Hong Kong & Macau recs

[origami]

We are going to Hong Kong & Macau for a week this month and I've been too swamped to plan much. Does anyone have recs for things to see/do? We'll have our kids with us (5y old) so long days at museums and stuff like that are out, but they're cool with most sightseeing. We have hotels already. I know we'll go to Disney 1 day, and do the Shrek character breakfast in Macau. That's pretty much as far as I got.

ETA: rupertpenny help!

[rupertpenny]

I sent you a pm about stuff to do a few months ago, right? Let me look that over tomorrow and see if I have anything to add. I know I will have updated eating recs for sure.

Off the top of my head is recommend Ocean Park. We went a few weeks ago and it was really enjoyable. B liked it more than HKDL, but she's only two. Your boys might like Disney more but I'm sure they'd still like ocean park.

[rupertpenny]

Also, when will you be here again? Id be down for a GTG but I'm out of town from the 24th until the 4th so I think we will miss each other.

[rupertpenny]

ErinExpat may have recs too!

[origami]

Sept 3, 2015 9:03:35 GMT -5 rupertpenny said:

Also, when will you be here again? Id be down for a GTG but I'm out of town from the 24th until the 4th so I think we will miss each other.

boo. Same week

Thanks for the Ocean Park rec. I'll check out my PMs again.

[rupertpenny]

origami I went back and looked and I didn't really give you any recommendations for things to do. Sorry!

Here are some activities:

The peak is a must. The tram gets VERY crowded so I'd either try to go up first thing in the morning or take a taxi up and only ride the tram down. You're staying in Admiralty, right? If so you will be close to the tram.

The Big Buddha on Lantau is ok. It's neat, but not a must do.

Spending half a day at the markets in and around Mong Kok is a must. Your kids might especially enjoy the bird street and goldfish market. 

I think spending a day on one of the smaller islands is a good thing to do. Lamma is a pretty good choice, there are open air seafood restaurants and a decent beach about a 15 minute walk from the ferry pier. Cheung Chau is supposed to be nice too and also has a beach. Lamma where all the hippies hang out and I think Cheung Chau is supposed to be more normal, haha. There are also some villages on the south side of Lantau with good beaches, I think most are accessibly from the Mui Wo ferry and a sometimes you see water buffalo roaming around Lantau which is fun. I haven't personally been to any of these places besides Lammma though. 

Another thing that I have not done personally, but would probably be fun with kids is the Tai O fishing village on Lantau. Besides hanging out in the village you can also take dolphin watching tours here. 

Stanley, on the South Side of HK Island is an ok place to go. The beach there sucks, but they have a small market that sells some really nice kids clothes for very cheap (I'm guessing it's outlet stuff) and there are a lot of nice restaurants on the waterfront. 

Since you will be here for Mid-Autum Festival you should definitely go see the Lantern Carnival in Victoria Park. 

I also suggest just wandering around a bit. In Central/Soho/Sheung Wan I'd try to see the Graham Street Market, ride the Mid-Levels Escalator, check out the shops at PMQ, see the Man Mo Temple, look into antique shops on Hollywood Road, see the flea market on Upper Lascar Row, and see the Chinese medicine supply shops and dried seafood shops down closer to the Sheung Wan MTR. 

You should also make a point to ride the Star Ferry across the harbour and take the Ding Ding tram on HK Island at least once each. Neither are particularly good ways to get anywhere, but they are fun to ride.

Now for food: 

My go to dim sum place is Victoria Harbour Restaurant. It is at the new University of Hong Kong MTR stop, exit C. There are a million dim sum places though, and this one is a little bit out of the way. 

My favorite place for Cantonese roasted meat, especially suckling pig, is Dow Kee in Wan Chai. They have some green beans with minced pork that are SOO good.


Tsim Chai Kee is a really good place to get a quick, cheap meal in Central. They only do noodle soup and you can get sliced beef, shrimp wonton, or fish balls in the soup.


Going to a cooked food center is a very Hong Kong experience, but they can be kind of intimidating. The Queen’s Street Cooked Food Center in Sheung Wan is very tourist friendly. The Indian place there is really good.
Not to be confused with the Sheung Wan cooked food center which is around the corner. 



My favotire non-Hong Kong type places are


Yardbird: trendy izakaya/yakitori place. They don't do reservations long and if you go at a peak time you might have to wait.


Chachawan: Issan Thai food. No reservations but the wait isn’t usually bad.



Chom Chom: Really good Vietnamese small plates. No reservations but I didn’t have to wait long.


