Waste Not, Want More: How Hong Kong’s top restaurants tackle sustainability smartly
There was a time when sustainability in restaurants meant the perfunctory nod to an organic vegetable or a locally sourced fish, a vague promise that somewhere, someone was making an effort. But in recent years, the conversation has changed. The industry is finally contending with what sustainability actually means—cutting waste, rethinking supply chains, reducing environmental impact and building systems that can last—and a handful of Hong Kong’s top restaurants are leading the charge.
Richard Ekkebus, director of culinary operations at the Landmark Mandarin Oriental hotel, has stripped away the usual trappings of decadence at its French restaurant, Amber. Butter and cream are gone, not as an act of restraint but because they were deemed unnecessary. There is less reliance on animal protein, and what remains is rigorously sourced, free-range, organic and traceable. Waste is dismantled at every stage, with an anaerobic digester reducing food scraps and single-use plastics erased from the operation.
Richard Ekkebus of Amber
Kinmedai dish at Amber
At Mora, Vicky Lau has taken soy, an ingredient usually treated with the enthusiasm of a tax form, and made it the star of something genuinely thrilling. Here, it is transformed into dishes so rich and complex that it makes you wonder why fine dining has misjudged it for so long. Lau applies the same meticulous approach to sustainability, working closely with local producers to reduce reliance on imports, minimising waste by using every part of her ingredients, and building her menu around what is available rather than what is convenient.
Beancurd tartlet at Mora
Mora's tofu pudding with black rice soy ice cream
In collaboration with French chefs David Toutain and Tatler Best Asia Rising Star 2024 winner Joris Rousseau, Feuille works with the unpredictability of nature rather than against it, sourcing from Farmhouse Productions—one of the few farms in Hong Kong practicing regenerative agriculture. There are no guarantees, no neat spreadsheets of availability, just whatever the land is willing to give at that moment. That means learning to be agile: coriander stems become vinegar and shrimp shells are roasted into seasoning, a reminder that the best cooking isn’t about control but about knowing when to let nature lead.
Joris Rousseau of Feuille
Strawberry shiso mille-feuille
Then there is Roganic, Simon Rogan’s Hong Kong outpost, where waste isn’t a problem to be managed but a resource to be put to use—often with results that are more interesting than the dishes that produced it. The restaurant, now settled into its new Lee Garden One location, operates on a zero-waste model. Every ingredient is used to its full potential, from root to stem, from offcut to broth. The dining room reflects this ethos with upcycled wood and reclaimed materials, and a commitment to keeping things local reinforces its commitment to sustainability. Roganic has made supplier accountability and waste reduction standard practice, not a selling point.
Hokkaido scallop with grilled Oscar peas
British chef Simon Rogan
See also: An exclusive first look inside Simon Rogan’s reimagined Roganic Hong Kong
Sustainability shouldn’t be an aesthetic choice or a branding exercise; it’s a redefinition of what good cooking looks like. Because if luxury is about paying attention—if indulgence is about treating ingredients with the respect they deserve—then the most responsible thing to do might just be the most delicious.
NOW READ
12 sustainable restaurants around the world with immersive, beautiful interiors