I Think I Found the Best Burger in All of Hong Kong

If you know me in real life then you’ll hear me endlessly lament how I think that “the algorithm” has got me. Endless Instagram reels of Kazakh twins dancing to the same three songs, politically charged and semi-literate Facebook statuses by that one friend’s mom who uses social media as her diary, and more day-in-the-life videos of dropshipping YouTube entrepreneurs than my brain is capable of processing. Simply put, it has a strong grip on me and I’m not mentally or intellectually strong enough to dig myself out. 

However, there is one positive that has come from my Black Mirror-esque existence – one where I’m only a few years away from having hopium pedaling, snake oil, TikTok real estate guru seminars on a continuous loop in the brain chip implanted in me by Elon – an Instagram story highlighting the burgers at Belly Boys in Causeway Bay.

Although I’m usually skeptical of anything that is perennially shoved down my throat in short form, as I’ve tried several of these ‘must try’ restaurants before and have been sorely disappointed (sometimes, furious at myself), Zuckerberg did it this time. He got me. Belly Boys lived up to the hype, solidifying why Mark and Meta’s existence in the frontal cortex of my brain isn’t just an inevitability but a reality. One that I’m more than happy to accept.

Without further ado, here’s why I think I found the best burger in all of Hong Kong at Belly Boys. 

Get in My Belly: The Belly Boys Deets

“Get in my belly.” – Fat Bastard from Austin Powers.

Website, Address, & Details: https://bellyboysburger.com/ 

• Location: G/F, 52 Tang Lung St, Causeway Bay
• Price:  $ – $$ – you can find affordable burger “tea sets” starting at roughly HK$60, with specialty burgers clocking in around HK$100. 

I don’t know what it is but I’ve just been feeling mentally a bit in a pretzel lately. Now, while writing this I’m thinking of a pretzel bun and it’s making me hungry. I’ve been frequently hitting the gym and then following it up with a walk to Causeway Bay and back to clear my head. Sometimes, you need to ‘George Michael’ (from Arrested Development) “sad walk” your way around the city just to take a step towards making the next day a little bit better.

Tucked away down an underrated side street for restaurants (just off of Hennessy Road), Tang Lung Street, Belly Boys brings some Western flare to an otherwise Japanese and Korean-focused dining scene (on Tang Lung Street that is). It also happens to sit directly across from the longstanding fish ball curry noodle restaurant ‘Sun Kee Cart Noodles’ and one of the better bang-for-your-buck Korean BBQ restaurants in the city ‘Seorae’, which I recommend checking out both.

It’s difficult to miss the minimalist white shopfront with a rotund, cherubic little ‘belly boy’ merrily strolling to Grandpapa’s house with a burger in hand. 

While there’s nothing overly impressive about the shop’s interior, which sits somewhere between an ordinary cafe (that you’d find on any street corner in the city) and a quintessential American diner (the one with clunky grayish-white booths and indiscriminately placed inventory), it’s hard not to feel like some ethereal burger presence has washed over you after a rush of beefy, buttery mist wafts up into your nostrils when stepping in the door. 

As someone who would occasionally find themselves scarfing down hoagies in the back alley behind the Cincinnati Greyhound bus station, a sleek interior decor doesn’t do much for me. All I care about is that the pomp and circumstance is channeled into the burgers themselves. A polished aesthetic actually gives me more pause than anything else. 

After being seated, you’ll have a QR code placed in front of you to order. I used to be against ordering food or drinks with a QR code as it felt too impersonal. However, after this newly implanted chip in my brain and long days in the office, I do find it occasionally nice to just pull up the menu on my phone, click a few buttons (or “Stephen Hawking tap” the order on the inside of my cheek), and have the food delivered shortly after.

Pale Ale Travel: If you want an entire burger Rolodex to choose from, make sure to check out my post breaking down my top burger joints in Hong Kong. 

A Beef Burger Knockout in the 1st Round: Belly Boys

I try not to be overly dogmatic these days but sometimes – like your Grandpa Chuck when he was getting ready to be shipped off with the Navy and saw your Aunt Ruth for the first time at his last local community center’s swing dance night – you just know. 

Belly Boys is far and beyond the best burger that I’ve eaten in Hong Kong. Scratch that. It’s one of the best burgers I’ve eaten anywhere in the world throughout my rogue gourmandizing adventures spanning 33 years on this planet. Take that as you will as I did also eat Crayons at several points as a child. If I’m being frank (“Nice to meet you Frank, I’m Big Body” – boom, still got it), I can’t remember the last time I had a burger that I’d consider better than this. 

As a boy with a belly, consider me a Belly Boy ride or die for life. A belly boy who is down to stop, drop, and open up burger shop with these smash burger savants for the rest of my algorithmically determined existence. That is until Zuckerberg and Elon accidentally misfire on some code and the chip reprograms me to solely exist on Soylent and kale juice.

Belly Boys is Ali (Cassius Clay at the time) in the first round standing over Sonny Liston after having knocked him out cold. Iconic. It’s Carl Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’ cantata across all 25 movements. Dynamic. And it’s George Bush throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium in Game 3 of the 2001 World Series (right after 9/11). Unforgettable. 

The Tribute Burger

As I mentioned in my post breaking down the best burgers in Hong Kong (of which Belly Boys is obviously on), Belly Boys is taking entire “cuisines” and condensing them down into dreamy, rich, and flavor-packed bites – no fork or knife required. But what does this look like in the context of a burger? I also hope I didn’t conjure up images of whatever gray slop they feed your Nana at the nursing home and call “meatloaf surprise.”

