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    The best dim sum in Hong Kong
    Feasting on dumplings and other bite-size dishes is one of Hong Kong’s great pleasures. These local places do dim sum best, whether you’re looking for a quick, cheap meal or a more refined experience
    Dim sum restaurant
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    Hong Kong SAR

    One legend has it that dim sum was invented as a snack to help tea houses sell more tea; another credits Southern Song dynasty villagers who thanked soldiers for defending their home with food as ‘dim dim sum yee’ – a little gift from the heart. Either way, these small plates have become an undisputed symbol of Hong Kong dining.

    In Cantonese, yum cha, which means ‘to drink tea’, describes the act of going to eat dim sum, a popular pastime among locals and visitors alike. From boisterous pushcart palaces to elegant, contemporary restaurants, these are the best places to gather for dim sum in Hong Kong, serving bamboo steamer baskets of har gow (shrimp dumplings) and much more.

    Classic dim sum

    A table of different kinds of dim sum

    Seventh Son

    Opened by the seventh son of a renowned restaurant family, Seventh Son  is known for Cantonese dishes – from dim sum to banquet dishes like roast suckling pig – done the traditional way. In fact, many local gourmands consider the restaurant to be the standard bearer of Hong Kong Cantonese cuisine as we know it today. The dim sum menu here excels at the classics: the har gow, siu mai and lor mai gai (glutinous rice steamed in lotus leaf) are some of the best versions of these dishes you’ll find in Hong Kong.

    3/F, The Wharney Guangdong Hotel, 57-73 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai; +852 2892 2888

    Dim sum cart of City Hall Maxims Palace

    City Hall Maxim’s Palace

    This giant dim sum hall  offers the best of both worlds – nostalgic pushcarts in a relatively modern environment. The range of plates is as vast as the restaurant itself, with anything from turnip cake pan-fried to order in its own special hot-plate cart to vegetarian steamed rice paper rolls and dainty egg tarts. The restaurant is incredibly popular, so try to arrive early for lunch to beat the rush, or you could find yourself in a queue.

    2/F, Low Block, City Hall, Central; +852 2521 1303

    Dim Sum of Luk Yu Tea House; Luk Yu Tea House exterior

    Credit: Moses Ng

    Luk Yu Tea House

    If walls could talk, the antique wainscotting here could start a podcast about Hong Kong’s who’s who. This 1930s tea house – filled with ornate furniture and staff in mandarin-collared shirts – has been a favourite among the city’s bigwigs for decades. Join them for breakfast early in the morning; lunchtime dim sum is for tourists. If you do end up here for lunch, order from the main menu, on which one highlight is the sweet and sour pork, made the traditional way with hawthorn juice rather than ketchup.

    24-26 Stanley Street, Central; +852 2523 5464

    Contemporary dim sum

    Pig-faced barbecued pork buns and other dim sum

    Yum Cha

    While simply named, Yum Cha isn’t your standard Chinese restaurant. The interior looks like a hip bistro, with its sleek, marble-topped tables and banquettes, and attracts a crowd to match. You can bet that most diners are posting photos of their emoji steamed custard buns on Instagram (#letsyumcha ) or taking a break from their pig-faced barbecued pork buns and rainbow-hued dumplings to check how many likes they’ve got for their Boomerang looping mini video. But it’s not just gimmicks; the dim sum at Yum Cha’s two locations in Central and Tsim Sha Tsui taste as good as they look.

    2/F, Nan Fung Place, 173 Des Voeux Road Central, Central; +852 3708 8081

    Private dining table at Duddell's, Hong Kong

    Duddell’s

    This elegant, Ilse Crawford-designed, bi-level space  is full of green tones and Art Deco details set against marble, copper and a rotating art display. The dim sum is equally refined. Soup dumplings are filled with fish maw (swim bladder) and cordyceps fungi – a combination that would meet the approval of a gracefully coiffed Chinese grandmother – and barbecued pork buns feature Ibérico pork. The one-Michelin-starred restaurant also does a popular weekend dim sum brunch with free-flow Champagne. In balmy weather, book a table out on the terrace, a little oasis of tropical style in the middle of the pulsating metropolis.

    3/F, 1 Duddell Street, Central; +852 2525 9191

    Casual dim sum

    Tim Ho Wan dim sum

    Tim Ho Wan

    Famously the world’s cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant, Tim Ho Wan is perfect if you’re after dim sum in Hong Kong that’s made with precision and served in a flash. The baked barbecued-pork bun – crunchy on the outside, with a moreish melange of sweet and savoury barbecued pork within – is often imitated but rarely equalled, especially not at this price. There are several branches of Tim Ho Wan around town, including a handy one above Hong Kong Station, which is on the Airport Express line, but the Sham Shui Po branch is the oldest.

    9-11 Fuk Wing Street, Sham Shui Po; +852 2788 1226

    Dim sum and steamed rice

    Credit: cha_vrnfr/Instagram. sexyfoodgirl/Instagram

    Dim Sum Square

    At larger Cantonese restaurants, dim sum is usually served only at breakfast or lunch, but in the past decade or so small, independent dim sum-only eateries like Dim Sum Square have emerged, serving these small plates for dinner too. Each dish is made to order, so you can be sure they’re fresh. One of the most popular is rice paper rolls, filled with either prawns, beef or barbecued pork. If you’re in the mood for something more substantial, Dim Sum Square also serves steamed rice bowls with various toppings, such as spare ribs with black bean sauce.

    LG/F, Tern Center Tower 2, 78 Jervois Street, Sheung Wan; +852 2851 8088

    A table of dim sum

    Sun Hing

    Craving dim sum after a night out on the tiles, or jetlagged and hungry? Look no further than Sun Hing, a down-home neighbourhood spot that’s open 3am to 4pm daily. It’s completely self-service, so help yourself to a pot of tea and have some fun navigating the mountain of baskets on the steam table until you find your favourites, whether it’s a classic like pork and shrimp siu mai, curried honeycomb tripe or desserts such as steamed custard bun or ma lai go (brown sugar cake).

    8 Smithfield Road, Kennedy Town; +852 2816 0616

    This story was originally published in March 2020 and updated in August 2020

    More inspiration

    Hong Kong travel information

    Country / Region
    Hong Kong SAR
    Language
    Cantonese, English
    Airport code
    HKG
    Currency
    HKD
    Time zone
    GMT +08:00
    Climate
    Subtropical
    Country / Region
    Hong Kong SAR
    Time zone
    GMT +08:00
    Currency
    HKD
    Airport code
    HKG
    Language
    Cantonese, English
    Climate
    Subtropical
    Find the best fares to
    Hong Kong SAR