Sha Tin

Between the Shing Mun River and the slopes of Lion Rock Country Park, Sha Tin is often summed up by its malls and housing estates. But locals don’t define the district by buildings – they define it by what they eat. Ask an insider and you’ll hear the same names again and again: the roast pigeon place, the noodle shop with healing broth, the show-kitchen that’s always worth the queue. Together, these spots form the real map of Sha Tin’s local favourites.

Once a cluster of Hakka villages, Sha Tin grew into a new town in the 1970s. New residents brought their own recipes, then adapted them to small flats, long commutes and hungry families. Out of that came a culture of flavour-first, reliable food: places you turn to on a tired weeknight, or when you’re celebrating but still want it to feel like home.

Executive Chinese Chef Lau Sze-yau of The Hong Kong Bankers Club understands this instinct. A graduate of the Chinese Culinary Institute’s Master Chef programme, he insists on fresh ingredients and MSG-free cooking. For him, local favourites rest on both memory and evolution: “I’ve always believed this: whether we’re preserving tradition or drawing on the best of other cuisines, traditional Chinese cuisine is never stagnant. It adapts and continually renews itself. This is its vitality,” said Lau.