Just arrived and wondering where to eat in Hong Kong? Add these three tried and tested restaurants to your must-do dining list.
Waterfront Bar & Terrace
The Harbour Grandโs Waterfront Bar & Terrace might come as a surprise recommendation as a must-do dining experience, but it presents a beautiful afternoon or evening of waterfront alfresco dining. This experience of dining right on the water and in the open air is, strangely, not common in our harbour-centric city.
The Harbour Grand Kowloon is located a short walk from Whampoa MTR Station. Itโs an interesting position and worth a little day trip to explore a new area of Hong Kong for those who live on the Island. Just around the corner is the famous cruise-ship-shaped shopping centre at Whampoa Garden.
But before you explore the rest of the neighbourhood, sit outside and enjoy this unique view of Hong Kong. From your table, youโll be able to look down towards the city one way, and over to Kai Tak (the old runway) the other.
The menu is heavy on seafood, so if thatโs your thing, this is a great place for a long lunch. For those who arenโt such a fan of fish and the like, the choices are limited. We started with the ahi tuna appetiser, an Insta-worthy stack of fresh tuna tartare, soft avocado and sweet mango served with tortilla chips. Itโs a generous serving you could share. Next came another appetiser, shrimp and crab lump โ itโs served with a tomato salsa thatโs a real treat and was a standout of our whole meal. Both of these dishes pair perfectly with a crisp white.
For mains, one of the cityโs favourite dishes is on offer here: lobster pizza. Our pizza came loaded with the meat of a whole lobster. Also available is a beautiful baked cod that comes straight from the oven with steamed vegetables nestled in the same paper package. While these are both worthy choices, my recommendation is the Jumbo Sea Scallops. The scallops are wrapped in pancetta and sit in a cream sauce.
If youโre staying for a long lunch, you must include dessert. The pineapple carpaccio with coconut ice cream is light and perfect for a sweet treat at the end of a big meal at this time of year. If you have a sweet tooth and you love cakes, the red wine ganache with raspberries and cream cheese icing might hit the spot.
โ Rebecca Simpson
Waterfront Bar & Terrace
The Harbour Grand Kowloon G/F, One Harbourfront, Whampoa Garden
2996 8455 |ย kowloon.harbourgrand.com
Octavium
This is the boutique private-dining concept of Umberto Bombana, the renowned chef of 8ยฝ Otto e Mezzo Bombana. For those new to Hong Kong, Otto e Mezzo is the only Italian restaurant outside Italy to be awarded three Michelin stars. Itโs a big deal in Hong Kong.
Octavium is billed as the place where Chef Bombana serves food that is especially close to his heart โ loved dishes crafted with seasonal ingredients. Those are some big expectations for Chef Silvio to meet. Chef Silvio is the talent running Octavium, and boy has he been delivering! Heโs already secured a Michelin star, less than a year and a half after opening. After our dinner experience, itโs not hard to see why.
We enjoyed the chefโs tasting menu on our visit, referred to as the Octavium Experience. This is a seven-course triumph that started with a โDaniel Sorlutโ oyster with Kaluga caviar and champagne foam โ truly the best oyster Iโve had in Hong Kong. Another highlight was the homemade ravioli with pecorino โRiserva del Fondatoreโ, fava bean and โnduja (spreadable salami) โ amazing. And the New Zealand lamb was another great dish.
Chef Silvio makes this experience very personal by visiting the dining room and connecting with guests throughout the evening. He spoke with great passion to us about ingredients and his mission to shift the perception of Italian food from a family meal into the fine-dining realm within the collective conscience of Hong Kongโs food scene. Heโs definitely achieving that goal with the Octavium Experience menu.
The wine pairing for our meal was also flawless. So much thought has gone into every course, from each member of Silvioโs team. Take someone special here to celebrate something important โ you wonโt be disappointed.
Octavium is also open for lunch, serving an executive menu. If youโre looking for a power lunch on a reasonable corporate budget, this is an impressive option.
โ Rebecca Simpson
Octavium
8/F, One Chinachem Central, 22 Des Voeux Road, Central
2111 9395
Roganic
Roganic is the brain child of British celebrity chef Simon Rogan. The Causeway Bay restaurant is the second with this title to open. Its older Michelinstarred sibling is in the UK (London), along with LโEnclume, the renowned chefโs two-Michelin-star restaurant in the Lakes District.
That link back to the UK is important because Rogan is a known locavore, and the Hong Kong restaurant has a very tangible link to this in the form of a vertical garden. The garden allows produce to be grown on site but managed via new technologies by the same team that manages Simonโs farms in the UK. Roganic is clearly a very cool experience in more ways than one!
You enter from the intensity of Causeway Bay into the peace of a space peppered with green potted plants and wooden detail. Itโs pretty, but the wow factor is delivered through the food. To place our experience into context, this is the first and only time Iโve seen my husband switch plates and finish my food in a fine-dining environment. Normally, he has very nice manners. However, the cheese ice cream, an additional course we were served on top of the ten-course Roganic Long Taster Menu (HK$980), was too tempting.
As the name suggests, this is a long meal, with plenty of peaks. Sometimes, itโs so good youโll be compelled to steal your partnerโs food. We started with the pea, cod roe and caviar appetiser, one of the highlights of the whole meal for me; the light and โproperโ fresh peas with a pop of cod roe in a crispy cradle were just heavenly. A later high point came in the form of a cube of truffled bread-and-butter pudding, while a special mention should also be made of the tender serving of codfish with broccoli and roast bone. The soda bread with cultured butter was another pure delight. The handmade butter is flown in from the UK.
We transitioned to dessert through the seductive cheese ice cream. The dessert courses consisted of a medley of subtle earl grey and beetroot ice cream, then a dish of bittersweet stout, molasses and burnt milk, and finally two cakes โ a cherry cake and a light-as-air doughnut. It was a sweet ending to an epic meal.
Roganic is an impressive and well thought-out experience, executed by a team that timed the courses perfectly with a side-serve of darkly humoured wit.
โ Rebecca Simpson
Roganic
Shop 8, UG/F, Sino Plaza, 255 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay
2817 8383 | organic.com.hk
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