Italian, Japanese, dim sum and ice cream: favourite Hong Kong restaurants of a serial entrepreneur
- From Cantonese comfort food to French-inspired Japanese, Carol Yau has a wide range of tastes and loves eating out
- Her guilty secret is Italian ice cream, and she has started an outlet making and selling Chinese soups
Serial entrepreneur Carol Yau is the CEO of the Brilliant Group, with interests in finance, health, real estate, education, travel, and now food.
Generally, I like my mum’s cooking, which is mostly Cantonese. Her dumplings are my comfort food. I like to cook too but I cook mostly Western. I do eat out quite a bit because I like to try new restaurants, meeting friends and drinking good wine and champagne.
Italian is one of my favourite cuisines. Isola (Shop 2075, 2/F, IFC, 1 Harbour View Street, Central, tel: 2383 8765) was my canteen in Central. My clients love it. The antipasti buffet is beautiful. The pasta is handmade. They have a wide selection of mains too.
I love the alfresco area at Gaia (Grand Millennium Plaza, 181 Queen’s Road, Sheung Wan, tel: 2167 8200). I can ask amazing chef Paolo Monti to surprise me and he always does. I also love that they can make a half-and-half pizza. Not all restaurants will do that.
In Shau Kei Wan, I love On Lee Noodle Soup (22 Shau Kei Wan Main Street East, tel: 2513 8398). They are known for their beef brisket and fish cake. Also, I like the thick toast with butter and they do Chinese-style coffee and tea really well. I always have cravings for their lo mein.