Rhoda restaurant - Hong Kong, China

Prolific Hong kong restaurateur Yenn Wong continues to redefine the city’s food scene, this time teaming up with British chef Nathan Green to create a laidback eatery that focuses on modern comfort food.

‘We wanted the restaurant to reflect Nathan’s personality and passion for food with a modern design that has raw and honest elements but is still playful,’ explains the restaurant’s designer Joyce Wang who has decorated the ground floor space in a moody palette of black and grey, offset with gleaming copper accents. 

Unconventional design details inspired by the chef include a statement chandelier made from repurposed washing machine drums, and the semi-private ‘Nate’s Room’, a cubby-like space decorated with rough chicken-wire-patterned cement walls bristling with traditional shaving brushes and a ceiling light-box installation showcasing vintage tattoo art – a nod to Green’s own inked body and show-stopping beard.

Wang’s trademark materiality is also on show with Shou Sugi Ban (burnt wood) walls and cedar tables branded with a Tudor rose motif, a turibute to Green’s grandmother Rhoda, whose name translates to ‘rose’.  A communal table sporting a melted copper crevice is ideal for larger groups although we think the best spot is at the curved open kitchen counter where the chef holds court at a charcoal grill.

The menu is short and the food simple but flawlessly executed with rustic fare such as an intense-flavoured 12-hour slow cooked lamb shoulder, salted king prawns with smoked eggplant and crispy shallot, and ginger biscuit trifle inspired by his mother’s recipe.