Celia Lee

Much like most traditional holidays in Hong Kong, Lunar New Year comes with a series of traditional foods that are specially prepared and enjoyed during the holidays. Together with festive menus filled with auspicious dishes and abundant poon choi basin dishes, Chinese New Year puddings make up a piece of the trifecta of LNY festive cuisine. Traditionally dominated by a savoury option – our favourite, the turnip cake – and a sweet option, the New Year red dates pudding, various restaurants and establishments have since introduced innovative flavours and unique twists on these time-honoured recipes. Whether you’re celebrating with friends, family, or your loved one, these Chinese New Year puddings are sure to delight every palate.  RECOMMENDED: Find out about with a guide to Chinese New Year flowers and fruits that promise good luck and fortune, or take in some auspicious vibes with these Chinese New Year decorations and displays around town

Staying in Hong Kong for the Lunar New Year holidays? There’s plenty of festive activities to keep you busy over the three-day holiday. From vibrant installations to energetic lion and dragon dances, there’s no shortage of celebrations to behold. Here are some of our recommendations for Lunar New Year things to do and see around town for the Year of the Horse, curated for maximum enjoyment and auspiciousness.   RECOMMENDED: 🥢 The best Chinese New Year menus to check out 🌺 13 auspicious fruits and flowers for Chinese New Year

Gatherings with family and friends are staples of Lunar New Year activities in Hong Kong. While many Chinese restaurants in the city will serve up seasonal menus populated with dishes carrying auspicious meanings, it’s also common for locals to gather at home around a poon choi. Literally meaning ‘basin dish’, this traditional food signifies unity and prosperity in a layering of sought-after ingredients in Cantonese cuisine, most commonly premium fresh and dried seafood. Luckily for you, we’ve curated some of Hong Kong’s best poon choi offerings for Lunar New Year 2026 so you can kick off your Year of the Horse with ease. READ MORE: Familiarise yourself with the customs and traditions of Lunar New Year before it starts!

Tired of dining at your usual haunts? Thankfully, Hong Kong is never short of new restaurants – that’s why we’ve scoured the city to find you the hottest dining spots to try. This month, grab a table at the first overseas outpost of Kumamoto's famous tsukemen ramen, chef Vicky Lau's casual Yunnanese eatery, and more. Bookmark this page to discover Hong Kong’s best new restaurants!Think we missed a new great dining place in Hong Kong? Shoot us an email at editor.hk@timeout.com so we can check it out!RECOMMENDED:  🍴 Hong Kong’s oldest restaurants you need to visit⭐️ The 50 best restaurants in Hong Kong

Christmas is just around the corner, which means it’s time to get all your gift shopping done! Luckily, there’s still a bit of time left to hunt down the perfect treat for the women in your life. If you’re running short on ideas, let our Christmas gift guide for her help you find a thoughtful and meaningful present that the ladies will love. RECOMMENDED: Start planning for the holiday season with our ultimate guide to celebrating Christmas in Hong Kong.

With Thanksgiving on the horizon, it’s time to start planning your gathering with friends and family before the festive rush hits. If you, like us, have been craving a hearty turkey roast, cinnamon-y pies, and warming hot cocoas with the recent drop in temperature, we’ve got you covered. Check out some of Hong Kong’s best thanksgiving menus for 2025, and pass that cranberry sauce! RECOMMENDED: Book a table at one of these new restaurants in town or enjoy a meal from one of these restaurants with an epic view. Best for large gatherings: Buenos Aires Polo ClubBest for a unique meal: Quiero MásBest for roast lovers: Feather & BoneBest for families: Fini’sBest for Friends-giving: La Paloma

There are many ways to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, such as admiring the full moon, spending time with family and friends, or solving lantern riddles. If you ask us, our favourite way to get into the festive spirit is to stuff our faces with mooncakes. From timeless fillings like lotus seed paste with salted egg yolks to creative flavours like chocolate, tea custard, or cured ham, there are plenty of mooncakes to try. In preparation for the autumnal festival falling on October 6, we’ve gathered some of the best mooncakes you can get your hands on this year.RECOMMENDED: Mark your Mid-Autumn Festival with an indulgent family meal at Hong Kong's best restaurants.

