In recent years, the city has welcomed newcomers but also rekindled a love for older establishments that champion regional Chinese fare. Sun Hon Kee Restaurant, which boasts a long history in Fanling, has become popular for its authentic Hakka cuisine once more; while Putien, a Singaporean import named after the owner’s coastal hometown, offers Fujian cuisine with a focus on natural flavours; and Café Hunan, which is helmed by a chef who is passionate about cooking authentic Hunanese food, has opened several outlets across the city.

Yong Fu, a Shanghai-based brand that opened in 2019, is on a mission to showcase the flavours and ingredients of Ningbo, a historic port city in east China’s Zhejiang province. The restaurant takes a refined approach to its cuisine, serving up elegant versions of traditional dishes including mud crab marinated in wine with ginger and coriander, yellow croaker fish from Yinzhou in sour broth, and its signature Ningbo sweet sesame dumplings.

“The geographical location and climate of Ningbo have given unique resources to develop our gastronomic culture,” explains Qiong Yu, a Ningbo native and the general manager of Yong Fu. “Take Ningbo’s seafood as an example. We call it ‘small seafood’ (xiao xian) in Chinese, which is understood as ‘small in shape and delicate in flavour’. This is what Ningbo cuisine is all about: minimising complexity and aligning with the philosophy that less is more. Our cuisine uses the wisdom of ingredients and the flavour is all about savoury-driven umami.”

Another regional Chinese restaurant that has a similar drive is the recently opened Jiangsu Club. Here, the cuisine is focused on ingredients sourced from the Jiangsu region as well as neighbouring provinces. This includes products such as Jinhua ham, made from one of China’s four most prominent pig breeds, and top-quality Huadiao wine. Jiangsu Club’s culinary consultant chef Simon Ng Wang-chau has over two decades of experience specialising in Jiangsu cuisine and describes the cuisine as a mix. “It is collectively referred to as Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine, as there are a lot of similarities between the two. Some will also include Wu Xi and Shanghainese cuisine.

“Jiangsu is known for a variety of cooking techniques—think stewing, braising, steaming, double-boiling and stir-frying, with traditional dishes mainly associated with thicker sauces or vibrant colours,” says Ng. “The cuisine also tends to focus on dim sum and a wide range of noodles.”

Then there are those who are modernising the more popular regional Chinese cuisines, such as Grand Majestic Sichuan. The restaurant, opened by Hong Kong-based group Black Sheep Restaurants, offers a fiery menu developed with award-winning author and Chinese cuisine expert Fuchsia Dunlop in a bold and glamorous setting.

Sichuan cuisine, as head chef Theign Phan describes it, “is the combination of several different flavours [hot, sour, salty, sweet, numbing or nutty] in a single dish. Although it’s mostly identified as ‘hot and numbing’, the heat of the chillies and peppercorns is not meant to mask or overwhelm the rest of the flavours. In fact, it should heighten your palate for the rest of the dish.”

Aside from their own cuisines, all three chefs agreed that they had seen more regional Chinese cuisines crop up in Hong Kong lately, attributing it to international travel, open-mindedness to new cuisines and social media.

“Everyone has a food story to tell and they can produce it very quickly,” says Phan. “Before smartphones or social media, people would travel and write books. It took much longer to learn about something new. Now, a video can be uploaded
on Instagram or TikTok within minutes.” This, along with the availability of global resources, has helped chefs in Hong Kong to become more creative in their approach to Chinese cuisine, going beyond their own areas of expertise in a particular region to explore new ingredients, flavours and cooking methods.

On the regional cuisines that are gaining favour in Hong Kong, Ng says, “That is surely Sichuan cuisine; it has gained worldwide approval in recent years. Beijing cuisine is also getting popular, but with few successor chefs, it is quite rare to see restaurants specialising in this historical cuisine in Hong Kong and this is quite sad. The recent closure of Spring Deer restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui is an example of this happening.”

“I can see the rising popularity of Xinjiang cuisine,” adds Phan. “Perhaps this is because it shares characteristics with Turkish and Central Asian foods, particularly in the way meats are cooked over a fire, as well as the use of certain spices. In Hong Kong, I have visited Ba Yi in Sai Ying Pun, Islam Food in Kowloon City and Tian Shan Dining Room in Tin Hau.”

Yu also believes that regional fare is becoming more popular. “I have tried Cantonese, Chiuchow, Shunde, Sichuan, Hunan and others ... I’m also looking forward to trying Anhui and Guizhou cuisines, but I can’t seem to find them in Hong Kong [yet].”

Phan also wants to try more regional cuisines in Hong Kong. “As a descendant of Hakka Chinese immigrants [that moved] to Singapore, I would like to try more authentic Hakka dishes. I’ve noticed more Hakka tea rice or ‘lei cha’ recently. I hope that this doesn’t become synonymous with Hakka cuisine as there is more depth to the cuisine with dishes like Abacus Beads [made with taro or yam] and Dongjiang salt-baked chicken. As a chef, I always want to see cuisines break out of their stereotypes and watch diners learn and taste more for themselves.”

In Hong Kong, restaurants have been known to adapt their versions of regional cuisine to suit Cantonese palates. “There’s nothing wrong with adapting or mixing a little with Cantonese cuisine, as long as the chefs have solid experience and good knowledge to respect both,” says Ng.

“When adapted to Hong Kong’s taste, regional Chinese cuisines can become more balanced and wholesome,” agrees Phan. “It’s a win-win situation: Hong Kong diners can enjoy more cuisines, and regional cuisines can showcase their beautiful dishes.”

Yu also believes that adjusting regional cuisines for Hong Kong is based on mutual respect, interaction and open conversation but added, “I hope that regional Chinese cuisines can be more confident, refined and more international—but with traditional roots. These cuisines are treasures of Chinese culture. Every region has its own charm and is the foundation for the development and innovation of Chinese cuisine as a whole.”

Hungry for more variety, it seems Hong Kong will continue to see more regional Chinese cuisines enter its already demanding dining scene. The chefs agree. “It is always a good feeling when we see the variety [of Chinese cuisine] growing and becoming popular on a global scale,” says Yu.

Phan adds, “Diners are always looking for the next best thing to eat. It will be healthy competition to have more types of cuisines on the market, not only for diners but for enthusiasts and the industry as a whole.”

“I believe [the rise of regional Chinese cuisines] is quite promising,” says Ng. “Regional Chinese cuisines will not only land in Hong Kong but they’ll also appear on an international stage in the future.”