Eating is an enormously large part of life in Hong Kong, and restaurant dining in particular is a sociable, family affair. The authentic Chinese restaurants are large, noisy places where dining takes place under bright lights - not as discreet as the candle-lit ambiances so beloved in the West but much more fun. Don't be intimidated by the speed with which you will be rushed to your seat: service is brisk as a rule. Menus in all but the cheapest restaurants should be in English as well as Chinese (although you many not get the full menu translated, and prices have also been known to vary between the two versions). In the very cheap noodle-and-dumpling shops, order by pointing at other people's dishes.

 

The busiest, brightest restaurants of all are often those serving dim sum for breakfast or lunch - snack-sized portions of savoury dumplings, rolls and buns served in bamboo baskets or on small plates from trolleys which are pushed around the restaurant. In these places you simply request items from passing trolleys, and a card on your table will be marked with the item. Keep picking things up until you are full and the bill will rarely come to $100 per head.

The largest concentration of restaurants in Hong Kong Island is probably in the Wanchai-Happy Valley area, bordering on Causeway Bay . The streets around D'Aguilar Street in Central , just a couple of minutes' walk south from the MTR, are particularly popular with young people and yuppie expatriates. This area is known as Lan Kwai Fong , after the small lane branching off D'Aguilar Street to the east, which is chock-a-block with bars and restaurants. The newest restaurant area is known as SoHo , meaning South of Hollywood Road. In fact, expansion means it now starts at Lyndhurst Terrace, and clusters around the Mid-Levels escalator as far up the slope as Mosque St. Restaurants here come and go very quickly, but in general they tend to be rather less flashy and more civilized than in Lan Kwai Fong, and the clientele is a mix of the more cosmopolitan locals and expats. On the south side of the island, Stanley and Aberdeen are also popular spots for tourists on dining excursions.

In Kowloon, the choice of eateries is hardly less than on the island, though watch out for the possibility of tourist rip-offs in the Chinese restaurants in the Tsimshatsui area, such as heavy charges on unasked-for side-dishes. For Indian food, many of the best-value places are secreted away in the recesses of the Chungking Mansions.

Opening hours are long, to accommodate the long working day, and while many of the traditional Chinese restaurants start to wind down around 9.30pm, you'll have no trouble getting served something late. Don't worry too much about tipping either. Expensive restaurants will add on their own service charge, usually ten percent, while in cheaper places it's customary just to leave the small change. Generally prices are comparable to those in the West: a full dinner without drinks is unlikely to cost less than $100 per head, and that figure can climb to $500 or more in the plushest venues.