On the Menu | Sushi with Hong Kong caught fish, a ‘flight’ of barbecue pork from three places – food highlights we’ve enjoyed

Chef Zinc Leung is championing Hong Kong fish on his sushi menu, while Silas Li serves char siu with pork from three places at Hong Kong Cuisine 1983

I was lucky to eat at Hung Kee in Wan Chai before it went on hiatus. Fans miss its beef offal noodles and pan-fried cheung fun, even if the closure is temporary

Reading Time:3 minutes

Fresh beef offal noodles at Hung Kee in Wan Chai, one of the recent dining highlights for food editor Charmaine Mok. The restaurant closed temporarily just after her visit. Photo: Charmaine Mok

Published: 7:45am, 17 May 2024

The last few weeks I have been dining out a lot even by my standards.

With fellow food writers and gastro nerds from around the world stopping by Hong Kong while the weather is still somewhat bearable, along with some special family members, it has been an opportunity to revisit some old favourites while discovering some new-to-me gems.

Locally caught seafood is the highlight at Sushi Zinc

In 2019, The Araki by sushi chef Mitsuhiro Araki opened to much fanfare and with a somewhat unusual mission – to highlight Hong Kong seafood in a traditional omakase menu. Fast forward five years and the restaurant has closed, but now there is a new champion of Hong Kong fish.

Locally caught threadfin nigiri at Sushi Zinc. Photo: Sushi Zinc

Zinc Leung is not your traditional itamae, or Japanese chef. Self-taught and then trained in Italian cooking at Hong Kong’s Gaia Ristorante and then Octavium Italian Restaurant, he later gravitated towards Japanese food and learned under Mori Tomoaki of Sushi Mori fame.