SAMSEN

Despite a record number of excellent new restaurants opening in Hong Kong during the eligibility period, there can only be one winner—and Adam Cliff ’s modest, no-reservations Thai eatery clearly came out on top as the panel’s pick of the year, beating out fresher (and often fancier) openings. Formerly the head chef of Chachawan, Cliff struck out on his own with his partner, Bella, in late 2017 to launch Samsen—a noodlecentric restaurant with signatures such

as wagyu beef boat noodles and stirfried “fat” noodles, the former a rather esoteric dish that has since sprung into the mainstream. The honest, flavourforward cooking had us hooked from the beginning—and judging by the snaking queues that flank the building, most of

you are probably in the same boat.

Samsen, 68 Stone Nullah Lane, Wan Chai, Hong Kong

RUNNER-UP Frantzén’s Kitchen is the casual spinoff of Björn Frantzén’s twoMichelin-starred restaurant in Stockholm; it offers an incredible dining experience filled with Nordic ingredients, from cloudberries to fermented lingonberries.