Food Instagrammer’s favourite Hong Kong restaurants for breakfast, fried rice, pasta

Designer and branding strategist Sonia Lui shares her top eateries in the city, as well as an ‘experience that is hard to beat’ in Japan

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Designer and branding strategist Sonia Lui shares her favourite restaurants in Hong Kong, as well as an “experience that is hard to beat” in Japan. Photo: Sonia Lui

Published: 12:45pm, 19 Mar 2025

Sonia Lui is a furniture designer, branding strategist and food Instagrammer. She spoke to Andrew Sun.

I was born and raised in vibrant Hong Kong and I share my parents’ taste for exploring cuisines. In my twenties, while studying in the United States, I set myself an ambitious goal: to try 100 new restaurants every year.

Whether it is humble street-side dishes or fine-dining masterpieces, I believe food is the ultimate universal language. It is not just about eating, it is about connection and adventure.

My favourite breakfast spot is the Queen Street Cooked Food Market. I love the diversity there but my favourite stall is Tsang Kee (Shop 8, 1/F, Queen Street Cooked Food Market, 38 Des Voeux Road West, Sheung Wan. Tel: 2540 6854). They make sweet and savoury fresh kueh, or stuffed rice cakes, daily. The pan-fried taro kueh and signature fried rice noodles are the best.

Pan fried taro kueh at Tsang Kee. Photo: Instagram/cacioebaebae

A dish at Yuk Kin Fast Food. Photo: Instagram/neverfullhk

For lunch, Yuk Kin Fast Food (Shop A, 6 Tai Ping Shan Street, Sheung Wan. Tel: 2549 2505) does excellent fried rice. The curry pork chop fried rice is my go-to choice. There is so much wok hei, or “breath of the wok”, and it is not at all greasy.