Hong Kong's Top Restaurants According to Michelin-Starred Chef, Vicky Cheng
The chef behind the 20th-best restaurant in the world
The Relisher is the place where the world’s top chefs reveal their favorite restaurants in their home cities. This week, we met with Chef Vicky Cheng, one of Hong Kong's most prominent culinary figures.
Chef Vicky Cheng, trained under the renowned French chef Daniel Boulud, is the co-owner and executive chef of WING and VEA. WING, a refined Chinese restaurant, ranks 5th in Asia's 50 Best Restaurants and 20th in The World's 50 Best Restaurants. VEA, a Michelin-starred French fine-dining establishment, showcases an innovative blend of Chinese and French culinary traditions. Below, Chef Vicky shares his top picks for dining out in Hong Kong, one of Asia's most exciting culinary destinations.
Hong Kong is a highly multicultural city where you can experience some of the world's best cuisines. Not only can you find an incredible variety of local street food, such as noodles and skewers (and I could go on for days), but you can also experience Italian, French, Indian, Korean, and other cuisines at the highest level possible, spanning between one to three Michelin star establishments. You name the culture, and we probably have it.
Dinner Restaurants: From French Sauces to Chinese Rice Noodles
My favorite restaurant for celebrations is the three Michelin starred Caprice at the Four Seasons. It offers classic French fine-dining in a beautiful space, but the chef brings a fresh perspective to traditional French cooking, influenced by his young mind, and perhaps his Asian wife.
The chef's sauces are particularly outstanding, and he's known for having the best sauces in town. In French cuisine, sauces are crucial, and he not only creates incredible flavors but also plays with temperatures. For example, he might pair a seafood dish with a fruit-based sauce instead of a classic sauce and serve it cold instead of the traditional way of serving it hot. His saffron sauce is unlike anything you've ever tasted.
Hing Kee, a family-run restaurant famous for its seafood, has been around for over 40 years. It's my go-to spot after a shift at my own restaurant, as I love its consistently great local Chinese cuisine. My favorite dish is the noodles with shredded duck, featuring handmade rice noodles that are incredibly smooth. Rice noodles can be found in every noodle shop and street in Hong Kong, and at Hing Kee, they're probably the best I've ever had. When international chefs visit Hong Kong, this is ‘the restaurant’ I bring them to.
Hong Kong's Best Noodles: Perfect for a Quick Lunch
You must visit Mak’s Noodle for their wonton noodles. You'll really appreciate the craft and attention they put into their noodles — it's almost like an art. The wonton noodle is truly the star of the dish (not the lobster or wagyu beef like in other noodle dishes).
The way I like to eat it (and the way they encourage you to do so) is to take a sip of the soup first when your dish arrives, and then enjoy the noodles. Mak's is another must-visit restaurant I take international chefs to when they're visiting. Make sure to go to the Wellington Street branch as the wonton noodles are the best here.
You can see that I love noodles because my second favorite restaurant is another noodle place called Samsen, a casual, rustic Thai restaurant. I love their beef noodles, which consist of sliced beef, beef balls, and braised beef in a rich, thick broth, with each strand of noodle coated in the flavorful soup. This restaurant is super popular among locals.
Must-Visit Restaurants for First-Time Visitors to Hong Kong
When visiting Hong Kong, three local foods you must try are dim sum, wonton soup, and Cantonese-style barbecue meats.
For some of the best Cantonese roasted barbecued goose, head to Yat Lok. I go quite often and recommend avoiding peak hours to skip the long lines.
Forum Restaurant 1977, an affordable three-Michelin-starred restaurant with a long history, serves some of the best classic dim sum in Hong Kong. Must-order items include the barbecue pork bun, one of the best in town, and the shrimp dumpling. I strongly recommend visiting Forum Restaurant 1977 as even if you have dim sum at home, chances are you can't have it at this level. Their stir-fry dishes, braised Ah Yat abalone and deep-fried pork in sweet and sour sauce with Mandarin peel are also very good.
The Chairman has become an institution in Hong Kong dining — it's beloved by both locals and tourists. People really love it for the chef's outside-the-box approach to Chinese cuisine, which can sometimes be quite traditional, with little drastic or significant change. When you go, order the Camphor wood smoked black foot goose and the pepper crab dish. Keep in mind that due to its many accolades, booking a table can be challenging.
A Special Experience: The Best of Hong Kong's Dried Seafood Street
When you walk down Hong Kong's dried seafood street, you'll notice stores filled with similar dried brown and yellow items hung on the walls and placed in boxes. I'm sure everybody walks past and wonders about these items, but they never get close because no one is there to explain it to them. However, it's absolutely fascinating.
The best store to explore this world is called Central Hoi Mei, where you can see all these different types of aged and dried fish, probably of the highest quality. I source all of my dried seafood from Central Hoi Mei for both of my restaurants.
The Details
Here is a Google Map with all of the locations listed above.
I’ve been following Chef Cheng for some time but sadly haven’t had the chance to eat at his restaurant yet. These restaurants are definitely on my radar now. Seriously thinking of booking a flight to Hong Kong