Walking into this restaurant, you’ll be struck first by the décor. The red velvet banquettes, dancing lions embroidered with silver thread on the wallpaper – it could be from a scene in Wong Kar-Wai’s sumptuous cult film In The Mood For Love. This decadent design is no accident. Ho Lee Fook is arguably the best restaurant in Hong Kong, a modern Cantonese establishment founded in 2014 in the heart of hip SoHo. While anything you eat here will be outstanding, don’t miss the Peking duck or Ho Lee Duck, as it’s known, the eatery’s singular take on the classic dish. The duck slices are closer to a Hong Kong-style char siu or roast goose – crisp skin and tender, sweet meat, served in steamed pancakes with pickles and spicy Sichuan mala sauce, the house specialty. The duck takes three days to marinate so pre-ordering is essential.

Wellington Street in the bustling metropolitan hub of Central is packed with wonton noodle restaurants, including the main branch of Mak’s, one of the city’s original purveyors and an eatery that once hosted the late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain. While Mak’s is justifiably world-famous, there’s something about the simplicity of Tsim Chai Kee (Shop B, 98 Wellington Street; +852 2850 6471), just across the road, where you can order a bowl with a choice of only three toppings – dumplings, beef or fish balls. The thin ribbony noodles are the right side of chewy and the warm broth is delicate and fragrant with spices but it’s the dumplings that stand out here. Order sweet prawns mixed with pork mince and bundled into a wonton wrapping. Fans have dubbed them “ping pong” because of their spherical shape and they are the ideal size to scoop up and eat whole.

This place does exactly what it says on the tin: crab that is blow-your-taste-buds- out hot. The beloved restaurant on Lockhart Road in the Causeway Bay area of Wan Chai began life in the 1990s as a hawker stall a little closer to the harbour, selling what locals call typhoon-shelter food, which are meals made by fishermen taking refuge when the seas are too rough. The signature crab at Under Bridge is exquisite, wok-fried sweet meat served whole and topped with crisp garlic and chilli. Yes, it is possible to order a “slightly spicy” version on the eatery’s Richter scale but why would you? The punchy heat from that moreish topping is what everybody in the queue makes the pilgrimage for.

This signature Cantonese dish is an absolute Hong Kong must-try – if you leave the island without seeking it out, you have only yourself to blame. Make a beeline for Kam’s in Wan Chai, founded by the grandson of one of the city’s most renowned goose guys, Kam Shui-fai of Yung Kee restaurant. (The third generation has now outperformed the first, with Kam’s earning itself a Michelin star.) There’s an extensive menu featuring everything from goose sausage to char siu and roast duck but what you have to order is a roasted goose leg with nothing but the homemade plum sauce. The meat is tender, the skin crisp and the flavour salty and rich. It’s more than worth the hour or so you might have to wait in the queue that snakes down Hennessy Road.

At a tiny restaurant nestled among the maze of tight-knit alleys and flower market stalls in Mong Kok, Sun Kee Chicken Congee (Shop 5, G/F, Hung Hay Building, 1 Fa Yuen Street; +852 2385 2669) serves a deliciously thick, starchy stew that’s made with three types of rice and fragrant poached chicken that’s topped with a generous handful of herbs. The super-smooth soup is cooked low and slow for so long that the rice practically melts away.

Char siu or barbecued pork is such a Hong Kong staple that you can get it at almost every restaurant in the city, as well as some streetfood stalls. Kam’s and Rùn do great versions but the one you’ll find at The Chairman, a modern Cantonese restaurant on Wellington Street in Central, is second to none. The highest quality blade pork is smoked in a woodfired oven to achieve a fine balance of aroma and taste. It’s a dish befitting this sophisticated venue, which regularly ranks among Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants.

In Cantonese, yum cha means “drink tea” and there’s no better place to drink tea than at Rùn, inside the elegant St. Regis hotel in Wan Chai. Here, maitre’d and tea master Kezia Chan knows exactly what brew best complements the intricate dumplings that executive chef Hung Chi-Kwong dreams up: perhaps a Wagyu beef puff with pastry so light that it dissolves in the mouth, an impeccable har gao in its own mini bamboo steamer or a sticky glutinous rice dumpling in the shape of an apple. These are the dumplings that have earned Rùn not one but two Michelin stars and Chan prepares tea worthy of the feast: a fragrant brew of chrysanthemum, jasmine and white lily. Each cup is poured with the same care and consideration that goes into this sensational yum cha service, which is available only at lunchtimes. Every table is full of well-heeled women – their designer handbags even get their own chairs.

In the city’s fabric district, Sham Shui Po, there’s a nondescript blue and white striped awning at a corner stall called Hop Yik Tai (121 Kweilin Street; +852 2720 0239). Here you’ll find Hong Kong’s finest cheung fun, a traditional Cantonese snack that consists of rolled rice noodles doused in an addictive mix of peanut sauce and sweet soy dressing. To fit right in, demolish your plate of silky noodles in the alleyway with the locals.

Across the harbour in Yau Ma Tei on the Kowloon peninsula, the Australia Dairy Company (G/F, 47 Parkes Street, Jordan; +852 2730 1356) offers a Hong Kong/Western fusion at a traditional café (cha chaan teng). Order mugs of milky tea and plates of thick white buttered toast alongside a rumpled, unmade bed of creamy scrambled eggs, as well as slices of char siu in chicken soup. Ever since it opened its doors in 1970 and no matter the time of day, the Australia Dairy Company (the name refers to a stint the owner spent working Down Under) is always busy.