Where to power lunch in Hong Kong’s Central district

This article is part of a guide to Hong Kong from FT Globetrotter

If you have to walk for more than 10 minutes to reach your lunch appointment in Hong Kong, you’ve either chosen the wrong restaurant or you work for the wrong investment bank.

Hong Kong’s Central district is a warren of law firms, banks, investment managers and accountants that, when set upon by lunch-goers, can overwhelm the uninitiated diner.

Most locals will aim to take their meals in restaurants they can stroll to under the protection of an interconnected walkway system that spans almost the entire district, from the Four Seasons hotel in the north-west to the HSBC building in the south-east. Venturing outside that risks exposing oneself to torrential downpours in April or unbearable humidity in July.

Naturally, the city’s rainmaker bankers have carved out some elevated spaces among the street-level chaos that is Hong Kong at lunch hour.

Several banks — Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank — uprooted from Central a few years ago and set up bases across the harbour in Kowloon, and that area is host to its own growing food scene. A steady stream of law firms and investment groups have also been pushed out of Central over the past three years, victims of rising rents affordable only to incoming Chinese companies.

But the core of powerbroker dining scene has held tight in the traditional heart of the city. Bankers on the Kowloon side of the harbour still regularly find themselves dining in Central.

At the time of publication, the rules allow four people to dine per table, with each venue operating at 50 per cent capacity until 10pm. But the usual Covid caveats apply: please check websites carefully, phone ahead and do additional research.

The Chinnery

Mandarin Oriental, 5 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong

• Good for: cosy, intimate conversations over British comfort food

• Not so good for: Chinese dishes, views

• FYI: book ahead — the small venue fills up quickly (Website; Directions)

Jardine Matheson’s ageing Mandarin Oriental hotel used to be a waterfront property but years of land reclamation have pushed it back from the harbour.

When the hotel and The Chinnery opened in 1963, it was closer to the water. But that hardly matters given that the institution sits deep within the hotel and has no windows. The wood panelling gives the sense of stepping into a classic London pub. A portrait of the English painter George Chinnery, who died in Macau in 1852, hangs near the entrance.

The table arrangement makes for good one-on-one discussions and glass panelling between many of the tables provides a sense of intimacy, a valuable commodity in most Hong Kong restaurants.

Most of the dishes are British pub classics and The Chinnery fries up one of Central’s best and most expensive servings of fish and chips. The chicken tikka is a perfect rendition of the British dish but will not please those looking for authentic Indian curry.

After work, the venue is a good spot to find the city’s older hands, chewing over a bygone era when The Chinnery was a men’s club. And its signature Breakfast Martini (Tanqueray gin, Cointreau, orange marmalade and lemon juice) is second to none.

Duddell’s

Level 3, Shanghai Tang Mansion, 1 Duddell Street, Central, Hong Kong

• Good for: high-end local dishes

• Not so good for: keeping the expenses down

• FYI: the bar upstairs is spacious and serves a killer Negroni (Website; Directions)

What could represent Hong Kong cuisine better than an eatery launched by the children of two tycoon families?

Located on historic Duddell Street, above a Shanghai Tang clothing outlet, this one-star Michelin restaurant was opened by Alan Lo, the son of a Hong Kong battery magnate, and his wife Yenn Wong, the daughter of a Malaysian businessman. Lo runs a restaurant group with outlets across the city.

Purists will argue that the best dim sum — small southern Chinese dumplings and other steamed delicacies — should cost you only a few bucks. Duddell’s turns that on its head by charging high sums for some of the city’s best local dishes.

The char siu pork, a local favourite, is one of the best in the city. Chef Li Man-Lung takes many liberties with traditional dishes and delivers creative renditions such as the crispy stuffed crab shell.

The Duddell’s brand is slightly less elite than it was a few years ago, when it could only be found in Central. The founders have since added an outpost at Hong Kong International Airport, and say they are looking for a site in London’s Mayfair after closing a branch near London Bridge in 2019.

China Club

13-14/F, Old Bank of China Building, Bank Street, Central, Hong Kong

• Good for: viewing a marvellous art collection, including works by Chinese contemporary artist Fang Lijun

• Not so good for: the food

• FYI: the Long March Bar on the middle floor might be the coolest bar in town (Website; Directions)

Stepping into the China Club from the cramped confines of Central, you might feel you are entering a 1930s Shanghai mansion. A winding staircase leads to darkly lit rooms and even a high-ceilinged library.

The club was the creation of late bon vivant and FT columnist David Tang and now holds part of his vast art collection. Its location at the top of the historic Bank of China building is a relic of the past in a Hong Kong with little time or space for low-rise, colonial architecture.

The China Club is still a members club and club rules are enforced, meaning that you must be accompanied by a member. But that should be of little concern for outsiders, given that just about every banker in town has access to a corporate membership.

Dining in a spacious private room is the best way to eat in this establishment although the main hall is also quite attractive. China Club serves up traditional Cantonese dishes with few modernisations and has been accused of being unimaginative. With enough spicy mustard, the roast goose can be scrumptious. The seafood is downright rubbery. Nonetheless, just about every powerbroker in town can at times be spotted among the master works of art, marking it an inextricable fixture of the Hong Kong lunch list.

Cipriani

12/F, Old Bank of China Building, Bank Street, Central, Hong Kong

• Good for: being seen

• Not so good for: a quiet conversation

• FYI: it is sometimes possible to get in even if you are not a member (Website; Directions)

If you are still hungry after leaving China Club, take the lift down one floor to this Italian restaurant.

It, too, is a members’ club. But rumour has it that the Hong Kong protests and the pandemic have been so damaging to restaurant revenues that some clubs are loosening their membership requirements, with some even taking non-member walk-ups.

Cipriani is not a Hong Kong classic linked to an age-old conglomerate. Rather, it is part of a Luxembourg-based group with locations in other cities, predominantly the US, Europe and the Gulf. David Tang helped launch the Hong Kong restaurant in 2003.

A list of powerbroker restaurants would not be complete without Cipriani. That’s because it is wedged between the HSBC Building and Cheung Kong Centre, the skyscraper where Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch are based, giving it a gravitational pull for bankers hoping to avoid the sweltering heat. Few other Central locations draw such a concentration of financiers. This correspondent once dined here between the regional head of Goldman Sachs and the Japanese tennis champion Naomi Osaka.

Cipriani excels at expensive pasta dishes, but the risotto is often one degree too al dente for some diners. For those with a sweet tooth, the dessert spread is unmatched.

What are your favourite spots for a business lunch in Hong Kong? Let us know in the comments

For more pieces like this, visit ft.com/globetrotter, follow us on Instagram at @FTGlobetrotter or read our insider guide to Hong Kong