Michelin-Starred Team Embrace Hong Kong's New Frugality With Budget Cafe

Bloomberg

24-05-2025

Hong Kong's days of excess are in the past. The mainland Chinese shoppers who once shone in gaudy LVMH and Gucci outfits are gone, replaced by backpackers crowd-seeking experiences. Expats who partied on Wyndham Street departed for Singapore, Dubai or London, where they sometimes think of mountain trails and summer junks. Local residents, who protested against the creeping influence of Beijing, now prefer to spend their weekends across the border, where things are cheaper and the service often better. In such a tough market, Hong Kong restaurateurs are increasingly looking to boost business by offering value for money. Servo, a new cafe named after Australian slang for a petrol service station where drivers might pick up a meat pie and a coffee, is emblematic of this welcome trend.
The restaurant, which is more like a coffee shop by day and wine bar by night, is the latest venture by the Arcane Collective's Shane Osborn, Michael Smith and Didier Yang. Located in Central's On Lan Street, opposite their one-Michelin-starred restaurant Arcane, Servo is as unobtrusive on the outside as it is muted on the inside. White walls, light wood tables, darkly dressed staff and metallic open kitchen are matched by the arid brown of the paired bottles of HP Sauce and Vegemite jars in a cabinet by the miniscule kitchen. The only non-neutral color is green — the shade favored by the painter Edward Hopper — seen in a tiny painting of a plant, in stacked plastic crates and outside, in an old sign advertising the site's predecessor Uncle Eric's Vintage Wine Bar.