Hot Hong Kong openings: November

12,000 Francs

The latest new eatery on Elgin Street comes in the form of 12,000 Francs, a modern wine bar and French bistro which tips its tricorn hat to Napoleon who offered the sum of 12,000 francs to anyone who could work out how to preserve food for his conquering armies.

Devised by ex-Bibo and Tri chef, Conor Beach, the menu is split into Pickled + Potted, Smoke + Salted, Vaccum + Fire and Sugar + Sweet and features meat-heavy delights such as homemade merguez sausage with onion, Cote de Bouef with whiskey and cocoa nib butter emulsion and suckling pig shoulder.

In homage to Monsieur Bonaparte, Beach is dutifully employing all methods of modern and traditional preservation techniques including smoking, salting and curing.

12,000 Francs has also teamed up with the Hong Kong Seed Bank, an organic farm located in Tuen Mun which supplies its organic vegetables.

12,000 Francs, GF Elgin Building, 43a Elgin Street, Central; 2529 3100

AOC

From the team behind Winebeast, one of Hong Kong’s best-loved French bistros, comes AOC. Formerly Le Cafe Winebeast, the incarnation is in the same tucked away spot in McGregor Street and thankfully has kept on Winebeast’s original Breton chef, Stéphane Guillas who is a dab hand at hearty French fancies, including pork tenderloin, duck confit and grilled lemon sole.

The wine list is also one of the best things about AOC, with an excellent array of independent labels from Alsace, Jura, Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Loire, including Spain, Italy and the New World.

AOC, 15 McGregor Street, Wan Chai; 2479 6833

Commissary

When Hong Kong’s temperature drops to the positively Arctic 15c, everyone histrionically dons scarves and huddles over steaming cups of coffee muttering that the weather “has simply crept up on us this year.”

Fortunately, the sunny and SoCal Commissary from JIA Group’s Yenn Wong has opened in Pacific Place (opposite the Continental) which promises comfort food in American sized-portions.

Culinary director and executive chef, Morgan McGlone and executive chef, Adam Shoebridge have dreamed up hearty delights of pork ribs with BBQ sauce, onion rings with chipotle mayo and the gargantuan double cheeseburger with lighter options including tuna poke tostada, kingfish cruda, and pickled prawn lettuce cups.

When was the last time anyone had red velvet cake? Desserts at Commissary are a must – especially the salted caramel pudding and fried apple pie. Bonus: happy hour runs from 5-8pm with cocktails at HK$60 and beer at HK$45.

Commissary, Shop 405, 4/F Pacific Place,, 88 Queensway, Admiralty; 2602 0707

Dragon Noodles Academy (DNA)

Dim sum and fresh hand-made noodles get a modern makeover at Dining Workshop’s new Dragon Noodles Academy (DNA) which is done up much like a scene from Enter the Dragon/a 1970s Kung Fu academy.

Hong Kong is not known for hanging onto its relics and history so DNA has made a great effort to incorporate old Hong Kong into its decor with traditional Chinese medicine bottles, handcarved dragons and traditional lion dances at the weekends.

Channel your inner Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan but don’t become a Drunken Master or a Crazy Couple (or even a Wandering Swordsman) on the fiery cocktails and spirits kept locked in a medicine cabinet.

Dragon Noodles Academy, Shop no. G04, G/F, Man Yee Arcade, Man Yee Building No. 68 Des Voeux Road, Central; 2561 6688

Drunken Pot

Hotpot. Possibly Hong Kong’s biggest pastimes come winter. Tsim Sha Tsui’s ever popular Drunken Pot has now got a handle on Hong Kong Island’s side with a new venture in Causeway Bay.

Expect great hotpot times, such as the signature broths partnering with hand-sliced beef, Angus beef chuck and deep-fried bean curd or the ‘Ultimate’ drunken pot with five different stock including the rather telling, ‘Sichuan Numbing Broth’.

