For something quick and relatively inexpensive a few restaurants around town now have branches at the airport. Look for the McDonald’s 1 and McCafe
2 down in Arrivals or Oliver’s Super Sandwiches 3 for quick snacks or fast food. For a healthier option, the veggie nuts at Mix 4 have an open-faced stall, perfect for sipping on smoothies and people watching. If you’d prefer to sit down for a longer meal, The Spaghetti House 5 and Café de Coral 6 both offer their regular fare in Arrivals.

Want a quick chat over coffee or something sweet while you say your goodbyes? Pacific Coffee 7 have two large kiosks on both ends of the Departure areas, and Banana Leaf Dessert House 8 offers sticky goods, Asian style, to satisfy your sweet tooth. Hui Lau Shan 9 serves a healthier alternative to desserts, but of course no less sweet. Dip your spoon into some sago or mango pudding. Or grab something quick like the egg tarts at Orchid’s Pandaria Bakery 10 or fresh cream cakes at Maxim’s Deluxe 11 .

The Lost City of Snacks 12 is a small hole in the wall, only big enough to seat about four or five people, tucked behind the shops in Departures, but it’s well worth stopping at for a quick bite of street-style food. Fishballs, char siu and bean curd are all available with ‘trolley noodles’ at this small stand. For only $18 you can select two meats to go with your noodles, and ask for takeaway should you choose to enjoy it on your flight. Cheap and tasty, exactly what Hong Kong snack food is all about.

You may miss Chinese and Asian food if your holiday destination is Europe (lucky you!) so stop in at the Banana Leaf Asian Food Square 13 for a roundup of various South East Asian dishes like Hainan chicken rice and Singaporean laksa. For more traditional Chinese cuisine, Maxim’s Chinese Restaurant 14 has Cantonese favourites like shark’s fin soup and braised abalone to keep you happy.

Grappa’s Bar & Italian Restaurant 15 has great food all day, and a tapas menu to accompany your drinks should you not make it past the bar. If you’re at the airport by 6.30am, you can have a hot or cold breakfast (there’s an entire menu to choose from) until 11am. From then on the full menu with a wide range of appetizers, pastas, pizzas and hot mains is served until 11pm. It has plenty of options for vegetarians, and the staff is quite happy to make something without meat if you ask. They serve a nice range of old and new world wines, with half sizes if you don’t want to open a whole bottle. Desserts are traditional Italian style with tiramisu and crème brulee among others. This is a very family friendly restaurant, especially for those with young children as it has plenty of space to wander about.

Next door is A Hereford Beefstouw Steak House 16 which, as the name suggests, serves steak and grill items. Choose from fillet, sirloin and rib eye beef, or salmon, king prawn and whole Dover sole for seafood. Although it shares its space with Grappa’s, it’s a more suitable setting for an intimate goodbye or business lunch.

Hang Heung’s Kitchen 17 offers Shanghainese and Cantonese food in a traditional setting. Carved wooden dividers and round wooden tables and jade stools set the scene for ‘old style’ dining. Try some of the signature dishes: wonton noodles and Chinese style doughnuts wrapped with rice sheet rolls and, of course, their wife cake: a light pastry with winter melon filling.

If you’d rather say goodbye the Irish way, head over to Katie O’Connors 18 tucked away into a corner in Arrivals. With dark wood booths lit by ‘gaslight’, it has the feel of a cosy homely pub and a menu that reflects that with fish and chips, homemade Irish pies and mash and Irish stew. Wash it all down with the Guinness and Kilkenny on tap.

A few places have outlets on both sides of immigration, so if you missed them one way, you can always catch them the other. Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits 19 – well, the name just says it all really. It is good old-fashioned Cajun-style chicken with buttermilk biscuits, which just melt in your mouth. Check it out at the Food Court airside, or just before immigration at the Departures area landside and buy a few extra pieces for the plane, you won’t be disappointed. Ajisen Ramen 20 , the Japanese noodle place, offers snacks like dumplings, kimchi and enoki rolls alongside its trademark soup noodles with various different types of meat. Perfect to warm up that winter belly. For sweet treats, Ben & Jerry’s 21 , the Vermont ice-cream makers, have kiosks where you can pick up flavour favourites like Chunky Munky and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

Eating may be more pleasurable if
you’ve pass through immigration control and security smoothly, and can relax while waiting for your flight. Check out these places airside:

The food court in the Skymart has a variety of options to keep the whole family satisfied. King’s Palace Congee and Noodle 22 serves various Cantonese-style dishes of congee and noodles while Café de Coral 23 offers typical Hong Kong fast food. Pak Loh Chiu Chow Express 24 has a large variety of rice and noodle dishes in Cantonese style, and the slightly spicy Chiu Chow style. Try the mixed meat tofu, or the Chiu Chow style meat for full-flavoured fare. If American style fast food is more your thing, Burger King’s 25 whoppers will definitely hit the spot. Fill up with a regular or pack more for the plane ride. Drop by Millie’s Cookies 26 for some chewy cookies and fluffy muffins to snack on while watching the in-flight entertainment.

Flanking the food court on either side are four full-fledged restaurants where you can sit down and relax to the view of planes taking off and landing. Ah Yee Leng Tong 27 offers traditional Cantonese cuisine, and its dim sum is not to be missed. Stop by for all the favourites: siu mai, har gau and char siu bau. Next door is Wildfire 28 serving up their famous pizzas and kebabs in a plush setting. Watch the chefs make your pizza in the open kitchen or if you’re dying for a cigarette, hop into the back to the dedicated smoking room with TVs. On the other wing, Café Deco 29 offers up their twists on continental and Asian cuisine alike. A jazz band plays nightly from 6.30pm onwards, perfect for relaxing with an evening meal. Just past their doors Champions Sports Bar 30 serves the usual bar food like potato skins, and chicken wings. Keep yourself entertained with the various TVs dotted around the bar, or play some pool and foosball to stretch those muscles before boarding the plane.

Closer to gates 65-68, Taiwan Beef Noodles 31 sells traditional-style Taiwanese beef noodles and bubble tea. A word of warning – it is a bit of a walk to the rest of the airport, so unless you are boarding your flight there, leave plenty of time to get there and back to your gate.

Just below, sample some sushi at the boat-shaped, Toro Bar & Seafood House
36 . Have some rolls or sashimi accompanied by sake while you chill out at the ice cool bar. If you’re with a friend, give the sushi and sashimi platter a try, or keep a look out for the special seasonal dishes.

If you want to grab and go The Flyer’s Café 32 , The Lite House 33 and Sky Garden Restaurant 34 all have quick hot and cold foods that can be packed and stashed easily. From sandwiches to western pastries to dim sum, they have plenty of variety.

Need a dose of caffeine before you fly? Head to the ubiquitous Starbucks 35 , at four different locations airside, and one in the pre-immigration hall. Getting your caffeine fix has never been so easy.