For Belly Boy’s ‘Tribute Burger’, you’ll find a sweet and zesty whiskey-infused onion jam sauce that tops a crispy-edge smashed patty (which sits somewhere between a traditional thin smash and classic medium-thick patty) and fatty, salty, pancetta. Pancetta really is just bacon on flavor steroids, which provides a familiar bacony taste you love without taking up as much space inside the bun. 

All of this flavor is locked in, with an ever so melty slice of American cheese, and deliberately stacked between a soft, airy, and sweet brioche bun from Bakehouse (one of the few spots in Hong Kong that is worth lining up for), which bends (and even melds) with the burger and produces what I consider ‘one bite American BBQ’ – all of your favorite smoky, beefy, and salty necessities in a single, manageable bite. 

The sweet caramelized onion jam is what takes this burger to the next level for me. This is hands down my favorite topping to put on a burger (other than cheese), as when I was a “stay-at-home-son” (a term I created while unemployed and living with my mother at 24), the highlight of my weekend would be making a trip up to a popular New England-based artisan jam and jelly store to pick up several containers of garlicky, sweet onion jam. 

I’d then rush home and kick through the door, channeling the gusto of one thousand Paul Reveres to bellow, “The sweet onion jam is coming!” and place it before my mother. The rest was burger history. 

Burger Au Poivre

Of course, I’m not just eating one burger when I go to Belly Boys. Sure, I could always opt for the double patty and settle for only one but both Drake and I only have one life to live. The second go-to of mine at Belly Boys is their ‘Burger Au Poivre’, a smashed take on the classic French dish ‘steak au Poivre’ – a tender, peppercorn crusted, pan-seared steak (filet mignon, rib-eye, sirloin, and NY strip all work) coated in a creamy mushroom and cognac sauce.

If you’re like me, someone who ranks sauces in their sauce power rankings based solely on their drinkability, then Belly Boy’s au Poivre sauce is up there with the best of them. 

If I was ever a famous rapper, you wouldn’t find me and my goons tossing the yak (cognac) back straight out the bottle, instead, we’d only be guzzling the finest, creamy mushroom cognac concoctions in our booth out of personalized gravy boats (or saucières for my French dawgz). 

Belly Boy’s burger does this French classic justice, liberally coating a tender medium-thick smashed patty of USDA Prime chuck eye roll (mock ribeye) with luscious creamy and peppery whiskey-infused yak sauce, savory sauteed mushrooms, and caramelized onions, encouraging it to spill over the edges of the soft yet elastic brioche. It’s the refined taste of steak au Poivre with the chaos and messiness of a local Hooters eating contest. 

Big bellies over big hooters any day for this guy. 

This burger is one messy SOB. I say that with the utmost respect. Belly Boys will even provide you with plastic gloves. I recommend accepting this not-so-subtle suggestion and using them. My first time at Belly Boys, the nice couple on a date next was horrified to see me go in bare paws and teeth, similar to a Rottweiler that’s just been given a bone or its favorite chew toy – just absolute carnage while rag dolling this burger like a freshly caught rabbit. 

But that’s pure bliss.

Pale Ale Travel Tip: While Belly Boys is my new number-one burger in all of Hong Kong, this city has more than impressed me with more than a handful of other burger joints. Make sure to check out my posts on ‘The Diplomat’ in SoHo, ‘Eggslut’ in Causeway Bay (just a stone’s throw away from Belly Boys), and ‘Birria Y Birria’ in Sai Ying Pun’. 

From One Belly Boy to Another: I’ll Be Back

As I mentioned above, I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately and in my head too much. I spent the entire morning and afternoon in the lead-up to Belly Boys just doing that thing where you mutter to yourself and physically shake negative thoughts out of your head. But I walked out of Belly Boys mentally unencumbered and refreshed. Granted, it didn’t solve the root of whatever issue was plaguing me that day but it was a reprieve from my overfixation and reflectiveness of the banalities of everyday life…it was that damn good. 

I only hope with the algorithms’ continued domination over human existence, free will, and thought that it’s smart enough to just hook Belly Boys up as an IV drip that immediately releases liquified cheeseburgers into my veins as soon as an Instagram reel of the shop plays on my feed. 

I do think it’s important to emphasize that In Hong Kong’s fickle F&B landscape, “staying power” might ultimately be the test for the best burger in the city. It can sometimes be a bit of a fleeting romance, where as soon as you get into the groove with your favorite burger, knowing what they like and don’t like, it’s over. Belly Boys is a burger restaurant that I’ll closely monitor and gastronomically gush over as long as they keep churning out burgers like you just read about. 

My only real complaint about Belly Boys is that all the dudes who work there and have big bellies don’t do that classic “Old Asian Man roll up your shirt to let your belly hang out look.” Customers with big bellies should also be allowed to flaunt them freely as well. And, potentially even receive a discount for doing so. Maybe one day.

If you’ve been to Belly Boys in Causeway Bay, I’d love to hear what you thought in the comments or via email (info@palealetravel.com). Or, let me know your favorite burger in Hong Kong. Finally, if you have a big belly, also let me know in the comments. Although I think I’ve found my favorite in Hong Kong, I’m still trying to give other burger joints a fair shot and will continue to add this nostalgic comfort food to my Hong Kong Rolodex. 

Eat well everyone,

Big Body