A Tale of Two Restaurants in HK

Stunning gypsy chandeliers and Vik Muniz collage at Sevva

Sevva was the place to see and be seen. Opened by socialite entrepreneur Bonnae Gokson, the bar and restaurant on the top floor of Prince's Building in Hong Kong's Central district had cozy spaces for tai tais to gossip as they nibbled on salads and afternoon teas, young people to dance the night away on the rooftop to a live band, and dining areas for business executives to have power lunches.

Gokson, the hostess with the mostess, arranged a lot of parties at Sevva, and met a lot of celebrities there like Pharrell Williams, David and Victoria Beckham, actresses Shu Qi and Fan Bingbing, and designers Vera Wang, Dries Van Noten, Alber Elbaz, and Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce.

Gokson was the hostess with the mostess

She liked her gins and had large selection of bottles, while the menu featured east-meets-west, from seafood pie and peppercorn steak to dosas and Shanghainese wontons, claypot rice, and Taiwanese beef noodles.

In addition she searched high and low for entertainers -- most memorable was Australian Courtney Act -- who was really Shane Jenek dressed and sounded like a woman and performed a few times at Sevva. I interviewed her about LGBTQ issues and she talked about being pan-sexual and polyamorous. After that she became super famous on Dancing with the Stars!

But Sevva's 16-year run abruptly ended almost a year ago when landlord Hong Kong Land did not entertain renewing the lease -- it had received an ambitious proposal to put an upscale French bistro in the 2,000 sq ft space featuring chef Franckelie Laloum, formerly of Louise restaurant in PMQ.

Needless to say Gokson was extremely bitter about being kicked out in favour of a new flavour; but her devoted fans came out to drink and dine at Sevva until the last day, and even came out to buy mementos of the restaurant, from candlesticks and glasses to furniture. 

She spent about HK$1 million to strip the walls and floors down to the cement shell to hand over to the new tenant.

Larkin (left) and Laloum at LALA

However, the proposal for the new bistro was wavering -- the woman behind the deal didn't get enough investors and the deal fell through. 

The space at the top of Prince's Building is still empty. 

In addition, apparently Laloum and manager Michael Larkin -- who wrote up the proposal -- were kicked out of the project, and out of a job.

Laloum and Larkin started doing a pop-up on Lyndhurst Terrace called La Brasserie, and served bistro dishes. Reception was so good that they managed to open LALA at the same address. LALA is the first two letters of both their family names.

So when I came back to Hong Kong this time, I was excited to see Laloum and his new restaurant. While Louise was very refined French cooking, LALA has a lively atmosphere, more laid back though the dishes are well executed.

The famous roast chicken at LALA

Five of us tried dishes like pate en croute, endive salad, citrus-marinated hamachi, foie gras terrine on brioche, parsley frog legs and Laloum snuck in some fresh white asparagus in season. 

We also had the famous roast chicken -- that he made famous at Louise -- which is a bit cheaper here too. Desserts like Paris Brest, lemon meringue tart and St Honore are presented on a silver platter but then made fresh (which took a while, but gave us time to digest).

After lunch I managed to speak to Laloum for a few minutes and he was grateful to be able to land on his feet relatively quickly. He is anxious to ensure customers are happy so that they come back again. So glad he's doing well and Hong Kong has given him the opportunity to try again.

In the meantime Gokson has moved on -- traveling a lot these days, enjoying life, but still bitter after Sevva's life was cut short. Most importantly she closed Sevva on a high note, and lots of good memories for her fans.