With anti-government protests into their 18th week, Hong Kong restaurants have rarely had it tougher. Foreign visitor numbers are down and city residents are less keen to go out to eat. Hong Kong groups that have expanded overseas, however, will have had the blow cushioned. These groups have exported their cuisine around the world, from New York and Las Vegas to Singapore and Sydney. Aqua Restaurant Group’s Hutong in Tsim Sha Tsui opened back in 2003 and is known for its northern Chinese cuisine and breathtaking views towards Hong Kong Island. The group recently opened Hutong on Lexington Avenue in New York , in a space that was formerly home to French restaurant Le Cirque. It is the group’s first restaurant in the United States, and it plans to open another in Miami, Florida. These will be in addition to Aqua restaurants in Beijing and London. A recent lunch at Hutong in New York showed that the elegant space, with its art deco lines and blue colour scheme, is already proving popular with New York diners. A dish listed on the menu as calamari flowers turned out to be perfectly cooked squid in Sichuan peppercorn and chilli oil. The Peking duck tasted terrific, but aesthetically was no match for the version carved tableside in Hong Kong, while branzino with chilli, wild mushrooms and celery came in a beautiful broth. Most surprising was a dessert of bao and soymilk: a white sesame seed mousse paired perfectly with soymilk ice cream to make one of the best modern Chinese desserts I’ve ever encountered. It’s one of the special dishes created for New York; another is yu xiang fried dumplings, which brings together spicy pork, salted fish, broad beans and glutinous rice. Richard Ward, one of the owners of the group, explained its decision to open Hutong in the Big Apple. “New Yorkers are among the most knowledgeable diners and we’d been looking for a venue there for years. We simply felt that our Hong Kong-born brands had something to say. “For many diners outside Asia, Chinese food is really Cantonese cuisine, but China is a large country with a wonderful range, so we see big interest from diners to explore different regional cuisines like Hutong’s occasionally fiery northern Chinese cuisine, with its influences from Sichuan . It gives Chinese food a new dimension.” Self-styled “Demon Chef” Alvin Leung is a larger-than-life character with a constantly growing global profile thanks to his three-Michelin-star Bo Innovation in Wan Chai , Hong Kong, and his extensive TV work and expanding portfolio of restaurants. He recently opened a branch of Forbidden Duck in Singapore, after the original in Hong Kong’s Times Square shopping complex . “I’ve created other restaurants overseas from Toronto to China, but I feel I can replicate a concept like Forbidden Duck with relative ease,” he says. “It’s easier to manage as a brand, unlike Bo, which is more complex and requires greater attention to fine details. Plus, I think the idea of Peking duck could do well in most places. Who doesn’t like roast duck?” Leung chose Singapore because he had developed fans there from his various TV shows and from Singaporeans visiting Bo Innovation. He felt the time was right to open in the Lion City, but is under no illusions as to what diners and business partners alike expect. “What I’ve learned is that you have to be more than just hype to sustain. You must have food and a business that is of substance and sustainable. You’ve got to have a real restaurant, not a high-concept disposable house of cards.” The menu in Singapore is broadly the same as in the original, but Leung has expanded it somewhat thanks to the larger space it occupies. “We have live seafood and fish, in particular. I also added some dishes like my take on laksas and chilli crabs that are local favourites.” He says reception to Forbidden Duck has been good in Singapore – so where will he expand to next? “We’ve had feelers for other opportunities in Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and possibly Vietnam. I would love to expand but it has to be done right, with the right partners and venue,” he says. “You can’t just bite off more than you chew. That’s how some restaurants get into trouble – by growing too quick.” Another Hong Kong-based group eyeing further global expansion is Maximal Concepts. It is responsible for restaurants such as Mott 32 in Central , which is known for its open kitchen, first-class Peking duck, drinks programme and non-traditional Chinese decor and service. Founder Malcolm Wood says: “When we opened Mott 32 in Hong Kong, we wanted to move away from the traditional trappings of Chinese fine dining with banquet-style, white-gloved service. There’s nothing like Mott 32 in terms of Chinese cuisine and we really wanted to share our flagship with the world.” The group has opened branches of Mott 32 in Vancouver and Las Vegas, a city that has rapidly become one of the biggest dining destinations in the US. Mott 32’s overseas menus feature around 70 per cent of the dishes on its Hong Kong menu, with the remainder based on the local market. In the glittering surrounds of the Palazzo at The Venetian in Las Vegas, its Peking duck has to be pre-ordered due to a 48-hour preparation process involving a special duck fridge and duck oven. Such has been the success of the group’s international operations it will open restaurants in Singapore, Bangkok and the Gangnam district of Seoul in the next 18 months. Wood is always mindful of the potential pitfalls of overseas expansion. “We’ve seen many groups look to expand globally or open numerous locations, and this can often happen too quickly so they lose sight of the smaller details that made them great in the first place,” he says. “We’re very mindful with our expansion as it’s very important that attention to detail is never compromised.” Finally, to a Hong Kong-based restaurant group that has expanded internationally more rapidly than any other, albeit at a considerably cheaper price point. Tim Ho Wan is the self-proclaimed “most affordable Michelin-starred restaurant in the world” and 2019 marks 10 years since ex-Four Seasons hotel chefs Mak Gui-pui and Leung Fai-keung opened in Mong Kok with a promise to “allow ordinary people to enjoy five-star culinary art”. Thanks to dishes including their famed baked barbecue pork buns – still one of the best versions anywhere – pan-fried carrot cake, translucent dumplings and stuffed vermicelli rolls, they have taken their business to places including Taiwan, Singapore, The Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and the US. Exporting the most famous Cantonese culinary tradition has not been without its challenges. In a review from 2017 of their New York opening, The New York Times ’ critic Pete Wells said: “The rice rolls, a point of pride for the chain, are white bogs of starch that blot out the underseasoned fillings of beef, pork or shrimp”, while the famed barbecue pork buns “were a work in progress”. There are now six Tim Ho Wan branches in the US alone, including in Waikiki, Houston and Las Vegas, suggesting that the popularity of Hong Kong’s most famous cuisine is, for now, unstoppable. Hutong New York, 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022, tel: +1 212 758 4800; hutong-nyc.com Mott 32 Las Vegas, The Palazzo at The Venetian, Casino Floor, 3325 Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas, NV 89109, tel: +1 702 607 3232; mott32.com/lasvegas The Forbidden Duck Singapore, 8A Marina Boulevard #02-02, Marina Bay Link Mall, Singapore 018984, tel: +65 6509 8767; forbiddenduck.sg Tim Ho Wan New York, 85 4th Ave., New York, NY 10003, tel: +1 212 228 2800; timhowanusa.com