TOPIC

Hong Kong budget eats

Hong Kong budget eats
They are the restaurants for everyday eating in Hong Kong – local places where you can fill up on good food for HK$100 and under, reviewed by SCMP food critics. Includes reviews posted in the past year and a half.
highlights from
100 Top Tables 2025 Restaurant Directory
100 Top Tables 2025 Restaurant Directory
Enjoy a classic Christmas turkey at Regent Hong Kong this festive season. Photo: Handout

Where to enjoy Christmas dinner in Hong Kong this festive season

Arm Coffee in Sai Kung, Hong Kong, serves a delicious brunch. Photo: Handout

Seaside and sunshine: Sai Kung offers fertile grounds for independent cafes

Zoku’s sukiyaki cheese fondue in Hong Kong. Photo: Handout

Your Hong Kong weekend food guide for December 12-14

The World’s 50 Best Bars awards ceremony was held at Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in Hong Kong this year. Photo: Dickson Lee

Word on the StrEAT: Hong Kong’s F&B gurus on the highs and lows of 2025

Raiza Carrera (centre) takes over Dead Poets in Hong Kong as part of their second birthday celebrations. Photo: Handout

Your Hong Kong weekend drinks guide for December 12-14

More from 100 top tables
Content from SCMP's Specialist Publications
A worker puts food into a container for a customer to take away at a popular “two-dish rice” restaurant in Mong Kok, on May 24. Photo: Dickson Lee
Hong Kong economy

Opinion | As Hong Kong’s financial sector soars, what about food and retail?

Sound policies have helped boost internationally connected capital markets, but fresh ideas are still needed to uplift the local consumer economy.

videocam
6
Food and Drinks

Baked pork chop rice: the history of a defining Hong Kong comfort food

Food and Drinks

Best Hong Kong post-hike food, bistro and brunch spots for a Frenchman

Food and Drinks

‘Spoilt for choice’: Egyptian-Irish Hongkonger’s Middle Eastern food picks

In his eight years in Hong Kong, Joseph Louli has found where to go for the Middle Eastern and European flavours of his upbringing – as well as good Thai and Indian food.

A selection of dishes at Bedu. Egyptian-Irish marketing manager Joseph Louli knows where to go in Hong Kong for the Middle Eastern and European flavours of his upbringing. Photo: Bedu
Food and Drinks

The best new restaurants and bars in Hong Kong to try this November

A variety of new restaurants are opening around Hong Kong to tempt foodies in November, featuring everything from grilled meats to French Mediterranean fare to Japanese cuisine.

Food and Drinks

Top beef brisket and a Turkish treat: travel writer’s Hong Kong food picks

From Hong Kong’s Middle Eastern food to amazing beef brisket and great suckling pig in Madrid, travel writer Kam Ling shares her favourite restaurants.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Food and Drinks

Chiu Chow dishes, private chefs: Slow Food executive’s Hong Kong food picks

Charlene Ho, who works for Slow Food Hong Kong, is a fan of farm-to-table food and plant-based dishes. She visits the cooked food centre in Wan Chai for roast chicken and vegetarian meals.

Chinese-born American Charlene Ho, who works as a special projects coordinator for Slow Food Hong Kong, enjoys farm-to-table and plant-based cuisine. Photo: Courtesy of Charlene Ho
Food and Drinks

Asia-Pacific’s 50 top pizzerias revealed – did your favourite make the cut?

The 50 Top Pizza Asia-Pacific rankings include 12 Tokyo pizzerias, six in Hong Kong and five in Bangkok. The No 1 position went to a pizzeria in Melbourne, Australia.

Food and Drinks

Dismay at sudden closure of one of Hong Kong’s oldest traditional cafes

Mido Cafe, a 72-year-old cha chaan teng in Yau Ma Tei, announced the news in an ambiguous note posted outside its premises. Many shared their grief on social media at the loss of a ‘Hong Kong icon’.

Food and Drinks

Jollibee completes buyout of Tim Ho Wan with eye on global expansion

Philippines’ Jollibee Foods Corporation, famous for its fried chicken, is aiming to not only expand to China, but to serve Chinese food all over the world.

videocam
6
A Jollibee restaurant in Hong Kong. The company now owns 100 per cent of Tim Ho Wan through a unit, Jollibee Worldwide. Photo: Getty Images
Food and agriculture

Editorial | To save Hong Kong food trucks, rethink the strategy

The scheme, first introduced in 2017, has been troubled from the start because of excessive red tape; to survive, something has to change.

videocam
A diner at a food truck in Tai Mei Tuk, Tai Po. Photo: Felix Wong
Food and Drinks

‘This is part of your identity’: chef urges peers to save dim sum

Not enough young chefs want to learn traditional Cantonese cuisine, says chef Jowett Yu, who’s leaving Hong Kong for Australia and worries he won’t find freshly made dim sum if he returns in 20 years.

