Honbo Hong Kong: Smash Burger, Stores and Menu

Honbo is a Hong Kong burger brand founded in 2017 by Michael Chan, a former doctor, and it runs two stores in the city today: G/F, Shop C, 1-3 Moon Street in Wan Chai, and G/F, Shop 2, 8 Lyndhurst Terrace in Central. Both open daily from 12:00 to 22:00, according to honbo.com, checked on 31 October 2026. The burger is a classic American cheeseburger: thin, crispy smashed patties or thick ones, American cheese, Japanese pickles, a potato milk bun. The original Sun Street shop is gone, and so are Tsim Sha Tsui, Sha Tin, The Mills and BaseHall.

Honbo Hong Kong at a glance: key facts

Honbo is a burger brand born in Wan Chai, founded by Michael Chan in 2017. I checked every fact below on 31 October 2026.

Honbo Hong Kong key facts: founder Michael Chan, founded in 2017 in Wan Chai, two current stores (1-3 Moon Street, Wan Chai; 8 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central), open daily 12:00–22:00, HKD 98 lunch deal (May 2026). Checked 31 October 2026. (Table: Burger Breton, CC BY 4.0, data from honbo.com, Tatler Asia (3 Aug 2023) and A Foodie World (13 May 2026))

Honbo founder Michael Chan: from medicine to cheeseburgers

Michael Chan founded Honbo in 2017 after leaving medicine, and he built it against the over-topped luxury burger. He trained and worked in medicine for seven years in Montreal and Los Angeles before coming home to Hong Kong, he told The Beat Asia in April 2023. Tatler Asia gave his age as 34 that year.

At the time, Hong Kong burgers came piled with lobster, uni, foie gras and caviar. Chan went the other way. His line to Tatler Asia sums up the brand better than any tagline: “If you want to make a cheeseburger, make a cheeseburger.” I think he was right. Honbo has changed stores, prices and countries since 2017, but that rule still shapes the menu.

Every source I checked calls him the founder. None calls him a chef or says how often he cooks in 2026. So: founder.

What the name Honbo means

Honbo means hamburger: the name comes from the Cantonese word Hon3Bou2Baau1, according to Honbo’s official site. No fusion pun, no English wordplay. The name promises a burger and nothing else.

Honbo locations in Hong Kong today: Wan Chai Moon Street and Central Lyndhurst Terrace

Honbo has two stores in Hong Kong as of 31 October 2026: one on Moon Street in Wan Chai, one on Lyndhurst Terrace in Central. Both are listed on honbo.com and open seven days a week, 12:00 to 22:00. They sit about 2 km apart on Hong Kong Island.

Map of Hong Kong Island between Central and Wan Chai: Honbo Central at 8 Lyndhurst Terrace (marker) and Honbo Wan Chai at 1-3 Moon Street, about 2 km east, near Wan Chai MTR station. The original 6-7 Sun Street shop, next to Moon Street, is closed. (Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL, https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright)

Honbo Wan Chai, Moon Street

The Honbo Wan Chai store is at G/F, Shop C, 1-3 Moon Street, Wan Chai, open daily 12:00–22:00 for eat-in and takeaway. It is a homecoming. Honbo closed its original Wan Chai shop in 2023 after a rent increase and returned to the district in late 2025, reports A Foodie World. I could not pin down a more precise opening date.

Moon Street in Wan Chai, Hong Kong, home of today’s Honbo Wan Chai store, photographed in March 2020 with the Ted’s Lookout bar terrace, years before Honbo moved to the street in late 2025. Illustrative photo, not taken at Honbo. (Photo: Hongshoum Doiar Kingz, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HK\_灣仔\_Wan\_Chai\_月街\_Moon\_Street\_near\_星街\_Star\_Street\_March\_2020\_SS2\_01.jpg)

Honbo Central, Lyndhurst Terrace

The Honbo Central store is at G/F, Shop 2, 8 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central, open daily 12:00–22:00. It soft-opened on 6 February 2025 as Honbo’s first permanent store in Central, five years after a 2020 pop-up at BaseHall, according to A Foodie World. The same report says the unit previously housed Vivant; no other source confirms it.

Is the Sun Street shop still open?

No. The original Honbo at G/F, Shop B, 6-7 Sun Street, Wan Chai, where the brand opened in 2017, has closed. Reviews such as Expat Living’s still give that address, so check the date of any page you read. Pages listing Tsim Sha Tsui, Harbour City, Tsuen Wan or Sha Tin are out of date too.

