New Zealand restaurant in Hong Kong, Motu Kiwi, to close – but not before one last street party
- After three years serving New Zealand cuisine at prices that made margins razor-thin, couple need a break and time to digest lessons they’ve learned
- On December 9 Motu Kiwi will hold one last party, and a farewell haka war dance, on Graham Street, Central
New Zealand expats in Hong Kong are going to miss one of their favourite restaurants when it closes in mid-December. Motu Kiwi in NoHo is shutting after three-and-a-half years because owners, Vinish “Vini” Nath and Jo Ching, say they are running out of funds to keep it going and need a break.
The narrow restaurant near the Mid-Levels escalators doesn’t seat many people, but the ones who do manage to squeeze in rave about the food; it includes dishes such as deep-fried whitebait with manuka smoked bacon, pan-fried salmon with horseradish potato salad and wakame guacamole, and lamb ribs with tamarind sauce garnished with scallions and crispy shallots.
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Nath, who grew up in New Zealand, and Ching opened Motu Kiwi in 2015, pouring their savings into it the Graham Street venue. He always wanted to have a restaurant to celebrate the small South Pacific country.
Nath says when most people think of New Zealand food, manuka honey and food cooked underground comes to mind. Motu Kiwi is a platform to showcase New Zealand ingredients, which he puts his own culinary twist on.
“It was my dream to promote New Zealand products,” Nath says. “New Zealand has beautiful scenery, and New Zealanders and the government take care of the land and sea, so they keep it as clean and pure as possible. The venison, beef, lamb and seafood grow in pristine environments.”