Tate Dining Room

Contemporary French Chinese Fusion in Hong Kong

I’ve been trying to get a reservation to Tate Dining Room for years. Before COVID, it was perpetually booked out and was one of the hardest reservations to get in Hong Kong.

Opened by Chef Vicky Lau, who originally intended to open a coffee shop, we’re lucky that she instead chose to follow her fine-dining roots with Tate Dining Room. Originally trained in graphic design, Chef Vicky decided to go a different route, attending Le Cordon Bleu before the joining Cepage in Hong Kong, under Chef Sebastien Lepinoy (of Les Amis fame).

In 2012, Chef Vicky opened the Tate Dining Room, and within six months, it was award its first Michelin star. It moved to a larger space in 2016 and picked up a second Michelin star in 2021.

The restaurant is an interesting concept, combining European-style fine dining with Eastern ingredients, techniques and influences. The menu is very European at first glance, but the ingredients, preparations and many of the artistic and decor choices clearly skew eastern.

Walking into the space, we were met with an interesting seating area and wine lounge downstairs before being led upstairs to the main dining area. Interestingly, there is a scale architectural model of dining room placed on the stairs as we walked up into the room itself.

We were immediately served a small glass of water infused with shizo leaf and Sichuan peppercorn.

Then the sommelier walked over and greeted us with the champagne trolley - half the bottles champagne, and half non-alcoholic sparkling teas.

I went with a Brut Blanc de Blancs, while my teetotalling companion went with a sparkling Jasmine tea from Yunnan.

The amuse bouche - clockwise from the bottom left, a green shell tart filled with mussels and mussel puree and topped with slices of razor clam. By far, this was the biggest hit. Next, a chicken liver tart with Chinese “lap cheong” sausage and soft tofu. Finally, a tart filled with Iberic ham and topped with marinaded jellyfish - slightly sweet with a crunchy texture. All three were great, and we could clearly see the Chinese influences in each of amuse bouche.

We were then given a menu, which had 7 dishes each highlighting a single central ingredient.

The “Ode to Century Egg” reminded me a bit of the “Robuchon”. A layer of Alaskan king crab, covered with century egg with a layer of osmanthus jelly over it, and delicate arranged crouton and droplets of cilantro and other jelly on top. The alkaline century egg flavour was a bit overpowering, and despite normally liking century egg, the dish wasn’t a huge hit for me.

The first dish was served with a perfectly square cube of light, fluffy brioche, with some fermented tofu spread. Interested concept, and they lean deep into tofu and soy products, but I would’ve just preferred some salted butter.

The “Ode to Langoustine” was a huge hit and one of my favourite dishes of the night. A layer of chopped lobster salad with ginger and Chinese yam, a layer of beluga caviar and a perfectly poached giant Scottish langoustine tail on top. Absolutely amazing - the langoustine tail and lobster salad being a bit lighter in flavour, in contrast to the briny and nutty caviar.

Next, the “Ode to Mushrooms.” A mushroom steak, topped with some sticky rice and slices of shitake mushrooms with sliced “gai lan” vegetable between the slices, with a thick mushroom sauce, and served with an earthy umami bomb of a mushroom consommé, made with many kids of mushrooms and highlighting wild red mushrooms - a rare wild mushroom that only grow in the Wuyi Mountains in China.

Wanting an interesting wine to go with the dish, I chose a Ratafia de Champenois - a fortified sweet wine made from the second pressing champagne grapes. Really unique, concentrated flavours and I thoroughly enjoyed my glass. I liked it enough to order a bottle when I got home.

The “Ode to Scallop” was another big hit. A savoury, fluffy black garlic souffle topped with a thick, rich scallop velouté. A very simple dish, but rich, decadent, and surprisingly filling for how light it was. Another highlight of the meal.

Next came the “Ode to Olives”, which featured a 3 day dry-aged Kinki fish topped with green olives, and razor thin zucchini slices wrapped around a cilantro and Kinki fish mousse. This was topped with an thick olive sauce. The dry aging of the fish concentrated the flavours and tenderized the fish until it was nearly fell apart in our mouths. The dehydration of the dry aging process also made it easier for the skin to crisp up like a chip. The dish was served with a small piece of fermented lemon that we were encouraged to cut into small bits and pair with the fish for contrast. While olives were the featured ingredient, the Kinki fish was really the star of this dish.

The “Ode to Olives” was served with a piece of sourdough and soft tofu with olive oil. Again, interesting concept, would’ve just preferred some butter.

Chef Vicky came out before the next dish to explain the sourcing of the black beans used for the sauce.

The “Ode to Venison”, a medium rare venison saddle, double sauced with a thick, chocolatey aged black bean sauce inside a circle of another sauce I didn’t catch the details of. The venison saddle was served with a tempura strawberry that paired really well with the black bean sauce, and some microgreens. If there was one thing Tate Dining Room did exceptionally well, it was their proteins. Every single protein was perfectly cooked - amazing texture, well seasoned, incredibly flavourful.

We were finished with the hot dishes and moving into the desserts, so I ordered a glass of port. Wasn’t particularly notable - a 2007 vintage tawny that looked and tasted exactly like what a 20 year port is expected to taste like - caramel, sweet, starting to mellow out versus a younger port.

The pre-dessert was made with “Da Hong Pao”, a rare Chinese tea from Fujian. The particular tea leaves were picked in the 2008 harvest, and made into a gelato and a clear jelly and served inside a traditional Chinese tea cup. The granules of puffed rice added a bit of texture to compliment the gelato and jelly.

Dessert was an “Ode to Mandarin”, with layers of a yoghurt meringue, marshmallow, a sour yuzu jelly, a slice of mandarin, covered in a mandarin jelly, with a thickened mandarin jus over it. In a reference to a classic Chinese dessert, there was also a bit of sago and pomelo. Sweet, sour, crispy from the meringue, plump mandarin along with a bit of mint chiffonade between the layers. Amazing!

We thought the show was over, but next came a Chinese tea ceremony with dried lotus flower. Lotus leaves are often used in Chinese cooking, as a protective wrap around “zongzi” or “glutinous chicken rice” while steaming, while also imparting some herbal aromas. It was the first time I’ve ever had a tea made from lotus leaf and lotus flower, but both my companion and I remarked that it reminded us a lot of those savoury Chinese dishes.

Finally, the petit fours. In an elaborate presentation, they wheeled out a whimsical “Chinoiserie” display cabinet filled with a vast array of petit fours. In a bit of “Alice in Wonderland” meets “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, we were walked through each of the petit fours and asked to choose the ones we wanted. Naturally, I took one of each.

Notably, many of the petit fours had references to Chinese dim sum or desserts - whether the “fortune cookie” in the shape of honeycomb tripe, ginger madeleines in a dim sum steamer or the marshmallow with dried mango and walnut wrapped in rice paper.

I really liked Tate Dining Room. The fusion of European-style fine dining with references to many classic Chinese dishes and ingredients made for a very fun night. While not all the dishes were hits, the souffle and langoustine dishes made it all worthwhile, and I’m excited to see what Chef Vicky has cooking up next.

Total damage: 5500 HKD/2 people.