Despite having no actual city view or windows in the dining room, this popular Financial District stop delivers where it counts — with the food! Though it can be crowded during the day, the pace is swift. Daily cart service offers the standards as well as a few less-seen varieties like jade dumplings and pork and peanut fun guo.

A glitzy international brand that veers into nightclub territory in places like Las Vegas, Hakkasan’s SF location is tamer by comparison, even though a $7 million industrial-meets-Oriental design puts the space squarely over the top. There are perhaps too many dim sum options here to make a stress-free decision, but the restaurant does excel in its brightly-hued vegetarian dumpling selection. Outside of the dim sum and entree fare, look for recently-introduced weekday lunch special items priced at just $5.50. They’re a great way to get a taste of what’s on offer here before taking the plunge into higher ticket items. We suggest the John Dory congee and Szechuan pork and shrimp dumplings.

You’ll be given a large checklist when you sit down at this Richmond go-to spot; make sure and look the whole thing over before you start to mark things down or you’ll surely over-order. It can feel like a cattle call in here when it’s crowded, but the service is still (at least) efficient when it’s packed. Look for the coffee pork ribs, and the almost jelly-like black sesame rolls and custard buns are worth saving room for dessert.

You’d be forgiven for not knowing that this isn’t a sequel to nearby Hong Kong Lounge, but the owner did have a stake in that restaurant for close to a decade and the space is similarly short on intimacy. The checklist here is extensive and dizzying, but make sure to find the tofu skin and shrimp dumplings — an unusual and delicately gorgeous item. It’s also a good place to bulk up with items like clay pot rice.