Want to come face-to-face with the richest man in 19th-century Hong Kong? You can at new TST dining destination Maison Eight: Sit in the company of the bald, stern-faced noble merchant Howqua as you savor craft cocktails from world-renowned bartender Salvatore Calabrese underneath a thousand twinkling chandelier lights. To your left is the “Ballroom” for late-night dancing, and to your right—the world’s first Bollinger champagne room, housing some 2,300 bottles including their Special Cuvée blends and key vintage Bollinger bubbles. 

Starting to sound like another snooty place to drop a fortune? Despite having all the makings of a style-over-substance fine dining establishment, prices at Maison Eight remain surprisingly fair—and the quality is consistent enough to make this a place we could return to regularly, especially to skirt the island-side crowds while enjoying a unique vantage point of the harbor.

Maison Eight’s 8,000-sq.-ft space is separated into four distinct sections: the bar Salvatore at Maison Eight; the Ballroom, with retro Art Deco-style furnishings and jazzy tunes on the weekend; the Bollinger champagne room Le Club 1829; and Esmé, a refined French restaurant. Heading up the kitchen at Esmé is executive chef Joe Chan, who honed his skills at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong before coming to Maison Eight. Soft-spoken, chef Joe’s style comes through in his food, which  progressively impressed us as the night wore on. There’s not a strain of modernist cooking here, which is a breath of fresh air; instead you’ll find simple, beautifully presented interpretations of classic French dishes executed with modesty and attention to detail.