DINING

This month Southside’s sister magazine Hong Kong Living announced the winners of the second annual Dining Awards. Here are some of the highlights, for the full list of winner vist hongkongliving.com Limewood Located on the shores of Repulse Bay, Limewood is a beachside stronghold for both Southsiders and Editors’ Pick those travelling from afar. With bright interiors and breathtaking views, this Cali-inspired restaurant will make you feel miles away, without even stepping on a plane, perfect with the current travel restrictions in place.“We wanted to create somewhere that really embodied beachside living and bring the best dishes from the most beautiful beaches in the world together with flavours of Hawaii, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam all feature strongly,” says Matt Reid, co-founder of Maximal Concepts, the hospitality group behind Limewood. Both family and pet-friendly, this beachside hangout is the perfect spot to sit back and enjoy Hong Kong’s cooler months. “We hope to continue to offer the feeling of having ‘holiday at home’ when the sun shines, the rosé is cold and the BBQ is fired up and buzzing,” says Reid.

limewood.hk

Louise Nestled inside a heritage house in PMQ, Louise Readers’ doles out elevated French Choice classics with heartwarming flavours that pay homage to homecooked delights. Helmed by internationally acclaimed Michelin-starred chef Julien Royer, the restaurant earned its first Michelin star this year after opening last summer. Designwise, homegrown architect André Fu has transformed the two-storey building into a chic and elegant restaurant while retaining the essence of colonial style architecture. On the ground floor by the restaurant entrance, there is a cosy al fresco terrace surrounded by luscious greens. Beyond its relaxing outdoor area, Louise features an upstairs dining room and a highceilinged bar and lounge serving up specialty charcuterie and handpicked wines by its sommelier. louise.hk

Hong Kong Dining Awards

The city’s top restaurants, chefs and food delivery services as voted by you. By Apple Lee

Best Al Fresco Restaurant

Restaurant of the Year

Zuma Known for its contemporary izakaya Editors’ dishes, free-flow brunches Pick and atmospheric setting, Zuma is crowned Restaurant of the Year in this year’s Hong Kong Dining Awards. The two-storey Japanese restaurant, located inside the Landmark Building, beckons a diverse crowd from white-collars and partygoers to couples and families. Opened more than a decade ago, the restaurant’s longevity speaks volumes, especially being in such a fast-paced city where restaurants come and go. “Being strong in the Hong Kong scene after 14 years is not easy. We strive for perfection on a daily basis. We never stop thinking about innovation, progress, quality, product and guest experience,” says Alex Bellafronte, Zuma’s Operations Director Asia.

zumarestaurant.com

Amber Aside from its undisputed status as one of Hong Kong’s best fine dining restaurants, Amber is Readers’ Choice widely recognised as a pioneer of sustainability and plant-based cuisine. Last year, the restaurant eliminated dairy, gluten and refined sugar from its menu and replaced the French culinary staples with healthier alternatives. At the new Amber, guests are encouraged to opt for the vegetarian or vegan tasting menu, where fresh produce is given a leading role in the degustation rather than just a garnish. Led by executive chef Ricahrd Ekkebus, the two Michelin-starred restaurant continues

to pave the way for sustainable eating in 2020. The restaurant has already launched plasticfree and sustainable seafood policies and uses only cage-free eggs in its dishes. “Sustainability efforts never stop. The climate crisis is becoming more and more urgent and many of our peers are following suit to make positive changes to the environment,” Ekkebus says.

mandarinoriental.com

Chef of the Year

Vicky Lau As the chef-owner of Tate Dining Room, Vicky Lau is the only female Asian Editors’ chef with a Michelinstarred restaurant in Hong Pick Kong. After graduating from New York University with a degree in graphic communications, Lau left the design field to embark on her culinary career and enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu. Her cutting-edge culinary creations and intricate plating earned Tate Dining Room a prestigious Michelin star in 2013, only one year after its conceptualisation, and in 2015, Lau won the title of Best Female Chef in Asia voted by World’s 50 Best Restaurants.Today, Lau is one of the first people who comes to mind when we think of French-Chinese cuisine. In the city’s highly competitive dining scene, she has managed to find innovation in her culinary craft with seasonal menus centred around native ingredients. tate.com.hk John Nguyen Bold and conventional are how John Nguyen would describe his culinary style. “I don’t hold back and the result is dishes that boast plentiful strong

Readers’ Choice

flavours,” he says. “You’ll either love us – or love us. There is no in between.”As the head chef of Xuan, a newly-opened modern Vietnamese restaurant, Nguyen challenges the perceptions of traditional Vietnamese cuisine being just pho or banh mi. With daring dishes that often come with a trace of spiciness and umami, the chef is known for combining French techniques and a hefty dose of American-style cooking to concoct flavoursome creations.

