“The Mehra Menu” is a series from Lemur staff writer Neel Mehra. From street food stalls to fine dining gems, follow Neel as he bites, sips, and savors his way around the world, one plate at a time.
Hong Kong feels like a living contradiction, an island city that feels like the future yet carries the weight of empires. One moment you’re staring up at steel-and-glass skyscrapers in Central, the next you’re on a quiet mountain trail heading toward the sea. Its geography deepens its complexity: Hong Kong Island holds the glittering skyline and financial core, Kowloon stretches out across the harbour with its chaos and history of the legendary Kowloon Walled City (the most densely populated neighborhood in human history) and beyond lies Lantau Island, a calmer area of monasteries, fishing villages, and the massive Tian Tan Buddha watching over it all. Even its skies tell stories: the now-defunct Kai Tak Airport was once the most dangerous landing strip in the world, forcing pilots to skim between high-rise apartments before landing.
To understand Hong Kong’s pulse, it is essential to understand its history. Once a fishing village, it became a British colony following the First Opium War and the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, which is a loss that marked the beginning of what Chinese textbooks call the “Century of Humiliation.” As the Qing Dynasty collapsed, Japan invaded, and Mao’s communists rose to power, Hong Kong became a haven for capital, enterprise, and those seeking to survive. Refugees flooded in, trading houses grew rich, and by the post-war years, Hong Kong became one of the “Asian Tigers.” At its 1997 handover to China under the “One Country, Two Systems” framework, it was responsible for over 60% of China’s FDI. It wasn’t just a city; it was China’s capital expat market. But reports of Hong Kong’s decline seem to be exaggerated. Yes, Shenzhen has skyscrapers that can make Hong Kong look short, and foreign firms are shifting focus out of the SAR (special administrative region), but the Hong Kong Dollar is one of the most stable currencies, benefiting from its USD peg. The CCP continues to preserve Hong Kong’s market autonomy as it serves a crucial function: acting as a gateway for global capital into China and Chinese capital into the world.
Hong Kong isn’t fading, it’s evolving. And like all major cities, you taste Hong Kong best through how you eat and walk it.
By day, Central is the beating heart of the finance industry. Suits and heels rush between HSBC’s iconic lion statues, analysts hunch over noodles, and traders debate over cha chaan teng coffee. Even lunch reflects the city’s range: Yat Lok hides its legendary roast goose behind a humble shopfront, where crispy skin works beautifully with soy-slicked rice. Lin Heung Lau downtown still serves dim sum the old way—on rattling carts, with servers barely shouting over the din as customers grab shrimp siu mai and bao buns. In Wan Chai, most places are overflowing with dim sum, roasted vegetables, chicken, and fried rice, washed down with local beer before the Wednesday night horse races.
The food choices expand in Kowloon. It’s here that you’ll find the best Cantonese dishes, including platters of steamed fish, goose, and pork, as well as Cantonese delicacies like intestines and silky steamed eggs. Kowloon really does feel old-world and intimate, and some of the meals tell you more about the city’s bustle at the table than the dishes themselves. The nights belong to another Hong Kong. You find it first in Wan Chai’s late-night Kebabs and gyros, then it moves to Central, where you can start with beers in a prison-turned-bar (Cafe Claudel – Tai Kwun) and end hours later in Lan Kwai Fong, singing badly in a KTV booth or getting crushed in darts by strangers. Then there are the Happy Valley horse races, a Hong Kong classic where you watch jockeys’ silks under glowing floodlights as old-money Chinese families, expats, and backpackers all cheer with the same intensity.
And yet, you can always escape the noise. The Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour to Tsim Sha Tsui offers one of the most photographed views, where the skyline suddenly becomes a painting. With a quick ferry or MTR ride, Hong Kong reshapes itself entirely. You hike Victoria Peak for views that stretch from the blue harbor to the glass skyline. You take a junk boat from Sai Kung to the hidden Sai Wan beaches, where waterfalls and coldwater pools slip into the sea. You climb Dragon’s Back, where the trails weave between wild hills and glimpses of skyscrapers beyond. Or you wander through Stanley and Repulse Bay, sipping Guinness at Smuggler’s Inn while looking out at a coastline that feels worlds away from Central. Nature doesn’t just surround Hong Kong: it cuts through it. On Lantau Island, we first explored Discovery Bay, a no-car society with stunning sunsets that capture the island’s laid-back vibe. We then wandered past monasteries and concluded our visit with a view of the South China Sea. All highlighted by the Four Trails (a great movie to watch), of which we completed a small part of the MacLehose and Hong Kong trails that carve through forests, villages, and reservoir paths, which feel impossibly distant from the chaos of Central.
And sometimes, Hong Kong spills beyond its borders. A quick train across the Lo Wu crossing took me into Shenzhen, where I found the best value-for-money shopping, coupled with incredible pork rice and curry sauce, reminding me of how quickly the Mainland has grown into a mirror city of innovation and energy. A ferry ride away, we arrived in Macau, where the Portuguese colonial past is evident in the streets. Outside of the remarkable landmarks and impressive casinos, you get a reminder of how Macau’s unique history creates an interesting fusion of Portuguese and Asian influences, featuring dishes such as creamy soups, escargot, vegetables, and steak.
This is Hong Kong. Neon skylines and nature’s hidden edges. Roast goose in alleys and handmade suits in Kowloon. An Asian financial capital where you can hike the trails by day and dance in Lan Kwai Fong by night. That’s the duality. That’s the dishcourse. To live in Hong Kong is to live with its contradictions. To taste it is to taste history, autonomy, and fusion all at once.
by Neel Mehra
