Best menus to try in Hong Kong this autumn

The Nipo-Brasileiro restaurant is shaking things up this season with a revamped a la carte menu that will feature more Japanese inspired dishes than ever before. Think crunchy soft shell crab, Uma Nota-style nigiri, grilled skewers and Hokkaido milk ice cream. Meanwhile, the restaurant will also offer a 'Umakase' experience that features a five or seven-course meal, with dishes left up to the chef, on two dates. On October 5, the seven-course menu is available at 8pm only, while October 6 offers a 6pm seating with five-courses ($350) and seven-courses ($450) at 8.30pm.

If you’ve yet to visit, drinks aren’t the only thing on The Diplomat’s menu as there is a whole host of pub grub available too. Now with new additions, the menu presents more reason to visit. Reasons such as the steak tartare ($120) packed with shallots, piquant capers and a soft boiled Japanese egg, with Parisian-style fried potatoes; a Southern-style chicken sandwich ($160) filled with deep-fried buttermilk chicken with Louisiana-style hot sauce; and a seriously tempting hot fudge sundae ($65) topped with brownies, homemade fudge, and bourbon caramel. It had us at fudge.

Restaurant Petrus is welcoming the new season with a menu based on the harvest of autumn, including French shallots, Italian zucchini, and cherries as its highlighted ingredients. The three-to-five-course dinner menu ($1,088-$1,588) which includes a George Bruck foie gras dish with cherries and pistachios; donabe (Japanese clay pot) cooked rice with king crab and kohlrabi; shallot tarte tatin with truffles and Comté sauce; and quail in zucchini flower with zucchini tart and koji are all must-tries.

Bringing some of the most creative xiao long bao flavours to town, Dim Sum Library is offering a brand new soupy dumpling filled with tom kha gai, the Thai coconut chicken broth ($72 for a basket of three). Infused with aromatic herbs, the rich and creamy flavours of chicken and coconut fill the perfectly packaged parcels. The new xiao long bao flavour joins their other Asian xiao long bao flavours including kombu and bonito, hot and sour, bak kut teh, and beef brisket, all of which are available until December 6, 2020.

Similar to the Chinese tradition of nine big plates (gau dai gwai) at celebrations and feasts, Vietnamese families have a ritual called com gia dinh, which is essentially a spread to be shared with family. This season, Vietnamese restaurant Xuân will be offering a new family meal ($798) option that includes nine plates, best shared between three or four people, that will change depending on chef's selection. However, the spread will always include a soup, refreshing salad, homemade pickles, fish, shellfish and a meat dish made with either pork, beef or chicken. 

Spanish restaurant Ole has launched three new menus to celebrate the flavours of South, North, and Central Spain this season. The menus ($480), all of which feature seven courses, will be available over the course of six months and take diners on a journey through the region of Andalusia. The first menu (available now until November 22) spotlights Southern Spain, and looks past the paella with dishes that include Seville-style oxtail, Southern Spain seafood stew, and al jerez white mushrooms, among other items.

With no travel allowed, for the time being, we have to thank the many Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong for providing us with a taste of Japan. At Kakure, this is in the form of a nine-course autumn menu ($1,988) that offers produce and flavours of the season, along with a sake pairing ($298) to amplify the experience. Menu items include grilled Magaki oyster, fresh and crispy Hokkaido amadai, and a juicy A5 Hida tenderloin steak.

A total of 17 new items have been added to the dim sum menu at Rosewood Hong Kong’s Chinese restaurant, The Legacy House, marking it as a top lunch spot to hit in the coming months. Expect yum cha classics to be given a modern makeover in the form of delicate dumplings. Fish dumplings with tangerine peel ($90), for example, are now shaped like koi fish, while vegetable dumplings with garoupa and XO Sauce ($120) appear to be adorned with jewel-coloured rose petals.

Bringing Hong Kong brunches an al fresco viewpoint this autumn (thank goodness for cooler weather!) is grill inspired restaurant, Harbourside Grill, with its new four-course menu made for weekend lunches ($488) from 12pm to 2.30pm. From classic eggs benedict and open breakfast sandwiches, to roast chicken and more, followed by indulgent desserts such as a tarte tartin, cheese platters, or a more refreshing basil panna cotta with strawberry jelly. A glass of Champagne is optional, as is a Bloody Mary, which can be added on for $98.

Castellana’s journey around the world menu has undergone a seasonal revamp. Still showcasing Piedmont cuisine at its best, the menu now features new dishes that celebrate the region and season. Highlights include the burrata cheese which is wrapped in Sicilian red prawn, a bowl of seasonal chestnut soup with guinea fowl, and a celeriac remoulade with Japanese sea urchin. The four-course menu ($980) can be extended to seven-courses ($1,280) with add on options for Italian wine pairings.

Chef Siu Hin-chi of two-Michelin-starred restaurant Ying Jee Club lends his culinary mind to Miss Lee this season; revitalising traditional Chinese dishes in contemporary veggie fashion. Take the Egg-cellent plant ($148) dish for instance, which is a meatless rendition of the spicy Sichuan classic mapo tofu, or Rolling Stones ($118) which makes use of the Hong Kong carb favourite cheung fun (rice noodle rolls) fried in soy and chilli sauce, atop a bed of truffle mashed potato foam, dotted with vegan caviar. To go with these new dishes, their drinks get an update too with fruity vodka-based cocktails such as pink breeze, made with grapefruit, lime, and cranberry juice.