Hong Kong is a buzzing place with loads going for it, but a rosy-cheeked glow of pastoral tranquillity is not among its charms – except at Hokkaido Dairy Farm. This place is a breath of fresh air in the heart of the city courtesy of Joey Ho Design, and though it’s all go in the the neighbourhood of Wing Lok Street, at this restaurant all is calm and clean – the perfect place to sample the bounty of a countryside farm without getting cowshit on your office shoes.
The food and drink at Hokkaido lets the ingredients speak for themselves, and Ho and his collaborator Joslyn Lam followed suit with the interior design. Over-decoration got the elbow, and instead the pair went down the minimalist route, weaving in dairy farm motifs such as milk bottles patterned on the walls and hanging overhead as light fittings. The bottles seem to drip condensation onto the surface below, and the organic feel of the venue is palpable through the choice of materials (the ropes suspended from the ceiling and the pale wood, for example) and the choice of white and pale blue colours suggests clouds scudding across a summer sky.
Photography, Dick Liu
