New Hong Kong restaurant Twist Pasta Bar puts a casual local spin on Italian favourites
Twist Pasta Bar serves a Hong Kong-inspired take on Italian dishes and cocktails, from the bone marrow macaroni to milk tea gelato
Hong Kong has no shortage of quality Italian restaurants run by Italian chefs who are very serious about making authentic pasta. Those true-to-their-roots kitchens are quite different from the newly opened Twist Pasta Bar, which serves Hong Kong flavours with a down-to-earth vibe.
The restaurant on Bridges Street in Sheung Wan specialises in approachable Hong Kong-inspired dishes and has a creative and diverse menu of small plates, desserts, wines and cocktails.
“Hong Kong is a melting pot of different cultures and cuisines, and I don’t think you have to be confined to following the traditions all the way through,” says co-founder Matthew Richardson.
“There are incredible ingredients and flavours within the city which would never find their way to Italy, but finding a way to amalgamate them in one, I think, is a nice touch that you could probably only do in places such as Hong Kong and maybe Japan.”
Veteran Australian chef Ben Sears, who only relocated to Hong Kong from Australia a few months ago, brings a fresh perspective to Twist and has cooked up some solid tributes to Hong Kong’s culinary heritage.
To start with, the “not pasta” section of the menu lists a range of appetisers and small plates, among which some of the more locally influenced are the endive salad with salted egg yolk and pickled Korean pear, and the stracciatella, a cheese appetiser seasoned with Hong Kong’s Pat Chun sweetened vinegar instead of the classic balsamic.