Four Hong Kong restaurants with chef’s counters where diners get to see ‘the dance’ of kitchen staff in action – and the occasional mistake
- For kitchen staff, working in an open kitchen with a chef’s counter is both challenging and rewarding, with much more interaction with diners
- ‘We needed to show people what we are doing,’ says one Hong Kong chef. ‘Every night is a show,’ says another, and when mistakes occur it’s ‘part of the act’
Venezuelan-born chef Ricardo Chaneton tells of the time a compatriot started crying in front of him at Mono, his contemporary Latin American restaurant in Hong Kong.
The diner, who had been living in the city for more than 20 years, “took a bite of an arepa, and went ‘wow’, as tears gently rolled down her cheeks”, he recalls. The snack, a traditional stuffed cornmeal patty, had brought back memories of the customer’s childhood in Venezuela.
While food can trigger emotional responses, Chaneton is convinced that it was because she was sitting at the chef’s counter at the restaurant in Central rather than a regular table, sharing stories with him, that made the magic of the moment possible.
Chefs’ counters, which remove the barrier between kitchen and dining room, have proven popular in Hong Kong, despite the coronavirus pandemic. Common in Japanese restaurants, the appeal of the concept has spread.
One of the city’s hottest new openings, Cultivate in SoHo, which has an open kitchen and chef’s counter, is booked out weeks in advance. Reservations at Mono, which made the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2021 list in its first year of operation, are equally sought after.
For Chaneton, having a chef’s counter was “not just for the sake of it. I did it because I needed to express my cuisine, one that doesn’t really exist in Asia, and we needed to show people what we are doing.” On the counter – a wide stainless steel bench that seats up to 12 people – is an exotic array of ingredients, from knobbly cacao pods, to spiky soursop and lumpy mashua roots.
