Independent Restaurants in HK are Shuttering

This fine dining restaurant offered intricate dishes with stories

A few days ago I saw a social media post from a young chef's girlfriend that he was closing his restaurant in Hong Kong's Mid-Levels in a few days and told people to eat there one more time.

There were a few comments asking what was happening but she didn't reply.

It was a small fine dining restaurant with 22 seats, most of them by the bar where everyone had a front-row seat at the open kitchen to watch the chefs prepare food and have it served personally by the chef-owner. Every few months he created a new eight-course menu with new dishes, each with its own story.

Here diners had a front-row seat of the kitchen

Then today I saw the chef's social media posts saying kitchen equipment was for sale along with all the tableware, dishes, glasses, furniture... 

I messaged him, asking what was next.

He later replied saying he wasn't sure. He explained that he quickly made the decision to close because business was terrible in 2023, from March to November and could not see how 2024 would be significantly better. 

"We see no light at the end of the tunnel of 2024 either. The market is going to crash," he texted.

Crash?!

Rent wasn't an issue in his case the landlord was his partner's uncle. Even though the restaurant had low overhead costs, they could barely make enough profit compared to a restaurant with comparable overheads.

"I even injected capital two times," he added, to pay for food and staff salaries. 

The restaurant closed abruptly a few days ago

Hong Kong has become very expensive to dine in, which has resulted in many escaping to Shenzhen on the weekends for cheap splurges. It also doesn't help that a big chunk of the middle class and upper middle class, as well as expats have left the city too.

Independent restaurants are having a tough time surviving financially, and he observes those who will make it through are the ones within restaurant groups that have deep pockets, or those who have adapted to cater to mainland diners' tastes.

"I can't afford the first, and cannot sleep doing the second," he texted.

One can probably surmise the latter means lots of seafood like oysters, lobsters and sea urchin, truffles and caviar on every dish. 

From a wealthy family, this chef can afford to take a break and not even work, but only in his early 30s he needs to find something to do.

What do you do after you've opened your own restaurant for two years -- during the Covid-19 pandemic no less? Would he be willing to work under someone else again? 

Then a friend just told me that Maxim's, which has a giant chain of bakeries and restaurants is not looking to expand further in Hong Kong or the mainland, but in Southeast Asia instead. 

Even though Maxim's owner is pro-Beijing, it is looking elsewhere to expand. Even correct political leanings won't help you make an extra buck in China...

Review: Archer in Vancouver

Archer's interior is sleek, minimalist and inviting

A friend visiting from Hong Kong wanted to try Archer, a restaurant that opened a year ago in downtown Vancouver, so we tried it out last week.

I didn't know much about this place except that its menu features ingredients from the Pacific Northwest.

We arrived on time and entered the long narrow space with high ceilings that immediately felt open, welcoming and airy. There are long wooden planks that curve around the ceiling, while mossy green banquette seating finished with polished wood are inviting. 

Lovely plump scallops that were flavourful

While the white walls were a bit bare, we still enjoyed soaking in the interior, and could just see the heating lamps in the kitchen upstairs that probably had a chef's table next to it.

So far, so good.

We each ordered a non alcoholic drink -- lychee iced tea for her, and strawberry lemonade tea spritzer for me (CAD$10 each). Mine was very refreshing, hers had a strong hint of jasmine tea.

For starters we tried the roasted scallops ($29), a creative concoction where they were just fully cooked and complemented with verjus bacon vinaigrette and puffed wild rice for some crunchy texture.

The uni and lardo ($38) is expensive, and looks impressive. Giant pieces of the sea urchin are placed on top of a brioche mini square loaf with thinly sliced ribbons of lardo. Unfortunately the lardo hadn't had time to get to room temperature so it was an ordeal to bite into, let alone slice in half to share. Also disappointing was the uni -- it had none of the sweetness, only bland, barely enhancing the flavour of the brioche. 

