Fa Zu Jie

Fa Zu Jie was an exceptional dining experience. One we coveted and one we want to enjoy again and again and again. I have already secured a reservation in this very limited seated establishment for us to return in January. Not only was the customer service spot on, the set menu dinner was a culinary delight beyond compare. Dinner reservations are set for 7PM for everyone and it took about 2.5 to 3 hours for the entire experience.
Let me start with the mystery surrounding this hidden gem. I say hidden, because unless you know where to look, you will never find it. So on D’Aguilar, there is most often a guy during the day who has a little stall selling handbags and other stuff. He is located between Wellington Street and Lan Kwai Fong on the Hagendas Ice Cream side of the street. He is kind of in the middle of this section of street. Well, he is parked right in front of the dark, obscure alley that leads you to Brickhouse restaurant & bar in the back. Right before you hit Brickhouse if you were to walk down that dark no name alley, you turn right into what appears to almost be a dingy, somewhat grafitti covered, white walled resedential building and walk up one flight of stairs. There is a door to what you think would be the entrance to someone’s home and you knock. The door had a little Christmas tree ornament on it when we went during the month of December, so maybe they help you out a bit and have some seasonal thing hanging on the door (I am not sure). Because there is no sign and unless you knew this was here, you would have no idea there was a restaurant behind the door.
Well, once we knocked, we were warmly welcomed by one of the owners (Chris Leung) and his gracious, young, cool staff. This place feels like a home, not a restaurant. It feels like you have been invited to a big dinner party with a bunch of people sitting at tables close by that you do not even know. You feel like you are seated in someone’s Crate & Barrel decorated dining room looking into their ultra modern, simply stated kitchen. There were only four tables of clientele during our visit. Our table sat 4 people, the one next to us was a group of 8 women, there was one table that had a couple and then the fourth table was for a large group of about 12 people. That is it. It was a full house! This is as big as this place is. It is not cramped or tight, it is just a small restaurant.
So it is a set six course menu, with a seventh extra course option for an additional ginger soufflé for an additional charge (or this was the extra item the night we were there). The menu that outlines the meal does not really do the courses any justice. For example, it might say «snow. yellow crocker» on the menu, but when it arrives to your place setting, the server will go into extensive detail explaining exactly what it is and how it was prepared by the chef. This marketing trick is by design of the Fa Zu Jie team. They do not want you boggled down with the details of the menu. They want to keep the element of surprise in the air. They want you craving the details of the next culinary wonder to next arrive to your table. It is almost like great artwork in a museum… you can get lost in the details of the title and artist and information card next to it explaining all about the actual painting and miss the point of simply enjoying the painting itself.
Fa Zu Jie cost us $ 628 per person. I do not know if this included a gratuity, for I did not pay the bill. They do not serve alcohol and you can bring your own wine with NO CORKAGE FEE. The menu changes every couple of weeks. This place is also CASH ONLY, NO CREDIT CARDS!
We are blown away by Fa Zu Jie and their team. This was hands down one of the geniunely coolest, most delicious, welcoming, knowledge growing meals we have had in Hong Kong or anywhere in the world.