Lai Sun Dining Group’s latest fine dining restaurant offers a steady ride with room to grow
On Lan Street remains the hidden gem of Central’s dining scene, with good restaurants on a single building, from Shane Osborn’s Arcane to kaiseki restaurant Kashiwaya to contemporary Japanese Ryota Kappou Modern. Lai Sun Dining Group’s Zest By Konishi has joined the fray, taking over two top floors where On Dining formerly resided. With a similar two-storey concept, where guests enter from the lounge on the top floor to reach the dining room one floor below, Zest by Konishi is the latest fine dining offering from the restaurant group which also runs Beefbar, 8 ½ Otto e Mezzo, and Ciak, all within walking distance from one another.
Taking the helm of the new restaurant is Mitsuru Konishi, who made a return to the Hong Kong dining scene after opening Wagyu Takumi, known today as Takumi by Daisuke Mori. Guests with a reservation at the dining room will be led through the narrow staircase to the floor below, revealing a rather small space. With an abundance of light tones of wood and thick carpeting throughout the dining room, the space is well-lit with warm lighting at night while welcoming city lights through floor-to-ceiling windows. Tables by the windows are accented with hues of green and muted pink, and they are the best spots in the restaurant as they are the most spacious. The middle row of sofas seemed a bit low and less private as they are lined right beside the kitchen pass. A semi-private room at the end of the space holds four two-top tables, but we do not recommend it as the room tends to be rather stuffy and very close to one another.