MUZIChinese Matrix
Cantonese Cuisine · FFET10093
Cantonese char siu is pork shoulder marinated and roasted, then brushed with maltose or honey for a glossy surface.
An oval white porcelain plate holds an overlapping row of thick char siu slices, pink-and-cream cut faces edged with a glossy red-brown honey glaze and lightly charred corners, with cilantro leaves and wooden chopsticks beside it.
The regional cooking of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, prized for live, fresh ingredients and light flavours.
Char siu is a Cantonese roast meat: strips of pork, usually from the neck and shoulder, are marinated with soy sauce, garlic, sugar, five-spice, rice wine and red fermented bean curd, roasted, and brushed with maltose or honey for color. The honey-glazed version is common in Hong Kong restaurants. A 2020 article considers its origin uncertain; many believe it came from Guangdong, while another listed source gives Guangdong as its origin without a citation.
Char siu is a Cantonese roast meat: strips of pork are marinated, roasted and brushed with a syrup, then sliced and served over rice or with noodles. The honey-glazed version is one commonly seen in Hong Kong restaurants.1,2,3
The sources listed here hold no dated text that shows when char siu appeared. The Qingbai Leichao (compiled by Xu Ke, finished in 1916) lists char siu among cold dishes, giving the name only, with no honey and no mention of Guangdong. A 2020 article considers its origin uncertain; many believe it came from Guangdong.2,7
Guangdong and Hong Kong, and also the Chinese communities of Southeast Asia; the name is spelled differently from place to place.1,2
Half-fat shoulder pork is marinated with soy sauce, garlic, sugar, five-spice, rice wine, hoisin or oyster sauce and red fermented bean curd, roasted hung up or on a rack, then brushed with maltose or honey and returned to the oven until the surface caramelizes.1,2,4,5,6
Field workers once preferred pork belly, and most Hong Kong roast-meat cooks use shoulder today.2
A Hong Kong char siu list updated in November 2025 features 10 restaurants. Good char siu has a caramelized, charred outside.3
No tale about this food has been found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
Roast meat shops use a hanging oven for char siu. This is the simpler way I make it at home in an ordinary oven: marinate the strips for a day, roast them on a rack and brush on honey in several coats. The color will not be as red as in a restaurant, but the taste is homey. The amounts, temperatures and timings below are my own choices at home, informed by a few published recipes.
Allergens: soy, wheat, shellfish
Grandpa Li
Picks come from public lists and guides and were checked on the dates shown; places can change, so confirm before you go.
Hong Kong, Tai Wai
Order: Thick-cut pork collar char siu
This place is on the MICHELIN Guide's Hong Kong char siu list, updated in November 2025, and the list describes its thick-cut pork collar char siu. If you want to taste char siu, this is the one I would try first.
Checked on 2026-11-01
Hong Kong, Central
Order: Honey-glazed char siu from Boston butt of local pork
The same list, updated in November 2025, names it too, for honey-glazed char siu made from Boston butt of local pork. If you are curious what a refined honey-glazed char siu looks like, this is a place to try.
Checked on 2026-11-01
Hong Kong, Tsim Sha Tsui
Order: Honey-glazed char siu from Iberian black pork
Tin Lung Heen is on the same list, for honey-glazed char siu made from Iberian black pork. If you would like to try char siu made from black pork, this is one to consider.
Checked on 2026-11-01
