Everyone should try a dim sum meal at least once, as much for the atmosphere as for the food. It's eaten primarily for breakfast or lunch, or as an afternoon snack with tea. On weekends, restaurants offering dim sum (mostly Cantonese restaurants) are packed with local families. On weekdays, they're popular with shoppers and businesspeople. Prices are low and you order only as much as you want. On weekends, a few restaurants bring out their trolleys, filled with steaming baskets and pushed throughout the restaurant, allowing you to choose what appeals to you. Otherwise, most restaurants nowadays offer dim sum from a menu, which may or may not be in English (hotel restaurants have English menus; otherwise, many Cantonese restaurants have at least one staff member who speaks English, or use the suggestions earlier in this chapter as a guide). In most restaurants that offer dim sum, one pays by the basket, and each basket usually contains two to four items of dim sum; the average price is about HK$20 to HK$40 (US$2.60-US$5.15/£1.30-£2.60), though at expensive restaurants they can go higher. The prices given below, unless otherwise specified, are per basket; expect to spend HK$80 to HK$120 (US$10-US$16/£5.20-£7.80) per person for a light meal. You'll be charged extra for tea, usually around HK$8 to HK$13 (US$1.05-US$1.70/50p-85p).
You'll find many of the restaurants listed as DIM SUM are also described elsewhere, so they obviously serve more than dim sum. However, since dim sum is such a special Chinese tradition, they are emphasized again. You may also notice that a restaurant listed in this section may have a different number of stars than was given previously in an earlier listing. This is not a mistake: A restaurant that might be ho-hum in all-round meals can be a standout in dim sum.
However, since dim sum is fairly predictable, with the most common dishes covered in the local cuisine section, I've only made specific food recommendations here when the dishes are different and/or are standouts from the usual choices. The open hours here are for serving times for dim sum.