Sun Street (日街) sign in Wan Chai, Hong Kong, March 2020: the street where Michael Chan opened the first Honbo in 2017 at 6-7 Sun Street. That shop has since closed. (Photo: Hongshoum Doiar Kingz, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HK\_灣仔\_Wan\_Chai\_日街\_Sun\_Street\_near\_星街\_Star\_Street\_March\_2020\_SS2\_01.jpg)

How Honbo got here: a timeline

Honbo grew fast after 2017, shrank to almost nothing in 2022–2023, then came back with two Hong Kong stores and new sites abroad.

• 2017: Michael Chan opens Honbo on Sun Street, Wan Chai (honbo.com).
• 2020: Pop-up at BaseHall, Central (A Foodie World). HK01 reports that Honbo was the only Hong Kong venue on Bloomberg’s 2020 World’s Best Burgers list.
• August 2022: Opening at Lisboeta Hotel, Macau (The Beat Asia).
• 2022–2023: Closures of the original Wan Chai shop (rent increase, 2023), Tsim Sha Tsui, Sha Tin, The Mills and BaseHall (A Foodie World).
• 28 July 2023: First overseas outlet, at CHIJMES in Singapore (Tatler Asia; The Ranting Panda).
• 6 February 2025: Honbo Central soft-opens at 8 Lyndhurst Terrace.
• Late 2025: Return to Wan Chai, on Moon Street.
• May 2026: First mainland China store, at MixC Shenzhen Bay (Wen Wei Po, 19 Aug 2026).

Honbo timeline 2017–2026: Sun Street opening (2017), BaseHall pop-up (2020), Macau Lisboeta (Aug 2022), Hong Kong closures (2022–2023), Singapore CHIJMES (28 Jul 2023), Central (6 Feb 2025), Moon Street (late 2025), Shenzhen MixC (May 2026). (Table: Burger Breton, CC BY 4.0, data from honbo.com, A Foodie World, The Beat Asia, Tatler Asia, HK01 and Wen Wei Po)

The Honbo burger: beef, buns and toppings

A Honbo burger is a fresh-ground American beef patty on a handmade potato milk bun, with American cheese, Japanese pickles, white onions, lettuce and a secret house sauce. That is the build listed on honbo.com, checked 31 October 2026.

Where Honbo’s beef comes from

Honbo’s beef is American and ground in-house. The official site describes USDA Double Gold medal-winning beef, ground fresh daily. Tatler Asia (2023) went further: 36-month-old Holstein and Angus from Wisconsin, under an exclusive supply deal for Hong Kong and Singapore, ground with no preservatives.

The potato milk bun

The bun is a handmade, preservative-free potato milk bun developed with the baker Eric Kayser, according to honbo.com; Tatler Asia calls it a mashed-potato bun. On paper, that is the right call for thin smashed patties. A soft bun squashes down with the burger. A crusty one would fight it.

Is Honbo a smash burger? West Coast thin vs East Coast thick

Honbo is partly a smash burger: its signature burgers use thin, crispy smashed patties, which it calls ‘West Coast’ style, but the kitchen also cooks thick, juicy ‘East Coast’ patties. Tatler Asia described the split in 2023. In 2026, A Foodie World counts about 10 burgers built on two proteins cooked four ways: crispy beef, thick beef, grilled chicken and fried chicken.

Honbo smash burger styles compared: West Coast thin, crispy smashed patties (Honbo, Honbo 1.5, Honbo 2.0) vs East Coast thick, juicy patties (The Gold Standard, with applewood-smoked bacon). (Table: Burger Breton, CC BY 4.0, data from Tatler Asia (3 Aug 2023) and honbo.com)

Patties per Honbo burger: Honbo 1.5 has 3 thin smashed ‘West Coast’ patties, Honbo 2.0 has 4, and The Gold Standard has 2 thick ‘East Coast’ patties (2023 menu). (Chart: Burger Breton, CC BY 4.0, data from honbo.com and Tatler Asia (3 Aug 2023))

If you want to try the smashing technique at home, our Shackburger copycat recipe walks through pressing a thin patty for a crisp crust.

Honbo menu and prices

The Honbo menu is built around three signature cheeseburgers, Honbo, Honbo 1.5 and Honbo 2.0, plus a classic cheeseburger and hamburger. The official site lists no prices. The only dine-in price I could confirm is the HKD 98 lunch deal reported in May 2026.

