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If you need cheaper restaurant alternatives to those mentioned in the Tatler restaurant guide, then check out HK Cheap Eats (Plover Cove, $120 at local bookshops). The book is written by Australian Nicole Lade, who came to Hong Kong in June 2001, and soon found herself unemployed and in need of affordable restaurants. Her results were first published in the Hong Kong Town Crier and then compiled in this guide. To be included, the restaurants needed to have most main courses at $60 or less and a total meal cost of about $100 or less. Lade has a chapter on 'tips for budget dining', which lists areas where cheaper food abounds (Chungking Mansions in Tsim Sha Tsui and Temple Street in Jordan), and recommends going between the lunch and dinner rushes to take advantage of 'tea sets'.

If you're planning a trip to Singapore, check out the new Tables restaurant guide, the brainchild of ex-lawyer Ch'ng Poh Tiong, wine consultant and editor of the Wine Review. Tables deems that 80 of Singapore's restaurants are 'great' and five are 'greatest'. Unfortunately, I've tasted the food of only one of the greatest chefs, the incredible Justin Quek from Les Amis and Au Jardin, who was in Hong Kong two years ago for a promotion.

The 'great' list includes two that are Hong Kong-based: Ah Yat, whose owner, the 'abalone king' Yeung Koon-yat, also has the Forum Restaurant in Causeway Bay, and Lei Garden, which has a number of branches around the SAR. The Crystal Jade chain of restaurants features prominently in the guide. It has a branch in Hong Kong. Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao (Shop G510-511, Po On Mansion, Taikoo Shing, tel: 2568 6262) is excellent but always has long queues at lunch and dinner.