I found the best burger ever in Hong Kong, the world’s No.1 food city

On an eating odyssey through one of the world's favourite foodie destinations, this traveller finds the best seat to appreciate the flavours of Hong Kong. 

The fluffy handmade baos are being lightly toasted and wrapped around fried fish with a slice of cheddar and house-made tartar sauce. From my counter seat at Little Bao, I’m happily watching award-winning chef May Chow’s every move as she creates the bao burgers I’ll remember forever.

“When you say fusion, sometimes it’s a dirty word, because people feel like you’re not an expert in anything.” Chow says. “But Hong Kong connects the East and West. Riding that thin line of connectivity is what we aim for.”

Here, the comfort food fusion includes teriyaki fried chicken baos and pork belly baos, but I’m falling hard for Chow’s twist on a fish burger. And some incredible fried three-yellow chicken. And drunken clams cooked in Shaoxing wine. Followed by a freshly fried and still warm golden bao around salted ice cream with caramel sauce for ice-cream sandwich perfection.

Fish bao from Little Bao.

Ice cream sandwich at Little Bao.

There are only 20 seats in this original Little Bao location in SoHo (you can find another 45 at their Causeway Bay restaurant), but thanks to wooden seats that fit on the steps outside, diners can spill out into the fresh air. Across the stepped street, Coa, which in 2023 became the first bar to take the top spot in Asia’s 50 Best Bars three times and currently sits at number four, draws more people in as they make magic with mescal and tequila.

To say Hong Kong is a food lover’s destination is like saying Antarctica can get a bit cold. Everything I eat, from steamed buns on the run to three Michelin-starred fine dining, has my tastebuds dancing.

In the Tai O fishing village on Lantau Island where homes are built on stilts above the tidal flats, the signature eau de dried fish scent is strong as we walk down streets lined with vendors selling fish products. The village provides seafood for many city restaurants, including the Michelin-starred Fook Lam Moon. Not to be confused with Fook Moon Lam in Tai O, where we’re handed a six-pack of Blue Girl beer with the plastic rings still attached and a toilet roll to use instead of napkins when things get messy. Which they do.

The lazy Susan is loaded up with dishes including garlic scallops in their shells, sweet and sour fish fillets and shrimp paste fried rice. It’s so busy and loud we can’t hold a conversation but smiles and nods over great food is a universal language.

Black truffle shrimp toast plate at Ladies Street Sik Fan Co. Picture: Amanda Woods

Back in the city, Hong Kong has sadly lost many of its open-air food stalls known as dai pai dong, with the government not issuing any new licences since the 1970s. At the dai pai dong-inspired Ladies Street Sik Faan Co, surrounded by old neon signs and iron gates, we get a taste for old Hong Kong as we sip beer from bowls and dine on giant razor clams steamed with garlic and soy, and black truffle shrimp toast.

No visit to Hong Kong is complete without the dumplings and delights of a good dim sum. The list of possibilities is extensive and includes one of the oldest restaurants in Hong Kong, the Luk Yu Tea House, where we feast on traditionally prepared dishes including har gau (shrimp dumplings) and char siu pork, goose and duck.

For a fine-dining dim sum experience, Lung King Heen was the first Chinese restaurant to be awarded three Michelin stars and retained two stars in 2025. Here you can try baked goose puffs, steamed lobster and scallop dumplings and other elevated morsels.

The Former Central Police Station Compound, Tai Kwun, is another popular spot to drink and dine. Options include the beautiful Chinese Library where the menu highlights the diversity of Chinese cuisine. Their chrysanthemum “thousand cut” silken tofu in chicken broth is a stunning example of the art of the knife known as dao yi, and my delicate flower, which started as a sheet of tofu, is so beautiful I don’t want to disturb it. But it’s also delicious, so you know how this ends.

For those who like to try Michelin-starred restaurants, I have good news and bad news. The good news is you have plenty to choose from. The bad news is it would take almost a month to try all 76 of them if you ate three Michelin-starred meals a day.

For our final meal we choose T’ang Court, which in 2025 received three Michelin stars for the 10th consecutive year, a record for a Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong. Found in the Langham Hong Kong, the restaurant sets the opulent scene with its burgundy-draped ceiling and gold accents, and when those dishes come out, the wows keep on coming.

From the baked stuffed crab shell to the seafood rice served in individual pumpkins, every dish is a winner. My only problem now is figuring out how quickly I can get back to Hong Kong.

The writer was a guest of Qantas and the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

How to get to Hong Kong from Australia

Qantas operates daily flights to Hong Kong from Sydney and Melbourne on its fleet of Airbus A330 aircraft. 

Originally published as I found the best burger ever in Hong Kong, the world’s No.1 food city