For the record, Harlan Goldstein did not lose his Michelin star for his Lan Kwai Fong steak restaurant Strip House. Absolutely not. In spite of what some nasty journalists have written, its’ not true. “Harlan did not lose the Michelin star,” insists Hong Kong’s ebullient celebrity chef, who likes to talk about himself in the third person.
Strip House wasn't quite working any more, the numbers were going down – “people thought it must be expensive because it had a Michelin star but I didn’t jack up the prices like some restaurants do – I added value instead,” he stresses. So last August – way before the French tyre manufacturers announce their stellar choices – Harlan dropped them a line to say Strip House would close in November so don’t consider it for the star awards, announced in December each year.
All change
This was no rash move – Mr G has run 12 eateries in Hong Kong since making his name in the Aberdeen Marine Club, and 60 in total if you count his long and varied career with Shangri-la and. “Strip House was just wrong place, wrong concept, wrong thing,” he sighs. He’s now hunting for a better venue.
“Lan Kwai Fong is not about luxurious, it’s about cool, fun” he says. So the opened up the windows in Grand Progress Building in changed the deep red steak joint into a “Euro loft-style resto”.
Harlan Goldstein’s’ Comfort is born.