Seafood mountain at YY Restaurant of Hong Kong Inter-Continental Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui. [Photo:Lonely Planet]

Hong Kong's chefs are a versatile bunch who can move with ease between different culinary traditions, bringing together not only old and new, Chinese and Western, but haute and humble, coffee and tea. Their skills and creativity, and the city's love of food, have given rise to many one-of-a-kind dining experiences. Among the following only-in-Hong Kong selections, Tim Ho Wan, Bo Innovation, Olala and Tai Ping Koon come Michelin starred or recommended.

Gourmet hawker

Hong Kongers will eat absolutely anything as long as it justifies its place on a table, any table. So to avoid paying exorbitant rent and focus on the food instead, savvy restaurateurs have been hawking their dishes in government-run food courts, offering fine dining at unfashionably low prices. Among these gourmet hawkers, ABC Kitchen (Queen St Cooked Food Market, 38 Des Voeux Rd W) stands out for its authentic Western menu. Inside the frenzied, fluorescent-lit expanse which the eatery shares with other operators, ABC regulars slurp up bouillabaisse made with fresh local seafood, wolf down the crispiest cochinillo asado (roast sucking pig), and inhale fluffy souffle, all for the price of an entree served under crystal chandeliers.

Cheapest starred eatery

Similarly, at the world's cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant, Tim Ho Wan (2-20 Kwong Wa St), layfolk get to sample food fit for emperors. Owner Mr Mak was a dim sum chef at three-starred Lung King Heen of the Four Seasons before going it alone. Now, cooped up inside his glorious hole, in a haggard part of town, he recreates his magic – the famed barbecued pork buns (char siu baau), over 750 of which are sold a day, beef balls infused with dried mandarin peel, fragrant osmanthus flower jelly – for anyone who can afford a US$1.50-$3 for a basket of dim sum and, crucially, who will wait the same number of hours. The lines at Tim Ho Wan are heart-stopping. When you arrive, a smiling Mrs Mak will hand you a number. Then go fly a kite, learn Cantonese opera, or plant some roses, and check back after 90 minutes.

Chinese molecular gastronomy

Foam and powder may not be everyone's comfort food, but molecular gastronomy does enjoy a following in Hong Kong. Bo Innovation, which deconstructs classic Chinese dishes and reassembles them in visually and gastronomically surprising ways, is among the few that impress. Xiao long bao (pork dumpling), for example, is a blob of ginger-infused pork soup encased in a transparent wrapper that explodes when consumed into the juiciest pork dumpling.