A Taste of Things to Come
CALEB AND JOSHUA NG
Restaurateurs, Interval and Cut Sando Bar
Identical twins Caleb and Joshua Ng have always done things as a pair; indeed, their consultancy, Twins Kitchen, underlines this fact. This past spring, they relaunched their longstanding Central coffee and wine bar, Interval, as two entirely new venues at opposite ends of Hong Kong—and, most impressively, opened them within one month of each other.
The twin openings mark a new direction for the Ngs, who have so far let their work speak for themselves. Their signature touches can be found across Hong Kong if you know where to look, from the quaint neighbourhood café Common Ground to the Preset Event Space located underneath the original Interval location, and food incubator PMQ Taste Kitchen. At every turn, the Ngs have pushed forward the concept of community while providing platforms for exciting ideas to take hold.
With the new venues in Cyberport and Lohas Park, they are cementing their future-forward approach to food and drink. Both offer spaces for the Ngs to experiment with low-intervention and biodynamic wines, sourdough pizzas, live-fire cooking and, in the case of the Cyberport restaurant, an on-site farm created in collaboration with Farmacy HK that reduces the operation’s carbon footprint. Their next project, Cut Sando Bar, demonstrates the duo’s aptitude for identifying the next great idea in food, combining Japanese-style sandwiches with natural wines and curated music.
DANNY YIP
Chef and restaurateur, The Chairman
Danny Yip likes to keep a low profile. But the chef and owner of The Chairman was nevertheless exuberant following the announcement in March that his restaurant had ranked No 1 on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Not only was it the first time that a Hong Kong establishment had topped the table, but it was also the first time that a Cantonese restaurant had taken prime position.
“We’re very happy. It feels unreal. I can’t believe that we are number one,” Yip told Tatler Dining shortly after the announcement. “The reward comes with great timing. We could not open the restaurant for two months last year; and we could not open dinner for six months. It’s been dreadful. But the award gives us all the energy, all the reasons to hang in there and devote more of our efforts to good food.”
Yip, who is also a Tatler Dining Restaurateur of the Year recipient and Local Champion award winner, is already planning how he will do this. “Looking forward, we need more staff in the kitchen. And instead of creating ten dishes a month, we should create 20. We want to be more innovative within the Cantonese cooking boundaries and to look for more interesting, forgotten Chinese ingredients from the southern part of China, to go deep into the villages and talk to people and see what treasures they have in
