I had a busy night on Friday, but I managed to stop by the opening of a new contemporary Japanese restaurant called Zuma. Located at 15 Queens Road, Zuma is above Gucci and the upscale supermarket Three-Sixty.

Hong Kong’s love of Japanese food
Hong Kong has an insatiable appetite for Japanese food. Ask any local what their favorite cuisine is, and Japanese food typically tops the list. I might even wager that there are more Japanese restaurants per person in Hong Kong than anywhere else outside of Japan! The price and quality of the restaurants runs the full spectrum. Here you can find everything from the newly opened Nobu (located in the InterContinental hotel,) to a hidden street of bargain-basement Japanese restaurants in an unfashionable factory area of Hung Hom.

Occupying both the fifth and sixth floors of the newly built Landmark Atrium, Zuma is a massive space by Hong Kong standards.

In addition to a swank bar and lounge area on the sixth floor, guests can make their way down to the large dining room via a winding spiral staircase.

Off to the right on the fifth floor, there’s also a large outdoor patio space with table seating situated several stories above the Gucci store on Queens Road.

Though I only stayed a few minutes, everyone urged me to try the food which is a rare and auspicious sign. Impressing these jaded guests is hard to do, especially on the scale with which Zuma launched. An entire length of the dining room was set up as a buffet allowing attendees to sample the food. The opening had an excellent turnout with both a high quality and quantity of guests. Zuma’s ultimate central location was perhaps a contributing factor. The Landmark complex is the grande dame of Central’s high-end shopping.

Another recent edition which has been getting good word of mouth is Sushi Kuu located on the first floor of M-88, the same building as Racks M.D.B.