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A visit to her Instagram page, however, showcases her many other pursuits, from “influencing” for beauty, fashion and jewellery brands, and hosting restaurant pop-ups around the globe, to various wellness projects including her latest: Family Form, a mat-based sculpting workout that boasts a cult following of health-obsessed women from all walks of life.

“Everything thing I do is connected by this idea of hospitality. I want to add hospitality to all these different experiences, whether it’s in fitness or something else. People think the industry is defined by F&B [food and beverage] and hotels, but really, it’s just about making people happy,” she says.

Jang was destined for a future in hospitality. Her parents ran a Cantonese restaurant in her hometown of Alberta, Canada.

She and Abergel started to carve their own careers at a young age – they moved to New York City in the 2002, where he worked as a chef and she became hostess at celebrity haunt Nobu. They planned to move to Japan after a few years, but that all changed when she got pregnant with their first child.

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After travelling for a while, they ended up in London working for contemporary Japanese eatery Zuma before deciding that the city wasn’t for them. The powers-that-be offered them a stint in Hong Kong instead, and they landed in the city in 2009 with the aim of moving back to North America after two years.

“The original business plan was to open Yardbird in Vancouver but we wanted to travel before moving back. Then the financial crisis hit and no one in Vancouver was interested so we decided to stay [in Hong Kong] because Matt was doing well here. We opened Yardbird in 2011,” she says.

Yardbird quickly became a pioneer on the city’s restaurant scene with its creative take on chicken yakitori, buzzy atmosphere, great cocktails and friendly staff. Jang’s marketing acumen, which included a strategy that was more akin to a skateboard brand than an independent eatery, also played a huge role in its enduring success.

“Many people don’t know that Matt and I first met when I worked in a skate shop, so this background influenced how we marketed Yardbird. We did stickers and T-shirts, and cool collaborations. This is still the filter we put most things through,” she explains.

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Although Jang’s public identity was closely intertwined with Yardbird, she was also nurturing another passion behind the scenes.

An avid yoga practitioner since her late teens, she managed to complete her teacher training in Hong Kong and started teaching classes part-time. In 2014 she launched Missbish, an online media platform focused on female-driven content (she describes it as the “the female version of Hypebeast”), which also included launching a line of all-black activewear.

Around 2017 her health journey took a turn when she discovered biohacking, a movement that involves making experimental changes to your body and lifestyle in pursuit of better health and performance.

“I’m vain and have no problem admitting that. Fitness has always been a big thing for me but I was working nonstop and exhausted, and tried to balance it with exercise. Nothing was really changing my body until someone introduced me to a great doctor called Nicola Salmond. We went through tonnes of diagnostics and it all just clicked. In high school I was a science honour student, so it made sense to me,” she says.

By 2019, Missbish started to peter out and she was ready for something new. She started consulting with luxury hotel The Upper House, which was looking to add an element of wellness to its offerings. Soon she was creating and developing wellness-inspired programming for its guests, which included engaging renowned global practitioners working across a range of disciplines, from physical fitness and holistic health, to beauty and even spiritual healing.

Their partnership reached new heights when she launched Family Form during Covid.

“My co-founder – who is a great friend based in Shanghai – and I started ideating business ideas. We like the same things and always talked about how there was no workout out there that we thought ticked every box, so we decided to create our own fitness method,” she says.

“Sculpt isn’t exactly new – we can credit Jane Fonda for that – but we realised that what was really missing from all the workouts we tried was the hospitality aspect. You can go into a gym or fitness studio but the experience is usually not great pre- and post-class. It is not a premium experience.”

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Jang took over one of the rooms at the hotel, which she converted into an intimate and spotless studio, complete with infrared panels – known for their detoxing and healing properties – heating (the thermostat is set at a balmy 40 degrees Celsius) and state of the art Sonos sound system.

Initially only four people could fit into the space, but over time it has expanded to fit seven, including the trainer, who completes the workout with you at the same time.

It wasn’t long before social media feeds were dominated by images and videos from “family formers”, many of whom have embraced Jang’s signature all-black workout look along with her “life-changing” 55-minute routine.

Today Family Form offers 16 classes a week taught by five teachers, most of whom started out as students. Jang and her community have also done several pop-ups in cities like London, Tokyo and Miami.

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“We have an incredibly loyal following but it’s about building a community that’s truly inclusive. We don’t talk about weight, or how you look. We just play good music, no one is talking, no one is counting – it’s a fully immersive moving meditation,” she says.

“The only real issue we have is that some people are too intimidated to come because everyone keeps saying how intense the workout is on social media. The good thing is that I don’t feel pressure to make it bigger than what it is. I just want to enjoy it and not let it stress me out.”

It’s just as well, seeing as she has many other projects in the works. In addition to the popular Family Food salads, launched in 2022, are a menu of smoothies that wouldn’t look out of place at Los Angeles cult health food store Erewhon. Next year she’s planning to bring more cutting-edge treatments to the city, including PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injections and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

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“I love connecting and supporting people while ultimately making them feel good. At Yardbird for example, as a host, I make sure people have the best time. Now I can apply that to a situation where we have a greater impact on the people we are serving because we are promoting a healthier lifestyle. What could be better than that?” she says.

“My goal for the next 10 years is to go from spending 80 per cent of my time on F&B and 20 per cent on wellness, to 50/50. Yardbird is now in its 12th year so I want to use the next 10 years to set ourselves up for the future,” she says.

Lindsay Jang’s top 3 wellness tips

1. “Sweat every day”

2. “Find a functional medicine specialist to work with to optimise your health”

3. “Cut out or drastically reduce alcohol intake – this is new-ish for me and a complete life-changer”