Ideal for client impressing missions, VEA, Hong Kong’s first integrated restaurant and lounge and the city’s hottest table, has opened on the top floor of The Wellington, in SoHo. Led by some of the finest talents from the industry, including  executive chef Vicky Cheng, award-winning mixologist Antonio Lai; and beverage creative manager Leszek Stachura, VEA is spread over two floors, and features an elegant lounge on the 29th floor and an innovative open-kitchen concept complete with marble tabletops and bronze finishings on the 30th floor.

Here, the culinary team operate a state of the art open-kitchen, in which chef Vicky Cheng prepares his acclaimed modern French Cuisine using seasonal ingredients familiar to Hong Kong diners. A single eight-course tasting menu will be featured, with individual dishes changing every week.

“We wanted to do something a different, unusual and disruptive to the Hong Kong dining scene by combining my profession, mixology, with fine dining,” says Lai. “Often we hear the term food and beverage, but there’s not many restaurants  that really, truly combine the two together. This is how we started VEA, combining the creations of chef Vicky Cheng’s dishes with my cocktails.”

The spotlight of VEA is all about integrating food into beverage or vice versa, and imaginative drink pairings – wine or signature cocktails – for each tasting menu are curated by Antonio Lai. Part innovation, part science, the cocktails are more than just complimentary – they are infused with vital ingredients from the dish, ensuring a pairing experience rarely seen in Hong Kong, from tuna belly with Hokkaido uni, espelette, and burnt cucumber jelly, matched with a dashi re-distilled vodka and lemon cocktail; through to pigeon with smoked eel, blood and cabbage, paired with a warm shiitake mushroom and whisky consomme.

Business travellers looking for the perfect spot in which to celebrate to spoil a special client can opt for the private dining room, which seats up to ten and has an open view of the
entire dinner service in motion.

Alternatively the 29/F lounge features a small terrace and offers another innovative marriage of food and beverages, with ingredients such as Chinese mustard, longan, Japanese dashi and bone marrow are deconstructed and utilized in various cocktails. Four categories of cocktail – Sweet, Savoury, Sour, and Strong – are complimented by  new-school Asian style snacks with a twist, such as the signature Iberico katsu in homemade pineapple bun.

The lounge is the perfect venue for those who wish to enjoy a drink after work or those who seek the event space for the next happening. www.vea.hk