Having closed for a brief renovation of its own during this period of transformation at The Landmark, China Tang is once again welcoming guests. The revamped restaurant features new mirrored signage, refurbished carpeting, and an enlarged private dining room that has taken over the former bar area. A facelift has been applied to the vintage vibes across the restaurant’s interior design, while maintaining the ornate Asian touches beloved by regular guests.
His travels across China and Mongolia allowed Cheung opportunities to polish the flavour profiles that differentiate each region – the numbing and spicy notes of Sichuan cooking, the delicate and refreshing aspects of Cantonese cuisine, the hearty, punchy flavours popular in Beijing and Shandong.
“When you travel, you get to understand the region and its inhabitants – their culture, their food and eating habits,” Cheung explains. “You learn a lot about a culture through its food. Locally, I often get inspired in unfamiliar places outside of the restaurants. Touring [Hong Kong] and its edible landscape, I get to visit smaller independent vendors, or speak with the fishmongers and butchers. It’s not only food that inspires me – everything from floral arrangements to art and crockery can benefit my reasoning and creativity.”
And Cheung’s creativity is formidable. If the interior decorations have only received slight adjustments, the same cannot be said for the menu at China Tang, which is overflowing with new dishes. Cheung estimates that two thirds of the menu is new, and is unafraid of any criticism that might come his way for the tweaks he has made to popular recipes. Rather than indulging in change for the sake of change, however, Cheung says he has only introduced “changes that are meaningful to the outcome of the dish”.