Inside Hong Kong’s new wave of Chinese fine dining restaurants: Wing, Chinesology and Ho Lee Fook are a modern update from the banquet halls and chain outlets of the past
- Independent Chinese restaurants are today a far cry from the cavernous halls and chain eateries of yore, taking a new approach to tradition with signature fare
- Vea’s Michelin chef Vicky Cheng opened Wing for Chinese fine dining, as with Saito Chau at Chinesology and Archan Chan’s Ho Lee Fook by Black Sheep Restaurants
If you had asked Hongkongers 30 years ago where the best Chinese food could be found, the answer would no doubt have been large banquet halls and chain restaurants. Vast kitchens boasted dozens of cooks, all with their own specialities such as steamed dishes, dim sum or those prestigious wok-fried centrepieces, so diners were guaranteed to get a demonstration of the best skill set on their plates.
No longer are large sharing portions on chipped plates good enough to mark you out as a top restaurant, even if the grouper being served is the largest on the market. Presentation and service now rightly play a huge role in a restaurant’s draw.
Since the red book landed in our city, many hotel and individual restaurants that can afford it have upped their game. Gone are the days when diners are expected to bring their favourite wines from home to be guzzled in Ikea glasses. Hong Kong’s elite Chinese restaurants have hired sommeliers to curate opulent wine lists, with dedicated glassware for different grapes. Famous interior designers such as Henry Leung and Joyce Wang have been employed to create the ambience that sets restaurants apart, and plating became an art form that was a far cry from the flashing red light bulbs on a suckling pig.
No matter how innovative your idea is, as I believe Chinese food should look like Chinese food
Wing is headed by Vicky Cheng, who had already made waves with his Chinese-French restaurant Vea in 2015.
“My culinary background had always been French,” the acclaimed chef explains. “Vea opened its doors and introduced the philosophy of ‘Chinese x French’ to the Hong Kong culinary scene and this granted me the opportunity to play with Chinese ingredients. My interest in Chinese cuisine grew to the point where I really wanted to open a Chinese restaurant and showcase my very own interpretation of it while honouring the tradition. You can easily tell [them] apart by the appearance of the dishes in Vea and Wing.”
