Eating Our Way Around Hong Kong

Hong Kong appeals to travelers for all sorts of different reasons. On our recent family trip to the Chinese city, we came back talking about all the incredible cuisine we had, from dim sum to Thai to Italian. Here's a rundown of our favorite experiences-both in the city and during a day trip to nearby Macau.

Dim Sum at Mandarin Oriental

Located in the center of Hong Kong's business district, the iconic (and original) Mandarin Oriental is home to three (three!!) Michelin-starred restaurants. At Man Wah, located on the 25th floor of the hotel, we had an incredible lunch while overlooking the impressive cityscape. Lunch and Dim Sum is served Monday through Friday from noon to 2:30 p.m. and 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on the weekends.

Service was impeccable and the delicious flavors kept coming-barbecued Iberian pork loin with longan honey; Wagyu beef puffs with black pepper sauce; soup dumplings with shrimp, scallop, pork and shiitake mushrooms; and wok-fried prawns were our favorites. Dessert (Chinese petits fours) was served in a gorgeous birdcage, adding a lively end to a memorable meal.

Rooftop dining at Komune, Ovolo Southside

The Ovolo brand has properties in both Hong Kong and Australia. We stayed at their Southside location, located near the Wong Chuk Hang subway stop and not far from Ocean Park. We heard guests raving about the hotel's 4th-floor rooftop restaurant, Komune, so we decided to try it one evening for dinner.

The space has seating both inside and outside, with cheerful yellow and light blue décor and an assortment of umbrellas for shade on the patio. We decided to eat al fresco, as the day's heat had died down considerably and there were fans blowing to add a cool breeze to the affair.

Andy and his staff treated us like family, and we sampled a bit of everything on the menu. Standout appetizers included the buffalo cauliflower, guacamole, roasted chicken wings and pork and fennel sausage sliders. We almost didn't have room for entrees, but we managed to enjoy the squid ink linguini, BBQ pork ribs with mac and cheese and sweet potato risotto, served family style.

Italian at Spiaggia, Stanley

There is a fantastic selection of restaurants in tiny Stanley, a quiet town nestled on the far south side of Hong Kong Island. We loved our sunset dinner at Spiaggia, watching the tourists and locals wander down Main Street, the gorgeous curved harbor just beyond.

But although the specialty here is Italian, we all had different things in mind when it came to ordering. Between pad Thai, pasta with meat sauce, wiener schnitzel and quesadillas, we somehow crammed four international delights into one filling meal, and each dish was prepared just right.

Dim Sum at Din Tai Fung in Kowloon

Our experience at this restaurant, specializing in steamed dumplings, was a bit of a last-minute decision. After posting a photo of our family in front of the Hong Kong skyline, a Facebook friend messaged us that we simply had to try this Taiwanese restaurant.

We decided to take his advice, and we were so glad we did. Din Tai Fung has grown to many locations across more than a dozen countries, and we tried the busy one in Kowloon's Mira Place, a bustling shopping mall.

Everything is efficient here-even waiting for your table. Instead of calling out your party's name, you're assigned a letter and three-digit number, which appears on a large screen and also references your table size.

The dim sum here is highly rated and we tried a bit of everything, from the above-mentioned steamed dumplings to soup, as well as seafood, rice and the amazing pan-fried shrimp and pork dumplings. We got in and out pretty quickly, but never felt rushed. The chain now has locations in California, Oregon and Washington state-and we're excited to visit one again a bit closer to home.

Bonus round in Macau:

Thai at Banyan Tree, Macau

There are a plethora of casinos and resorts to choose from in Macau, and the Banyan Tree, part of the Galaxy Macau complex, is one of the most elegant. We enjoyed a virtual tour of Thailand at the resort's famed Saffron restaurant, which offers authentic Thai food with a savory twist to many dishes.

Standouts here include the crisp noodle wrapped prawn appetizers, larb tuna salad, southern style beef curry and braised chicken green curry with rice noodles. We loved the quiet, attentive service and elegantly appointed dining room.

Portuguese at Fernando's, Macau

Set well off the beaten path, Fernando's is a legendary Portuguese restaurant that all the locals seem to know. The main dining room is airy and features red and white tablecloths and no-nonsense waitresses. We sampled everything from deep fried prawns to cuttlefish to the enormous steak sandwich, served on the restaurant's huge signature bread rolls.

The food here is definitely good, but the atmosphere is even better, with a lively vibe inside-conversations in different languages happily intermix. You feel a world away from the Las Vegas-like craziness of central Macau, with a wide sandy beach just steps from the front door and lush foliage surrounding the restaurant.

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