Fans of Cafe Gray Deluxe were sad to learn that the restaurant on the top floor of The Upper House in Hong Kong’s Admiralty neighbourhood was closing at the end of 2020. But there’s no need to despair – the stunning panoramic city views are still there, and in its place is Salisterra, a name combining the Latin words salis meaning “salt”, and terra , for “earth”. Architect Andre Fu, who designed Cafe Gray, was enlisted again to revamp the interiors, though the configuration of the restaurant is pretty much the same. Gone is the neutral palette, replaced with green, terracotta, amber and sky blue. The reception desk is gone too, and the entrance has an art deco-like frame. Salisterra is divided into five sections: one private and two semi-private dining rooms, a high-table area where diners can watch the action in the open kitchen, and a forest-green bar lounge. The culinary brains behind Salisterra is Jun Tanaka, who was born in New York, spent his early years in Japan and then moved to the UK when he was seven years old. His kitchen pedigree includes working at Le Gavroche, Restaurant Marco Pierre White, Les Saveurs, and The Square, all in London. Tanaka opened his own restaurant, The Ninth, in London in 2015 and was awarded a Michelin star two years later. When he was invited to try out for the job of helming Salisterra, Tanaka had never been to Hong Kong. However, before the coronavirus pandemic he and his Thai-born wife made yearly trips to Thailand, so after their 2019 sojourn there, he stopped over in Hong Kong and visited The Upper House, where he was impressed by the service and food. That visit motivated him to clinch the deal. The cooking at Salisterra is inspired by that of the coastal regions of southern France and northern Italy. Chinese chefs are like musicians who can’t compose, says Jayson Tang “All the kind of training that I’ve done in 10 years has been in classic French restaurants. But when it comes down to eating, I’ve always preferred food that’s more fresh, more vibrant, a lot lighter than your classic French restaurants. So when we opened The Ninth in London, I wanted to introduce a Mediterranean concept, and the food at Salisterra is an evolution from there, it’s more refined,” he says on a video call from London. Italy is Tanaka’s favourite country. “I love the wine, the food, the ingredients, and so it felt natural to bring the Italian element to the food. So it’s inspired by the Cote d’Azur, southern France, northern Italy along the Ligurian coast, but these aren’t traditional recipes by any means,” he says. “They are inspired by the region – the produce, the smells, the ingredients and the flavours are very fresh and vibrant, and all the dishes are designed to be shared, making the experience more convivial, fun and inviting.” ChefChris Czerwinski, who closed Cafe Gray Deluxe , is excited to embark on this new journey with Tanaka. The Polish-born chef explains that at Salisterra, chefs will interact more with guests, particularly those in the private and semi-private dining rooms, where they can indulge in exclusive menu items such as a whole salt-baked sea bass, the crust of which is cracked at the table, and salt-baked beef fillet. Tanaka describes the menu as having a lot of seafood dishes, such as marinated mackerel with herbs, and langoustine ravioli. The sea bream baked with preserved lemon will be cooked in a charcoal-fired Josper oven. There are also the intriguingly named crisp FOMO potatoes. Developing the menu for Salisterra while kept apart by the coronavirus pandemic – with Tanaka in London and Czerwinski in Hong Kong – was a challenge. The pair exchanged a lot of pictures and videos, and had discussions about flavours, for almost a year. Tanaka says they made a presentation for every dish on the entire menu, including room service and afternoon tea – recipes, photos of the finished products, step-by-step photos like in a cookery book, and videos. For example, Tanaka’s team showed the entire process of making the Viennoiserie, or pastries, through pictures and videos, including shaping the croissants and pains au chocolat. Then the recipes were given to the Hong Kong team. “Chris [Czerwinski] would WhatsApp the photos and then we would catch up at the end of the week and go through it and discuss what works and what doesn’t work, and how we need to adjust it and then they would try it again,” Tanaka says. Every dish was tried and tested and given to The Upper House staff to sample and give feedback, and tweaked and retweaked. “One thing I’ve learned is that Hong Kong diners are very particular, quite demanding, which is a good thing,” says Tanaka. Czerwinski has an innovation in mind for when the restaurant opens. “I’m trying to get Google glasses and have a tiny camera on my glasses and so Jun will be with me and see what I can see. That’s how we’re going to run the first few days of the service,” he says. Salisterra, Level 49, The Upper House, 88 Queensway, Admiralty, tel: 3968 1106