The Hong Kong Hit List: Ronin, The Chairman, Lau Haa, and More

After more than ten years in its original space on a quiet Sheung Wan cul-de-sac, The Chairman reinvented itself with a new location and refresh in several ways: gone are the stark white walls, in favour of warm colours by way of cherry red banquettes, turquoise walls and chef-owner Danny Yip’s impressive personal collection of food books. The wine menu, too, has come leaps and bounds courtesy of consultant Ambrose Chiang, previously of the beverage and wine director for Momofuku Ko and Momofuku Seibo.

This legendary institution also gone semi-degustation, with guests offered a curated selection of dishes across key categories (starters, seafood and meat mains, rice and noodles) from which they’re invited to construct their own tasting menu. If you have never been to The Chairman, then the steamed flowery crab with aged Shaoxing wine and chicken fat with chen chuen noodles are canon; but don’t overlook the new classics, from camphor smoked goose to the understated slipper lobster in rice broth.

For reservations, call +852 2555 2202. More info here.

Savvy local restaurateurs Josh and Caleb Ng are the masterminds behind some of the city’s more experimental independent venues, from natural wine and food bar Vivant to Interval, where wood-fired pizzas join moreish sharing plates with a distinct Asian touch.

Dolos, their latest effort, spotlights the talents of indie band bassist-turned chef Sean Yuen (previously of the esoteric but excellent Tfvsjs 談l風 vs 再說, located in industrial neighbourhood Kwun Tong), who runs the kitchen solo to turn out course after course of imaginative seafood-centric dishes that have a strong local thread running through them all. Shima aji is as fresh as, served with lemongrass, Thai basil and fish sauce gastrique; Hong Kong’s famed three yellow chicken is matched flawlessly with a clam and butterbur sprout cream sauce.

The venue doesn’t charge for corkage either, making it a versatile spot for wine nerds and casual diners alike.

For reservations, call +852 3488 5770. More info here.

Typhoon shelter dishes are a unique element of Hong Kong cuisine, given the city’s history as a fishing village and affinity for seafood. As far back as the 1800s, local fishermen and boat dwellers — who tended to congregate around the typhoon shelters of Causeway Bay, Lei Yue Muen and Aberdeen — would turn their daily catch into delicious, punchy dishes served on their vessels. One of the most iconic dishes is typhoon shelter crab, a dizzying medley of intense flavours coaxed from a holy trinity of garlic, chilli and fermented black beans.

Decades old Hing Kee is a favourite, and was once a regular haunt for late-night clubbers back when it would open until the early hours; these days, it’s still as packed as ever with diners sat elbow-to-elbow. The menu is uncharacteristically short and sweet, making it easy to hone in on the must-orders — which are certainly the ‘ancient method’ typhoon shelter crab (Hing Kee ferment their black bean with the garlic for a unique flavour), black bean stir-fried clams, and to finish off, the roast goose lai fun noodles.

For reservations, call +852 2384 3647. More info here.

This elegant ‘diffusion restaurant’ from Tate Dining Room’s Vicky Lau is a beautiful ode to one of the most underappreciated ingredients in the world: tofu. After years of crafting exquisite French-Chinese food at her now two-Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant, Lau was inspired to push things further with an exploration of this humble yet incredibly versatile ingredient — even going as far as to open a dedicated factory for processing soybeans and crafting soy products under the brand An Soy.

Mora, which is now helmed by chef Choi Ming Fai, delivers a thoughtful series of dishes that showcase tofu in its myriad forms — normally kickstarting the meal with a gentle offering of nibbles (beancurd skin tart, for example) and a steamed soy and egg custard (like a chawanmushi) with razor clam and seaweed glaze. A meal here invites quiet contemplation.

For reservations, call +852 9583 8590. More info here.

In a similar vein, chef Vicky Cheng — also a veteran of the French-Chinese school of cooking, which is manifested in his two-Michelin-star VEA restaurant — opened this high-end Chinese restaurant in the middle of the pandemic.

