Detailed Gluten-Free Restaurant Card — Hong Kong (Cantonese)

The easiest hard city in Asia

Hong Kong has the strongest gluten-free awareness in the region — an international city where English is widely spoken and Central and SoHo have genuinely GF-aware restaurants. Cantonese cooking gives me naturally workable dishes: steamed fish, plain congee, poached chicken, garlic greens. The catch is soy sauce (豉油) — it contains wheat and is in nearly everything, and dim sum is off the table, since even the “translucent” wrappers are made with wheat starch. I carry tamari and ask every time.

What’s on the card

• A clear explanation of celiac disease (乳糜瀉) in Traditional Chinese, so the kitchen treats it as medical
• What I can’t eat and where gluten hides: soy sauce in dim sum, stir-fries, and marinades; char siu and roast-meat glazes made with soy and hoisin; congee toppings like fried dough (youtiao)
• What’s usually workable: steamed fish with no soy sauce, plain congee (白粥) with nothing added
• The kitchen questions — including “Does this contain soy sauce? It contains wheat” and a clean-wok request

What’s in the travel companion (page 2)

• How I pick restaurants: international spots in Central and SoHo, hotel dining rooms that handle GF requests (call ahead), and treating sushi as a caution rather than a recommendation
• Dishes worth ordering (poached chicken 白切雞 — verify the dipping sauce; plain-broth hot pot where you control your own ingredients), shopping notes (San-J tamari at city’super and Great Food Hall; Schär at international markets), and the label words to spot: 小麥 = wheat, 大麥 = barley
• If you get glutened: pharmacies where English is widely spoken, and 999 as the emergency number

The honest certification picture

Hong Kong has no local celiac association and no gluten-free certification — nobody is vouching for restaurant kitchens here. 無麩質 (gluten-free) appears on some menus and imported products, and GFCO or EU marks show up on imported GF goods; either way, read the label and ask.

Format

Instant download: 2-page PDF, printable or phone-ready.

This card helps communicate your dietary needs. It does not guarantee a gluten-free meal or eliminate cross-contact risk. Always use your judgment, and when in doubt, do not eat. Not medical advice.