Explore Travel Live

Is this Hong Kong's best fine-dining experience? You be the judge

Hong Kong is home to more than 200 Michelin-recommended eateries, but this restaurant vies for the top spot.

Hungry Traveller
Is this Hong Kong's best fine-dining experience? You be the judge
Is this Hong Kong's best fine-dining experience? You be the judge
By Kristie Kellahan
Updated April 1, 2025, first published June 15, 2023

Hong Kong is home to more than 200 Michelin-recommended eateries, but this restaurant vies for the top spot.

I land in Hong Kong on a mission to enjoy daily dim sum feasts. Aussies tend to call it by another name - yum cha - but we all recognise the delicious bite-sized dishes slapped down on tables by waiters pushing carts around noisy, cavernous dining rooms. Barbecued pork buns, steamed rice rolls, prawn dumplings and crunchy spring rolls are hallmarks of Cantonese cuisine, a hunger-busting combo of comfort foods washed down with jasmine tea.

Chef Jayson Tang and sommelier Kelvin Ziea.
Chef Jayson Tang and sommelier Kelvin Ziea.

I love it all, but after a few days of shu mai and springers, I start craving an evening of white-tablecloth elegance and Old World wines. Lucky for me, Hong Kong is one of the best places in the world for fine dining, home to more than 200 Michelin-recommended eateries. Locals love to eat well and often.

Get exclusive travel tips, hidden gems & expert insights: delivered to your inbox
Signature barbecued pork.
Signature barbecued pork.

Man Ho Chinese Restaurant at JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong was recognised with one star in the 2023 Michelin Guide, a nod to its decadent wine-paired, multi-course tasting menu. In a surprising twist, the wines are chosen before the menu is created. The sommelier Kelvin Ziea tells me that chef Jayson Tang loves wine almost as much as food and is happy for the grape to inspire the plate. Over eight courses and six glasses, Tang's creations lead my tastebuds on a merry dance, choreographed by Ziea.

Man Ho Chinese Restaurant.
Man Ho Chinese Restaurant.

A wok-fried mantis shrimp fillet with crispy garlic and chili is unlike anything I've ever bitten into. Conch soup served inside a coconut shell is a calming broth. Braised cat-ear noodles with crab meat. Who wouldn't dive in? Two bites of deep-fried wagyu beef cheek make my head spin. It might be the intoxicating effect of the alcohol, everything from Château Latour-Martillac Pessac-Léognan, a rich Bordeaux red, to a sparkling sake with the right amount of sour.

Read more on Explore:

Dessert arrives in the form of a hot, flaky, purple sweet-potato pastry and sweetened pistachio cream, accompanied by a glass of Oremus Tokaji from Hungary. East meets West really is the best. marriott.com