It’s no exaggeration to say that foreign domestic helpers (FDWs) form the backbone of Hong Kong’s society. We were able to build our small city into the global hub that it is today thanks in no small part to the helpers who take over running our households so citizens can focus on accomplishing big things. To recognise and show gratitude for their contributions to local families, various local charities have launched FDWs-exclusive offers in recent years, such as the Li Ka Shing Foundation. Following a successful campaign last year, the foundation will run another giveaway of Disneyland tickets catering to domestic workers that covers everything from transport to in-park meals and activities.  The Li Ka Shing Foundation announced the giveaway on February 10, citing an expansion of the campaign scale and offerings compared to 2025. The number of tickets offered this year will also increase from 4,000 to 5,000. Meanwhile, for the first time, eligible FWDs who can apply for these tickets will include nationals from Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Thailand in addition to last year’s Filipino-only cohort.  Participating FWDs can use their ticket on March 29 or April 12. Each admission ticket will come with a loaded Octopus card to facilitate travel to and from the park plus in-park meal vouchers for two full meals and a snack. This “heartfelt gesture of gratitude” makes us smile. To effectively distribute tickets to FWDs across Hong Kong, the foundation has partnered with

International pop culture expo Comic Con has announced its first Hong Kong instalment in January this year. Since then, fans have been eagerly awaiting the 2026 event programme. Beyond the range of film, comic, anime, and gaming merchandise and collectibles on offer, Comic Con is also known for engaging notable creatives, actors, and voice actors in panel discussions and live Q&As that widen story universes, deepen character lore, and offer fans a glimpse into how their favourite titles came to be. Organisers have finally unveiled the first names of its 2026 line-up in Hong Kong, confirming the appearances of three industry veterans at the May expo: Mads Mikkelsen, Giancarlo Esposito, and Christopher Lloyd.  Photograph: Facebook / theofficialmads Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen is known for several generation-defining performances: from the scheming Le Chiffre in Casino Royale (2006) and the elegantly deadly Hannibal Lecter in NBC’s Hannibal (2013-2015), to franchise icons such as Galen Erso in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Kaecilius in Doctor Strange (2016), and Gellert Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022). Mikkelsen’s talent for compelling performances knows no bounds, landing him representative roles in Danish titles such as The Hunt (2012), Another Round (2020), and The Last Viking (2025), as well as Cliff Unger in Hideo Kojima’s (2019) post-apocalyptic, action-adventure masterpiece Death Stranding. Whether he’s playing a cannibalistic se

Spring calls forth one of Japan’s most coveted flora-inspired celebrations: the cherry blossom season! Every March and April, sakura trees in full bloom line the streets of Japan in an aesthetic pink hue, attracting locals and visitors alike to admire the cherry blossom’s stunning birth. The beautiful but short-lived cherry blossom viewing is so beloved that the Japanese take it very seriously, and the Japan Meteorological Corporation (JMC) keeps a close eye on weather conditions with a detailed forecast of the blooming season that goes through several updates in the lead up to the occasion. The JMC has recently announced its third and newest update for cherry blossom season 2026, offering location-specific blooming dates and times for visitors to plan their annual spring sojourn accordingly.  Photograph: Courtesy Japan Meteorological Corporation Cherry blossom season in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and more According to data from the JMC, the first blooms this year will likely be spotted in Kochi and Nagoya on March 21, with Nagoya blooms reaching its fullest on March 30. Meanwhile, cherries in Tokyo are expected to flower on March 22 and be in full bloom by March 29. Predictions for popular tourist destinations include initial blooms in Osaka on March 25 and full blooms on April 1, while Kyoto will see a blossoming period from March 25 to April 2, and Fukuoka’s will run from March 22 to March 30. Northern destinations such as Sapporo will receive its first blooms on April 26 and

