Over the next three years, Salmon would be trained in every facet of Rogan’s “farm-to-fork” philosophy at both L’Enclume and the one-Michelin-starred Rogan & Co, before being entrusted alongside executive chef Oli Marlow to establish Roganic and Aulis in Hong Kong in 2018.

“The good thing about Simon is he never stops trying to improve. It would have been quite easy for Simon with his three Michelin stars to sit back and make money, but he kept going, improving, improving, improving. And that's what I saw in my time there. That's why I'm still in the company today because it's a constant evolution trying to be better at what we're doing.”

It goes without saying that Hong Kong’s congested cityscape is a far cry from the rolling hills of the English heartlands, though Salmon and his team have made the city’s unique food ecosystem work for them. Close relationships with the city’s organic farms keep Roganic’s kitchen stocked with a steady supply of meat, seafood, fruits and vegetables plucked from Hong Kong’s soil and coastal waters just hours prior to being plated—any one menu at Roganic might feature heritage carrots from Zen Organic Farm in Fanling, kale from Farmhouse Productions, line-caught giant grouper, free-range pork from Wah Kee Farm in Yuen Long, and micro-greens and edible flowers from vertical farming initiative Common Farms. On-site hydroponic cabinets also allow Roganic to grow their own herbs such as amaranth leaves, mustard cress and nasturtium.

Aside from responsible sourcing, the restaurant—which celebrated its fourth anniversary this February—endeavours to curtail its waste, often in creative and unexpected ways. Bones are used in bone stock; too-small cuts of meat are reassembled into terrines or sausages, or even boiled down into sauces; while vegetable trimmings might be puréed for garnishes or turned into a tea. In a particularly inspired drink pairing with a dish of Fuseau artichokes, the cores of the tubers that otherwise would have been discarded are instead roasted, puréed, then blended with oat milk for an unctuous beverage that enhances the earthy profile of the dish itself.

Read more: How Hong Kong’s fine-dining chefs are rethinking the bread basket

The threads of sustainability continue—literally—in the newly debuted uniforms for the waitstaff. Designed by Hong Kong-based designer and longtime Roganic regular Bettie Jiang, the uniforms—which comprise olive green suit jackets and trousers over an off-white shirt—are made using 100 percent biodegradable wool material, cotton and recycled polyester, and are enlivened with pops of colour from ties and pocket squares featuring a kaleidoscopic pattern inspired by the restaurant’s entrance motif.

We haven’t even touched on the upcycled coffee grinds, the use of bamboo paper towels in the kitchen. The list goes on, and it’s not likely to get shorter any time soon. “We're not perfect,” admits Salmon. “Of course there’s things we can do better, which is what we always try to do. So okay, we’ve done this, so what’s the next thing we can improve? Maybe we could go back to something—okay, how can we do that better? 

“It's just a constant thing. We just try and push and do the best we can, really.” And at the end of the day, isn’t that the very definition of sustainability?

NOW READ

Mono's Ricardo Chaneton wants to cook Latin American food for the world

Tatler Dining’s Chef of the Year, Vicky Lau, shares her thoughts on soy and spirituality

Why Chinese cuisine can’t be modernised, according to Tatler Dining’s Local Champion ArChan Chan