Ho Le Fook: Contemporary Chinese. The wait here is generally pretty long, but it is SO GOOD. I would not bring my kids here. holeefookhk.tumblr.com/



These are my standard recs and they are all Asian food because that's what people usually want when they visit, but if you are craving western food let me know and I will tell you my favorite western restaurants! 

If you need a babysitter for whatever reason I can recommend Rent A Mum. It isn't cheap, but it is really the only legal and non-sketchy way to hire a babysitter (besides hotel babysitters of course). 

Let me know if you have any other questions!

[rupertpenny]

Oh, and if you are staying in Admiralty check out the Star Street area. It is technically Wan Chai, but closer to Admiralty station. It's a cute area with nice restaurants and boutiques.

[origami]

Thank you so much rupertpenny! That's so helpful. I would love your western recs whenever you get a chance. We'll eat a mix of both, I'm guessing. My kids are not awesome about eating asian food. Still.

[majesty318]

Thanks for this! We have 3 days in Hong Kong in November. I've been working on food but needed places to go. rupertpenny - have you ever done high tea? We definitely want to do it but have not picked a place yet. I'm leaning towards Tiffin at the Grand Hyatt.

[rupertpenny]

origami here is some info about western food.

In Macau Fernando's is great. It's not close to the hotels in Cotai, but it's worth the taxi trip. And there is plenty of kid friendly stuff there.

Burgers are huge in HK now. I've had Butcher's Club burgers and they were good, and Beef and Liberty is supposed to be really good. Sadly, some interpretations of burger are really sad and pathetic.

Mexican food is blowing up too. Cali-Mex is everywhere and it is ok, I'll warn you that anything over mild is spicy though. They have quesadillas which are probably not too spicy. Little Burro has fewer locations but superior food.

We have Pizza Express, which is actually really good. Motorino is really good too, there is one in Wan Chai and one in Soho and they let kids help make the pizza when it isn't too busy. 208 Duecento Otto in Sheung Wan is also good and they have a kids play area on weekends.

In general all the restaurants run by Castelo Concepts are kid friendly, especially Jaspas, Oolaa, and "Insert Neighborbood" Grill. None are setting the world on fire with innovative cuisine, but the restuarants are reliable and usually extremely spacious by HK standards. 

In general you can find any kind of Western food you want in Soho. 

[origami]

Thank you rupertpenny!

[iammalcolmx]

rupertpenny just wanted to Thank you for these rec's. I just booked my ticket to visit origami but H and I are stopping over in Hong Kong for a few nights. I didn't know what I should do, now I know!!!

[rupertpenny]

Feb 3, 2016 15:03:13 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

rupertpenny just wanted to Thank you for these rec's. I just booked my ticket to visit origami but H and I are stopping over in Hong Kong for a few nights. I didn't know what I should do, now I know!!!

No problem! I'll give you some more adult oriented recs too, even though you didn't ask haha. 

I mentioned Chom Chom and Ho Lee Fook earlier, but they are part of a larger group called Black Sheep Restaurants and they are all very good, reasonably priced for Hong Kong, and they have excellent service which is rare here. MyHouse is another all around good and reasonably priced place. 

I have you down on my spreadsheet as someone who appreciates nice shoes, is this correct? If so you may want to check out Horizon Plaza outlet mall. This place is awesome, they have some outlets dedicated to one brand like Chloe or Saint Laurent, but distributors and department stores also have outlets which are usually better, especially the Lane Crawford outlet. Most things are marked down 50% minimum. Lots of good men's stuff too. There is also Prada outlet close but not in the same building. I haven't been to Prada personally, but if you are out there it is worth checking out. 

Let me know if you have any other questions!

[iammalcolmx]

Feb 3, 2016 20:11:48 GMT -5 rupertpenny said:

Feb 3, 2016 15:03:13 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

rupertpenny just wanted to Thank you for these rec's. I just booked my ticket to visit origami but H and I are stopping over in Hong Kong for a few nights. I didn't know what I should do, now I know!!!

No problem! I'll give you some more adult oriented recs too, even though you didn't ask haha. 

I mentioned Chom Chom and Ho Lee Fook earlier, but they are part of a larger group called Black Sheep Restaurants and they are all very good, reasonably priced for Hong Kong, and they have excellent service which is rare here. MyHouse is another all around good and reasonably priced place. 