As one of the hottest trends of 2025, it’s not surprising to see the hype for collectibles extend beyond the original reach for toys and figurines. Now, you can get blind boxes of just about anything, even the coffee in your pantry. Singaporean coffee brand Bacha Coffee has just hopped on the bandwagon with its latest launch that features two types of blind boxes, each filled with a surprise variant of the brand’s finest 100-percent Arabica specialty beans.  The Discovery Blind Box is ideal for casual coffee enjoyers and includes a box of Bacha’s signature coffee bags, either milk or dark chocolate-covered coffee beans, raw sugar candy sticks, plus an exclusive gift certificate. To embark on your blind box discovery journey, simply select a sealed box from the three bean options on offer: single origin, fine flavoured, and naturally CO2 decaffeinated.  Photograph: Courtesy Bacha Coffee For coffee connoisseurs, the Indulgence Blind Box collection offers a refined flavour discovery. Inside, you’ll get two loose specialty coffees, a box of coffee bags, a set of coffee filters, and one coffee accessory that ranges from a bone china Bacha mug or signature Bacha iced coffee glass to enjoy your mystery brew with. Simply choose your preferred flavour profile between single origin and fine flavoured to begin your discovery!   Bacha Coffee’s blind box collections are available online at bachacoffee.com now until stock lasts. The Discovery Blind Box is priced at $388 each, while the I

Most of us are already familiar with Starbucks and its signature location-specific products, and while Hong Kong branches certainly stock a coveted collection, the San Francisco coffee chain’s new home inside the Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM) promises one-of-a-kind merchandise alongside beverage experiences that are fit for an emperor. Now open to the public, Starbucks’ new concept store brings tea-centred new menu items to an interior inspired by the museum’s Ming and Qing collections.  Photograph: Courtesy Starbucks The HKPM branch is the only Starbucks location in Hong Kong to sport a traditional Chinese calligraphy shop sign. The sign is modelled after those found on high streets during the Ming and Qing dynasties, with the coffee brand’s Chinese name artfully crafted by local calligrapher Westley Wong. Other design highlights include a mural by local artist Elsa Ngai, depicting the life cycle of a coffee tree in detail through mineral pigments and clay-based paints, as well as installations by local sculptor Leo Wong that interprets the humble coffee plant with traditional shan shui painting styles.  These fitting additions to the café are accompanied by an exclusive plum-flavoured beverage line. Using sweet and sour plum sauce and whole plums as bases, visitors can pair this traditional Chinese flavour with Starbucks’ coffee or oolong tea and enjoy it warm or iced as a tonic. Another exclusive menu item, the Turmeric Oatmilk Latte, similarly incorporates oriental fla

Hong Kong has no shortage of quality French restaurants. In particular, we are most familiar with the elegance and intricacies of French cuisine which many establishments showcase with exceptional flair — think slicing into a micro-dish in a crystal-clad dining room with servers dressed to the nines. But there’s more to French cuisine than your usual fine-dining affair, and Chouchou is here to fill this gap. Set to open on January 26 along Wan Chai’s Ship Street, this contemporary brasserie brings traditional home-style dining to an elevated, Art Nouveau space, with a menu that arguably highlights the crème de la crème of French cuisine: comforting dishes designed to feed the soul.  As the sister restaurant of Babette, we’re pretty sure Chouchou is set to become a neighbourhood favourite. Led by executive chef Cédric Tsia, previously of three-Michelin-starred Amber and one-Michelin-starred Louise, Chouchou’s menu is a celebration of authentic French flavours sans pretentious flair. Highlighted starters include classics such as foie gras au torchon and tartare de boeuf, both designed to whet your appetite for the hearty mains to come.  Photograph: Courtesy Chouchou Dedicated to curating a lively and cosy dining space, Chouchou offers a selection of sharing mains ideal for passing around the table. The canard à l’orange is a whole roasted dry-aged duck glazed with orange and spices, while the traditional tourte Française offers a rustic experience with black truffle, comté, P