Like Lau, he was intent on diving deeper into the foods of his heritage (Cheng is Canadian-Chinese, with Shanghainese roots) and places emphasis on crafting dishes that are mostly traditional, with a surprisingly contemporary finish. What does that mean? At Wing, you’ll find expertly executed double-boiled broths here, with rich umami coming from ingredients such as conch and Jinhua ham, but he adds unexpected brightness with a flourish of yuzu zest.

Luxury ingredients such as dried seafood are reimagined in creative ways to jolt the jaded palate, too – his sea cucumber spring roll and spicy fish maw chopped up and served on top of rice are two modern classics.

For reservations, call +852 2711 0063. More info here.

The One-Eight-One hotel once served as a quarantine venue, and how refreshing it is that it has relaunched its dining room to serve something far more exciting than basic meals to get trapped travellers through their days and weeks.

With chef Samuel Ng at the pass, the menu at The Praya lands firmly in the category of nouveau Cantonese, featuring dishes such as three treasures tempura (a take on a street food favourite of vegetables stuffed with protein and fried, except here it’s with prawn, Spanish mackerel and cuttlefish), sourdough spring onion pancakes with fermented beancurd sour cream and pickled onion salad, and grilled threadfin with 30-year-old salted lemon and preserved olives.

Pro tip: Don’t miss the creative cocktails by Paul Chan, which take their inspiration from the five elements — ‘metal’ includes even a cocktail incorporating century egg, along with gin, onion, pepper vermouth and Campari.

For reservations, call +852 3181 1666. More info here.

Yardbird is a stalwart on the Hong Kong dining scene, and a restaurant that changed the game when it opened more than a decade ago. And while it’s still a great place to grab skewers and highballs, it’s worth heading to its revamped sister venue on Kau U Fong.

As a restaurant, Ronin is brighter and more affordable than its previous incarnation that focused more on a daily seafood-focused omakase, and is instead now billed as more of a ‘snack bar’ where delicious bites such as saba sashimi with tahini and watercress or snow crab and lily bulb spring roll play alongside bigger sharing plates of grilled threadfin with mandarin miso.

More info here.

Hongkongers love hotpot at all times of year, and one of the most difficult ones to book has to be Big JJ’s. Located on a one-way street off the Lan Kwai Fong main drag, this raucous restaurant is known for its high-energy 80’s and 90’s Cantopop playlist, full-flavoured cuts of locally slaughtered beef, and line-up of natural wines from funky to fine. The friendly chaos is part of the charm, and it’s very likely you’ll be joining in on the impromptu karaoke that breaks out from time to time.

Lunchtimes here are a different kind of vibe, where the bubbling hotpots are replaced with quick serves of ‘deep taau faan’ — one plate meals that aim to satisfy the busy worker bees in the area — such as stir-fried beef noodles and silky Hainanese chicken rice.

For reservations and more info, click here.

Silas Li may not be a household name, though it’s no reflection on his expertise — it’s because the experienced British-born-Chinese chef spent two decades as the private cook for business tycoon Dickson Poon, one of Hong Kong’s wealthiest elites.

After years working in relative anonymity, he has burst onto the scene to take over Hong Kong Cuisine in Happy Valley, a longstanding restaurant seen as reliable and solid but not extraordinary — until now. Li’s skills in the Cantonese kitchen are apparent through classics such as Chinese crispy fried chicken, which takes hours of preparation and patience as oil is poured over the bird continuously, and the meticulously executed dim sum. The chef has a penchant for putting a cheeky spin on tradition, too, which you’ll see in dishes such as steamed egg white with hua diao wine, lily flower root foam, and homemade roasted crab oil.

This local design-led cafe and restaurant started life in one of Kwun Tong’s industrial buildings, where guests could drink flat whites while appraising the furniture they would be sitting on — and even purchase them to take home.

