Geoff Marett’s Hong Kong, From 3am Dim Sum to the Best Char Siu on the Island

Hong Kong has one of the highest densities of restaurants anywhere in the world: more than 17,000 licensed kitchens packed into roughly 1100 square kilometres of land. The best of them are rarely the ones with a queue of visitors outside. They’re the six-seat shops, the roast meat counters that sell out by mid-afternoon, the rooms that open before dawn.

Geoff Marett knows which is which. Melbourne-born, he moved to Hong Kong at two years old and stayed a decade, then returned in his early twenties after two years cooking in Japan. He spent five more years working in the city – floor, bar, then trained in the kitchen at Yardbird – and still goes back once a year, most recently to introduce his wife to Hong Kong, which he calls his second home.

That’s a lot of opportunities for eating, either as a visitor or as an after-service meal. When asked for advice on where to eat, Marett doesn’t give a best-of. Many of his favourites are the unsung heroes: a char siu shop in Chai Wan with six seats, a dim sum room where you pull your own baskets off the tabletop steamers, a dai pai dong (traditional open-air food stall) where dinner arrives with a bucket of beers.

“It’s such a food mecca,” he says. “It’s just so consistent.”

He’s not wrong about the depth of it. This is a city where a bowl of brisket noodles and a Michelin-starred kitchen are equally worth the flight, where a stall serving a 100-year-old Cantonese recipe sits a few streets from a bar ranked among the best in the world, and where the counter with six seats and no English menu is usually the one to join.

Any month works, though. October and November November comes with a bonus – the city’s Wine & Dine Festival, and special menus and offers at restaurants and bars across town.

Here’s where Marett would send you.

Breakfast, and the morning after

Australia Dairy Company

One of the most-visited cha chaan tengs (local cafe or diner) in Hong Kong. You order as soon as you sit down and you’re out in 20 minutes.

“Their egg sandwich is so good. It’s super soft white bread and the most buttery egg. They have the classic macaroni soup.”

Sister Wah

Filed by Marett under the specific category of restaurants you visit the day after a heavy night. Order the brisket in clear broth; the tendon is the connoisseur’s pick.

“There’s some places that I go to after a big night out. There’s a place called Sister Wah. It’s really good – classic beef brisket noodles.”

The roast meat run

Sun Kwai Heung

Six seats, a long way east, and one of the best plates of char siu on Hong Kong Island. Most people take it away. “Sun Kwai Heung, in Chai Wan. Roast meats – really, really good char siu.”

Dynasty

A Cantonese dining room inside the Renaissance Harbour View. “They usually do dim sum, but their char siu and crispy roast pork is – oh, it’s so good.”

Dim sum, early and very early

Hong Kong Cuisine 1983

The dressed-up option on Marett’s list, where executive chef Silas Li’s French training shows up on a Cantonese dim sum menu: a ratatouille dumpling with pine nut pesto, rice rolls with beef and 18-year-old dried tangerine peel, crispy fish skin with shichimi togarashi and wasabi mayonnaise.

Sun Hing Restaurant

Sun Hing on Smithfield Road has been operating for over 60 years. “It’s basically a dim sum spot that opens at 3am. It’s for the cab drivers. But we would go there after a night out. It’s kind of like a help-yourself dim sum – there’s these tabletop steamers, and you go up and you pick your own baskets.”

Dai pai dong, bucket of beers

Tin Cheung Restaurant

Marett has an unabashed affection for dai pai dongs and this one is where he takes a group.

“I love dai pai dongs. It’s your classic dai pai dong dishes – beef and potatoes, garlic crispy chicken, razor clam with a mountain of garlic. And it’s just a lot of fun. Don’t forget to order a bucket of beers – Tsingtao or Blue Girl.”

Tung Po

Located on the second floor of a municipal services building above a wet market, you’ll find beer in rice bowls, staff who’ve been there decades and a room that gets louder as the night goes on. “Tung Po, classic dai pai dong as well. That’s a lot of fun.”

The one he’d fly back for

Yardbird

Asked which single restaurant he’d choose if he had one night in Hong Kong, Marett doesn’t hesitate: “Yardbird. There’s no other place like it. It feels comfortable; it’s just so much fun.”

“I’d probably get the chicken neck, the gizzards, the Achilles, the chicken hearts, the chicken oyster – that usually sells out pretty quickly, so gotta get there earlier. The tsukune – the meatball – is the best there.”

Always Joy

Matt Abergel and Lindsay Jang closed Ronin after 12 years to open Always Joy next door to Yardbird in March 2025. Marett has been a few times and has left the ordering to Abergel.

“The menu changes quite a bit. Matt usually just brings out what he feels, or what he’s been working on.”

Worth crossing town for

Islam Food

A halal Cantonese institution since 1950, where Marett orders one thing.

“They’re like these kind of pan-fried beef dumplings, but it’s so juicy – it’s almost like a xiaolongbao. That’s kind of like the only thing I really order.”

Where he drinks

Bar Leone

Lorenzo Antinori’s bar became the first in Asia to top The World’s 50 Best Bars list in 2025, and sits third on Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2026. Order the olive oil sour and the mortadella focaccia, which is less a bar snack and more the reason half the queue is there.

Bourke’s

“There’s a spot called Bourke’s, which is an Aussie wine bar. The food there is really nice and the venue is really cool.” Be sure to try the whipped cod roe dip with soy-cured ikura, lemon zest and crinkle-cut chips, and a Bourke’s Martini with extra pickles.

Wine & Dine Festival

If you’re planning your trip around food, October is the month: the Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival runs at the Central Harbourfront from October 29 to November 1 with great wine, international dining and live entertainment, all set against the backdrop of the harbour and skyline. If you miss those four days, don’t worry – Wine & Dine Month runs through November.

But even outside these times, Hong Kong is full of diverse experiences – it’s one of the world’s best cities for eating and drinking, after all. No matter when you’re planning to visit, Marrett’s suggestions for where to eat, drink and explore are good, any time of the year.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Hong Kong Tourism Board.