Steaming bamboo baskets of plump soup dumplings arrive at your table.

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Some restaurants, like the Ning Po Residents Association, require a nominal annual fee (around 200 Hong Kong dollars), but in return you gain access to excellent food (in this case, recipes from the city of Ningbo, near Shanghai, such as delicate, juicy soup dumplings and sweet-and-sour fish), in an exclusive but usually unpretentious setting.

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Order the lobster soup: dumplings served in a pungent, beet-red vegetable broth, steamed before your eyes in a glass contraption resembling a coffeepot.

NEWYORKER: David Burke Kitchen

Here flickering candles and often live klezmer set the scene for solid home cooking such as garlicky borscht (beetroot and onion soup), pierogi (filled dumplings fried in butter) and honey-roasted lamb.

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Food stalls sell beef-noodle soup, stinky tofu or the ubiquitous steamed pork dumplings.

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Standouts are a gentle potato soup, garnished with black-radish slices and crispy kale, and pork-filled potato dumplings in a frothy smoked-cheese mousse.

NEWYORKER: Aska