Food: If you want to support Hong Kong’s aspiring culinary talents, and enjoy a delicious and beautifully-presented meal, paired with a carefully curated selection of wines while at it, then make room in your calendar for a dinner at Taste Kitchen at PMQ.

A collaborative effort between Hong Kong creative lifestyle venue PMQ and Hong Kong F&B entrepreneurs Twins Kitchen, Taste Kitchen is a unique space that functions as a full-service, pop-up restaurant for a changing roster of local and regional chefs. Each visiting chef will get the chance to share their own cuisines and cooking styles with the public for lunches or dinners, for a period of three weeks or more. Thus far, Taste Kitchen has hosted a chef presenting home-style Cantonese cooking, modern Thai fare, and most recently French-influenced cuisine made with locally sourced produce.

Service: The service here is little like what you might expect if you dined at a small family-fun establishment in Europe. The chef might come round your table for a chat, and the servers and sommeliers are happy to guide you through your food and drink menus throughout your meal.

Visiting Chef, Stephanie Wong, 6 – 25 March 2018: I got the chance to see what Taste Kitchen was all about when I sampled banker-turned-catering chef Stephanie Wong’s four-course dinner tasting menu. Wong, who runs her own catering business – Roots Eatery , served Yuen Long grown organic cherry tomatoes à la nage, fettuccine with Atlantic lobster, a melt-in-your mouth U.S. rib-eye with root vegetables, and a very sophisticated dark chocolate raspberry tart. Though the dishes were uncomplicated, each dish was prepared with finesse, and Wong succeeded in bringing the best out of the lobster and ribeye (two very difficult-to-handle ingredients that can easily be overcooked) in terms of texture and flavour. Each course was complimented by a selection of German wines chosen by sommelier Lorenz Yeung of Wine Moments.

Ambience: Serving as an incubator for budding these chefs who have the passion (but perhaps not the capital to open their own establishment just yet), each month, Taste Kitchen is transformed in a “new” restaurant that showcases the dishes of an up-and-coming local or regional chef. The space is intimate and cosy, with soft lighting that creates a peaceful and convivial atmosphere. While the setting is polished, the restaurant still has a very relaxed and homey vibe.

Average price per person: For Wong’s stint at Taste Kitchen, an a la carte lunch menu (only available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays) offers dishes that range from 38 HKD to 128 HKD. Dinner is around 680 HKD per person with a 10 percent service charge. Wine pairing is available at an extra 198 HKD.

Address: Taste Kitchen PMQ, H113-H114, 1 Floor, Hollywood Block, 35 Aberdeen Street, Central, Hong Kong. Tel: (852) 6134-2168.