Hong Kong food tours
Discover the Hong Kong food tours helping discerning, hungry travellers immerse themselves in the vibrant culinary culture of the city.
Hong Kong food tours
Discover the Hong Kong food tours helping discerning, hungry travellers immerse themselves in the vibrant culinary culture of the city.
Recently named by Saveur magazine as ‘Best Large Culinary Destination 2014’, Hong Kong offers an incredibly broad variety of dishes and meals, spanning an array of international and regional cuisines. With venues to suit every budget, this cosmopolitan city boasts more than 11,000 licenced eateries for you to choose from, but how to select from this dizzying selection and really make the most of your time there? Reviews can be helpful, but trawling through opinions of varying reliability, many of which will quickly be out-of-date, can be a chore.
Instead, consider taking a food tour, which will take you through the best of Hong Kong’s cuisine and dining culture. With the help of someone in the know, you can truly eat like a local and discover otherwise hidden gems. Restaurants, cafes and street stalls of course, but fresh food markets and speciality ingredient producers as well.
With the language barrier being an issue for many, this invaluable assistance will also help you decipher menus and learn what best to order once you have. These tours also offer tailored guides to take away with you – covering both restaurants and commonly found dishes – so you can continue your explorations after the tour, with much greater confidence.
But there is much more to Hong Kong food culture than simply what and where to eat. The city has undergone enormous change over the decades, with eating habits adapting along with the skyline. A knowledgeable food guide can take you through the significance of this transformation and how Hong Kong’s development, architecture and history have impacted on the culinary landscape.
Many of the individual eateries you will visit have their own interesting histories, which would otherwise remain a mystery to the casual visitor. Hear these unique stories while you explore their kitchens and see these families of cooks in action. Learn how the different generations of Hong Kong residents have left their mark on this remarkable food culture.
Although there are many different kinds of food tours available, of varying quality, Hong Kong Foodie Tours is the most reliable choice, being the only organisation licenced by the Hong Kong Travel Agents Registry. All the tour guides who work for this company have grown up eating Hong Kong and Cantonese foods and have all gained a Tourist Guide Pass qualification. You can be sure these tours are extensively researched for the most rewarding and authentic experience and feel assured that their recommendations and advice are trustworthy and authoritative.
There are no minimum numbers for their tours, which run in almost any weather (though not in a typhoon!), and there will never be more than 12 people at once. Children are very welcome and a wide range of dietary requirements can be catered for. If you are vegetarian, vegan, diabetic or have any allergies or other food restrictions, just let them know when you book.
Their Central and Sheung Wan Foodie Tour runs in the afternoon, four days a week, and is great for beginners, giving a fascinating insight into the best food to be found in these two districts. Your three and a half hour excursion will take in six family eateries, including some of the oldest in these neighbourhoods, each of which offers both fantastic food for you to sample (included in the price) and its own distinctive story.
Get an insider’s view on these historic neighbourhoods and how past events, changes in architecture and cultural developments have shaped both the areas and these family-run businesses. This tour includes both an open market visit, where you can see how locals select fresh fish, and tastings of traditional wonton and noodle soups, roasted meats, dim sum, preserved fruits, freshly baked tarts and refreshing raw sugar juice.
Their Sham Shui Po Foodie Tour, which runs in the mornings, three days a week, is excellent for people who want to explore the city’s food culture a little further. These six family enterprises have all perfected a particular Hong Kong speciality over the years and your ticket includes substantial tastings at every stop – be sure to come hungry to this tour! This neighbourhood, in particular, has retained much of its past charm and traditions, unusual in such a rapidly developed city.
All of which you will learn about as you meander from place to place. Experience a vibrant working-class community coming alive in the morning and enjoy a typical Hong Kong breakfast of milk tea and pineapple buns, as well as tasting steamed rice rolls with different sauces, braised/roast goose, hand-pulled egg noodles, speciality soy products and warm, fresh cookies. Private tours, which follow the same format as the two described, are also available but will be exclusive to your celebration or corporate group.
Read more about the exciting foodie scene in Hong Kong.
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