On the Menu | 2016 was a great time for Hong Kong’s restaurant scene. Which openings survived?
As the 2016 social media trend picks up, Charmaine Mok looks back at notable restaurant openings that year and which are still with us
Every new year brings fresh waves of nostalgia for past ones, but 2026 has so far felt particularly steeped in them, with social media awash with throwback posts about 2016.
In Hong Kong’s food scene, that was a year of big dining projects and flashy launches, but also the opening of fiercely independent restaurants – some that have stood the test of time, and others now a distant memory.
Sai Ying Pun – which benefited from the extension of the MTR line in 2015 – was the neighbourhood of the moment, and there was much anticipation over the opening of Kaum, a modern Indonesian concept from the Potato Head brand in Bali. It survived up until the tail end of the Covid-19 era, bidding farewell in November 2022. It’s now the site of Italian restaurant Lucale.
In the same neighbourhood, the opening of Okra by chef Max Levy was a breath of fresh air. With his fluid interpretation of Japanese izakaya fare – and, later, his unconventional approach to sushi at Okra Bar upstairs – Levy was going against the grain in a big way.