Hansik Goo

Chef Mingoo Kang opened the original Hansik Goo somewhat remotely, at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, guiding his Hong Kong team through Zoom and WhatsApp. Imagined as the culinary equivalent of a diffusion line, an overseas complement to the awardwinning Mingles in Seoul, Hansik Goo struck a chord with its approachable homage to Korean flavours. Less than a year later, the restaurant made a surprise move to new premises, reinventing itself with a more sophisticated visual identity (more art gallery than the original, thanks to work by Korean studio Area Plus) and a fine-tuned menu that still introduces the pillars of Korean cuisine while upending our expectations of it—there is a finesse in the presentation that is on par with the ways in which chef Steve Lee and his team are able to spotlight the complexities of Korean flavours, and that is truly exciting.