Question on tipping in HK. Some places add a 10% service charge. Are you supposed to add any gratuity on top of the 10%?
What is an appropriate tip in Hong Kong for a local no frills type of place vs a Michelin starred place?
Thanks in advance.
No, but you can if you want.
Optional. Tips isnât expected if itâs not mandatory.
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The menu looks great. Adding to my list.
Nope but it seems to be like a Hong Kong version of Mister Jiuâs San Francisco.
HolyâŚfuxk.
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Has anybody been to HK recently or have friends/relatives that have visited recently? Iâm starting to get a bit worried about our trip to HK give all the unrest and protests. I know we still have 3 months until our trip but donât necessarily want to take a vacation if there are still protests. We are staying in Central which seems to not have a lot of activity but weâll be in the Causeway Bay area and out n about around the whole city.
TIA for any feedback from the ground and advice.
I donât, though I have relatives and friends I havenât personally talked to since the mess started, and I do see their social media and subscribe to some local media sources.
If you havenât booked your trip yet and want to play it safe, then cancel and plan for somewhere else instead. The situation is still very volatile and I donât see things improving (although there are some pauses in between). If things escalate it could get ugly as military from mainland China gets deployed (they are pretty much ready to be on the ground right past the border), along with the riot police with tear gas (and possibly switching to live rounds), and of course the local gangsters emboldened by not being stopped by the police just attacking anyone.
But if you cannot cancel and still have to go, if you head to Causeway Bay, stay alert and avoid paths of protesters (and police), check local news and social media (CNN HK, South China Morning Post) and stay indoors as much as you can. Avoid the areas that have been hit the hardest (Wong Tai Sin, North Point, Yuen Long, Tuen Mun, Tin Shui Wai, parts of Sham Shui Po) and pay attention over the course of next two months. The protests/movement is fluid, so things are always in flux.
You could always go west, Lantau Island and hit up Disneyland (and Tai O Fishing Village but only go on the weekend). Thereâs Ocean Park around Aberdeen/Wong Chuk Hang that should be safer, unless the kids are older teenagers and donât care for these things. (And thereâs the option of Macau, lots of undiscovered traditional Cantonese and Macanese gems.)
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Macau is callingâŚ
@beefnoguy thanks for the reply. I think we are leaning on cancelling and going somewhere else. 3 months is still a long time away but my wife doesnât feel comfortable.
Bummer bc we were very excited for the trip and had a great itinerary.
Weâre almost in the same boat, except weâll be landing HKG in two weeks. First two weeks or so will be in Xiamen/Guangzhou/Shenzhen. Terminating with a week in Causeway Bay.
What with the protest/strikes in HK, anti-American sentiment due to Trumpâs and Taiwanâs escalating friction with China (DW was Taiwan citizen), slightly wary of the (un)welcome we may encounter. Nevertheless, we already have a full itinerary planned and looking forward to the trip.
Iâll post some updates when I can. Hope the unrest will be resolved by the time your trip is up.
Be safe. Appreciate any updates after your trip.
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Interestingly, Shenzhen just north of HK border into China, is a major hotspot now. There are many investors that are pouring serious money into really top notch looking restaurants from high end to mid tier, including some really legit looking Japanese places that would not look out of place in Japan. I donât have specifics but have seen them on my friendâs social media. I also follow a local HK sushi chef ownerâs social media and he opened a branch in Shenzhen couple months agoâŚliterally bringing over trays of super premium brand name/unicorn grade uni for his grand opening that you would see at the top Ginza restaurants (Higashizawa, Hadate, even shiro uni).
Macau would be a perfect place to divert your attention to just for the food scene and in some cases they do HK cafe, roasties, seafood, and even fine dining Cantonese probably just as good if not better. Even the neighborhood blue collar stuff looks mighty fine, inclusive of wonton noodles, bamboo pole noodles, shrimp roe noodles, brisket, beef innards etc and of course stuck in time classics.
Otherwise, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, and of course Japan, are excellent alternatives.
My take is that this thing is such a big mess right now it will not resolve itself easily. Itâs a very complex problem that snowballed and you have too many additional extreme elements introducing chaos in the mix, along with a lot of short fuses of people that add further volatility and unpredictability. Nobody is uniting, compromising, talking reasonably to each other (or willing to listen for that matter) yet plenty are willing to take advantage of a crisis for their own agendas. As recent WSJ articles have reported, some civilians are willing and ready to die for the cause if it gets down to it since a lot of people have already felt hopeless about their own future. We are probably not that far from something like this, some might say it has already happened (at least the war on ideas and ideals).
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@js76wisco We are in the same boat as you - have a trip planned to HK (and Taiwan!) near when you are going as well, and we are monitoring the situation carefully.
FWLIW, I reached out to a friend who is an expat for a multinational corp and just moved to HK. I was planning on meeting up with him in HK when we visit - he told me that on a day-to-day basis, he doesnât feel unsafe, and his company provides general updates, but there is no cause for any undue alarm. We also have another friend who was just visiting HK in the last week or two and also told us that she felt safe and did not experience first hand any issues.
However, this is all LAST week, and I feel like the situation has escalated since then. While we havenât changed our plans, we are monitoring it real time as well. Will be good to see what @Google_Gourmet says after their trip.
In case you have time, Iâve also been checking out the below thread on Tripadvisor:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294217-i1496-k12734994-o340-Is_HK_save_to_travel-Hong_Kong.html
Thanks for this link.
Theyâve been stationed in HK barracks since 97!
I have local friends in Tuen Mun, Mong Kok, and Central. None of them are worried provided that you keep your opinions to yourself while youâre out and about. Perhaps avoid wearing a white t-shirt just in caseâŚ
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Even though I think where we would likely spend most of our time are away from the main protest sites I think this is the straw that broke the camelâs back for us.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/08/asia/us-travel-advisory-hong-kong-intl-hnk/index.html
Weâre back after three weeks in South of China. Original plan was to spend the last 6 days in Hong Kong, and return out of HKIA.
Iâm sure youâve been following the news from Hong Kong. Although some progress has been made in amends, Hong Kong is probably not a place to take a couple of kids for a relaxing carefree trip.
We switched out the Hong Kong portion of our trip for Macao, mainly so we can take the Macao ferry directly into HKIA for our flight home. Had a good time in Macao, and the ferry interface was even more expeditious than the HK airport express.
Good luck and have a good time on your trip, whether Hong Kong or otherwise.
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Thanks @Google_Gourmet. We have been watching the news and cancelled our trip. HK does not look like a safe place to bring kids. The violence and escalation of protests are too unpredictable for my family. We are going to Oahu instead.
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