Along with yum cha and afternoon tea, weekend brunches are a Hong Kong institution, with restaurants across the city offering every kind of cuisine you can think of, from spreads of traditional dim sum to French feasts to poolside barbecues to lavish buffets by the beach and after-dark sushi soirées. And this being one of the world's great party cities, everywhere allows diners to add on free-flowing booze, including cocktails, mocktails, beers, wines and champagne.
LPM Restaurant & Bar
Best for: a get-together with friends
Eat: save space for the Pain Perdu Façon' CYRUS' (French toast with spiced ice cream)
Drink: Riviera Blanc, made with Ketel One, Côtes de Provence Blanc and pink peppercorns
Hong Kong is home to the largest French expat community in Asia. Here, they've put their distinct Gallic spin on brunch, with an unlimited choice of 14 starters – burrata and tomato toast, herby sweet corn salad with pomegranate, tuna carpaccio with hazelnut – plus the choice of one of eight main courses, a side dish and a dessert.
23-29 Stanley St Shop 1, UG, H, Queen's, Central, Hong Kong
Delightfully, their La Vie en Rosé brunch runs for a generous five hours, from 12pm until 5pm, so you can really take advantage of the bottomless champagne and cocktails.
The Grill at the Grand Hyatt
Best for: al fresco barbecue
Eat: barbecue spare ribs
Drink: Aperol spritz
The Grand Hyatt's weekend barbecue brunch is a long-time favourite of many Hongkongers. Served at The Grill, an indoor-outdoor restaurant surrounded by tropical gardens and a lagoon-like rooftop swimming pool, it features an extensive buffet made up of appetisers, salads and chilled seafood; charcoal-grilled meats, fish and vegetables; and a dessert station piled high with sweets, cakes and ice-creams.
11th Floor, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, 1 Harbour Rd, Wan Chai
Splash out extra for three and a half hours of unlimited Aperol spritz, beers, house wine and champagne (11.30am until 3pm). Feel like a dip? Pool passes are also available during the summer months for a fee.
Duddell's
Best for: dim sum
Eat: the classic Cantonese sui mai, pork and prawn dumplings
Drink: Ruinart Rosé pairs perfectly with dumplings
Duddell's Weekend Salon brunch is served from 12pm until 3pm amid smart, artsy surroundings in the heart of Central. They have a Hong Kong-style tick-box style menu rather than a buffet, which you can order from repeatedly. It features classic Cantonese dim sum such as barbecue pork buns, spicy wontons, shrimp spring rolls and garlic-drenched vegetables, rice, noodles and a selection of mains and desserts.
1 Duddell St, 1 Duddell St, Central, Hong Kong
Don't miss the signature X.O. dipping sauce. If you can't get enough dim sum, the restaurant also regularly offers workshops where you can learn to make your own.
The Verandah at The Repulse Bay
Best for: dressing up
Eat: Grand Marnier soufflé
Drink: Perrier Jouët Blason Rosé Champagne
Owned by Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels group, which also owns The Peninsula, The Verandah's three-and-a-half-hour (11am until 2.30pm) Summer Sunday Rosé brunch is a refined affair. Modelled on the colonial-era Repulse Bay Hotel overlooking the eponymous beach and the South China Sea, the setting couldn't be more charming – all marble terraces, corinthian columns, potted palms and swirling ceiling fans.
109 Repulse Bay Rd, Repulse Bay, Hong Kong
The free-flow drinks list includes Grand Marnier cocktails, Whispering Angel rosé wine, red and white wines, beer and pink Perrier Jouët. Help yourself to soups, salads and appetisers at the buffet before choosing a main course and dessert from the seasonally changing menu.
Zuma
Best for: partying
Eat: pork gyoza with spicy yuzu truffle
Drink: the house-infused sochu
Zuma (located inside the swanky Landmark mall in Central) has a sushi-fuelled weekend brunch that runs from 11am until 3pm every Saturday and Sunday, but, it's the Friday and Saturday Yashoku night brunch that you don't want to miss.
Level 5&6 Landmark Atrium, 15 Queen's Rd Central, Central, Hong Kong
Unlimited starter plates – beef tartare, maki rolls and shrimp and vegetable tempura – are served at your table, followed by a main course – either grilled hamachi kama with lemon and sea salt or spicy beef tenderloin with sesame and red chili – and a selection of Japanese sweets. There's one sitting on Friday at 8pm and two on Saturday at 8pm and 8.30pm.
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