Yong Fu

The Verdict

At $$$$, Yong Fu in Wan Chai is one of the few places in Hong Kong where you can eat Ningbo cuisine at a serious level. The Hong Kong outpost of the celebrated Shanghai original, it holds a Black Pearl 1 Diamond (2025), an OAD Leading Restaurants in Asia ranking of #191 (2025), and 96.5 points from La Liste (2025). Those credentials matter when you are deciding whether to spend this kind of money on a regional Chinese cuisine most Hong Kong diners encounter rarely. The short answer: yes, it is worth it, provided you book far enough ahead and come prepared to order the dishes that justify the price.

What Yong Fu Is

Yong Fu is the first Hong Kong branch of a Shanghai-based Ningbo restaurant group that has built a reputation around the fish-forward cooking of Zhejiang province. Ningbo cuisine is one of the Eight Great Traditions of Chinese cooking, defined by its use of seafood from the East China Sea, a preference for steaming and wine-braising over heavy sauce work, and an emphasis on preserving the natural flavour of high-quality ingredients. It is not the Cantonese cooking Hong Kong diners know by instinct. The restraint is different, the salinity is different, and the complexity is quieter and more considered.

The room at Golden Star Building on Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, was designed to signal what is on the plate: wave-like crystal chandeliers and dangling glass fish overhead. The visual language is direct. Fish from the East China Sea is shipped in daily, and local produce is sourced to complete the Ningbo repertoire. Chef Liu Zhen oversees the kitchen, bringing across the hallmark recipes from the parent brand including some of its most technically demanding preparations.

The signature dish you will read about everywhere is the raw mud crab marinated in Shaoxing wine, ginger, and coriander. The preparation amplifies the crab's briny sweetness and the roe, rich and dense, is one of the more memorable bites available at this price point in Hong Kong. This is a pre-order item. If you arrive without having requested it, you will not eat it. That is not a risk worth taking at these prices, so confirm when you book.

Booking and Timing

This is a hard booking. Yong Fu operates two services daily across the week: lunch from 12 PM to 3 PM and dinner from 6 PM to 11:30 PM. The 11:30 PM close makes it one of the more practical late-night options among Hong Kong's award-recognised Chinese restaurants — most kitchens at this level close earlier. If your schedule runs late or you want to extend a special occasion into the evening without rushing, the dinner service has genuine runway.

Book at least two to three weeks out as a minimum. For weekend dinners or a specific occasion, go further. Pre-order any dishes flagged as requiring advance notice — the mud crab being the most important , at the time of reservation. If you show up without a pre-order and without a reservation, the experience you came for will not be available to you.

Special Occasions and Group Dining

Yong Fu works well for celebration dinners and business meals where the food itself is the point of conversation. The setting is composed and formal enough for a significant occasion without being stiff. The cuisine is genuinely interesting to guests who do not know Ningbo cooking, which makes it a good choice for a meal where you want something to talk about beyond the room itself.

For groups, the format is suited to sharing, as Ningbo cooking is traditionally ordered across multiple dishes. Larger parties should contact the restaurant directly to discuss seating configuration and pre-order logistics, particularly if signature dishes are a priority. No phone number is listed in our current data, so use email or the reservation platform you book through.

Late-Night Option

Among Hong Kong's $$$$ Chinese restaurants, the 11:30 PM last orders at Yong Fu is a practical differentiator. If you are coming from theatre, a business event, or simply prefer a later dinner, this is one of the few kitchens at this level that will still be running. The full menu, including the more complex preparations, remains available through the dinner service. This makes Yong Fu a more flexible choice than many of its peers at the same price tier, where kitchens typically close by 10 PM or earlier.

Know Before You Go

• Cuisine: Ningbo (Zhejiang province, fish-forward, East China Sea seafood)
• Price tier: $$$$
• Awards: Black Pearl 1 Diamond (2025), OAD Leading Restaurants in Asia #191 (2025), La Liste 96.5pts (2025)
• Hours: Daily 12 PM–3 PM and 6 PM–11:30 PM
• Address: Ground floor and 1/F, Golden Star Building, 20–22 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai
• Pre-order required: Yes, for signature dishes including raw marinated mud crab , confirm at time of booking
• Booking difficulty: Hard , reserve two to three weeks out minimum, further for weekends
• Leading for: Special occasions, late-night dining, guests new to Ningbo cuisine
• Google rating: 3.9 (82 reviews) , note this is low relative to the award recognition; likely reflects the price point and specialist cuisine rather than a quality issue

Related Yong Fu Locations and Ningbo Peers

If you want to compare this branch against the original or explore Ningbo cuisine elsewhere, the Yong Fu Huangpu location in Shanghai is the parent restaurant. The group also operates Yong Fu Hong Kong in Shanghai and YongFu Mini in Pudong. For Ningbo cooking in other Chinese cities, see Song in Hangzhou, Jiang Nan Yu Ge in Hangzhou, Xun Wei Jiang Nan in Hangzhou, and Qiantang Garden in Beijing.

For a broader view of Hong Kong dining, see our full Hong Kong restaurants guide, and for hotels and bars, our Hong Kong hotels guide and Hong Kong bars guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is Yong Fu worth the price? Yes, with conditions. The $$$$ tier is justified by three concurrent 2025 awards, daily-shipped East China Sea seafood, and a cuisine with genuine technical depth. It is not worth it if you arrive without pre-ordering the signature dishes , you will have paid the price without accessing the full quality on offer. For Ningbo cooking at this level outside Shanghai, there is no direct Hong Kong alternative.
• What should a first-timer know about Yong Fu? This is Ningbo cuisine, not Cantonese. The flavour profile is cleaner, more wine-forward, and more reliant on the inherent quality of seafood than on complex saucing. Pre-order the raw marinated mud crab when you book. Arrive with enough time to work through multiple dishes , the format rewards sharing. Book well in advance, particularly for dinner on weekends.
• Is the tasting menu worth it at Yong Fu? No menu format data is confirmed in our records. We recommend contacting the restaurant directly when booking to ask about set menu options. Given the pre-order requirement on signature dishes, it is likely worth asking specifically whether a curated selection can be arranged in advance , that is closer to the optimal way to eat here.
• Is Yong Fu good for a special occasion? Yes. The room , crystal chandeliers, glass fish installations, composed service , is designed for a significant meal. The cuisine is interesting enough that it becomes the subject of conversation rather than just the backdrop. The late service (last orders 11:30 PM) means you are not under pressure to be seated early. Confirm pre-orders for signature dishes when reserving.
• Can Yong Fu accommodate groups? The sharing-plate format of Ningbo cooking suits groups well. For larger parties, contact the restaurant directly when booking to discuss seating and pre-order requirements. No phone number is in our current records , book through your reservation platform and address group logistics in the notes or by follow-up.
• What should I order at Yong Fu? The raw mud crab marinated in Shaoxing wine, ginger, and coriander is the dish the restaurant is known for , and it requires a pre-order. Beyond that, focus on the seafood preparations using East China Sea fish, which is the kitchen's core competency. Ask about the most complex preparations from the Shanghai original when you book; most are available here.