Bang for your buck: The most affordable tasting menus in Hong Kong

Meaning ‘fish’ in Thai, Plaa has the pedigree of chef-patrons Richie Lin of Taiwan’s Mume and Ian Kittichai, a lead judge on MasterChef Thailand, while head chef Santipap Tonkanya executes the restaurant’s ethos of bold, seafood-centric Thai cuisine in a nine-course dinner tasting menu. Priced at HK$1,280 per person, diners can expect a symphony of traditional Thai herbs, spices and sauces, including shima-aji with green chilli and celtuce, soybean fermented abalone with a green curry-flavoured liver sauce; and grilled lobster served with southern yellow curry and rice—all within resplendent interiors by David Chipperfield Architects.

If Tate Dining Room offers one of the most expensive tasting menus around town, then chef Vicky Lau's tofu-centric restaurant, Mora, offers one of the cheapest. Headed by chef Choi Ming-Fai, the kitchen turns out a seasonal French-Chinese menu that tells the story of tofu over eight courses, priced at a reasonable HK$1,088. Encompassing anything from tofu skin with mackerel and cuttlefish mousse, to three-yellow chicken roulade with mapo tofu-style sauce, it's a journey of flavours both delicate and punchy, but ultimately friendly to the gut—and your wallet.

"Demon Chef" Alvin Leung’s fine-casual restaurant under the Lubuds hospitality group serves a hybrid cuisine born from a mix of Cantonese cuisine and Leung's culinary influences from around the world. Featuring an eight-course dinner tasting menu, Cafe Bau offers dishes like grilled squid with spicy Shatian pomelo jam, hand-cut penne cacio e pepe with preserved clams, salt-roasted beetroot with Pat Chun vinaigrette, and slow-cooked local oxen brisket for only HK$998 per person.

Serving Nordic-inspired cuisine in Wan Chai, newly opened Aera is helmed by chef Chevalier Yau and his team, who turn out a seasonal menu that includes dishes like honey peas with pear and gardenia oil, uni rice with clam soup foam, and three-yellow chicken leg soaked overnight in maltose. Comprising a whole ten courses, the dinner tasting menu offers great value at HK$1,188, but the lunch menu is even easier on the wallet at the bargain price of HK$178 per person.

Sister restaurant of Arcane, Moxie offers the same philosophy of sustainable pescatarian dining that is as kind to the environment as it is to your wallet. Take the five-course tasting menu for example, which clocks in at HK$688 per person and entails dishes like raw Hokkaido scallop with white asparagus and tomatillo, gazpacho with fruit tomato and black olives, and Fremantle octopus with macadamia ricotta, peas and peaches. Served from 6pm onwards, the menu can be bolstered with a wine or mocktail pairing from HK$258 up. If you can sneak out of the office early, the early bird dinner menu makes for an even more unbeatable offering, with two courses comprising soup of the day and a choice between pan-fried sea bass or shiitake bolognese for HK$248, plus the option to add dessert for an additional HK$68.