Plan the trip around the food.

The formats worth knowing

Dim sum. The city's defining meal: trolleys or order sheets, small baskets of har gow, siu mai and cheung fun, eaten late morning with tea. The old tea houses in Sheung Wan and Mong Kok pour from dawn; the grand hotel dining rooms do the polished version. Book the famous ones, queue for the rest, and arrive before noon.

Cha chaan teng. Hong Kong's diners: baked pork chop rice, French toast with condensed milk, pineapple buns, and milk tea strong enough to stand a spoon in. Fast, cheap, cash-friendly, and open from early to late. Order what the room is eating.

Dai pai dong. The open-air cooked food stalls, a licensed handful of survivors in Central, Sham Shui Po and the cooked food centres above the wet markets: wok hei, plastic stools, and some of the best Cantonese cooking in the city at street prices.

Night markets and street food. Temple Street after dark for claypot rice and seafood stalls under the neon, the Ladies' Market streets for snacks as you go, and curry fishballs, egg waffles and siu mai from the snack shops of Mong Kok at any hour.

The districts worth the trip

Central and Sheung Wan: roast goose and wonton noodle institutions, the old dai pai dong lanes, and the fine dining rooms above them. Sham Shui Po: the working city's food street, tofu pudding, noodle shops and Michelin-listed snack counters. Sai Kung and Lei Yue Mun: pick your seafood live from the tanks and have it cooked your way, the classic Sunday trip. Tai O and the islands: shrimp paste, giant fishballs and stilt-house tea shops at the end of the bus ride. Kowloon City: Chiu Chow restaurants and Thai groceries around the old walled city.