Pano @ Kowloon

Hong Kong has a brand new attraction at West Kowloon, and with all the crowd going there to see the exhibitions in the museums, a brand new facility called the Art Park was provided to cater to the people.

Nestled within the Art Park, Pano gets its name from the restaurant’s panoramic ocean views. The Asian-French fine dining experience stretches over a two-storied standalone space that flows into a breezy alfresco area. Natural light floods into the deep blue interior through airy floor-to-ceiling windows, which offering a sweeping view of the Art Park and the promenade. 

Leaning into Chef Ken Lau’s extensive multicultural culinary background–with previous stints at Verandah, Chesa, Felix, and Gaddi’s at The Peninsula–PANO’s menu offers an extensive array of French classics with a contemporary, Asian twist.

Pano offers a set lunch menu, and degustation menu for dinner as well as an ala carte menu. But all the interesting items are on the dinner degustation menu and ala carte menu, like Spaghetti with Fish Maw and Dried Scallop in Sichuan style.

Fresh Oyster Tartare with Yuzu Foam

What an eye candy! We started with a freshly shucked Pacific oyster that was topped with salmon roe, nasturtium and flavoured with yuzu foam and chopped shallots. We were told the seaweed at the bottom are for decoration and not for eating 😉 Definitely the influence on this appetiser was Japanese.

Hamachi Carpaccio, Salmon Roe with Lime & Mascarpone Cheese

The hamachi carpaccio was cured with lime juice and a small dollop of whipped mascarpone cheese accompanied a heap of sliced baby beets and chopped coral lettuce and pea shoots. Ikura was added for presentation. The hamachi was delicious. The salad could do with a dressing before plating.

Daily Soup

The soup of the day was Cream of Artichoke with Mantis Shrimp with a couple of artichoke chip thrown in for good measure. The soup was creamy and hit the spot with umami from the mantis prawn.

Chef Recommended Pasta

And the chef’s pasta of the day was Spaghetti with Tomato Cream and Pacific Clams. A haphazardly thrown together pasta with fresh clams, it was nothing to shout about.

Slow-cooked French Quail with Chanterelle Sauce

I never pass up a quail dish when it’s available in the menu. The slow-cooked quail was finished with a roasted skin and chanterelle sauce. There was none of the mushroom present, and the sauce did not taste of any mushroom, more like a brown buttery sauce made from the au jus.

Daily Dessert

And for dessert, we all got a poached pear on a tart with crème fraîche and vanilla ice cream on the side. The tart was too hard and I did not touch much of this forgettable dessert.

Unlike the fireworks outside the restaurant that evening, I would not say that this was an exciting reveal of a new restaurant this trip to Hong Kong. Some of the dishes were very well executed, some were quite lazy even for a lunch tasting menu.

And the staff seemed to be quite impatient to explain what we were eating when there were only four tables for lunch. Only the manager cared about their reputation. If they did not classify themselves as fine dining, I would not have been so critical.

Pano Asian-French
Unit 1F-01, 1/F and Rooftop, 24-26 Museum Drive, Art Park, West Kowloon Cultural District Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel : +852 2361 9600

Visited Dec 2023

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