I have you down on my spreadsheet as someone who appreciates nice shoes, is this correct? If so you may want to check out Horizon Plaza outlet mall. This place is awesome, they have some outlets dedicated to one brand like Chloe or Saint Laurent, but distributors and department stores also have outlets which are usually better, especially the Lane Crawford outlet. Most things are marked down 50% minimum. Lots of good men's stuff too. There is also Prada outlet close but not in the same building. I haven't been to Prada personally, but if you are out there it is worth checking out. 

Let me know if you have any other questions!

OK Yard-bird was recommended by someone else. H and I only eat fish but I looked at the menu and it looks like we can get by with small plates. We got a few Dim Sum recs from 1234FIF! friend( she is going with me, kinda the Ultimate GBCN GTG, LOL!!!)  We have lunch reservations at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon because I wanna be fancy for once in my LIFE! Any other good Dim Sum recs are welcome.

[rupertpenny]

iammalcolmx if you don't eat meat you might want to check out Ronin instead of Yardbird. It is the same chef and will have a much wider selection of seafood. It also takes reservations, which is nice because you have to get to Yardbird at like 6 sharp or wait for two hours. 

For dim sum I go to this place but it isn't really anything special. I just go there because it is closeish to my house. Most dim sum places are pretty similar. You can probably just ask the concierge at your hotel and they should be able to help. I wouldn't suggest just walking around and trying to find something because IME these kinds of places are usually hidden away on the 3rd floor or something. If you will be here on a weekend and want to be fancy I HIGHLY recommend the champagne brunch at Duddells. The food isn't necessarily better, but it is a fun experience. 

I have been to L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon for dinner and it didn't wow me as much as I wanted. Too much fois gras (but every fine dining restaurant in HK goes heavy on the fois gras). The bread basket was truly a thing of beauty though. 

Also, if you want to add one more GBCNer to your GTG world tour I'd love to get a drink with you and 1234FIF! while you're here 

[iammalcolmx]

Feb 11, 2016 8:07:17 GMT -5 rupertpenny said:

iammalcolmx if you don't eat meat you might want to check out Ronin instead of Yardbird. It is the same chef and will have a much wider selection of seafood. It also takes reservations, which is nice because you have to get to Yardbird at like 6 sharp or wait for two hours. 

For dim sum I go to this place but it isn't really anything special. I just go there because it is closeish to my house. Most dim sum places are pretty similar. You can probably just ask the concierge at your hotel and they should be able to help. I wouldn't suggest just walking around and trying to find something because IME these kinds of places are usually hidden away on the 3rd floor or something. If you will be here on a weekend and want to be fancy I HIGHLY recommend the champagne brunch at Duddells. The food isn't necessarily better, but it is a fun experience. 

I have been to L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon for dinner and it didn't wow me as much as I wanted. Too much fois gras (but every fine dining restaurant in HK goes heavy on the fois gras). The bread basket was truly a thing of beauty though. 

Also, if you want to add one more GBCNer to your GTG world tour I'd love to get a drink with you and 1234FIF! while you're here 

Just made an Outlook reminder to email Ronin two weeks before. I will run it by my H and 1234FIF but I think that will be good. Yes I will keep in touch. Thank you so much again!

[origami]

Feb 10, 2016 14:50:45 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

Feb 3, 2016 20:11:48 GMT -5 rupertpenny said:

No problem! I'll give you some more adult oriented recs too, even though you didn't ask haha. 

I mentioned Chom Chom and Ho Lee Fook earlier, but they are part of a larger group called Black Sheep Restaurants and they are all very good, reasonably priced for Hong Kong, and they have excellent service which is rare here. MyHouse is another all around good and reasonably priced place. 

I have you down on my spreadsheet as someone who appreciates nice shoes, is this correct? If so you may want to check out Horizon Plaza outlet mall. This place is awesome, they have some outlets dedicated to one brand like Chloe or Saint Laurent, but distributors and department stores also have outlets which are usually better, especially the Lane Crawford outlet. Most things are marked down 50% minimum. Lots of good men's stuff too. There is also Prada outlet close but not in the same building. I haven't been to Prada personally, but if you are out there it is worth checking out. 

Let me know if you have any other questions!

OK Yard-bird was recommended by someone else. H and I only eat fish but I looked at the menu and it looks like we can get by with small plates. We got a few Dim Sum recs from 1234FIF! friend( she is going with me, kinda the Ultimate GBCN GTG, LOL!!!)  We have lunch reservations at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon because I wanna be fancy for once in my LIFE! Any other good Dim Sum recs are welcome.

Snort.