If watching the goings-on of a kitchen at work is appealing, then The Kitchen at Bacchanalia may be the thing for you. Elevated tables and chairs line one side of the Hong Kong Street shophouse, offering an uninterrupted view of the kitchen in action—from cooks draining the stock from a large container of shellfish, to ladling the cooled stock into plastic bags.

Choose either the five-course degustation, or go for a completeindulgence with the seven-course, both of which change seasonally. There is, however, no a la carte option. When we visited, the seven-course degustation was a bold effort by the chef, who clearly took a healthier path by presenting a good number of vegetable-forward dishes, two seafood courses and just one meat. Some memorable dishes you may encounter: asparagus soup, which is creamy, smooth and full-flavoured, and the tomato dish, which is a very clever one served with lightly pickled quinoa, a delicately tangy vinaigrette and crunchy slivers of daikon for texture. The white asparagus and morel ragout with garlic velouté is excellent too and the beef course is tipping delightfully just into that nice pink doneness, with rich cep jusand eggplant roulade.

The service is excellent—in particular, the young waitstaff who are genuinely friendly and helpful.