5 new restaurant openings in Hong Kong – including Hansik Goo, Hiyama and Yakinikumafia – where daytime eating comes into its own
Tirpse and Harbourside Grill Recent are also new additions, but with the reintroduction of new measures due to coronavirus, these restaurants may only be a daytime option for now
It seems we must get used to social distancing rules around the world until the Covid-19 pandemic is over and with the latest and most extreme measure taken by the government to close dining in at restaurants at 6pm, you’d want to make your meal count.
The newest additions to Hong Kong’s restaurant scene includes three concepts that boast Michelin stars in their home cities of Seoul and Tokyo. This includes Hansik Goo, the latest offshoot by Korean chef Mingoo Kang of Michelin-starred Mingles. Tsim Sha Tsui is where the action’s at with new openings in K11 Musea and Ocean Terminal in Harbour City.
Wagyu beef is a favourite in this city and there are two additions with Hiyama, which specialises in sukiyaki beef slices, from the prefecture and Yakinikumafia, the grilled meat offshoot of beef specialists, Wagyumafia.
You will have to take advantage of your daylight hours to patronise these exciting new restaurants, when you do decide to make your meal count. See what we think of these restaurants in making your choice.
Hansik Goo
Acclaimed chef Mingoo Kang, the talent behind two Michelin-starred Mingles in Seoul, brings his contemporary twist on Korean cuisine to Hong Kong. Offering an eight-course tasting menu (HK$780 per person) with add-ons for a little extra, the sharing menu reflects chef Mingoo’s cooking style, and diners can pair dishes with Korean wines. An à la carte menu will be available soon, too.
We start with bugak, an assortment of Korean chips such as fish skin, tofu that was really silky, perilla leaf and seaweed. This was followed by a delicate tasting dubu wanja, a modern take on traditional Korean meatballs made from tofu, crab, zucchini with anchovy in a crab stock and a pine nut sauce.
We loved the yukhoe – Korean-style beef tartare made with Australian Wagyu topped with a quail egg yoke and came with a crunch of Korean pear and Jerusalem artichoke chips. Our highlight was the samgye risotto, which combines two popular Korean dishes, ginseng chicken breast and leg coated in rice flour and fried, which sits on a bed of risotto. Next was fried snapper with two-year kimchi – the fish was tender and the crispy skin perfect with the aged kimchi, which is not as sharp as regular kimchi. For mains is another famous Korean dish, bulgogi. We wrapped the thin slices of marinated beef in lettuce and it is served with glass noodles, mushrooms and chopped onion. The tender beef was deliciously flavourful and the crispy lettuce added a crunchy and cool element to the dish.