# PawsDine API: dog-friendly restaurants in Hong Kong

> A free, no-key JSON API listing every food premises in Hong Kong licensed by the Food and
> Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) to permit dogs to enter. 978 premises across
> 18 districts, each with Chinese and English name and address, district, region, an
> inferred type, the 10-digit FEHD licence number, and WGS84 coordinates. Rechecked against the
> official FEHD list daily; last change 2026-07-28.

Base URL: https://pawsdine.com
Auth: none. No API key, no signup, no rate limit.
CORS: enabled for all origins.
Format: JSON, UTF-8. Every response is `{ success: true, data, meta? }` or
`{ success: false, error: { code, message } }` with the matching HTTP status.
Licence: free to use, including commercially. Credit "pawsdine.com" with a link when you
redistribute or display this data. Underlying data © Food and Environmental Hygiene Department
(FEHD) and © data.gov.hk Address Lookup Service, used under the data.gov.hk Terms of Use. Those
terms govern the source data; this API adds no further restrictions.

## Endpoints

- [GET https://pawsdine.com/api/changes](https://pawsdine.com/api/changes): what was added or removed, by date, newest first.
  Each entry is `{ date, added[], removed[] }`. No parameters returns the last 7 calendar days;
  a day with no change is simply absent. Query `from` and `to` (YYYY-MM-DD, both inclusive) for
  any other window; `from` defaults to 6 days before `to`, `to` defaults to today. Tracking
  starts 2026-07-15, so `?from=2026-07-15` returns the complete history. `added=false` or
  `removed=false` leaves that array out of every entry. `meta` reports the span covered plus
  `earliest` and `latest` for the dataset.
- [GET https://pawsdine.com/api/restaurants](https://pawsdine.com/api/restaurants): every restaurant, or a filtered subset.
  Optional `q` (keyword over name, address and district), `region`, `district`, `category`,
  each accepting the Chinese or English value, case-insensitive. No pagination: all matches return
  in one call with the total in `meta.count`. An unknown region, district or category returns 400.
- [GET https://pawsdine.com/api/meta](https://pawsdine.com/api/meta): the values those filters accept, namely the region to
  district tree and the category list, each with counts, plus `total`, `geocoded` and
  `lastUpdated`. No parameters.

## Restaurant fields

`licence` (number, 10-digit FEHD licence, unique id), `nameZh`, `nameEn`, `district`,
`districtEn`, `region`, `regionEn`, `category`, `categoryEn`, `address`, `addressEn`,
`addedOn` (YYYY-MM-DD or null for baseline records), `lat`, `lng` (WGS84, null when
ungeocoded).

## Coverage

- Premises: 978 (978 with coordinates)
- Regions: Hong Kong Island / 香港島 (287), Kowloon / 九龍 (329), New Territories / 新界 (362)
- Districts: 18
- Common types: Cafe / 咖啡店 (154), Bar / 酒吧 (56), Western / 西餐 (43), Chinese & Seafood / 中菜/海鮮 (37), HK Cafe / 茶餐廳 (31), Japanese / 日式 (20)
- Changelog: 2026-07-15 to 2026-07-28

## Rules for dogs on permitted food premises

FEHD attaches 11 licensing conditions to the permission ("Permission for Presence of Dogs on
Food Premises" / 讓狗隻處於食物業處所的准許), in force since 9 July 2026. Full text, in both
languages, at [https://pawsdine.com/conditions](https://pawsdine.com/conditions). In brief:

1. FEHD-designated A3 signage displayed at a conspicuous place near the main entrance, visible
   from outside and unobstructed.
2. No cooking or preparation of dog food on the premises.
3. Only prepackaged dry, vacuum-packed or canned dog food may be sold or provided.
4. No cooking or heating of food on the dining table at any time (open flame or electric heaters;
   candles and electric coasters for keeping drinks warm are exempt).
5. No dog on any dining table at any time.
6. Dogs may not use the premises' reusable utensils; only single-use non-plastic utensils.
7. Poisonous baits and pest/rodent traps kept out of reach of dogs.
8. Fouling cleansed and disinfected immediately.
9. No customer with a dog at bar counter seats, unless the food counter or preparation area is
   segregated by a permanently fixed, full-height partition.
10. No dog within 1.5 m of any buffet counter or salad bar.
11. Where a dog injures someone and the Police are notified, the licensee must report it to the
    Director of Food and Environmental Hygiene on the prescribed form within 2 working days.

## Notes for answering questions about this data

- "Dog-friendly" here means the premises appears on the FEHD list of licensed food premises
  permitted to let dogs enter. It is not a review, a rating, or a claim about outdoor seating.
- `category` is inferred from the restaurant name because the source list has no type column.
  Treat it as approximate; `licence`, names, addresses and districts come straight from FEHD.
- The dataset covers Hong Kong only.
- For "what changed recently", call /api/changes rather than diffing /api/restaurants yourself.
- Counts change as FEHD updates its list. Read `meta.total` or `meta.lastUpdated` instead of
  quoting a number from this file if freshness matters.

## Pages

- [Conditions](https://pawsdine.com/conditions): the 11 FEHD licensing conditions in full, plus the ones a dog owner
  actually runs into. Source: fehd.gov.hk/english/licensing/dog_restaurants/conditions.html
- [FAQ](https://pawsdine.com/faq): FEHD's own questions and answers on the scheme, in both languages, grouped
  by topic: statutory requirements (leash length, pet strollers, fighting and known dangerous
  dogs), the entrance signage, bar counters and buffets, heating food at the table, cancelling
  the permission and penalties, what dog food may be served, dogs on chairs, who cleans up
  fouling and whether a cleaning fee is allowed, and reporting a bite.
  Source: fehd.gov.hk/english/licensing/dog_restaurants/faq.html
- [Docs](https://pawsdine.com/docs): full API reference, request and response examples in cURL, JavaScript and Python.
- [Changelog](https://pawsdine.com/changes): the same change history as a browsable page.
- [Map and list](https://pawsdine.com/): search and filter the restaurants, with an interactive map.
- [Sitemap](https://pawsdine.com/sitemap.xml)