Bang for your buck: The most affordable tasting menus in Hong Kong
It’s true: fine dining is getting more expensive by the day as strained supply lines and a tough labour market continue to place pressure on those operating at the pinnacle of the restaurant industry—but there are still relative bargains to be found. With names like Bo Innovation's Alvin Leung, and Ricardo Chaneton and Agustin Balbi of Mono and Andō having opened "diffusion" restaurants that translate their fine-dining expertise into relaxed settings, it's easier than ever now to savour casual fine dining, as it's known.
Without further ado, get to know the tasting menus with the best value around town.
Don't miss: Editors’ pick: Best phở in Hong Kong
Title: Plaa
Location: Central
Cuisines: Thai
Meaning ‘fish’ in Thai, Plaa has the pedigree of chef-patrons Richie Lin of Taiwan’s Mume and Ian Kittichai, a lead judge on MasterChef Thailand, while head chef Santipap Tonkanya executes the restaurant’s ethos of bold, seafood-centric Thai cuisine in a nine-course dinner tasting menu. Priced at HK$1,280 per person, diners can expect a symphony of traditional Thai herbs, spices and sauces, including shima-aji with green chilli and celtuce, soybean fermented abalone with a green curry-flavoured liver sauce; and grilled lobster served with southern yellow curry and rice—all within resplendent interiors by David Chipperfield Architects.
Title: Rosita
Location: Wan Chai
Mono and Andō might be two of the most in-demand—and therefore, most expensive—fine-dining restaurants in town, but chef-founders Ricardo Chaneton and Agustin Balbi’s love for Latin American comfort food led to them opening Rosita at a considerably more accessible price point. Inhabiting a space that’s styled like a traditional hearth, Rosita offers a dinner tasting menu that samples Latin America’s most popular street snacks and clocks in at six courses for HK$1,188. Designed to be shared between the whole table, expect mouthwatering entrées like arroz con pollo, Ping Yuen roast chicken with Yumegokochi rice, and a build-your-own taco course.
Title: Cafe Bau
Location: Wan Chai
"Demon Chef" Alvin Leung’s fine-casual restaurant under the Lubuds hospitality group serves a hybrid cuisine born from a mix of Cantonese cuisine and Leung's culinary influences from around the world. Featuring an eight-course dinner tasting menu, Cafe Bau offers dishes like grilled squid with spicy Shatian pomelo jam, hand-cut penne cacio e pepe with preserved clams, salt-roasted beetroot with Pat Chun vinaigrette, and slow-cooked local oxen brisket for only HK$998 per person.
Title: Aera
Location: Wan Chai
Serving Nordic-inspired cuisine in Wan Chai, newly opened Aera is helmed by chef Chevalier Yau and his team, who turn out a seasonal menu that includes dishes like honey peas with pear and gardenia oil, uni rice with clam soup foam, and three-yellow chicken leg soaked overnight in maltose. Comprising a whole ten courses, the dinner tasting menu offers great value at HK$1,188, but the lunch menu is even easier on the wallet at the bargain price of HK$178 per person.
Title: Moxie
Location: Central
Cuisines: Modern
Sister restaurant of Arcane, Moxie offers the same philosophy of sustainable pescatarian dining that is as kind to the environment as it is to your wallet. Take the five-course tasting menu for example, which clocks in at HK$688 per person and entails dishes like raw Hokkaido scallop with white asparagus and tomatillo, gazpacho with fruit tomato and black olives, and Fremantle octopus with macadamia ricotta, peas and peaches. Served from 6pm onwards, the menu can be bolstered with a wine or mocktail pairing from HK$258 up. If you can sneak out of the office early, the early bird dinner menu makes for an even more unbeatable offering, with two courses comprising soup of the day and a choice between pan-fried sea bass or shiitake bolognese for HK$248, plus the option to add dessert for an additional HK$68.
Title: Le Galet
Location: Sheung Wan
Nestled amidst the hustle and bustle of Sheung Wan, Le Galet is a bistro set within an antique shop where diners are transported back in time to the days of yore—think aged wooden furniture and pendant lamps. On the dining side, it’s worth digging into their three-course lunch menu which includes a tempting array of dishes to choose from such as carrot and orange cream soup, homemade fettuccine carbonara and pan seared fish fillet. And if you’re popping in for dinner, they also offer an exquisite six-course tasting menu featuring the likes of carabineros prawn with mango salsa and salmon roe, foie gras with pear purée and egg, and prime striploin with stem lettuce and wasabi mayonnaise for the price of HK$788 per person.