Diner’s Diary | Goodbye Pierre, hello … Aubrey. Izakaya at Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong to open in January on hotel’s top floor

Five-star hotels don’t usually have dining facilities as casual as the typical Japanese izakaya, but the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong soon will

The Aubrey will occupy the space where French restaurant Pierre was, and offer craft cocktails, whiskies and Japanese cuisine, according to a terse announcement

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The Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong hotel, now 57 years old, could be chasing a younger crowd by converting its top floor into an ‘eccentric Japanese isakaya’, but it’s an odd fit for a five-star establishment, says Hong Kong-based Japanese food writer and author Miyako Kai. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 5:45pm, 23 Sep 2020Updated: 5:45pm, 23 Sep 2020

The Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong hotel is done with celebrity chefs Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Pierre Gagnaire and is going Japanese instead.

The five-star hotel, a fixture in the city’s Central business district for more than 50 years, is collaborating with restaurant group Maximal Concepts to transform what was the Michelin-starred Pierre, its kitchen led by Gagnaire, into … The Aubrey, “an eccentric Japanese izakaya” in January 2021.

Matt Reid, co-founder of Maximal Concepts, would not go into details but promised more would be revealed “in due course”. In Japan, izakayas are casual bars for after-work drinking that serve alcoholic drinks and snacks.

He explained that the hotel had been reimagining its top floor, which has uninterrupted panoramic views of the city.

The uninterrupted view of Victoria Harbour and Kowloon enjoyed from Pierre on the top floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong. A Japanese izakaya will occupy the space. Photo: Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong

“It‘s a collaborative effort. They had ideas of what to create there and they wanted to bring a youthful energy to the hotel,” Reid says, adding it was a predominantly bar-focused idea from the start.

Asked about the name The Aubrey, he said it would be explained in due course. Maximal Concepts prides itself on “diving deep into the creative process”, he added.

.css-1m2rp1p{color:#34b8b5;}Diner’s Diary | Goodbye Pierre, hello … Aubrey. Izakaya at Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong to open in January on hotel’s top floor

Diner’s Diary | Goodbye Pierre, hello … Aubrey. Izakaya at Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong to open in January on hotel’s top floor