Few fine dining restaurants are abuzz with activity on a Wednesday night, especially when the eight-course tasting menu promises to set you back some HK$1,600. However, Tate Dining Room & Bar manages to pull an elegant crowd even on weeknights, with diners flocking to try the restaurant that has won a Michelin star every year since its inception in 2012.

Tate, a French-Cantonese fusion restaurant in Sheung Wan, is the brainchild of Vicky Lau, an NYU Graphic Communications graduate who indulged her love for food at Le Cordon Bleu Bangkok. “I discovered that food, as a medium of expression, was a far more liberating canvas to explore creativity because of the added dimensions of taste and smell,” says Lau.

Last March, Tate re-opened its doors after relocating from its “humble” home on Elgin Street to a space twice its size on Hollywood Road. On the first floor, a neon light blinks at you from the street, spelling out “POEM”. At this patisserie celebrating the iconography of Hong Kong, Lau collaborates with pastry chef Nocar Lo to create delicate pastries and chocolates inspired by the city’s nostalgic flavours (think oolong tea mousse and chocolate red date cake). On the second level, a staircase opens up to a space not unlike a contemporary art gallery.

Lau is in the kitchen, hard at work less than a year after giving birth to daughter Kory. “Since moving to Sheung Wan we’re serving more customers every night,” she says. “We are constantly changing; in the culinary scene the only constant is change.”

The latest menu, entitled Odes to, is inspired by Chilean poet-diplomat Pablo Neruda. It begins with Ode to Balance: marinated hiramasa (yellowtail kingfish sashimi) with yuzu cream, avocado and cucumber ice cream. Our group thought it was a strong start; subjected to a democratic vote, the fresh first course tied with the chicken rice risotto as the overall favourite.

The Ode to Nostalgia risotto – cooked in a supreme chicken broth with goji berry – would appeal more to Asian palates. The hot and comforting dish is an interpretation of oriental classics such as drunken chicken and rice congee.

Other highlights of the menu included a 10 vegetables broth poured over pan-fried red mullet fish and the generously marbled Kagoshima beef striploin with Sichuan puree. The latter, however, drew mixed reactions. Some appreciated the fatty meat, while others declared it a heart attack waiting to happen.

The lettuce-wrapped, pan-fried foie gras was a paragon of fusion cuisine: shaped like a dumpling, the leaf pocket was stuffed with dried mushroom, then steamed and deliciously paired with pine nut cream. Cantonese specialties, including dai lin abalone with vegetable ribbons and scallop espuma with fermented tofu butter, were other welcome additions to the menu.

Unfortunately, the dessert – an apple espuma with fermented apple and apple pie ice cream – was underwhelmingly bland. However, the mignardise (bite-sized sweets) saved the day with its assortment of honeyed creations. Aptly named Ode to Bees, the macaroons and confections – served in a beehive-shaped plate tower – wowed both visually and sapidly.

The menu unveils itself much like an art exhibition, with a story behind each dish. Lau calls her approach “culinary expressionism”, and it is this creative outlook that helped her land the title of Hong Kong’s only female chef with a Michelin star.

An optional wine pairing (HK$480/3 glasses or HK$780/6 glasses) consists of carefully curated labels hailing mainly from France. An eight-course vegetarian menu (HK$1,380) “for lovers of Mother Nature’s treasures” is also available.

“I am truly honoured to be considered among the ranks of the greats,” says Lau.

A trip to Tate is truly an immersion in gastronomy and design. Lau’s harmony of art, science and story-telling continues to produce a winning formula which all but assures Tate’s tables will remain full for many more weeknights to come.

Tate Dining Room and Bar. 210 Hollywood Rd, Sheung Wan. Dinner 7pm to 11pm (closed on Sundays). +852 2555 2172, +852 9468 2172. info@tate.com.hk, tate.com.hk

Text: Julienne C. Raboca
Images: Tate