Hooray Bar & Restaurant

Hong Kong is decidedly urban, and nowhere’s denser or more expensive per square metre than Causeway Bay, but there’s at least one place in the metropolis that gives three cheers to the great outdoors. Hooray Bar & Restaurant boasts the biggest al fresco dining area and sky bar in the city, a 180-seat terrace that offers diners a stunning panoramic view out over Victoria Harbour from the fifth floor of the World Trade Centre along Gloucester Road. With a twin focus on Italian and Japanese cuisines, both centred on the kitchen’s charcoal grill, Hooray Bar & Restaurant is ideal for upscale casual dining, and even better for spectacular private events.

One of three drinking and dining establishments under the umbrella of Hong Kong’s JC Group taking their coveted places high up in the World Trade Centre, Hooray Bar & Restaurant beats out the competition by virtue of its fantastic setting. Covering 15,000 square feet in the city’s priciest district, Causeway Bay, Hooray offers an incredible vista out over the city and the harbour from the al fresco terrace and sky bar. Intricate Japanese and Italian dishes are the culinary emphases here, but this Gloucester Road hotspot, five floors up, is just as phenomenal a destination for casual drinks.

Hooray is a popular spot in Causeway Bay for lunch, with many opting for a glass of bubbles, a sake or spicy cocktail, and half a dozen oysters, flown in by jet from around the world. The a la carte menu is where this literally lofty Hong Kong restaurant demonstrates its refined international gastronomic acumen and, though it covers both Japanese and Italian fare, it never loses its razor sharp focus. Organized as a series of tasting experiences (though this isn’t a set menu – you can pick and choose your dishes), you’re invited to indulge in beautifully plated examples of nouvelle cuisine that naturally segue, for example, from Chilean sea bass with yuzu miso to melon gazpacho with chorizo espuma, with a bonito sorbet in between to cleanse the palate. Hooray for this gourmet foodie heaven!