On Lockhart Road, where the pace of Hong Kong never seems to slow, The Hari rises above the bustle with a certain quiet confidence. The hotel’s contemporary Japanese restaurant, Zoku, has found a way to make Tuesday nights feel like an occasion. The draw is not a secret chef’s table or some hidden tasting menu, but something simpler, more elemental: the oyster.
“Oyster Tuesday” turns a weekday evening into a small ritual. Diners are met with platters of freshly shucked oysters, accompanied by lime and ponzu, their briny bite softened by the warmth of sake or the fizz of champagne. For ninety minutes, the oysters keep coming, the mood unhurried, the sense of indulgence mounting with every shell that clinks onto the ice.
Yet it is not all repetition. The kitchen weaves oysters into the wider fabric of Japanese cooking, from golden-fried oyster rolls wrapped with avocado and panca chilli to steaming bowls of udon enriched with smoked herring caviar and shimeji mushrooms. From the grill, skewers arrive one by one, light but precise: taro brushed with miso, chicken dusted with togarashi, salmon glazed with teriyaki. To close, there is the sweetness of hojicha crème brûlée with a cool spoon of coconut sorbet, a gentle nudge back into the city night.
Zoku itself feels designed for evenings that stretch a little longer than planned. The booths are deep and fluted, the banquettes dressed in velvet red, the light softened by bubble glass tealight holders. Above, a ceiling of timber slats fans out like origami, part geometry, part theatre. Step outside to the Terrace and the city’s roar dulls beneath a fringe of greenery, a pocket of calm among the neon.
There is, beneath the surface, a thoughtful layer of responsibility. The Hari has joined with Green Island Cement’s ShellCem Project to collect and repurpose oyster shells, giving them a second life in construction rather than discarding them as waste. It is a small but telling gesture, one that fits with the hotel’s broader sustainability efforts, recognised with an EarthCheck Benchmarked Bronze status.
For those who prefer to linger with a drink in hand, choices abound. A glass of sake, a whisky with a cigar, or a mocktail made with sparkling tea or yuzu and honey. There are cocktails that pull from unexpected places: pisco with Yakult and lime, or whisky stirred with rose and cucumber. Packages encourage the evening to flow as freely as the drinks themselves.
Hong Kong has no shortage of places to eat, but Oyster Tuesday feels different. It is not about novelty or excess, but about leaning into a single idea and letting it carry the night. On a street better known for noise and neon, Zoku has carved out a weekly moment where the sea meets the city, and the oyster, humble and ancient, takes centre stage.