Ovolo goes green

In a bold new move, Ovolo Hotels has announced that it is eliminating meat from its restaurants, bars and room service for an entire year. By fully switching over to plantbased menus, the boutique hospitality brand becomes the first hotel group to embrace meat-free meals on such a vast scale. For one year starting from this October, the hotel group has ceased to serve meat across all its dining outlets and focus on creating compelling plant-based dishes instead. The Year of the Veg concept does not extend to conferences and events hosted at Ovolo, which gives organisers more flexibility to customise their catering options.

ovolohotels.com

W Hong Kong X Bobbi Brown

W Hong Kong has teamed up with Bobbi Brown to launch its new Aura Boost Cordyceps Menu at Sing Yin Cantonese Dining. The menu, designed by Executive Chinese Chef Johnny Chan, features key ingredients suc of the Intensive Skin Serum Foundation such as cordyceps, green apple

Beachside dining

The Repulse Bay Beach has finally reopened. This beautiful weather calls for more time spent outdoors, enjoying the best time of the year. Japanese binchotan grill Shoku is launching a two-hour sake and Japanese beer free-flow offer this month. Priced at $380, this special deal is inclusive of a generous snack platter featuring seven of Shoku’s signature items. A new fall and winter menu is also available, featuring tummywarming hot pots, wholesome noodle bowls and a wide section of plant-based Japanese dishes.

shoku.hk

and lychee to help feel good from the inside and out. The dinner menu features doubleboiled superior soup, Australian wagyu beef , chilled sago cream and more, what’s even better, each order of the set comes with a complimentary Bobbi Brown lipstick and voucher for a makeup service. $888. Available until November 3. whongkong-x.com

Ap Lei Chau food court

After eight months of renovations, The old Ap Lei Chau Estate has been transformed into a street food paradise. While the traditional market remains open for people to buy ingredients and different types of raw food, the new food court avenue will feature cuisines from all over the world including American cheese hotdogs and Vietnamese

Pho. The food court is open until 12am daily.

Italian on The Peak

Michelin-starred Chef Enrico Bartolini heads his second restaurant in Hong Kong, FIAMMA. The family-style Italian restaurant takes its name from the Italian word for ‘flame’ and serves up fresh, wholesome comfort food including pastas, pizzas and grilled items. For diners on the go, FIAMMA’s grab-and-go counter includes sweet and savoury baked goods freshly baked each day, perfect for picnic goers this autumn.

sandshospitality.com

Donate-a-meal

This month restaurants across the city will be adding a voluntary $15 donation to each bill from November 1 to 30. The donation goes towards the Donate-a-Meal campaign to raise much-needed funds for Feeding Hong Kong, Impact HK and Christian Action, who are providing emergency food for vulnerable families in Hong Kong. 26 restaurants will take part including Ovolo restaurants, Enoteca, Bedu and Treehouse. For the full list of restaurants visit donate-a-meal.org SOUTHSIDE | 27

Get your groom on

Handsome Factory

Charmaine Ng rounds up the best grooming establishments in the city this Movember

With Movember in full swing, many men in Hong Kong are planning to grow a mo in support of men’s health. We’ve rounded up the best barbershop in the city to keep you looking dapper — and where to go when you want to shave it off.

Selvedge Barbers

If you’ve climbed the steps in Soho, chances are you’ve passed by Selvedge Barbers on Pottinger Street. The stylish barbershop has a raw, industrial look, fitted with brick walls and furnished with leather seats. Formerly known as Era Barbers, Selvedge Barbers has garnered a loyal clientele who return regularly for its

specialised services, ranging from a simple cut and finish to a complete beard and moustache reshaping. The team of expertly trained barbers will make sure you leave without a hair out of place. selvedgebarbers.com

Handsome Factory

You may have heard of Handsome Factory, with its wide media presence and four locations across Hong Kong. The reputable barbershop is frequented by celebrities and athletes, who help spread the word of its services, of which include haircuts, wet shaves and beard trims. Handsome Factory has all the markings of a traditional

establishment, decked with checkered floors, leather seats and retro artwork, making it a tasteful place for men to get their pampering.

handsomefactory.com

& The Barber’s decor and light fixtures will transport you back to the 1940s. Owner and barber Sarah McGlynn and her team offer a range of services from classic wet shaves to beard trims and shaping. Using top of the line products like Penhaligon’s and Truefitt & Hill, no one leaves the shop looking anything but dapper. foxandthebarber.com

The Mandarin Barber

For a classy grooming session, the Shanghai 1930s-inspired Mandarin Barber on the second floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong offers traditional shaving and hair services with restorative grooming treatments for men. The atmosphere is warm and welcoming, reminiscent of an old-school private gentleman’s club. The experienced barber team has worked with its loyal clientele for decades, giving men the VIP treatment since the establishment opened in 1963. Services include various types of haircuts, facial hair grooming, manicure and pedicure treatments and even a Chinese foot reflexology. mandarinoriental.com

Gentlemen’s Tonic

Founded in the heart of Mayfair, London, Gentlemen’s Tonic describes itself as a luxury establishment combining a traditional barbershop and a variety of lifestyle and grooming services. The branch in Hong Kong occupies a quiet space on Wellington Street with leather chairs and classy marble touches. The barbershop offers a selection of common treatments including wet shaves, haircuts, and beard design, with a separate section for specialist services such as waxing, eyebrow tinting and intricate facials.

gentlemenstonic.com