Viet Kitchen restaurant - Hong Kong, China

Having left his mark on a number of high profile Hong Kong openings - including Yardbird and Carbone - American designer and architect Sean Dix has most recently turned his hand to an 88-seat Vietnamese restaurant in the city’s Central district. Discreetly tucked away in the Nexxus building’s lobby, Viet Kitchen’s design credentials match the small plates of intensely prepared small plates that come out of chef Peter Cuong Franklin’s kitchen. The designer paired the chef’s modern Vietnamese style with an aesthetic intended to evoke the energy of a Hanoi street, with corrugated roofing, playful facemasks, street-style chairs and tables adding a lighthearted note that plays off Dix’s coolly understated interior. The menu takes Hong Konger’s appetites up a notch - we’d plump for the succulent lemongrass kurobata pork and finish with the bar’s riff on a White Russian (vodka, homemade kahlua, Vietnamese drip coffee and coconut foam).