Best New Restaurant – Leela

The past 12 months have seen a raft of high-quality openings, but nowhere impressed on as many fronts and so significantly as Leela.

Upon entering, the design by André Fu Studio is warm and inviting thanks to ethereal cloud glass lighting, burgundy tones and glimpses of velvet. In the cooler months that have passed since the restaurant opened, the terrace has been a delight, its lush tropical plants and rattan furniture evoking another place and time.

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The menu, thanks to chef Manav Tuli, is stellar and showcases great dishes from across South Asia, whether it’s the moreish Lucknowi tokri chaat from northern India, the toothsome chakundar oxtail gosht from Punjab, or the rich Saoji lamb shank that was inspired by the cuisine of the Kandahar region in Afghanistan.

While Tuli’s food alone is enough to sell a restaurant, the drinks menu has not been ignored either. Mario Calderone, Jia Group’s beverage director, has created a cocktail menu that thoughtfully enhances the dining experience and harmonises with the vibrant flavours found in Leela’s culinary offerings. The wine list too pairs nicely with the Indian spices at play. Altogether, it makes for an exceptional meal.

Best New Interior Design – Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic

Multi-concept hotspot Forty-Five was arguably the most ambitious new F&B concept of the last 12 months, its own marketing unashamed to declare it Hong Kong’s “most thrilling new hospitality destination in a generation”.

To help make good on that boast, the property unveiled a stunning new concept in partnership with France’s Anne-Sophie Pic, renowned as the most Michelin-starred female chef in the world.

The result, Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic, has impressed with its food – but just as noteworthy is the interior design, created in collaboration with Paris-based architecture and interior design studio Gilles & Boissier and luxury brand Baccarat. No new restaurant has such a dazzling entrance as Cristal Room’s chandelier seemingly immersed in fire. Every element here combines impeccable craftsmanship with captivating design, from the sinuous sofa seating right down to the bread knives.

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Best Service – Feuille

Service can be hard to gauge. At the same restaurant during the same seating, impressions can vary from table to table depending on the demands of the individuals involved. One new restaurant that has yet to disappoint when it comes to service though is Feuille. Guests at the Wellington Street spot never seem to have a bad word to say.

It helps that the restaurant doesn’t pack in the tables like many others (understandably) do in Hong Kong. With fewer tables to worry about, service is automatically more attentive, and the sense of space certainly puts guests at ease.

Founder David Toutain and executive chef Joris Rousseau, Toutain’s man on the ground in Hong Kong, may grab the most headlines, but credit for the high standards of service at Feuille goes to restaurant manager Jundrei Santiago, who attentively looks after each customer and sets impeccable standards for the rest of the team to follow.

Sustainability Hero – Penicillin

Going green is not easy in Hong Kong. In a city that’s either all concrete or protected country parks, there isn’t much room left over for the sorts of vegetable gardens or foraging expeditions that eco-conscious restaurants in roomier parts of the world get to make use of. And while many restaurants flaunt their green credentials – rightly or wrongly – efforts towards greater sustainability on the local bar scene still have some way to go. That is why this year’s Sustainability Hero is closed-loop concept Penicillin.

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Agung Prabowo’s bar isn’t new, having opened in late 2020, but that doesn’t mean its efforts to push greater sustainability in this field should be forgotten. In the more than three years since Penicillin opened, a disappointingly small number of bars have matched the concept’s efforts at recycling everything from food waste to staff outfits to furniture. Hopefully, this award serves as a reminder that others should be catching up by now.

Chefs’ Choice – Andō

In any industry, a real indicator of quality is to be recognised and acknowledged by peers. It is little surprise then that the winner of our first Chefs’ Choice award – voted for by the chefs of 100 Top Tables restaurants – is the thoroughly deserving And.

Chef Agustin Balbi’s dining room in Central defies labels and culinary pigeon-holes, amalgamating Balbi’s mixed Argentinian, Spanish and Italian heritage with his time spent learning in the United States and Japan into something truly original.

