“Taking old techniques and ingredients and adapting them to the modern palate is our challenge. Increasingly, ingredients native to the region (Hong Kong, Pearl River Delta, Taiwan) are incorporated.”

Roasted fish head in stock of smoked fish, soy, mirin, and goose fat; hotaruika with rice shoot, la rou, and plankton; and house-made nigari tofu with pickled tomatoes, salted lemon, and sauce of fermented black beans, okra and garlic in pigeon skin.

The dishes at Okra Kitchen are undoubtedly based on a framework of Japanese recipes, but many of the ingredients used seem more Chinese. Chef and owner Max Levy’s experience in Beijing may have made him more at home with Chinese ingredients, but in reality, his style lends itself to evolving naturally according to wherever he may be. The old-but-new common sense approach of composting for the kitchen garden on the roof, using every part of a piece of produce – stem-toroot, nose-to-tail, inside-and-out – is central to the restaurant and used to great effect in dishes like their signature “pastrami” beef tongue. Drinkers should take a look at the sake collection – the restaurant features unique labels hard to find elsewhere.

“Levy's insistence to produce housemade ingredients played a crucial part to his success. From tofu, soy sauce, cured meat, salted fish, and even XO sauce, many processed ingredients available outside are prepared in the shop from scratch.” Michelin Guide