Regional Chinese Cuisines
The most popular regional Chinese cuisines besides Cantonese are: Chiu Chow, Beijing, Sichuan and Shanghainese.
Chiu Chow Food
Chiu Chow Food is rich and prominently features goose and duck as well as seafood. Chiu Chow chefs are generally considered the masters of two of the most expensive Chinese delicacies: shark's fin and bird's next. Tiny cups of an extremely strong tea, tiet kwun yum, are generally served before and after meals in Chiu Chow restaurants.
Beijing Food
Beijing Food is extremely rich due to the imperial court history. It makes liberal use of strongly flavored vegetables, herbs and spices, including peppers, garlic and coriander. Noodles, dumplings and bread feature more often than rice in northern cuisines such as this.
A particular Beijing favorite with Westerners is Peking duck, in which the crispy skin is wrapped in thin pancakes together with spring onions, cucumber and plus sauce. Another popular northern dish is beggar's chicken. The bird is stuffed with vegetables and herbs, sealed with clay and slowly cooked. The guest of honor is usually invited to smash open the cooked chicken with a mallet.
Sichuan Food
Sichuan food is very spicy. Restaurants in Hong Kong often combine Beijing and Sichuan dishes together, with the result that it can be difficult to tell which is which. Popular spices include star anise, fennel seed, chili and coriander. Smoked duck is a very popular Sichuan dish. As with Beijing food, noodles and steamed bread feature more heavily than rice, though in the Hong Kong restaurants you are almost certain to be severed rice as well as noodles and bread.
Shanghai Food
Shanghai food makes much of steamed dumplings and tends to be rather heavier and oiler than other Chinese foods. One delicacy for which Shanghai is particularly renowned is hairy crab, which is available only in the autumn and much sought after in Hong Kong. Other Shanghainese favorites include hot-and-sour soup, drunken chicken, yellow fish and braised eel.
Southeast Asian Cuisine
Hong Kong also has many restaurants specializing in the hot and spicy food of other Southeast Asian countries, especially Thai food, which has become extremely popular in recent years.