Best of 2015: Dining, Drinks, Shopping and Fun in Hong Kong

Best Bites

Best Insta-worthy Eats
Why settle for hugging the plush toy when you could be munching on its adorable face instead? Hello Kitty Chinese Cuisine, the world’s first Hello Kitty-themed restaurant, opened this year and Hong Kong’s foodstagrammers jumped on it like expats at a free-flow drinks night. With Hello Kitty-shaped shrimp dumplings, lotus buns and rice to boost your social media following, who cares if you’re paying an absurd amount for standard dim sum? A-C, Lee Loy Mansion, 332-338 Canton Rd., Yau Ma Tei, 8202-8203, hellokittychinesecuisine.com.hk.

Best Value Brunch
Forget champagne brunches—cocktails are the new cool. We’ve always been fans of Zuma’s drinks, which is why we went giddy with glee when they launched Zuma’s Saturday Sessions, a new weekend brunch for $450 featuring unlimited tipples plus sushi and grilled skewers from 2:30-5pm. Start with a Lillet Spritzer (Lillet blanc, peach liqueur, citronella and prosecco), move on to a yuzu and mandarin cosmo then end up with a Japanese shiso daiquiri. Down all six drinks on the menu—then set up round two. This is one brunch we’ll be back for. 5-6/F, The Landmark, 15 Queen’s Rd. Central, 3657-6388.

Best Hipster Hangout
Communal tables, hand-sourced ceramics and organic everything makes Teakha II—the second branch from entrepreneur Nana Chan—the ultimate hipster hangout. Did we mention it’s tucked away on a more or less unknown alley in Shek Tong Tsui? Grab a cozy cup of tea and one of Nana’s homemade green tea cakes and meditate on life, the universe and the word “artisan.” 18 Po Tuck St., Sai Ying Pun, 2858-9185.

Best Cheat Food
Donuts? Check. Cookies? Check. Double Double Chocolate and “Green Crack”? Check. For waving goodbye to diets and six-packs (who needs new year’s resolutions, anyway?) Munchies is a one-stop shop for the three essential food groups: chocolate, butter and sugar. Treat yourself to a vanilla bean cookie, salted caramel doughnut or matcha ice cream sandwich and watch your waistline expand before your very eyes. 4 Shin Hing St., Central, munchies.hk.

Best Payday Splurge
Good news: Repulse Bay’s The Pulse development isn’t just for bored tai tais and millionaires. It’s also a great place to splurge all your hard-earned money on payday! And what better place than at Tri, a modern Balinese restaurant decked out in gorgeous bamboo décor and lotus-shaped pods? Complete with flickering candlelight and pools of water, Tri’s the perfect place to live the high life: even if it is just once a month. Shop 302, 3/F, The Pulse, 28 Beach Rd., 2515-0777.

Best Food Crossover
Amid a handful of high label food crossovers this year (so many afternoon teas!), Elephant Grounds and The Upper House’s pop-up café takes the crown for being the most crave-worthy. While the decadent ice cream combos have been all the rage for some time now, being able to chow down in The Upper House definitely won them (ice cream) brownie points. Too bad this pop-up’s over at the end of December. Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Admiralty, 2253-1313.