Green T. House
This one-of-a-kind restaurant was started up in Beijing by Chinese artist JinR, who turned the dining space into a functioning art piece with its stark interiors. Everything, from the painted branches hanging from the ceiling to the Chinese screen doors and silk curtains with hand-painted flowers is pure white. It’s quite an intimidating experience just stepping into the restaurant, never mind eating here, but it's well worth overcoming your reservations in order to experience the beautifully presented dishes. We recommend the foie gras dumplings and chili citrus salmon, which is deliciously crispy and crumbly at the same time.
Shop 208, The Arcade, 100 Cyberport Rd., Pok Fu Lam, 2989-6036
Lian
Mall restaurants have a masterful way of disguising their interiors to make customers forget they’re dining next to a Fancl House. Lian, on the second floor of IFC Mall, is very good at this. You are welcomed by a glowing interior of warm marble, woods and black glass, with a large communal table hosting a small pond in the middle of the intimate dining room. The menu is a modern take on classic Thai and Vietnamese dishes. We started with classic deep-fried prawn cakes and spring rolls, which were decent, but we recommend you skip those for the soft-shelled crab rolls instead. The most impressive item was the Dirty Chili Martini.
2/F, IFC Mall, 8 Finance St., Central, 2521-1117.
Shek O Chinese-Thai Seafood
The ambiance is seaside-casual, with most customers kicking back after expending some energy, whether it’s a group of sweaty hikers just descended from the Dragon’s Back, surfers from Big Wave Bay, or barefoot families still sandy from the beach. The food is decent, and there’s always plenty of it at reasonable prices. Curries, fried-rice offerings and seafood are crowd pleasers, and the tofu dishes are very well done.
303 Shek O Village, 2809-4426.
Inagiku Japanese Restaurant
Believe the buzz: the food here is authentic and very, very good. The peaceful, Zen-like atmosphere is enough reason to visit, with an entire wall given over to views of the harbor, a funky bar and teppanyaki stations for a casual meal. We had the set menu, starting with a small bowl of salad leaves and excellent tuna and geoclam sashimi, served on a chilled dish. Then the teppanyaki chefs worked their magic, creating a multi-course meal of salmon, beef and scallion rolls, scallops grilled in the shell, vegetable fried rice, miso soup and a dish of Japanese pickles. The super-fresh ingredients were cooked before our eyes with just oil, salt and pepper. Wonderful.
4/F, Four Seasons Hotel, 8 Finance St., Central, 2805-0600.