Another one bites the dust among Hong Kong’s ‘soy sauce western’ restaurants. Sai Ying Pun’s Sammy’s Kitchen will soon join a growing list of historic local establishments to close their doors for good in recent years, concluding over half a century of operations in the neighbourhood. Second-generation owner Miss Yip points to interior decay and leaks that motivated the closure for renovation. While Miss Yip alluded to the temporary nature of this shutdown, no further dates have been announced for the restaurant’s reopening following some much needed renovation and maintenance work.  The brainchild of Sammy Yip and two friends, Sammy’s Kitchen initially opened in a humble spot on Hong Kong Island’s westside in 1969, before migrating to its current address along Queen’s Road West. Since day one, the menu has focused on serving classic Hong Kong-style ‘soy sauce western’ cuisine – a hyper-localised interpretation of western dishes that’s unique to our city. The down-to-earth nature of Sammy’s prices, dishes, and atmosphere have made this restaurant a staple in Sai Ying Pun over the years.  Photograph: Ann Chiu Having immigrated from mainland China to Hong Kong, founder Yip has led several professions before entering the hospitality industry with a gig at The Repulse Bay. What followed was a successful career as chef and waiter at the city’s star-studded hotels, including the Hilton, the Mandarin Oriental, and the Peninsula, where Yip steadily honed his culinary skills and cur

Since the opening of the West Kowloon High Speed Rail station, travelling between mainland China and Hong Kong has become more convenient than ever. To accommodate for the increased amount of inbound and outbound travellers over the Lunar New Year holidays, 16 direct destinations will be added to the West Kowloon High Speed Rail Line before the Year of the Horse. This increase in direct high-speed train routes will likely attract more mainland tourists to visit Hong Kong during the holidays while allowing citizens to explore parts of China previously disconnected by rail with ease.  The MTR Corporation announced in a press release on January 11 that it will be enhancing these High Speed Rail operations between cities in mainland China and Hong Kong in time for Lunar New Year, adding 16 direct-access destinations to the Hong Kong section of the railway network. Among these new connections are Nanjing, China’s ancient capital best known for its cultural tourism; Wuxi, the scenic Jiangnan destination near Suzhou; and Hefei, a laid-back locale with historic charm.  Photograph: Candida Ng / AFP Meanwhile, MTR will also increase the frequencies of the Shanghai Hongqiao sleeper train service departing from the West Kowloon terminus. From January 26, three round-trip trains will run to and from Shanghai Hongqiao Station daily, with intermediate stops at Hefeinan, Nahjingnan, and Wuxidong – previously, there were four high-speed trains running between Hong Kong and Shanghai each wee

Fishballs are synonymous with Hong Kong street food. Although simple in principle, this affordable delicacy holds an important spot in the city’s classic food scene. Now, there is a chance to savour fishballs beyond hawker stands and snack shops. Contemporary German restaurant Heimat by Peter Find is partnering up with local heritage brand Ha Ming Kee for a unique German-Cantonese fusion menu where the humble fishball takes centre stage.  Best known for its handmade Chiuchow fishball products, Ha Ming Kee is a storied Hong Kong brand with over 50 years of history. From its humble beginnings in a home kitchen within the old Kowloon Walled City to its multi-branch operation across Hong Kong today, Ha Ming Kee remains insistent on handcrafting everything from cuttlefish balls to fish cakes and dumplings according to their centuries-old family recipes daily. It is this commitment to freshness and artisanship that brings crowds to its Kowloon and Hong Kong Island branches every day.  Photograph: Courtesy Heimat by Peter Find Heimat’s unique German-Cantonese menu is borne out of chef Find’s love of local cuisine and knack for innovation. Each dish in this six-course affair incorporates Ha Ming Kee’s fishball products into Heimat’s contemporary German cuisine. The menu kicks off with an appetiser that pairs the beloved cuttlefish ball and crispy fish skin with potato foam and caviar and moves onto a simple poached course that highlights the flavours and textures of the sliced pan-