Where to eat in Hong Kong

7 best restaurants in and around Harbour City to try

Looking for a bite to eat in Tsim Sha Tsui? We’ve got you covered – from the Japanese Umai SushiKan and the juicy BLT Burger, Canton Road is filled with delicious eateries

Food and Drinks

Southeast Asian classics for under HK$100 at Asam Chicken Rice

From Hainan chicken rice to Singaporean curry laksa, Asam Chicken Rice serves up classic Southeast Asian dishes. The decor evokes shophouses in Singapore and Malaysia, and the food is authentic and delicious.

Stewed pork knuckle with rice at Asam Chicken Rice in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. Photo: Holly Chik
Origins series

What’s the story behind instant ramen noodles?

With an estimated 100 billion bowls slurped down each year, instant ramen was first conceived of as a post-war necessity in Japan

Instant noodles are a staple for families across East Asia, and beyond. Photos: Getty Images
Food and Drinks

Top tacos and avocado on toast at this Hollywood Road cafe

We loved the salmon tacos and beef quesadilla at Blackwood Cafe & Bar, which also does a mean avocado on toast. The roadside tables are a great place to relax and watch passers-by window shopping at nearby antiques shops.

Hong Kong restaurant reviews

Cheese Beyond burger for HK$111 at hkveganshop in Wan Chai

The vegan cheese Beyond burger with avocado is under US$15 at hkveganshop in Wan Chai. Although meaty and chewy, it lacked the juiciness, moisture and thickness of a super satisfying burger.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Food and Drinks

Review | Noodle soup at Pho Mot Vietnamese Restaurant in Sheung Wan

The pho (noodle soup) used fresh herbs and had a sweet, subtle broth, which wasn’t hot enough to cook the beef. Chuck beef was the favourite meat, while the Vietnamese-style drip coffee was rich and smooth

Pho with raw chuck, well-done beef and beef meatball at Pho Mot in Sheung Wan. Photo: Holly Chik
Food and Drinks

Can eating sushi be bad for your health?

Fish with high mercury levels, fried foods and too much sodium can all be part of a Japanese sushi meal, but are there healthier options?

Hong Kong restaurant reviews

Mideast fast food tasty at Shabab Syrian Food, Tsim Sha Tsui

Falafel, shawarma, fattoush and hummus – delicious, great-value Middle Eastern dishes are on the menu at Shabab Syrian Food in the Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry terminal. Everything we tried tasted good.

Food and Drinks

I’ll have a sign language lesson with that: dining differently in Mong Kok

Most of the staff at Dignity Kitchen are physically or mentally disabled, and they are serving up some of the best Singapore hawker food in Hong Kong. Founder Koh Seng Choon talks about the challenges they had to overcome.

videocam
Customers can learn to order drinks using sign language. Pretend to hold a cup in one hand and stir a spoon with the other to order a coffee. Photo: Winson Wong
Hong Kong restaurant reviews

Dosas, vadas, value: Saravanaa Bhavan vegetarian restaurant

Biryani, thali, dosas, vadas, and idlys – Saravanaa Bhavan in Hong Kong serves tasty Indian vegetarian food that offers good value for money. Vegan options are available, and the staff are helpful. It’s part of a global restaurant chain.

The north Indian thali comes with biryani rice, paneer butter masala, dal butter fry, chana masala, pickles, raita and gulab jamun. Photo: SCMP / Gigi Choy
Hong Kong restaurant reviews

Tasty oyster doughnuts and great harbour view at Ink

Visitors to the newly reopened Hong Kong Museum of Art have a new casual dining spot to check out as well – Ink, a casual alfresco self-service shop offering quick bites, local craft beers and home-made seasonal ice cream.

Food and Drinks

At Jin Cheng, South Horizons, dim sum tasty and good value

Jin Cheng in Hong Kong’s Southern district serves amazing baked barbecue pork buns and other tasty dishes at a reasonable price point.

Food and Drinks

Cart noodles for under HK$70 at Red Pocket Cafe in Wan Chai

Jaffe Road restaurant’s cart noodles in beef brisket soup were an overpriced letdown. But baked smoked duck breast rice with peach and the fish fillet burger were tasty and good value.

Cart noodles in beef brisket soup with curry fish balls, fish skin dumplings, mushrooms and turnips at Red Pocket Cart Noodles Cafe, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Photo: Gigi Choy
Hong Kong restaurant reviews

Review | At Spring Field in Wan Chai, fusion pho for under HK$75

Vietnamese-Chinese fusion with high-quality beef is the trademark of this Wan Chai restaurant. Stick to the pho bowls – the snacks were a letdown.

Beef balls with rare beef pho at Spring Field in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Photo: Gigi Choy
Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving tofurkey? Mock suckling pig? How we can eat less meat

Given global warming and the emergence of pseudo meats, more of us should be replacing the Thanksgiving turkey with meatless alternatives. Meanwhile, China’s meat prices have surged on its pork crisis: a chance for pseudo-meat makers to enter the world’s biggest meat-eating market.

videocam
Susan Jung's recipes

Breakfast recipe: Chinese macaroni soup noodles with a twist

Ditch the usual hot dog and Spam toppings in place of pork tenderloin and Taiwanese sausage in this Hong Kong favourite.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Help preserve 120 years of quality journalism.
SUPPORT NOW
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement