Rùn is the St. Regis Hong Kong’s Cantonese restaurant, run by Executive Chinese Chef Hung Chi-kwong. The kitchen features classic Cantonese banque dining and has held two Michelin stars since 2022.
The hotel opened in 2019, with Rùn as its flagship Chinese restaurant. The dining room takes its design cues from a Chinese tea pavilion. The result feels quieter and more residential than the grand hotel Chinese restaurants around Central, yet the service still has the polish and staffing of a large luxury hotel.
Chef Hung grew up in Hong Kong and has more than three decades of hotel-kitchen experience. Before joining Rùn, he worked at Cuisine Cuisine at The Mira and Man Wah at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong. His cooking follows the classic Cantonese repertoire: wok cookery, roasting, steaming, soup work and dim sum. The kitchen adds modern presentation and occasional contemporary pairings, but this remains a restaurant for ordering a Cantonese meal rather than a chef’s tasting menu.
The dining room was packed for a Wednesday night. We skipped the tasting menu and ordered a selection of signature dishes from the à la carte menu.
The amuse-bouche was a sweet vinegar jelly with pig ear. The jelly brought sweetness and acidity; the pig ear added crunch and spring. Deep-fried tofu filled with minced shrimp followed, with a crisp, spongy shell and a warm, gooey centre.
The smoked foie gras was one most unique dishes at Rùn. Dense slabs of foie gras came smoked over applewood, with deep-fried mantou and homemade chilli jelly. The smoke was strong without burying the foie gras, while the mantou gave the dish a sweet, crispy fried counterpoint.
Another appetiser paired sliced fish maw with celtuce, mountain yam and several kinds of wood-ear fungus. Sichuan pepper oil finished the dish. The mix of textures worked, although the foie gras left a stronger impression.
In an unorthodox move, my companion decided they wanted dessert in the middle of dinner, and Run gladly obliged with an order of egg tarts. They came promptly and were surpringly good.
The double-boiled abalone with young coconut and goji berries was the highlight of the meal. The kitchen cooked the abalone in a rich consommé inside a young coconut, using the coconut water for a three-hour double boil. The broth carried a concentrated coconut flavour, and the abalone had the texture expected from a dish at this level.
Braised wintermelon came with shrimp cakes and dried shrimp in a thick, flavourful sauce. It was a good supporting vegetable dish.
The deep-fried local Hong Kong three-yellow chicken was another highlight. The skin sat close to separating from the tender meat, and the fat had rendered clear of the flesh.
The Fukien fried rice was dry rather than sauce-heavy, with plenty of wok hei. Great execution.
A palate cleanser before the petit four, a cold brewed lychee tea.
Some butter cookies for the petit four…
… and concentrated jelly made from hibiskiss flowers.
Rùn gave us a good meal with three memorable dishes: the smoked foie gras, the young-coconut abalone and the fish-maw appetiser. The restaurant would not sit at the top of my list, but worth another visit.
Total Damage: 2900 HKD/2 people