While Hong Kong has enjoyed a mild Christmas and New Year, the weather will finally be cooling down to appreciably wintery temperatures in the coming week. If you have yet to dust off your downjacket this season, now is the time! The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) has forecasted significant drops in temperature in the city for around three days from mid to late next week, when certain districts could even experience sub-10 degrees weather.  According to the HKO, a dry northeastern monsoon will sweep through the Guangdong region starting next Tuesday, January 20. At the time of publishing, the weather over the coming weekend will remain relatively warm and fair, ranging from 17 to 23 degrees Celsius throughout the day with scattered clouds accompanying bouts of sunshine.  Similar conditions will remain until January 20, then temperatures are forecasted to fall sharply during the three-day cold spell, ranging between 12 to 17 degrees throughout the day. Temperatures in certain areas of the New Territories are expected to drop as low as six degrees between January 20 and 23. Interestingly, this intense cold spell coincides with the ‘major cold’ period on the Chinese lunar calendar, which has traditionally always indicated the lowest temperatures of the year.  Coincidence or not, this coming cold spell will be the first extreme temperatures Hong Kong experiences since the start of this winter. Citizens are urged to layer up and stay warm during this cool burst. For the most recent w

Hong Kong is seeing a rise of mega events that blends a jovial festival atmosphere with a diverse range of offerings, whether it be edge-of-your-seat matches, live performances, indulgent food and drinks, or locally produced goods. One such event that we’ve got on our social radar this season is Liv Golf Hong Kong. What makes this year’s edition of the international golf tournament-turned-well-rounded festival even better is that Liv Golf is bringing Australian DJ Dom Dolla to Hong Kong this March!  Returning for another year to the landscaped fields of Hong Kong Golf Club, the annual Liv Golf Hong Kong is bringing a wave of excitement to the city over four days. Visitors can expect a festival of live music performances from top local and international DJs, delicious street eats, and family-friendly activities, all centred around a global golf tournament. A highlight of each year’s event is the Saturday night concert, where Liv Golf invites world-class musicians to set the stage for the tournament from the first swing through the final putt. In 2026, fans can look forward to a high-energy Hong Kong debut performance by Dom Dolla.  Photograph: Facebook / Dom Dolla After an electrifying year in his career that included sold-out shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden and London’s Alexandra Palace, as well as a headline gig at Lollapalooza, Dom Dolla has risen to fame as one of the hottest names in music. Riding on this high, the artist has recently released smash hits such

We have unfortunate news: quiet bookish types who just want a pleasant place to curl up with a good read will soon have one less hang out. Popular local bookstore Eslite has announced the closure of its Tsim Sha Tsui store after a decade of operation on the harbourfront. While this is sad tidings for fellow book lovers in Hong Kong, the silver lining is that this should only be a temporary hiatus, as the brand has hinted at relocating to another spot in the same neighbourhood.  Eslite opened its two-storey shop at Star House in 2015, offering local bibliophiles a tranquil and spacious spot to shop, browse, and dive deep into a newfound read. A highlight of this waterfront location is, of course, the cosy reading nook that comes with sweeping harbour views. In true Eslite fashion, the space also features local lifestyle brands alongside quaint cafés, transforming the bookish venue with a touch of inspiring creativity. Complete with minimalist wooden interiors, Eslite TST has been praised as one of the most diverse and aesthetically pleasing bookstores in Hong Kong, and one of the most beloved hang out spots for local youths and bookworms on the Kowloon side.  The Eslite Spectrum Tsim Sha Tsui store will close in the second quarter of 2026, hopefully with the relocation and opening of the new shop to follow in the same quarter. Before it packs things up for good, fellow bibliophiles should snatch up deals on books and lifestyle goods at their closing sale! From now until Februa