A Cantonese food revival in UK sparked by new Hong Kong migrants: think authentic noodle and rice dishes, pineapple buns and more

In London, Cantonese restaurants had been on the decline in Chinatown, but surging migration from Hong Kong to Britain has seen a wave of new ones open

Across the UK, a wealth of Cantonese restaurants, cafes and food shops cater to those after a taste of home, or who simply want to try authentic Hong Kong food

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Yun Gui Chuan Rice Noodle is proving a popular haunt for Hongkongers as well as others craving a spicy bowl of noodles in London. It is one of many new restaurants, cafes and stores across the UK offering Hong Kong-style dishes and drinks. Photo: Yun Gui Chuan Rice Noodle

Victoria Burrows

Published: 1:15pm, 15 Oct 2023

The recent wave of Hong Kong migration to Britain has sparked renewed interest in Cantonese food across the country, with quintessentially Hong Kong tastes such as milk tea, bubble tea and char siu fan now readily available.

Over the past few years, restaurants, cafes, shops and online businesses providing a taste of home to Hong Kong immigrants – some 144,500 of whom have moved here since 2021 – have mushroomed in London and across Britain, notably in the Midlands.

The greater visibility of Hong Kong food and drink has in turn driven a growing enthusiasm for Cantonese food more widely.

For Lee Lap-fai, consultant chef at Siu Siu, a Cantonese kitchen that has just opened in London’s impressively redeveloped Battersea Power Station, the surging availability of Hong Kong dishes is welcome.

Lee’s Sorrowful Rice at Siu Siu in the Battersea Power Station in London. Photo: Siu Siu

“There’s been a decline in Cantonese food in Chinatown over the past few decades. But now it’s seeing a resurgence, and with it the nostalgia for great Cantonese food in the local UK population also returns,” he says.

“The first wave of Chinese food in the UK was Cantonese but that altered to suit local tastes. The new wave of Cantonese food is more representative of what you would find in Hong Kong.”