two Philippine Airlines versions of this plane have the 3-3-3 configuration which is great if your plane is half empty but is no fun for anyone if it’s full. As a couple, you either have to give up your window seat to have an aisle or the other way around. In a 2-4-2 we had a window and an aisle, and only had to climb awkwardly over each other.
The Storage
The overhead bins were deep enough but the height wasn’t very good. An average cabin wheeled luggage couldn’t lie on its thin side which means the bins were full up very quickly.
The Entertainment
In the seat back in front you, you have a screen roughly 11 inches in size. This is a highly responsive touchscreen and so I guess pretty new. The only problem is that it is also highly glossy.
Now you see me…Entertainment HubFilmsTV ShowsSeatback USB port and headphone jack
This is the entertainment hub and it fires up from push back so you can get straight into it, with a few interruptions for announcements and the safety video.
If you are into films, you won’t be stuck for choice. On our flight, there were around 150 choices, from new releases to some great older films. For example, you could watch Notting Hill or The Birdcage, both beloved older films. I indulged in a re-watching of Moana.
Besides films you will find loads of TV, with some complete series to binge. There’s also music, a sky map and games for kids.
I think that the iPad level of touch screen, combined with the ten second back button (so handy when you miss something) makes this the best entertainment hardware I’ve encountered. They may not have the same amount of options as, say Emirates, but it just works brilliantly.
The seat back screen has a USB port so you can charge your phone or other USB devices. This means you can also use your own entertainment without worrying about running out of battery.
There is an onboard wifi service and they offer you 15 mins or 15MB free, whichever you use up first. I completely forgot to trial it (too busy pretending to sing along to Moana).
In your seat back pocket, you will find Philippine Airlines inflight magazine with articles showcasing destinations from all over the world. You will also find the duty free magazine, the safety info and a sick bag…which hopefully you won’t need.
Finally, they provide a pair of headphones. We always use our own but I did test them and these ones were pretty average quality. They blocked out enough noise for a flight but you wouldn’t make an effort to keep them afterwards. We were provided with a pillow, reasonably sized for economy but no blanket so if, like me, you are always cold, I’d advise you to bring your own.
The Bathrooms
The bathrooms were small but fine. They do provide toilet seat covers so if you’ll be happy if you’re squeamish about public loos.
The other thing that I thought was worth mentioning were the little bottles. It’s rare that you’ll find nice hand wash and lotion in economy. Plus, there’s a bottle of perfume! All three were citrusy and fresh, somewhere between a spa scent and a lemon flavour cleaning agent….in a good way.
The Food
Despite the fact this was only a 2 hour flight, we were served lunch, which I thought was pretty generous. It was served about 45 minutes into the flight and so there was no preceding drinks service, there simply wouldn’t be time.
Lunch consisted of two choices.
Fish fillet with rice
Braised beef with pasta
Mr Fluskey and I both chose the beef so I can only show you that.
The beef was tender but had a few bits of fat left on it, which turns me off a bit. The gravy was quite salty, but then that is the common curse of airline food. The veg was well cooked, not too squishy, which I was surprised by. Finally, the pasta, an odd companion to what is essentially a roast dinner. It had melted butter on and so wasn’t completely devoid of flavour but it did leave it a little greasy.
Don’t get me wrong, a big bowl of pasta with butter and cheese can be comfort food of the gods, but next to beef and gravy? They were odd bed fellows.
The little vanilla mousse cake, with a sponge base, was sweet and light. It was a completely inoffensive end to the meal and I’m sure that everyone would enjoy it. I certainly was before I remembered to take a photo. This is an improvement though, usually I have finished my dessert before I remember to take a snap.
The drinks served with dinner were soft drinks, including hot tea or coffee, or wine. You won’t get a spirit and mixer but considering you don’t have time to sleep on such a short flight, that may not be a bad thing.
Arriving at the Destination
We had a domestic connection to make at Manila Airport and so we had all the joys of picking up our luggage to clear customs. Helpfully, they announced the baggage carousel when the ground staff made their announcement so we deboarded with a sense that we knew what we were doing. Ten minutes later, we realised that this was a bit of a myth, but we got there in the end.
I loved the Philippine Airlines entertainment system, and the headrests on the seats. However, I was less keen on the food, fine for a short flight but less so for long haul, and thought it was a shame that it was a small drinks selection. Overall, a solid 8/10.
I enjoyed my flight with Philippine Airlines and would definitely fly with them again (lucky, seeing as we have an onward journey and a return flight with them).
If I asked all of you to choose a place to celebrate Halloween, I am sure that a few places would keep cropping up. Salem, USA maybe, or Mexico for the Day of the Dead. Those were our first thoughts too. However, in 2011, Mr Fluskey and I took a gamble and decided to spend our Halloween in Hong Kong.
Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class cabin is their top most cabin offering. It is listed as the Virgin Atlantic business class cabin and so lies somewhere between British Airways Club World and First Class (just as a comparison). We are very excited to share our experience of flying Upper Class from London to Hong Kong.
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