Meal Times
Locals eat lunch between noon and 1:30 PM; dinner is around 8.Dim sum begins as early as 10 AM. Reservations aren't usually necessary except during Chinese holidays or at of-the-moment or high-end hotel restaurant like Alain Ducasses's SPOON or the Caprice.Certain classic dishes require advance notice of at least 24 hours. You'll also need reservations for a meal at one of the so-called private kitchens-unlicensed culinary speakeasies, which are often the city's hottest tickets. Book several days ahead, and if possible, join forces with other people. Some private kitchens only take reservations for parties of four or more.
Dan Ryan's
If,after a few days of goose web and thousand-year egg, you have a sudden burger craving, this is the place. You'll find good approximations of the kind expats dream about when they think of the States. The popular bar and grill is often standing room only, so call ahead. Apart from burgers and beer, the menu offers a smattering of international dishes-pasta and the like-but we recommend avoiding anything complicated. Stick to the simple,rib-sticking fare, served up without fuss.
Lung King Heen
It's made a serious case for being the best Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong-and consequently,the world. Where other contenders tend to get too caught up in prestige dishes, and hotel restaurants in name-brand chefs, here there's a complete focus on taste. When you try a little lobster-and-scallop dumpling, or a dish of house-made XO sauce that is this divine, you will be forced to reevaluate your entire conception of Chinese cuisine.
Amber
When the Landmark Mandarin Oriental hotel opened in 2005 its aim was to be seen as the preeminent hotel on Hong Kong Island. It only made sense, therefore,that it would contain a flagship power lunch restaurant that aspires to a similar level of impeccable, modern style. At his best, chef Richard Ekkebus shows shades of true genius, as when he serves a gentle bisque of New Zea land scampi daringly paired with chicken-liver custard, unexpected but passionate bedfellows. Amber also excels with desserts, for instance a crisp hazelnut and Caraibe chocolate bar served with a "moccachino" Prices are high, but so is the ambition-and the wavelike amber sculpture that soars like a grandiose pipe organ above the room.
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