The brothers Green: Nate and Adam

Ex-Atherton chef Nathan Green and his brother Adam on working together and the launch of Adam’s new Hong Kong wine company, Bottle Shock.

Like chalk and cheese: Nate and Adam Green

Heavily bearded and tattooed Nathan (Nate) Green is a typical straight-talking northerner. Still basking in the glory of opening Rhoda, one Hong Kong’s recent success stories, he has also managed to lure his brother from London to Hong Kong where Adam has set up Bottle Shock, a wine importing and distribution company which provides all the wines for Rhoda’s extensive list.

“People in this industry in Hong Kong talk a lot of fluff,” says Nate. “And Adam is someone I trust above all other people. This is something we always spoke about [working together] and it’s a natural fit now that I have Rhoda. He has the same no b******t approach as me.”

Rhoda is Nate’s own project away from the Jason Atherton restaurant empire where he worked before, though the restaurant is in conjunction with Yenn Wong, the founder of the JIA Group which manages Atherton’s Hong Kong restaurants, 22 Ships, Aberdeen Street Social and Ham & Sherry.

In another life in London and equipped with years of experience in the kitchen with Tom Aikens and at Gidleigh Park – Nate was approached by Jason Atherton to go to Hong Kong and Nate plumped for it Hong Kong even though he’d never been there before and had another option of going to Dubai.

“What do I want to go to Dubai for?! I’d be arrested in the first few hours!”

By contrast, Adam steadily worked his way through the London wine retail sector; managing the Jeroboam’s Hampstead and St John’s Wood outlets, becoming business development director for Roberson and then general manager for LDN Cru, London’s first urban winery.

Armed with a wine and spirits MBA from KEDGE, as well as an MSc and a BA, Adam is the more studious – and quieter – of the two but still has plenty to say on the state of the UK wine market.

“The UK is price pressured for wine,” he says. “There’s big competition from the supermarkets which isn’t the case here. The horrors of rose or Prosecco for a fiver!

“A wine list in any restaurant should have a story and hit that elusive sweet spot of the market. Noble Rot, 28-50 and Sager + Wilde have got it right with the bulk of their wines priced at the equivalent of between HK$400-HK$1000 which are all very special and with a good mix of well-known names and real independent producers.”

Wines at Rhoda are mainly from France with a plethora from Spain, the US and South Africa and a few admittedly oft-quoted ‘hidden gems’ mixed in plus a goodly selection of pet nat which is currently doing the rounds in Hong Kong. A glass of 2015 Syrah from Craven Wines in Helderberg Mountain, Stellenbosch – not seen in Hong Kong before – was outstanding.

“The Hong Kong wine market is the opposite of London’s and so this has given me the opportunity to introduce smaller producers which fits in with Rhoda’s ethos,” says Adam. “Nate carefully sources all of his ingredients so the wine list needs to reflect that. Also the wines are available by glass, carafe and bottle and Coravin too.

“You need to think about the market and what people are actually drinking. It’s the opposite here than I London where there’s no question of two peoples splitting a bottle or more at dinner. In Hong Kong, diners want smaller pours – 150ml. They want to be seen drinking but not half a bottle. A lot of them can’t cope with it.”

“And our cheapest bottle is HK$300,” chimes in Nate. “We don’t have house wines. It’s too boring.”

Nate also seems to take a dim view on Hong Kong’s F&B scene which is often dominated by sky high rents and wine lists controlled by large beverage distributors.

“Hong Kong is very good at not being original which means that places that are – Yardbird and Ho Lee Fook let’s say – standout and then get copied!

“I also don’t believe in wine pairing,” he continues. “It’s b******s. You just pick the wine you want to drink and don’t take it all so seriously.” He then pauses and uses that glorious idiomatic English phrase which hasn’t made it over to Hong Kong yet:

“I just want to say to them, ‘wind your neck in, mate and enjoy yourself.’”

Bottle Shock will launch in Hong Kong this autumn.