Cover Peridot’s interior design features curved olive-green walls embedded with over 20,000 glowing lights on the 38th floor of The Henderson (Photo: Peridot)
Peridot’s interior design features curved olive-green walls embedded with over 20,000 glowing lights on the 38th floor of The Henderson (Photo: Peridot)
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Hong Kong’s top venues are using striking design to prove interior design is as essential as the menu
There are cities where a restaurant’s interior is simply a box to be filled with tables; a necessary container for the serious business of eating and drinking. Hong Kong is not that city. It is a place where the cost of real estate is so punitive, and the competition so fierce, that a room’s design must earn its keep.
This is not about jaunty wallpaper or trendy light fixtures. It is about intention—a commitment to craft that begins the moment you walk through the door. These five venues prove that the room itself is an essential part of the experience.
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Let’s begin at the summit. Peridot, perched on the 38th floor of the Zaha Hadid Architects-designed Henderson building, is a masterclass in what its designer, Paolo Ferrari, calls “timeless futurism”. The view, of course, is the headline act—a dizzying panorama of Victoria Harbour. But the room does not cower before it. Instead, it offers a counterpoint: a world of curving, sinuous walls clad in a hypnotic olive green, where over 20,000 tiny lights, embedded as if to emulate a pixelated disco ball, glow through frosted acrylic cylinders. It feels like stepping inside a 1960s vision of the future, one where the cocktails are as thoughtfully crafted as the architecture. The terroir-focused drinks and the plant-based fare are delightful, but the setting, with its flowing marble bar and reflective surfaces, is pure glamour.
Above Colonial gravitas comes to life at The Magistracy Dining, with vaulted ceilings, timber panels and plush wine-red banquettes
Colonial gravitas comes to life at The Magistracy Dining, with vaulted ceilings, timber panels and plush wine-red banquettes
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A short distance away, the tone shifts from futuristic to historic. The Magistracy Dining Room, within the old Central Magistracy building at Tai Kwun, is a glorious study in colonial gravitas. Designed by Joyce Wang Studio, the space draws inspiration from London’s grandest traditional restaurants. The vaulted ceilings, custom carpets and timber-panelled walls are all present and correct, but it’s the details that stay with you. Plush, wine-red curved banquettes and amber leather armchairs invite you to settle in for a long, languorous afternoon. It could so easily feel like a museum, a relic of a bygone era; instead, it feels potent and alive. The contrast between this grandeur and the green sanctuary of the outdoor courtyard—Botanical Garden, a gin bar tucked among ivy and ferns—is a deft touch, a release valve that allows you to breathe.
Above Sustainable craft at Roganic’s Causeway Bay home, which makes use of typhoon-salvaged timber and oyster shell paint
Sustainable craft at Roganic’s Causeway Bay home, which makes use of typhoon-salvaged timber and oyster shell paint
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From a building that speaks of empire, we move to one that speaks of the Earth. Roganic, in its relocated Causeway Bay home in Lee Garden One, operates on a different kind of ambition. Local studio Atelier E, working with eco-social enterprise HK Timberbank, has built a room where British chef Simon Rogan’s philosophy is baked into the very walls. Tables are hewn from wood salvaged from local typhoons, the floor is reclaimed marble and the bar is coated in a paint made from oyster shells and stones. This is a physical manifesto—a room constructed with the same exacting standards Rogan brings to his kitchen. And yet, for all its ecological integrity, the space never feels like a sermon. Sunlight pours through the windows, warming the surfaces and softening the edges. It is a room that treads lightly on the Earth while offering diners a sense of genuine connection to where their food comes from, and to the place they are eating it.
Above Duddell’s combines pistachio green tones, terrazzo floors, and stained-glass screens inspired by Lingnan watchtowers
Above An elegant dining space with soft pastel interiors, stained-glass accents, and sophisticated table layouts
Duddell’s combines pistachio green tones, terrazzo floors, and stained-glass screens inspired by Lingnan watchtowers
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Then there is Duddell’s. Twelve years in, this Central stalwart emerged from a renovation with a new sense of itself. The old eclectic art salon has given way to something more grown-up: an art collector’s private maison, reimagined by Hong Kong-based interior architect André Fu. The space now unfolds in pistachio greens, mineral blues and buttery yellows, with stained-glass screens and terrazzo floors that nod to Lingnan watchtowers. It feels less like a restaurant than a very stylish library where someone happens to serve excellent Cantonese food. The art still rotates, the cocktails still draw from the city’s philosophical heritage, and the Upper Room still opens onto that hidden garden terrace, miraculously secluded from the skyscrapers above. It is not a reinvention, it is a refinement, and Duddell’s wears it well.
Above Understated luxury at Blanc de Noirs, where contrasting black Nero Marquina and white Volakas marble evoke the shades of champagne
Understated luxury at Blanc de Noirs, where contrasting black Nero Marquina and white Volakas marble evoke the shades of champagne
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Finally, we come to Blanc de Noirs. This champagne sanctuary on the seventh floor of the Mandarin Oriental, The Landmark shares a floor with some of the city’s most celebrated restaurants—but this is no mere pit stop before or after dinner. Designed by Steve Leung Hospitality, the room understands restraint. Deep black Nero Marquina marble from Spain sits alongside white Volakas marble from Greece, their contrasting tones reflecting the wine for which the bar is named. The effect is not cold; it is calm, composed and atmospheric. Plus, a 500-bottle cellar and 25 labels by the glass make it one of Asia’s most serious champagne programmes. This is a room for connoisseurs, yes, but also for anyone who understands that Champagne need not be reserved for grand occasions—it can make any evening feel worth celebrating.
A storyteller by day and a first-class food devourer by night, Fontaine is the Regional Dining Editor at Tatler Asia, overseeing dining content across all regions and shaping the brand’s editorial voice on food, chefs and culinary culture.
She is also Content Lead for Tatler Best and Co-jury Head for Tatler Best Hong Kong and Macau, guiding the awards’ editorial direction and evaluation process. With over a decade in the lifestyle and media industry spanning London and Hong Kong, she brings a cross-regional perspective to the table.
Follow her on Instagram at @fontimes.
