Hakkasan Restaurant Happy Hour. The Strip

Hakkasan holds a Michelin star for its Cantonese kitchen, which is what makes its social hour hard to believe: from 5 to 7pm, Monday through Wednesday, a selection of ten items runs $10 each. That's the whole structure. Ten dollars a plate, three nights a week, from a restaurant where dinner can run hundreds.

The lineup pulls from dim sum and small plates plus select cocktails, wine, and sake. Order the dumplings first, the har gau and siu mai, then the char siu bao with their sweet-savory pork filling. The crispy duck salad is the lighter option if you want a break from the steamed plates. If a cocktail lands on the $10 list, take it, since the bar program is strong and these drinks cost noticeably more at dinner.

A word on the room and the rules. Even at social hour, the dark wood and dramatic lighting keep the upscale feel, and the dress code is enforced: no athletic wear, no flip-flops, no tank tops. This is one of the few happy hours where you need to look the part.

The Monday-through-Wednesday schedule keeps the crowd manageable but rules out the back half of the week, so plan early. Reservations are smart if you'd rather have a table than bar seating. Pace the plates across the two hours and you can experience a Michelin kitchen for a fraction of the usual price. You'll find it at MGM Grand on the Strip.