Exclusive: A first look at Vicky Lau’s new Tate

“As I’ve matured, the food has matured with me,” Lau says. “I’m far more confident in my cooking technique now, and in understanding what guests actually want on the plate. If anything, I think I’ve reduced things rather than adding more.”

That instinct, to elevate by paring back, is best seen in her signature Odes, dishes dedicated to elevating a single ingredient. In the Ode to Crab, a crisp tuile holds the shellfish’s sweet meat beneath a light foam, revealing a surprise of hidden caviar, while the technically challenging Ode to Scallop re-emerges as a soufflé with a sauce refined over years of continuous development. Fungi get their due in the Ode to Mushroom, slow-stewed into a silken ragout with an aged, soy-like reduction, served alongside a mushroom tea in a dark mountain clay cup and plate that mirrors the underside of the mushroom.

Translating that level of refinement from the plate to a physical space, however, requires far more than packing up copper cookware and hanging fresh wallpaper. Moving a restaurant of this calibre means auditing every millimetre of back-of-house workflow, front-of-house ergonomics, and culinary R&D.

Lau, whose original career as a graphic designer gives her a fierce, unusually acute eye for spatial detail, admits that the Hollywood Road space had gradually fallen out of sync with her kitchen’s development. “When I designed the previous space, I actually didn’t put in much effort into the interior, and I felt it was not really matching the food in terms of the level of detail,” Lau admits. “So this new space will really reflect that—not just the aesthetic itself, but in the functional details of hospitality.”

To bring this vision to life, Lau collaborated closely with New York and Shanghai-based designer Chris Shao. “We wanted to celebrate her perspective as a female chef, so the design became about a balance between softness, precision and beauty. Fine china felt like the perfect symbol of that feminine balance and became the inspiration for the design,” says Shao. “You will see it in the flooring patterns inspired by ceramic motifs, the ceramic lighting installations in the main dining room, and the furniture forms that reference the curves of ceramic vessels. Every corner was developed with the ritual of dining in mind.”

The newest iteration of Tate is built to eliminate every subtle friction point that years of continuous service exposed. The floor plan has been fundamentally re-examined with guest comfort and operational flow in mind, integrating bespoke service side tables—including a custom guéridon designed to seamlessly attach to tables during service or roll away unnoticed—to eliminate service clutter.

For Lau, the move is also a defence of the physical restaurant in an increasingly screen-bound world. “In the age of AI, why do you go out to eat rather than staying home?” she asks. “It’s for that total, immersive artistry. It’s about being looked after in a room where every detail—from the ceramics to the light—has a reason for being there, and makes you feel relaxed.”

That same microscopic detail extends behind the pass, where a purpose-built kitchen and R&D set-up allow Lau to introduce equipment, such as a dedicated fermentation corner, that fundamentally transforms what her brigade can extract from their ingredients.

There is also the new live lobster tank system. In conventional high-end kitchens, premium shellfish are flown in and stored in standard walk-in cold rooms, a process that inevitably degrades flesh tension and increases wastage. Tate’s new tank maintains precise aquatic conditions right up to the order, guaranteeing pristine meat texture. This manifests in the revamped Ode to Lobster, where both French blue lobster and local green lobster are prepared using refined Cantonese live-seafood techniques—preserving the delicate, snappy freshness that defines Hong Kong’s coastal heritage.

Then there is the integration of live charcoal hearths alongside traditional wok stations, bringing a smoky depth of caramelisation to sauces and proteins. Months of trial work have also gone into refining foundational elements: perfecting the clarity of a Cantonese supreme stock and developing house-fermented bases.

This return to elemental, old-school technique is best captured in Lau’s new Ode to Pigeon, which adapts the traditional Cantonese method inspired by the story of a beggar baking chicken encased in clay, and works mui choi (fermented greens) into the construction, lending structure and salinity to the dish. The course is served with a spiced poultry jus and a clear soup brewed from fig bark and pigeon bones.

“We really took the clay-baked method to the next level,” Lau explains. “The previous pigeon was steamed, and now we’ve covered it with red clay and baked it. It works like a dough, containing all the juiciness ... all the flavours are kept inside.”

This elevated craft extends through every arm of hospitality. Managing director Romain Herbreteau oversees a cellared selection of more than 1,200 bottles of French wine, paired alongside an equally thoughtful Chinese tea service that honours tea’s equal standing in Cantonese gastronomy.

Moving when you operate at this level is a brutal, unglamorous ordeal of back-of-house logistics and relentless trial. But step back and look at what Lau is assembling on Lok Ku Road, and the grander ambition becomes clear. This is no mere change of address. It is a chef taking total, uncompromising control of her craft—confident in what she wants on the plate, and determined in her ability to make you fall in love with it.

“At the end of the day, I just want guests to feel loved and have a great time, leaving after a very happy, memorable experience,” Lau says. “Every single detail—right down to the touch of a custom ceramic—is there to create conversation, moments of connection. That’s why we do it.”

Tate
Address: 68 Lok Ku Road, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

NOW READ

The world thinks it knows Chinese food. A new generation of chefs proves otherwise

How Hong Kong and Macau’s top hotels, restaurants and bars are keeping the soul of hospitality alive

The rising Hong Kong chefs that are replacing kitchen brutality with emotional intelligence