It’s not just the food that impresses. During his years in Japan, Balbi learned the art of omotenashi (hospitality), something he has brought with him to And. Balbi internalised the understanding that his guests have other dining options they could pick and places where they could spend their money, but chose to visit his restaurant. Aware of this and grateful for their custom, there is a respectful attitude to guests at And that few places match.

No wonder it has proved so popular with customers, critics and peers alike.

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Rising Star – Sean Yuen

In contrast to its more inviting sister restaurant Vivant, Dolos has an unassuming exterior. Its position on a corner of Aberdeen Street opposite PMQ might be prominent, but its bland concrete exterior doesn’t promise much.

All of which is a shame, since Sean Yuen’s cooking is worth high praise and deserves more attention. At this Japanese-French seafood bistro, Yuen – who earned his stripes at the likes of Caprice and Hue – works within the strictures of a chef’s menu-only concept to deliver one imaginative dish after another.

Visit one week and you might be served freshly caught squid with celtuce and a celeriac dashi, the next the same seafood might be served with roasted home-made cavatelli pasta with a shiso pesto.

Beef tongue served with coffee and strawberry was a particularly brave set of flavours. All in all, it’s an impressive achievement for a chef who, until recently, was better known for his bass lines in local indie rock band Tfvsjs, and deserves full recognition.

Best Bartender – Simone Rossi

No matter how great the drinks at certain bars are, sometimes a visit can feel repetitive. It’s nice to sip your favourite signatures again, but sometimes you want something new.

Nowhere does new better than Simone Rossi and his team at DarkSide. Kowloon’s premier cocktail bar may be blessed with resources that others lack, thanks to its position within the Rosewood, but it is undeniable that Rossi uses these resources to the fullest to deliver changing thematic menus that wow.

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Whether it’s with the phases of the moon menu, the art of mahjong offering or the latest yin-yang menu, Rossi always delivers inventive drinks that impress alongside an attention to detail that is truly noteworthy, from the physical menus themselves to the custom glassware designed for each new menu.

Best Chef – Manav Tuli

In a city where many chefs remain for decades at the same acclaimed restaurant, the list of those who have branched out and launched more than one successful concept is a short one. Manav Tuli now joins that select company.

He moved to Hong Kong at the “perfect” time: in September 2019, amid the city’s protests and with the Covid-19 pandemic just around the corner. Despite these obstacles, Tuli launched Chaat at the Rosewood the following year, transforming traditional Indian street food to suit guests at a five-star hotel. The concept was an instant hit, and being able to secure a table at Chaat provided an opportunity to boast.

Tuli could have dined out on the success of Chaat for years but instead, he chose to leave the restaurant in the capable hands of his deputies and turned his attention towards a different kind of Indian cuisine. The result is Leela, which opened last November and has proved another stunning success.

If Chaat was about elevating Indian street food, Leela is about making lavish imperial dishes of India’s past accessible to modern diners. It is a remarkable pivot, producing a menu that feels familiar but also entirely distinct. Chef Tuli is operating at an exceptional level and wider international acclaim is surely only a matter of time.

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Legend Award – Umberto Bombana

Hong Kong is blessed with talented, dedicated individuals throughout its F&B industry. One who has done more than nearly any other to put the city’s fine dining scene on the map is Umberto Bombana.

An exemplar of Hong Kong’s “East meets West” attitude, Bombana moved to the city more than 30 years ago, having grown up in Bergamo in northern Italy. Having run the kitchens at the renowned Toscana, Bombana established 8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana in 2010. After two years of operation it was awarded three Michelin stars, making history as the first Italian restaurant in the world outside Italy to be deemed worthy of this honour. Subsequent and equally well-regarded concepts have followed, including the likes of Octavium, a Macau outpost of Otto e Mezzo, and the truffle-focused Tuber.

Chef Bombana’s personal accolades are numerous and include Best Italian Chef in Asia by the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners in 2002, being declared a Worldwide Ambassador of the White Truffle in 2006 by the Piedmontese Regional Enoteca Cavour in Italy and, in 2017, being presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. This award may come later than all of those, but we couldn’t think of anyone better for 100 Top Tables’ inaugural Legend Award.