Where a Hong Kong restaurants group boss goes for new experiences, sushi, romantic dinners, and snake soup
- Kenneth Ng likes to try new things, but he is a fan of classic dai pai dong and the old-school Tung Po seafood restaurant in a North Point market
- He also enjoys omakase at Sushi Gin and a warming bowl of snake soup in the winter
Kenneth Ng is deputy general manager of Dining Workshop (which runs Hong Kong restaurants Yum Cha, Urban Park and Dragon Noodles Academy).
I enjoy trying new things., For example, when I travelled to Japan for the first time, I observed the importance of rice. They will eat ramen with rice. Japanese portions are very small, so there may not be enough to eat if there is no rice.
The iconic Hong Kongdai pai dong is becoming increasingly rare. I love introducing visitors to these traditional open-air, inexpensive restaurants and the concept of “wok hei” (“breath of the wok”).
[It’s not a dai pai dong but] one of my favourite places is Tung Po (2/F, Java Road Municipal Services Building, 99 Java Road, North Point, tel: 2880 5224). It looks like a nondescript car park, inside is a market-like atmosphere with lots of diners eating sizzling dishes. Customers sit on plastic stools and drink beer from porcelain bowls, which totally represent Hong Kong dining experiences in the 1970s and ’80s.
Dear Lilly (Shop 4010, 4/F IFC Mall, 8 Finance Street, Central, tel: 2771 6060) is one of my choices for a nice dinner. It’s a romantic restaurant and the lounge bar is inspired by the dreamy little florists along Paris’ beautiful boulevards. It is perfect for celebration dinners, leisurely meals, cocktails with friends or a relaxing drink while soaking up the atmosphere.