Seafood

If there is one food you must sample in Hong Kong, it's the seafood. Huge tanks of live fish and bubbling containers of prawns, crabs, scallops, clams, oysters and other seafood vie for attention. Preparing fresh, live seafood is a culinary art in Hong Kong, where skilled Cantonese chefs will have you salivating over the distinctive flavours and textures of their fishy dishes.

There are four prime seafood locations for waterfront dining – Sai Kung, Lei Yue Mun, and the islands of Lamma and Cheung Chau. So don't miss the great opportunity to join the lively atmosphere of alfresco dining Hong Kong style, and savour a gourmet meal, this is sure to be one of the high points of your visit.

Sai Kung

Apart from its great alfresco seafood restaurants, Sai Kung has a host of fun things to do that make for a splendid day's outing. Take a stroll through the town, visit the old Tin Hau temple and the vibrant local market, then stop for a beer at one of the Western-style pubs before taking a leisurely walk along the seafront.

Known as the 'Back Garden of Hong Kong', the Sai Kung area boasts a vast Country Park for hiking through unspoilt hills and discovering some of the best beaches in Hong Kong. You can also take a boat from the town's pier to one of the pristine offshore islands.

When you've built up a good appetite, head back to Sai Kung to indulge at one of the seafood restaurants along the waterfront. You are in for a real treat with a number of special dishes on offer.

Directions: Take the MTR to Choi Hung, Exit C2, then green minibus 1A.

Lei Yue Mun

This tiny seaside village nestled in the southeastern corner of Kowloon offers a slice of old Hong Kong life rarely experienced elsewhere in the city. Best known for its indoor and outdoor dining in numerous high quality, affordable seafood restaurants, Lei Yue Mun is also an absorbing excursion into Hong Kong's past.

Eating in Lei Yue Mun is a hands-on experience where you make your choices from the live seafood stalls, and take it to a restaurant for cooking any way you choose! You'll love the atmosphere and great views over the harbour.

Directions: Take a taxi from Yau Tong MTR on the Kowloon side, or MTR to Sai Wan Ho on Kong Kong Island and then the ferry across to Lei Yue Mun.

Check out QTS restaurants at Lei Yue Mun

Lamma Island

Car-free Lamma Island is one of Hong Kong's most popular weekend getaways. Clean air, golden beaches, delicious seafood and fantastic hiking are the island's main attractions.

The most popular hike connects the two main villages of Sok Kwu Wan and Yung Shue Wan, which passes swimming coves and fertile vegetable farms. Sun worshippers, meanwhile, head for the beaches of Hung Shing Yeh and Lo So Shing.

Yung Shue Wan showcases restaurants offering Asian and Western food, pubs and handicraft shops. On the other side of the island, people come from all over the world to sample the seafood at Sok Kwu Wan's plethora of terraced restaurants raised on stilts above the bay. Fresh chilli crab, garlic prawns, deep-fried squid and steamed fish with ginger and spring onions are all firm favourites.

Directions: Take a ferry to Yung Shue Wan (20/35 minutes) or Sok Kwu Wan (25 minutes) from Central Ferry Pier 4. Or take a ferry to Sok Kwu Wan (30 minutes) from the pier near the Jumbo Floating Restaurant pier on Aberdeen promenade.

Check out the QTS restaurants at Lamma Island

Cheung Chau

Cheung Chau is still home to a large fishing fleet so you are always sure of a fresh catch. 'Chau' means 'island' and 'Cheung' means 'long' in Chinese, but this popular dumbbell-shaped island is quite small, at just 2.4 square kilometres.

The most popular beach is Tung Wan Beach, where 3,000-year-old Bronze Age rock carvings can be seen just a 15-minute walk from the ferry pier. A windsurfing centre is located on a nearby promontory, where Hong Kong's Lee Lai-shan trained to take the gold medal during the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Further along is smaller Kun Yam Wan Beach.

Carnival time every spring is centred on the temple during the island's week-long Bun Festival, a century-old event designed to placate ghosts of locals massacred by pirates.

Directions: Take a ferry from Central Ferry Pier 5 – a 30-to 55-minute trip depending on the type of ferry.