Honbo, Honbo 1.5 and Honbo 2.0: the difference

The difference is the number of thin patties. According to honbo.com:

• Honbo: thin patties, house sauce, American cheese.
• Honbo 1.5: an extra patty. Tatler Asia described it in 2023 as 3 crispy patties and 2 slices of cheese, and the most popular burger at the time.
• Honbo 2.0: 4 crispy-edged patties.
• Cheeseburger and hamburger: the classic versions.

Older pages mention seafood burgers such as scallop and soft-shell crab. Those were past menu items; the current site does not list them.

Honbo menu prices

The confirmed Honbo price is a HKD 98 lunch deal for a burger, tater tots and a soft drink, reported by A Foodie World on 13 May 2026. Delivery apps show higher prices. Delivery menus are marked up, so I left them out. Chan explained the cut to A Foodie World: “People want to try my food, but the economic situation is [still tight]. I want to lower my prices so that it benefits everybody.”

Honbo’s place among the best smash burgers in Hong Kong

Honbo is one of the few Hong Kong burger brands with a reputation outside the city. HK01 reported that it was the only Hong Kong venue on Bloomberg’s 2020 World’s Best Burgers list; I could not find the original Bloomberg article, so that claim rests on HK01. I have not eaten at the current stores, so this profile gives no rating.

My view: Honbo matters less for any single burger than for the bet it made. In 2017, when a Hong Kong burger could mean lobster, uni or caviar, it put American cheese, pickles and a seared thin patty on a soft bun and stopped there. Then it lost almost every store in 2022–2023. Instead of moving upmarket to survive, Chan cut prices to a HKD 98 lunch set. That is the move I would watch. For more places to eat in the city, see our Hong Kong burger guide.

Honbo outside Hong Kong: Macau, Singapore and Shenzhen

Honbo has opened in Macau, Singapore and Shenzhen, but honbo.com listed only its two Hong Kong stores on 31 October 2026.

• Macau: Honbo opened at the Lisboeta Hotel in August 2022 (The Beat Asia). Its current status is unconfirmed. See our Macau burger guide.
• Singapore: The first overseas outlet opened at CHIJMES on 28 July 2023. Whether it still trades is unconfirmed. See our Singapore burger guide.
• Shenzhen: The first mainland store opened in May 2026 at B108, Block B, MixC Shenzhen Bay. I covered it in our Honbo Shenzhen guide.

The cross-border push fits a wider trend of burger brands growing abroad, covered in our 2026 burger chain expansion report.

Honbo Hong Kong FAQ

Who founded Honbo in Hong Kong? Michael Chan, a former doctor who trained and worked in medicine in Montreal and Los Angeles, founded Honbo in Wan Chai in 2017.

What does the name Honbo mean? Honbo comes from the Cantonese word for hamburger, Hon3Bou2Baau1.

Where is Honbo in Hong Kong today, and is the Sun Street shop still open? Honbo is at G/F, Shop C, 1-3 Moon Street, Wan Chai, and G/F, Shop 2, 8 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central, both open daily 12:00–22:00. The original Sun Street shop is closed.

Is Honbo a smash burger? Its signature Honbo, Honbo 1.5 and Honbo 2.0 use thin, crispy smashed ‘West Coast’ patties. Honbo also serves thick ‘East Coast’ patties.

What is the difference between Honbo, Honbo 1.5 and Honbo 2.0? The number of patties: Honbo 1.5 adds a patty to the Honbo, and Honbo 2.0 has 4 crispy-edged patties.

How much does a burger cost at Honbo Hong Kong? The confirmed price is a HKD 98 lunch deal with a burger, tater tots and a soft drink (May 2026). The official site lists no prices.

Where does Honbo’s beef come from? From the United States: honbo.com cites USDA Double Gold medal-winning beef ground fresh daily, and Tatler Asia names 36-month-old Holstein and Angus from Wisconsin.

Does Honbo have branches outside Hong Kong? It opened in Macau (2022), Singapore (2023) and Shenzhen (May 2026). Only the Hong Kong stores appeared on honbo.com on 31 October 2026.

Is Honbo one of the best burgers in Hong Kong? It is one of the city’s best-known homegrown burgers: HK01 reported it was the only Hong Kong venue on Bloomberg’s 2020 World’s Best Burgers list.

Sources and method

I built this profile from Honbo’s official site and dated press coverage, all checked on 31 October 2026: honbo.com, Tatler Asia (3 Aug 2023), The Beat Asia (14 Apr 2023), A Foodie World (13 May 2026), HK01 and Wen Wei Po (19 Aug 2026). I could not verify phone numbers, payment methods, reservations or delivery ratings, so they are left out.