Many celebrities dabble in the restaurant business as a lucrative side hustle to their already lucrative day jobs. Actress Shu Qi is no exception. After launching her instant noodle brand KiKi Noodles in Hong Kong two years ago, the Taiwanese-Hong Kong superstar became the queen of F&B among her entertainment industry peers when she opened her first restaurant, KiKi Noodle Bar (KiKi Tea), in Taipei. Now, the trendy noodle bar has officially expanded to Hong Kong, with a brand-new outlet in IFC Mall.
In addition to signatures like the KiKi dan dan noodles ($98) and Sichuan noodles with spicy tofu, duck blood and sliced pork ($98, pictured above), the restaurant is also introducing two exclusive new noodle dishes: meat dumpling mixed noodles with scallion oil ($98) and abalone and fish maw noodle in chicken soup ($138). Both were created by Albert Au Kwok-Keung, whose claim to fame was becoming the world’s youngest Chinese chef to lead a three-Michelin-starred restaurant (The Eight in Macau).
Specialties from the restaurant’s drink menu include unique tea and fruit infusions made with cutting-edge BKON technology (single-serving teas made with the aid of programmatic functions, which sounds extremely 2019). The sweet peach oolong tea topped with mango cream mousse and coconut jelly ($39) and refreshing winter melon tea with aiyu and coconut jellies ($35) are both super Instagrammable and a nice pair for the fresh Taiwanese noodles. By Angel Hong