New Hong Kong hotspot Statement delivers the best of the British Isles to the city’s new Tai Kwun precinct.
For many generations, Britain had a fairly bad rap as far as food was concerned. When we thought ‘British cooking’ we generally thought hangover cuisine – lots of grease and meat and stodge. Of course, things have changed and Britain has embraced a culinary renaissance that’s best experienced in Hong Kong at the newly-opened Statement, the newest creation of the Aqua Restaurant group.
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Housed in the historic former Central Police Headquarters building at the heart of the newly revitalised Tai Kwun precinct, Statement (named for the form you fill in at the cop shop, not the message pink socks and a black tux send), Statement is a refined, masculine space that serves up modern British fare that embraces traditional cooking techniques – think roasting, braising and stewing – with nods to the colonial history that has contributed to Hong Kong’s unique East-West flavour.
If you choose to indulge in an aperitif (and you know you should), make your first stop at The Dispensary, a dark-and-devilish cocktail bar adjacent to the main dining room, where the service is sharp and the martinis are drier than the Sahara. There’s a terrace for perfect people watching, and a list of soul-lifting libations that are all rather fantastic looking but you might want to stick with the well-made classic.
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From there it’s a short stumble in an elegant dining room, dressed in peacock hues, that boasts original wooden floors, deep-set booths and boarding school-esque communal tables, soaring ceilings, and views across the heritage hotspot. It’s the perfect setting for cuisine that thrusts British ingredients to the forefront, with the chefs receiving weekly reports from farmers in the West Country and fishermen in Cornwall on the latest harvest.
This bounty includes prized oat-fed duck from Gressingham Farm in Suffolk, and delicate Welsh Oscietra caviar, with stand-out dishes including farmhouse bread and hand-churned Marmite-infused butter; slow-cooked 24-hour marinated braised British oxtail with potato puree and heritage tomato compote; red prawn tartare with sea urchin and salmon roe; and a classic sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce that will transport you back into the arms of matron in a flash.
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