Bursting the food bubble and traditional preconception of what is Hong Kong cuisine and local food culture, Yenn Wong and David Lai’s new modern establishment, Fish School, is now open to all.
There are no boundaries in the ocean or at Fish School, so guests can expect an intimate, fish-focused restaurant serving modern multicultural Hong Kong cuisine that encourages exploration and discovery of the local resources that seafaring fishermen and dried seafood vendors have to offer.
Culinary director David Lai has crafted a flexible menu subject to the seasons allowing freshly caught fish to take centre stage at every meal. Guests can watch executive chef Chris Ma in the open kitchen as he dishes up fish and crustaceans that are familiar to Hong Kongers combined with flavours borrowed from the West: truly reflective of the multi-cultural Hong Kong of here and now. On the doorstep of Sai Ying Pun’s dried seafood market, all of Fish School’s sauces and pastes are homemade from scratch.
Three types of freshly caught fish are offered daily and dished up with a variety of cooking methods. The catch of the day can be baked in sea salt and herb crust, grilled over charcoal, steamed in sea kelp, pan-fried with brown butter or oven roasted with olive oil and herbs. Guests can look to the blackboard and the team of friendly and knowledgeable servers for guidance on the most suitable preparation for their whole fish selection. Large crustaceans from the tank, sourced each morning from the market by David, are also ideal for sharing among friends and family.
The concept of Fish School grew from chef David Lai’s lifetime love of seafood and vast knowledge of local produce.

“Seafood is special because it is a product that is not manipulated or raised by anyone; it is free to roam and hunt for its own food, making it uniquely natural,” said Lai. “It is also one of Hong Kong’s most exceptional natural resources and a massive reflection of our culture. So much modern food production happens on an industrial scale that we are lucky to have small boat fishermen that still go out to sea and bring their catches directly to our wet markets.”
Designers Paola Sinisterra and Ignacio Garcia created the Fish School interiors to pay homage to the history and aesthetics of Hong Kong and capture the appeal of the wet markets and the city’s traditional local shops. In search of an authentic, minimalist feel, the pair chose noble materials and kept them as close to their original state as possible.
The oak plywood wall cladding is reminiscent of the traditional wooden crates used to transport fresh fish from sea to market and also served as a backdrop for Rocky Yip and James Woodward Jr. of Hong Kong’s Entendre Studios to draw the fish species that are featured in Fish School’s ever-changing menu. The rest of the interior details are rendered in hues of blue which are reminiscent of the sea, while the warm-toned ceramics, developed with the locally-based company FlowPlus Ceramics, evoke a scene of the sea bed while letting the food take centre stage.

Fish School’s private dining room, which comfortably seats 20, features a wall-sized window that peeks out onto one of Hong Kong’s oldest stone walls and the roots of the trees that hang off them. One wall of the private dining room features a gold leaf silhouette of Sai Kung representing the local fishing culture with a layer of white corals to remind guests of the importance of preserving the fragile marine ecosystems.
Fish School is hidden just off of Third Street in Sai Ying Pun. The buzzy, dynamic destination intrigues passers-by with a brightly-lit, bubbly sign just visible from the end of the street, and guests find their way to the entrance through a lush jungle of rubber trees and other plant species often seen in Hong Kong’s natural surroundings.