Most enjoyed the pea risotto with sunflower seeds

Wet towels should be served with this dish for diners to clean their hands after. Or were we supposed to eat it with a fork and knife?

After an intermission came the mains. We really enjoyed the pea risotto ($36), which had a wonderful crunchy texture from the sunflower seed gremolata, asparagus and the parmesan tuile. 

But what was with the "cheeky Berkshire" ($48)? As my friend put it -- the dish's plating looked like it has been done by a culinary student, not an experienced chef. Grapes ringed the dish, along with unevenly cut turnips, and a fillet of pork jowl sliced up as if for a child. It tasted like a really expensive and pounded piece of char siu. 

Presentation of pork jowl looked very amateur

Nevertheless we hoped for a good sweet finish with dessert and ordered both options on the menu ($15 each). We knew the mille feuille was not promising as soon as we sliced it, and it didn't succumb to the knife by spurting flakes everywhere. Sadly it tasted like stale crackers and we couldn't finish it. Even the scoop of black sesame ice cream looked like it had been sitting there for a while.

The lychee rose was no better. Inside the big white blob shaped like a rose was one lychee. One. The rest was cream that had a faint taste of lychee juice from the can. It was not mousse as promised, but cream decorated with not Okanagan cherries, but one and a half raspberries.

When one of the waiters took this plate away, he did it so mindlessly that the sprinkles of crumbs from the mousse dessert fell not only on the table, but also the chair -- his colleague immediately saw the disaster and quickly wiped it off the table and chair, apologising for the mess.

The lychee mousse had one lychee in it

In the end we paid over $250 (the mille feuille taken off our bill), including tips. While the scallops and pea risotto were the shining stars, they weren't enough to save the rest of the meal. Even after a year a restaurant can't get it right... It's tough to be successful in the restaurant business, but at least the interior is a winner?

Archer

1152 Alberni Street

Vancouver, BC

778 737 6218

Fine Dining Struggles in Hong Kong

Ecriture's minimalist style with maximalist views of the city

The big news the other day was hearing that two Michelin-star restaurant Ecriture in Hong Kong's Central district suddenly shuttered. Executive chef Maxime Gilbert posted the news on Instagram.

"Yes. It is a bit of a shock. I am still shocked," he told a Hong Kong newspaper, but did not elaborate further.

Executive chef Gilbert is shocked at the closure

The restaurant group Le Comptoir that is behind Ecriture didn't reply to reporters' inquiries.

However, there were rumours in the industry that the restaurant hadn't paid its staff for months, and that Le Comptoir hadn't paid rent for a year -- sounds extreme, as any landlord would have locked them out months earlier if that happened.

One would imagine suppliers haven't been paid in full either.

This comes as other restaurants like Haku, that had finally moved from Harbour City to IFC with a stunning view has also closed, along with Rosita, a joint venture by chefs Ricardo Chaneton and Agustin Balbi.

Fine dining restaurants are having sluggish business these days, with expat bankers leaving Hong Kong, and mainlanders preferring to eat fishball noodles than foie gras.

Ecriture was best known for its indulgent caviar tart -- a large tart covered with uni and topped with caviar and gold leaf. It was dripping with decadence and every other table had an order of it when this tart was unveiled.

Ecriture's infamous and decadent caviar tart

Gilbert's other stunning dish was line-caught turbot that was wrapped in chunks in seaweed and then poached in dashi. 

He just finished a promotion at Amber in the Landmark Mandarin, where chef Richard Ekkebus invited back several alumnae chefs to come back and cook.

It's yet another bid to entice diners back to Amber -- for a short period of time.

And then what?

It's a tough call -- chefs want to do fine dining and chase Michelin stars, but at the moment people are watching their wallets and just want to eat cheaply.

During the pandemic, there was literally a captive audience. But now that restrictions are lifted, people are dying to travel and going back to their old ways again. However, no one's coming to Hong Kong...