Ten chefs, five menus, and a myriad of cuisines. Each year, Tatler Dining Kitchen brings together some of Hong Kong’s leading culinary talents for a series of collaborative dinners. This year’s focus was on the best of the best.
Exclusive to Cathay Pacific’s Cathay members, the event saw winners of the Tatler Dining Awards 2023 paired up and tasked with creating an omakase-style dining experience, each one available for two nights only at KIN Food Halls. The pairings were designed to explore new fusions and ignite creativity, and diners ate it up – each dinner sold out soon after the bookings opened.
Even better? Cathay Pacific’s Cathay members were able to use their miles to secure a spot – all the while being rewarded for their booking.
With the knives down for this round, the chefs took a moment to pause and reflect on the collaborative process behind the event.
Mono x Whey: Ricardo Chaneton and Barry Quek
Kicking off the dinner series on 17 and 18 April, Venezuelan chef-founder of Mono , Ricardo Chaneton, and Singaporean chef Barry Quek of Whey took diners on a trans-Pacific journey with Asian and Latin American flavours.
“The process of creating the menu was very interesting because Southeast Asian cuisine is very similar to Latin American cuisine – they both use a lot of spices and chillies, and the dishes in both cuisines heavily feature savoury, acidic and sweet flavours,” says Chaneton. “The dishes Barry and I created for this collaboration focused on exploring the similarity of the two regions, and as a result, every dish was a smooth blend of both cultures.”
“Through this collaboration, I have learnt so much from Chef Ricardo on his approach towards Latin American cuisine and also his philosophy,” says Quek. “We collaborated on a laksa dish which uses Chef Ricardo’s chillies, and we were very happy with the results!”
Andō x Chaat: Agustin Balbi and Manav Tuli
Andō and Chaat took to the kitchen on 2 and 3 May to cook up a dining experience inspired by the Age of Discovery, a period when seafaring Europeans explored the world in pursuit of spice. Andō’s chef-proprietor Agustin Balbi and executive chef of Chaat, Manav Tuli, designed a six-course menu imbued with a similar spirit of exploration, melding spices from Asia, South America and India.
“Creating the menu for this collaboration could have been a great challenge since both our cuisines come with very different approaches to umami and different flavour profiles. But since we both know each other very well, it was friendship that made this process very easy,” says Balbi. “We divided the dishes in terms of intensity, starting with clean and refreshing flavours and moving up to more bold and spicy notes.”
“It’s a great learning process – we got to learn other chefs’ thinking processes and the way they execute their workflow too,” says Tuli. “With Chef Augustin, it felt super smooth. We had initial discussions and in the first tasting itself we could chalk out the winning formula for this event.”
Man Ho Chinese Restaurant x Hansik Goo: Jayson Tang and Steve Lee
Classic local flavours were brought to the fore by Jayson Tang of Cathay Pacific partner Man Ho Chinese Restaurant and Steve Lee of Hansik Goo on 8 and 9 May; the duo designed a seven-course menu that married Cantonese classics with Korean flavours.
“Working at a new kitchen that I've never worked in before is always fun to tackle, especially with a different chef to co-create a new menu together,” says Lee. “I love thinking of new ways of tweaking my original recipes and turning them into something new while blending the flavours and techniques from Chef Jayson.”
Ho Lee Fook x New Punjab Club: ArChan Chan and Palash Mitra
Cantonese cuisine got another spin when Hong Kong chef ArChan Chan of Ho Lee Fook joined West Bengal-born chef Palash Mitra of New Punjab Club on 22 and 23 May, taking diners on a spice odyssey that spanned Hong Kong to Punjab.
“The most obvious benefit was the co-creation of never-before-seen dishes that were both beautiful and delicious,” says Mitra. “In terms of challenges, working with a chef with an extremely strong footprint in her cuisine was initially daunting. Chef Chan and I wanted to learn from each other, and it was important to create something where our regionally specific flavours and techniques complemented each other, ultimately taking our work to another level.”
“The process was fairly straightforward,” says Chan. “Chef Palash and I had a chat where we brainstormed, bounced ideas back and forth, listened to each other’s feedback and generally kept an open and curious mind.”
Arcane x Roganic: Sebastian Lorenzi and Ash Salmon
The last event of the series (27 and 28 June) saw a menu dedicated to sustainable ingredients, thoughtfully crafted by Arcane’s chef de cuisine, Sebastian Lorenzi, and the head chef of Roganic , Ash Salmon. Ethically sourced produce and sustainably conscious practices took centre stage; the chefs used locally farmed fruits and vegetables alongside ethically sourced meats from abroad.
“Looking back, I really value the opportunity to be able to collaborate with Ashley,” says Lorenzi. “I suppose the biggest challenge that we had discussed was that our cuisines are a bit similar than previous collaboration dinners, so finding that balance of comfort and creative was tricky.”
“Coming from two different backgrounds, both Seb and I would like to showcase a menu that reflects our respective restaurant’s ethos,” says Salmon. “With a few twists, we created new elements and garnishes to complement each other’s dishes, focusing on flavour and texture while allowing the ingredients to shine. It was fun working with Seb, exploring different regional organic producers, finding what was in season and allowing that to dictate our menu.”
Tatler Dining Kitchen: Awards Edition was just one of many exclusive experiences available to Cathay Pacific’s Cathay members. Keep an eye out for more.