It seems that every time my husband and I happen to have a day off from work together we do one thing- head off to Chinatown to eat, eat, and eat some more. The day starts off with a train or bus ride across the Hudson to Manhattan, and the first thing we usually do is grab some Hong-Kong style Chinese breakfast at a HK-style cafe. There are countless options, ranging from tiny mom-and-pop shops with 2-3 tables, to large full-service restaurants. Here are our top 4 picks, enjoy!

1. MStar

19 Division St, New York, NY 10002 

Alright guys- this is one of my favorite places to go in all of Manhattan. It’s medium in size and extra large in flavor. I almost always order Breakfast Option G, the rice noodle soup with pork and pickled veggies, accompanied by a hot Hong Kong style milk tea. My husband usually opts for the traditional soup macaroni or the beef satay ramen, also with a milk tea. M Star also has one of the best and cheapest options for turnip cake, one of my favorite dishes to order when we come here! It’s technically a side dish but is very generously portioned and super filling, so be prepared to feel stuffed if you get it!M Star is one of those places I mentioned in my guide to HK style Chinese breakfast that is a little more old school, and while the servers do speak a bit of English they definitely prefer Chinese. The menu is very straightforward though, and very manageable with the point and smile technique.

2. Cha Chan Tang

45 Mott St New York, NY 10013

If you prefer English menus and a more familiar/Western wait staff experience but still want to get real deal Chinese breakfast, Cha Chan Tang is a great option! Try the iced lemon tea here- it’s the second of the two more popular beverage options to get with HK style Chinese breakfast. The ambiance of Cha Chan Tang is more modern, with a cute art display of toppling coffee mugs lining one wall. There are legit menus here and you can expect the waitstaff to be comfortable in English. When we come here I actually opt for non-breakfast options (the full menu is open even in the morning) and I like the tang he fun – wide flat rice noodles with soup.

Cha Chan Tang also offers a pretty expansive menu that extends beyond just breakfast. You can try a wide variety of typical HK fare, from fried rice to various yummies over rice (I like the mushroom chicken over rice, or the tomato and egg over rice) to pan fried noodles to baked spaghetti. Or, have a taste of the stir fried spaghetti with beef and black pepper sauce– a scrumptious combo!

3. S Wan Cafe

85 Eldridge St, New York, NY 10002

The “grungiest” and most old fashioned choice on this list. I would really only recommend coming here if you speak some Chinese or can bring along a friend who does. Language and cultural barriers aside, this place has a lot to offer when you do come try it out. The HK style milk tea here is the best I’ve tried in Manhattan Chinatown. And the egg sandwich that comes with breakfast is amazing- it’s literally just white bread with scrambled egg nestled inside, but somehow they’ve found a way to make such a simple food item absolutely scrumptious. The bread is a wonderfully light and soft chewy texture and the egg is moist, not dry yet not oily, and it all comes together to make a perfectly balanced match to the rest of your Chinese breakfast. You can also get a variety of meats added to your sandwich, like spam (classically seen at HK style brekkie with toast and eggs or atop a bowl of noodle soup) or ham or bacon. Be aware that your food will come on paper plates and Styrofoam containers, and the milk tea comes in a paper takeout cup regardless of if you dine in or take out. Speaking of takeout, a lot of customers come to order their breakfast and take it away to eat at home or the nearby park as the restaurant itself is quite tiny and gets crowded!

You come here for a traditional HK style Chinese breakfast experience. The foods might seem simple but actually take a lot of time and expertise to perfect. Try the soup macaroni– chicken broth based soup with elbow macaroni, veggies, and a bit of the aforementioned spam or ham- which comes with an egg sandwich and beverage on the side. Or try the soy sauce noodles (they have always been nice and springy here whereas other places can sometimes disappoint with soggy noodles)- egg noodles stir fried in a flaming hot wok made fragrant with sesame oil, green onions, bean sprouts, white pepper, and of course soy sauce. Another good option is the pan fried cheung fun– the yummy rice noodle rolls taken one step further by pan frying to achieve a crisp light char on the outside while preserving the fresh springy (never mushy) interior. It’s a bit more difficult to find this pan fried variety of cheung fun at other restaurants so be sure to try it here!

4. Kong Sihk Tong

65 Bayard St, New York, NY 10013

This is a newer Hong Kong style cafe and goes for a more modern, new-age style of typical dishes. For example, they have a rendition of avocado toast alongside more traditional choices on their breakfast menu. This one is most similar to Cha Chan Tang in type of dining experience, but feels newer. It’s the kind of place you’d bring out of town friends or maybe your visiting parents to show that you still appreciate home-style dishes but also have your life together. During breakfast time in addition to the typical brekkie options I also recommend trying one of their French toasts– they have condensed milk, peanut butter, and ovaltine options. It comes out steaming and fried to golden perfection, with the most sinfully satisfying combination of soft pillowy thick-cut toast enveloped in a crunchy crispy deep fried outer shell, dripping with sweet gooeys on the outside. Just try it.

5. Sun Hing Lung Co

Okay, so this isn’t technically a cafe as much as it is an open window on the side of a building, but I had to add it to this list as it is one of our favorite pit stops on our Chinatown food crawls! Come to Sun Hing Lung for the freshest cheung fen (rice noodle rolls) you will ever eat. You place your order at the window and watch as the rice noodle water (or is it called batter?) is poured into the square pan, your carefully selected toppings tossed in, then the pan slid into the steamer— before the next person’s order is in, you’ll have your baby of wonderfully fresh, steaming, tender and springy cheung fen in hand ready to be devoured. I recommend the OG dried shrimp rice roll, but there are lots of options (including meat-free and seafood-free versions) to try! There are no tables at this stall so everything is strictly takeaway. But if you’re like me, your tray will be empty before you even make it to the next street. Beware that Sun Hing Lung closes in mid afternoon some days (and has at times been closed unexpectedly when hours posted on Yelp or Google say otherwise) so try to come earlier in the day to avoid disappointment!

As we eat our way through more of the city, I hope and expect to discover even more delicious options for breakfast and beyond. Have you guys tried Chinese breakfast yet? What is your favorite?