Featuring: LucAle, Rubia, Luca De Berardinis..

DESPITE the clear downturn of Hong Kong’s restaurant and bar scene at the beginning of this year, the city’s folk are known for their resilience and green shoots are appearing to mark the changing of the seasons.
Just in from the team behind trendy tapas bar, Pica Pica, Rubia pays tribute to all things beef – albeit the best cuts from the revered Galician Blond cattle that graze the pastures in northwest Spain. All dishes are served with hand-cut patatas fritas, sweet smoked piquillo peppers and mustard greens and steak lovers will definitely meet their match.
For smaller bites, try the tapas dishes of ‘huevos rotos’ – broken fried eggs mixed with chorizo or morcilla and perched on Rubia’s homemade fries or the spicy potato and beef bomba – stuffed mashed potato balls. Head to the bar downstairs for a drop of Rioja, cheese and charcuterie or make a beeline for their cocktails, such as the Rubia Old Fashioned. Rubia, UG/F and 1/F, C Wisdom Centre, 35-37 Hollywood Road, Central, phone: +852 2889 1199, www.rubia.hk.
Now a short hop from Spain to Italy, the newly opened LucAle offers premium Italian dishes in the relaxed setting of Sai Ying Pun. Headed up by two of Italian fine-dining’s most well-known chefs – Alessandro Angelini (who most recently led the kitchen at Shangri-La’s Angelini) and Luca De Berardinis (of Conrad fame) – patrons can look forward to a hearty meal of pasta, seafood and prime cuts of Italian meat, washed down with a selection of biodynamic wines sourced straight from Italy.
Menu highlights include the indulgent Cappelletti Di Bolognese Bianca filled with white Bolognese sauce topped with Parmigiano Reggiano crumble, alongside Chitarrino Al Tartufo Nero, consisting of spaghettini with black truffle, pecorino cheese and walnut breadcrumbs. Dessert-wise, you can’t go too far wrong with the Nutella Broken Pie, served with strawberries and lychees. LucAle, Shop a, 100 Third Street, Sai Ying Pun, phone: +852 3611 1842.

As if Hong Kong didn’t have enough dim sum joints. But head out of Central towards Tseun Wan and you’ll find expertly crafted Cantonese dim sum and contemporary Chinese dishes in the newly opened Dim Sum Bar in Nina Mall. Specialising in hot pot and claypot, Dim Sum Bar offers super traditional Chinese dishes such as fish maw and chicken pot, shrimp wonton and chicken pot and a hearty prawn wonton pot with an unforgettable soup base.
While these dishes may seem a little heavy for Hong Kong’s high humidity season, the renowned claypot rice gets supercharged with preserved sausages and salted egg yolk, paired with steamed pork ribs and pumpkin. Don’t forget to order the usual array of dim sum, including steamed pork ribs, black sesame rolls, baked abalone and chicken pastry and baked bird’s nest egg tart. Dim Sum Bar, Shop No. G01A, G/F, Nina Mall 1, 8 Yeung Uk Road, Tsuen Wan, phone: +852 2633 5099; www.cafedecogroup.com.