Since then, the brand has branched out closer to the city centre with locations in Tsim Sha Tsui’s K11 art mall and Causeway Bay’s Hysan Place — giving a little life to an otherwise cookie cutter line-up of food and beverage outlets.

The Causeway Bay branch in particular is a bit of a haven, away from the crowds below, and looks out into a semi-outdoor skate park; perfect for people watching while you dig into cuisine-crossing plates, from saucy mentaiko pasta to Japanese-style wagyu and mushroom burgers, washed down with cold brew coffee.

Ladies Street may be a tourist cliche, but Ladies Street Sik Faan Co leans into the loud and proud Mongkok aesthetic with success. Located in a building above the titular tat-filled street, this spacious restaurant combines the spirit of dai paai dong (open air stalls) with the comforts of indoor dining (read: air conditioning and bathrooms).

But don’t expect the food to be dulled down versions of what you’d get from the wok masters on the streets — quite to the contrary, the dishes have that all-important wok hei (‘breath of the wok’) that gives ingredients a lick of characteristic caramelisation and smoky aromas. Order pails of refreshing lager by the (half) dozen and dig into local favourites including salt-and-pepper bombay duck, shrimp toast (we’ll forgive the bougie dollop of ‘caviar’), steamed razor clams with garlic and vermicelli, and poached chicken with conpoy.

There’s an old world charm about the flagship Chinese restaurant of the Grand Hyatt hotel, and it has to do with its timeless aesthetic and harbourside views. But the cuisine is delectably updated, with thoughtful adjustments by chef Chan Hon-cheong, who has more than three decades worth of experience.

His signature century egg with young ginger comes as a beautiful quenelle-shaped portion with the chopped up rhizome suspended in the egg jelly, while another surprising dish with a retro touch is the baked abalone and sea cucumber which comes under a hat of puff pastry. His take on fried rice is unconventional too, opting for the use of red rice tossed in a hot wok with tender pieces of scallop, barbecued pork beetroot and preserved vegetables.

Jayson Tang may be young, but he leads a 40-strong team at Man Ho in the JW Marriott hotel and is known for his command of the Chinese kitchen. Growing up in a family that ran a dai pai dong in Hong Kong, Tang’s mastery of the wok is a skill honed from a young age.

Tang joined Man Ho as executive chef when he was just 30 years old, in 2016; the restaurant received its first Michelin star in 2021.

Must orders are his signature ‘flying roast chicken’ – a dish inspired by roast goose but crafted using a cockerel for its distinct intense flavour – and his spicy dan dan noodles with minced beef.

It’s a real vibe at this underground hotpot restaurant, whose name literally means ‘downstairs’. With neon signs galore, seafood tanks flanking the entrance and red pleather stools abound, this is a place that screams Hong Kong — and how fun it is.

It’s all in the choosing, and Lau Haa offers more than a dozen different broth bases for your hotpot (tip: always ask for the yin yang option to get a two-for-one on flavour) and endless variety of seafood, meat, offal, vegetables and carbs.

Don’t miss their handmade meatballs, pounded for extra bounciness, such as the beef tendon version or the pork balls with preserved vegetables (listed on the menu as ‘plum pork balls’).

Gigi Paulina Ng is the fourth generation owner of this iconic restaurant that her great-grandparents started in 1895 in Guangdong, China, and she’s just as determined to keep the family business going.

Ser Wong Fun is best known for its traditional snake soup, which is a surefire winter warmer, but for the rest of the year, don’t sleep on its nostalgic Chinese dishes either — whether it’s a childhood favourite of sweetcorn sauce with fish on rice, silky scrambled eggs with prawns, or sweet-and-sour pork, you can always rely on this place for a comforting feed.

Ng is always thinking about new ways to engage a new generation of diners, and during the pandemic launched a more casual offshoot in Sha Tin, in the New Territories — Ser Wong Fun Fong offers many similar dishes to the original, but with more of a healthy eating slant and with more creative presentations.