Test Kitchen launches new HK pop-up

Hong Kong’s quirky supper club, Test Kitchen, has announced the imminent arrival of rising star Mark Tan and the team behind Manila cocktail bar, The Curator.

Placing in the top 20 of this year’s Asia’s 50 Best Bars, the Curator is richly described as a “windowless, concrete space tucked into the back room of Cyrano Wine Bar” and is situated in the financial hub of Makati in Manila.

A coffee roasters by day, the Curator is known for its cocktails made from small-batch spirits, local ingredients, homemade bitters and its framed bar area, made from 19^th century salvaged wood.

The team behind the bar will be in Hong Kong for four nights from 13-16 October and joined by chef Mark Tan who moved to Los Angeles when he was 15 and worked at Jose Andres at Bazaar at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills before setting sail for New York to work in a succession of sushi restaurants.

Returning to Manila, he opened his first restaurant, Allium with Hibana also set to launch at the end of this year. He creates a modern take on Japanese cuisine with influences from his childhood when his family worked in the commercial fishing industry and traditional culinary methods rarely seen outside of Japan.

The cocktail pairings include Tan’s take on Japanese classic egg custard, chawanmushi, with clear dashi stock, truffles, soy, yuzu and vinegar teamed up with oaked sake with grape citrate (citric acid).

Tickets are HK$1,280 per person for dinner with cocktails and HK$1,080 with non-alcoholic drinks. There are two seatings per evening, at 7pm and 8.15pm from 13-16 October.