The Best Ever

“The best ever by the chef” was the comment I heard from my friend RR who went to eat at Haku recently. I came to eat here a few times last year and witnessed quite a transformation from good to great, not just the cooking or the choice of ingredients, but the overall dining experience. And that along with the comments by our foodie friends, we were excited to return to the restaurant to check out their latest menu, courtesy of our friend Chef Agustin who invited us over.

Going Back to Haku

When our friends C and M asked us for recommendations of casual fine-dining place on the Kowloon side, we told them about Haku and Chef Agustin’s creative cooking. And we were just as happy to tag along when they made a booking to eat there one weekend evening.

Crossover Across the Straits

There seems to be a constant stream of chefs coming in from overseas working alongside with local restaurants for special collaboration menus, or so called four-hand meals. The latest I had the opportunity to try was the one featuring two creative chefs I love, Chef Agustin Balbi of Haku Hong Kong and Chef Kai Ho of Taipei’s Tairroir, plus the Japanese bartender Shuzo Nagumo of the Mixologist Salon in Ginza. They came into Hong Kong for a 2-day-only collaboration event in late September.

Haku's Hat Trick

I was at Haku a few weeks ago to check out the new seasonal menu introduced by Chef Agustin Balbi. I ate at the restaurant a couple of times before (Meal #1 and #2) and enjoyed Chef Agustin’s unique cooking style with well-chosen ingredients, and I was curious to see how the restaurant and the dishes have evolved 12 months on since its opening at a cozy corner inside Harbour City shopping mall.

HAKU x Gallery VASK

It’s great to see so many familiar faces gathered upon Haku after Chinese New Year for a special tasting of the collaboration menu with the visiting chef Chele Gonzalez of Manila’s Gallery VASK. I have not been to Gallery VASK before but heard good things about Chef Gonzalez’s creative cooking in Spanish style but with a Filipino twist, so I was quite eager to check out the dishes he created specifically for this 2-day-only event alongside with Chef Agustin Balbi of Haku.

Serious Kappo Dinner

Maybe it’s what I heard from others who have been, or I am just curious about this interesting combination of the chef and the concept and the venue, but Haku is one restaurant I have been wanting to visit for some time, and we worked out of the way to arrange this dinner date there in September before our long trip out.