“Demon Chef” Alvin Leung from three Michelin-Star Bo Innovation has teamed with restaurant company Liberty Group to launch a Korean street concept, Bib n Hops, in Hong Kong.
Opening next month at J Senses on Ship Street in Wanchai, the restaurant will feature an innovative Korean menu, edgy decor and lively atmosphere.
Bib n Hops is a play on the Korean dish bibimbap (hops as in beer, and bib as in eating).
Leung has designed the menu while the kitchen is headed by Yong Soo Do, previously the senior sous chef of Jinjuu and head chef of U-Hang.
“Korean style eating is about rubbing shoulders with locals around stalls or under cozy pojangmacha tents while sipping soju,” says Leung. “The streets of Seoul are lined with tented vendor carts selling a variety of dishes intended to be eaten on the go.”
Bib n Hops will offer inventive interpretations of Korean street food, as well as Korean beer and soju cocktails. Dishes will include yukhoe (Korean steak tartare), vongole japchae, various flavours of bibimbap including Peruvian spiced pork belly and Singaporean soft-shell crab, and cheese nakji (stirfried spicy squid with Mozzarella fondue). Guests can also opt for charcoal-grilled meat or fish.
Covering 1500 sqft (139 sqm), the restaurant comprises a 75-seat dining room and a patio. The decor highlights rustic finishes such as natural and rusted metals, wood and brick, plus abstract graffiti art.
Established in 2010, The Liberty Group covers fine dining, western comfort food and Sichuan cuisine. Its portfolio includes Liberty Exchange Kitchen and Bar, Liberty Stone Oven Pizza, Twenty Six by Liberty, Qi – House of Sichuan and Qi – Nine Dragons.
Born in Britain and raised in Canada, Leung launched Bo Innovation in 2005. His second restaurant in Hong Kong, MIC Kitchen, in Kwun Tong, has been awarded one Michelin Star.