I look at every meal as a chance to find recipe inspiration. I always take notes, photos and think, “What can I get from this to use in my cooking?” so I can never have a truly relaxing meal. I eat and get inspired by everything. I enjoy Michelin meals as well as baked beans on toast, which is one of my favourite things.

Richard Ekkebus
I really enjoy places like Caprice (Podium Level 6, Four Seasons hotel, 8 Finance Street, Central, tel: 3196 8860) and Amber (7/F, Landmark Mandarin Oriental, 15 Queen’s Road Central, tel: 2132 0066). They are two of my favourites and the food is so creative. They give me so many ideas. There are a lot of Asian flavours and chef Richard Ekkebus (of Amber) is someone I aspire to be like. I recently had lunch at Restaurant Petrus (level 56, Island Shangri-La, Pacific Place 2, 88 Queensway, Admiralty, tel: 2820 8590) and the food was very good, too.

I live in Pok Fu Lam so I am definitely a Hong Kong Island girl. Kennedy Town is fantastic right now with so many new places. I like Comptoir (42 Forbes Street, tel: 2453 9873), which sort of does French tapas. All the dishes are quite small, so you can share a lot of things, and it has an open kitchen so it’s nice to watch the guys working. I really like the truffled confit of duck.

Mom's dumplings from Ho Lee Fook.
Another go-to place is Ho Lee Fook (1 Elgin Street, SoHo, tel: 2810 0860). I like Chinese but we tend to go for more modern Chinese places. Their short ribs are to die for. The Asian vegetables and dumplings are also fantastic. This is a place I would take out-of-town guests.
Din Tai Fung’s streamed pork dumplings.
Din Tai Fung (various locations including 68 Yee Wo Street, Causeway Bay, tel: 3160 8998) is a place that everybody loves. I really enjoy the Shanghainese dumplings there. It’s such a comfort food.

I don’t really go out for lunch because we do staff lunches but I do like weekend brunch. Zuma (shop 501-503, 5/F Landmark, 15 Queen’s Road Central, tel: 3657 6388) is one of my favourites for Sundays. I love the seafood, sushi, and the hot and cold dish selection – so fresh, so good. Also, I always get a double plate of deep-fried chicken.

Caprice

Rhoda (Upton, 345 Des Voeux Road West, Sai Ying Pun, tel: 2177 5050) is good for a midweek dinner. I like the farmed free-range chicken slow-cooked for three hours with organic vegetables.

On the way home, sometimes I like to go to Hooked (86-88 Caine Road, Mid-Levels, tel: 2915 1118). They do the best barramundi and chips. It’s really a hole-in-the-wall kind of place. Lots of people see it and think, “oh, looks good”. It’s a great place after a glass of wine.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Liz SeatonGingers Catering