Classic winter booze options include the Chinato Nail by Giancarlo Mancino – a twist on the classic Rusty Nail – and the Vintage Negroni with Ford’s gin, Mancino Rosso, Rinomato, and orange and grapefruit bitters.\

Drunken Pot, 27/F, V Point, 18 Tang Lung Street, Causeway Bay, 2323 7098 

Frantzen’s Kitchen

One of Hong Kong’s most anticipated openings this autumn is Frantzen’s Kitchen, Bjorn Frantzen’s first epoynmous venture outside of Sweden.

The footballer-turned-chef has fancied up Sheung Wan’s Upper Station Street with his new bistro which combines Asian culinary influences with modern Nordic cuisine.

It also follows Frantzen’s continuing pop-up at Yi Pavilion at Altira Macau which features some of his best-loved dishes, including cauliflower chawanmushi with Hokkaido uni and wild trout roe.

Frantzen’s Kitchen, 11 Upper Station Street, Sheung Wan; no number at time of writing

Lee Lo Mei

Causing somewhat of a fuss already because of its provocative name in Cantonese (which, like everything else depends on exactly how you say it), Lee Lo Mei is the latest happening from ZS Hospitality Group who has reclaimed two floors of 8 Lyndhurst Terrace from Harlan Goldstein who flounced out earlier this year.

Reinventing some of Hong Kong’s classic street food with a few modern jazzed-up cocktails, Lee Lo Mei is headed up by director of culinary operations, Joe Lee and executive chef, Max Lee and will soon become Hong Kong’s favourite after-work hideout, much like its predecessor, La Piola.

Lee Lo Mei, G/F & 1/F, 8 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central, no number or website at time of writing

Mama Malouf

One thing Hong Kong definitely needs more of is decent Lebanese restaurants which do not incur tear-inducing costs. Step forward Mama Malouf.

Owner Alex Malouf who used to run Catch in Kennedy Town has now transformed the space into Mama Malouf, a cosy Lebanese neighbourhood eatery whose dishes can make anyone become ravenous in a second – falafel with yoghurt tahini, duck shawarma or grilled aubergine salad with burrata – spring to mind for a start.

Also expert frothy pourings of Lebanese beer and an excellent by the glass wine list.

Mama Malouf, 93 Catchick Street, Kennedy Town; 2817 3828

Old Bazaar Kitchen

Old Bazaar Kitchen was a Hong Kong stalwart, faithfully dishing up authentic Canto dishes to locals, expats – and, according to current marketing buzz – tycoons and celebrities.

The new Old Bazaar Kitchen has upped sticks from its old location on Wan Chai Road to its new location of 4 Cross Lane but has fortunately kept its executive chef and partner, Billy Chung.

A revived dinner menu includes curry king crab, Hainan chicken and salt baked lamb rack, while the new lunch menu champions a gluttonous Hong Kong favourite: drunken goose liver in Chinese wine.

Step in to experience Hong Kong before all the French bistros moved in.

Old Bazaar Kitchen, 4 Cross Lane, Wan Chai; 2871 1993

Spiga

Enrico Bartolini

Hong Kong has a habit of keeping very high profile happenings very low profile – to the extent that it’s easy to miss something which is actually very exciting.

Famed Italian chef, Enrico Bartolini – who consulted on Sepa’s menu when it opened two years ago – is just about to open his first outpost outside of Italy on Hong Kong’s autumnal shores.

Known for his Michelin-starred restaurants in Milan, Bergamo and Castiglione della Pescaia, Bartolini’s new venture is called Spiga and apparently will bring all the glamour of 1950s Italy to Hong Kong’s rather prosaic Queens’s Road.

Details are vague at the moment – because Hong Kong likes to do that to people – but if Hong Kong’s beloved Venetian restaurant Sepa is anything to go by, expect great things when it eventually opens (rumoured to be later this month).

Spiga, 31 Queens Road, Central, no phone number or website at time of writing