The best burgers in Hong Kong

This all American-style burger joint in the heart of Wan Chai (and somewhat lively red-light district) is known for using soft brioche for burger buns. Their signature double cheeseburger and a milkshake are definitely crowd-pleasers, but their fried chicken burgers – crispy with moist meat – and fish burgers are just as good. For those who are not as carb-inclined as the rest of us, you can even go bunless.

OK, so The Diplomat is not technically a burger shop, but who cares when their burgers are as good as this. Offering one of the best burgers in Hong Kong, The Diplomat's burger is a quarter pounder perfectly grilled to medium-rare, but with crispy edges, topped with melted cheddar cheese, and sandwiched between two toasty sesame buns. It's served with tomato slices and pickles on the side, which keeps the bun in perfect shape.

Shake Shack's popularity in Hong Kong has grown into six locations, from Central to Sha Tin and beyond. Unlike other fast-food chains in town, Shake Shack shakes up Hong Kong's burger scene with consistency. Be it their Angus beef or chicken burger, or maybe even their current limited edition chipotle cheese menu and upcoming collab with Yardbird, Shake Shack has their burger game down. Make a stop at their shop in IFC, Causeway Bay, Pacific Place, Elements, Harbour City, or New Town Plaza and get stuck into a solid burger, time after time. 

Just around the corner from buzzy Star Street, Honbo fits right into the neighbourhood. The blue and white walls give off a Santorini vibe during the day while the neon accent lights scream ‘Hong Kong’ at night. It’s all about quality over quantity at Honbo. From the cheeseburger to the chicken burger, every element – patty, bun, sauce – is made in-house. The beef burgers, featuring a combination of local brisket and US chuck, are meaty with a bit of umami and are flat-out delicious. Plus, they're often cooking up something creative in the kitchen like their most recent Heinz tomato ketchup collaboration.

Helmed by seasoned British chef Nathan Green, meat-centric smokehouse and grill restaurant Henry, located in Rosewood Hong Kong, is every meat lover’s dream come true. So it should come as no surprise that their signature burger is a stunner. Made up of a rich Black Angus beef patty, topped with Butcher’s Shop bacon and American cheddar, this is a superbly satisfying burger. It's served with fries and house pickles to cut through the richness too. If that's not comfort, then we don't know what is.

Located right in the centre of our city's nightlife hub, Lan Kwai Fong, Beef & Liberty makes burgers that leap off the menu at you. The burgers range from the classic cheeseburger to the chilli-laced El Cabrón – Spanish slang for badass – to the Notorious PIG, which is, appropriately enough, made with pulled pork. Don’t pass on the bacon cheeseburger, though, as it's topped with New Zealand bacon, creamy raclette cheese and caramelised onions between two home-baked buns. It sounds simple, but it’s oh-so rich.

The Shabby Chic Saturday lunch menu at The Lobster Bar and Grill offers three courses with unlimited servings of Cheeky Martinis, but the standout item on this menu is the main course choice of burgers. You can, of course, opt for the juicy bacon and cheeseburger made with coarse ground beef with cheddar, smoked streaky bacon, and caramelised onions, or you can dive into the fish burger, which in our opinion, is the best version of a fillet-o-fish you'll ever taste. It's made up of a panko-crusted sole fillet and comes dripping in cheese and topped with tangy tartare sauce to create a perfectly balanced and exceptionally tasty fish burger.

Think strawberry milkshakes, candy stripes and bow ties, and you've got Burger Circus in a nutshell. Serving up a range of irresistible burgers, from classic American cheeseburgers made with a juicy 5oz beef patty with Wisconsin cheddar cheese to spicy chicken burgers that crank up the heat, and make your own options with selected ingredients such as fried eggs, jalapeños or blue cheese sauce to make your burger masterpiece.

This popular Sai Ying Pun burger joint offers a gourmet burger twist. Think truffle, foie gras, garlic thyme shrimp, aged gruyere, stilton and more; not to mention grass-fed Aussie Angus and British beef patties fried in the beef bone marrow. For a change-up, try the Black Daddy, a beef burger topped with housemade pickles and English black pudding. If this doesn't tickle your fancy, try the classic cheddar burger, or the American burger with American cheese, mustard, ketchup and mayonnaise.

What started as a place for passionate chefs and butchers in Aberdeen has evolved into one of Hong Kong’s premier burger joints in Wan Chai (there are branches in TST and Quarry Bay, too). The beef is of ridiculously high quality here: 100 percent all-natural, grain-fed Australian beef, dry-aged for 21 days, mixed with rump, chuck and brisket. Make sure to try the Double Happiness burger – twice the patties, twice the cheese and toppings that include tomatoes, pickles and maple bacon. Pair it with crispy duck fat fries, and you’ve got pleasure in its purest form.

Burgerman serves up some big portioned juicy burgers from their signature double patty trucker burger and crispy foie gras burger to more refined offerings like the black truffle wagyu burger. Order sweet potato fries or buffalo wings to make it a full meal, but you'll probably want to loosen your buckle or pop a button open before doing so because a mouthwatering food coma awaits after all this carb and protein-filled grub.

Offering satisfying stackers in the heart of Causeway Bay, Moo Moo Plus’s handmade burgers use premium USDA ground beef with a lean-to-fat ratio of 80 percent lean and 20 percent fat in each juicy patty. They’re all sandwiched in soft homemade butter brioche but come in with a variety of ingredients including The Tropical Moo with grilled pineapple, The American Moo with BBQ sauce, and the most indulgent of them all, The Causeway Moo, which comes topped with a rich cut of foie gras.

Time Out Hong Kong in partnership with Moo Moo Plus