Max Max Pizza

A Pizza Omakase Experience in Hong Kong

Chef Max Levy is an American chef originally from New Orleans who has carved out one of the more unconventional careers in Hong Kong’s dining scene. Rather than follow the Creole and Cajun traditions of his hometown, he apprenticed at Sushi Yasuda in New York under the notoriously exacting Naomichi Yasuda and studied at the French Culinary Institute. He traces his passion for cooking back to childhood, spending afternoons watching his grandfather cook for friends and neighbours.

His path through Asia has been anything but linear. He helped launch a cocktail renaissance in Beijing with the opening of Apothecary in 2009, ran a restaurant called Bei at the Opposite House hotel, and created Traitor Zhou’s Nonkosher Delicatessen, producing artisanal cured meats and bagels. After more than four years running Okra 1949 in Beijing’s Sanlitun district, he moved to Hong Kong in 2015 to set up Okra Bar and Okra Kitchen in Sai Ying Pun. Okra Bar was a luxe eight-seat omakase sushi counter; Okra Kitchen, downstairs, was a casual izakaya blending Japanese, Chinese, and American influences.

He became deeply embedded in Hong Kong’s food community, championing local ingredients like phoenix eye nuts, dried oysters from Lau Fau Shan, and wild rice shoots. Okra eventually closed, with Levy speaking publicly about the Hong Kong ingredients he would miss most.

Max Max Pizza Pizza is his current pop-up project. He is the inaugural chef at the new Chef’s Room in the Upper House Hotel, a private dining enclave curated by culinary advisor Ricardo Chaneton that hosts rotating residencies. The residency features a tasting menu of handcrafted pizzas shaped by his New Orleans roots and sushi training, with a focus on sustainably sourced local ingredients.

Chef Max finishing the mise en place as diners filed into the private dining room.

True to his sushi chef roots, the mise en place was prepped and displayed prominently in wooden boxes ahead of the meal.

Somen, nuts, and olives awaited us as we filed into the intimate twelve-person counter surrounding the chef.

A glass of sake with pizza. A slightly unusual pairing, but it worked.

The only non-pizza dish on the menu: a zucchini tempura on sheep's milk ricotta, served over a cold gazpacho.

Chef Levy preparing the first pizza alongside his sous chef, oddly named Tony Leung (an incredibly famous movie star in Hong Kong). One of the other patrons kept commenting on the sous chef's muscular forearms, adding a side of sexual harassment to accompany dinner.

The first pizza had a base of porcini mushrooms, stracciatella, and morel mushrooms with pecorino, topped with a drizzle of honey.

Next, their take on a Hawaiian: coriander, basil pesto, pineapple, and jalapeño. Herbal and spicy.

Next, sauerkraut, broccolini, sardines, and pine nuts. An unexpected combination, and unexpectedly good.

Thai sausage, coriander, confit garlic, and sweet potato. I wasn't sure what to expect (sweet potato on pizza?) but it held together well.

Razor clams, Manchego, zucchini, and rosemary came next. I love razor clams, but their presence was hard to detect on the pizza itself.

Chef Max's take on the classic pepperoni: five cheeses, mushroom, and mala sausage.

Dessert pizza: Nutella, roasted pear, mascarpone, and honey. The Nutella goes well with nearly anything, and the roasted pear was a great pairing.

Overall, a really enjoyable experience. I wasn't sure what to expect from a "pizza omakase," but it turned into an intimate night with groups of patrons laughing and chatting with the chef. We learned about Chef Max's inspiration: making pizza during COVID, and his efforts to demonstrate the versatility of the dough as a base for everything from savoury to sweet. Would I go back? Probably not. I was fairly sick of pizza by the end of it. But it was definitely worth doing once.

Total damage: 2300 HKD/2 people.