5 Family-Owned Chinese Restaurants In Hong Kong

If you're looking for food with heart, why not support one of these independent family-run restaurants this Chinese New Year?

Chinese New Year is defined by excessive feasting, representing a fulfilling future and abundance of fortune and good health. This year, with Covid-19 scuppering plans of large family gatherings as well as eating into the livelihoods of the restaurant and bar industry, finding ways to support local independent and family-run businesses is top of mind. To inspire your next meal—whether it's a long lunch or a takeaway feast—here are several of Hong Kong's top Chinese restaurants that are keeping it in the family.

Ser Wong Fun

Above Ser Wong Fun's signature snake soup (Photo: Courtesy of Ser Wong Fun)

Gigi Paulina Ng is the fourth-generation owner of one of Hong Kong’s oldest restaurants. Now located on Cochrane Street in Central, this culinary stalwart continues to satisfy diners’ cravings for nostalgia-inducing local dishes, including sweet corn sauce with fried fish, snake soup and glutinous rice with preserved sausages.

Ser Wong Fun, 30 Cochrane Street, Central, Hong Kong; +852 2543 1032

Seventh Son

Above Guo zha, or chicken custards, are notoriously difficult to get right (Photo: Courtesy of Seventh Son)

Opened by chef Chui Wai-kwan, the son of Fook Lam Moon founder Chui Fook-chuen, this Wan Chai icon is renowned for its labour-intensive Cantonese dishes, from guo zha to roasted suckling pig to its superlative braised pomelo pith. Their chicken livers are also expertly done, with charred and caramelised edges and creamy centres.

Seventh Son, 3/F, The Wharney Guang Dong Hotel Hong Kong, 57-73 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong; +852 2892 2888

Kin's Kitchen

Above The signature smoked soy sauce chicken (Photo: Courtesy of Kin's Kitchen)

Food industry veteran Lau Kin-wai and his son Lau Chun run this beloved Wan Chai restaurant, which is known for honouring Cantonese traditions and culinary techniques. Dishes such as guo zha, or fried chicken custards, and pork slices steamed with fermented shrimp paste, are classics, and definitely order the smoked soy sauce chicken—one of Hong Kong's finest local poultry dishes, in our opinion.

Kin's Kitchen, 5/F, W Square, 314-324 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong; +852 2571 0913

Fan Dining

Above Hand shredded chicken with giblets (Photo: Courtesy of Fan Dining)

Above Almond and pig lung soup (Photo: Courtesy of Fan Dining)

Fan Dining is the kind of neighbourhood eatery that brightens up your day. The cosy Yuen Long restaurant with modern touches is a long way from her original Sai Wan Ho shop, which closed in 2017. The new Fan Dining continues to thrill with homestyle Cantonese cooking. Don’t miss her signature scrambled eggs with shrimp and her elegant marinated abalone. Mrs Fan has also just opened a provisions store right next door, selling everything from homemade condiments to wind-dried sausages and seasonal fruits.

Fan Dining, Shop 22, G/F, The Rainbow, 22 Wang Yip South Street, Yuen Long, Hong Kong; +852 6623 3698

Yixin

Above Not your average lemon chicken (Photo: Courtesy of Yixin)

Now run by the third generation of the founder’s family, Yixin has come a long way since it was established in 1953—one of their original employees, who started work as a trainee, ultimately became head chef. The restaurant prides itself on solidly executed Cantonese specialties, from the delightfully nostalgic (lemon chicken) to the highly technical (roast pipa duck).

Yixin, Basement & Shop 3-4, G/F, Shanghai Industrial Investment Building, 48-62 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong; +852 2834 9963

This story was originally published in the February 2021 issue of Tatler Hong Kong

Topics

Chinese New Year 2021 Chinese restaurants Cantonese restaurants family business