When Cary Docherty returned to the Lobster Bar and Grill one and a half years ago, it felt like a homecoming. After all, the veteran chef had definitively made his mark on this long-standing destination at the Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong during his first stint from 2020 to 2022. His departure had been lamented, but a short hiatus has only meant that he has since come back with an unwavering resolve to elevate the dining experience.
Lobster Bar and Grill has weathered the test of time in a way that is rarely seen in Hong Kong. It has been around since the early 1990s, and has largely remained the same in appearance and culinary direction. Nostalgic, old-school, with just the right amount of patterned wallpaper, pendant lamps, coloured glass, and lacquered countertops to give off that vintage charm—it’s your classic white-tablecloth fine dining room.
Naturally, upholding this institution’s legacy while allowing room for innovation are two ends of a scale that must be delicately balanced. Docherty is not daunted; he considers the restaurant’s longevity as a tremendous asset: “I’ve never looked at the age of the Lobster Bar and Grill as a disadvantage. In fact, the restaurant being around since the 1990s is actually a huge advantage for us. We’re lucky enough to work in a space that has decades of built-in relationships.” Docherty notes that many guests who used to dine at the Lobster Bar and Grill as children now return with their own families, not only to walk down memory lane, but to share the sensations and feelings that the familiar flavours bring about, creating a multi-generational bond with the restaurant.
On that basis alone, the importance of maintaining signature dishes—those crowd favourites that diners expect to find on the menu—is crucial, and Docherty is “a huge believer” in giving people what they want. “After a year and a half back now, we’ve built a lot of trust with our loyal guests, and they’re more than happy to try new things,” he shares, hence the team changes the set lunch and dinner menus every five weeks, while the à la carte menu receives quarterly updates. For Docherty, the focus of the food will always be centred around “staying true to the seasons [and] letting Mother Nature tell us what to put on the plate.” It’s a traditional approach, but it works. Simple does not equal easy, and when you’re presenting flavours that people already know, continuously achieving that perfect execution becomes the main challenge.
Dishes like the spectacular seafood tower with tiers of crustaceans and shellfish, the beef Wellington with homemade puff pastry served with mashed potatoes and a vegetable and beef jus, and sticky toffee pudding—made with Earl-Grey-marinated sticky date sponge with a side of toffee sauce and clotted cream ice cream—are undeniably emblematic of the Lobster Bar and Grill, and not to be missed, but Docherty is happily bringing in “interesting twists and a few surprises here and there.”
In a nod to the city, there’s a pineapple bun tipsy cake on the menu, where the Hong Kong sweet pastry meets crème anglaise, grilled pineapple, and a Shaoxing wine reduction. Docherty’s morels on toast is an impressively moreish bite, layering braised morels and mushroom purée with sugar snap peas and wild garlic on a toasted brioche, and the burrata and grilled peaches with wild rocket, toasted hazelnuts, and grilled baguette is a beautifully summery starter to whet the palate. A faultlessly executed, deeply savoury Boston lobster risotto in a lemongrass glaze with basil and tarragon and the quintessential Dover sole meunière vie for the highlight of the meal. It’s the freshly baked honey madeleines with Chantilly cream, however, that stole our hearts.
Docherty’s favourite dish on the menu is surprisingly straightforward: the artichoke. “It’s the most simple dish, but it’s just so satisfying. It’s a whole steamed [globe] artichoke and we serve it with some garlic butter, [garlic] mayonnaise, [and] a lemon wedge—these are the simple things in life that you just can’t put a price on.”
Something new and quite distinctly “Docherty” that the Canadian chef is bringing to the table is the concept of collaboration to transform the good old Sunday roast—that near-sacred weekend institution—into a vibrant, playful, and convivial affair. Celebrated chefs from the city’s top restaurants are invited to join Docherty at the Lobster Bar and Grill every month to present a unique, one-day-only Sunday roast menu that showcases the beauty of culinary diversity, creating a table where Italian, Spanish, Japanese, French, and Indian flavours feel at home with traditional British cuisine, where roast beef and banoffee pie can coexist with dulce de leche flan and lobster chilli chaat. Ando, Trattoria Felino, and Estro have completed successful stints; Leela, Roganic, Épure, Arcane, and Louise are soon to come. It’s the perfect example of Docherty’s vision for Lobster Bar and Grill: maintain tradition, but bring a bit of fun into it.
“Most of them have come to dine with us several times; they have felt the environment, they know what the Sunday roast is all about, and it gives them greater insight into what we do and how we’re trying to make everyone feel in the dining room on that given day,” Docherty shares. “It’s all about spending quality time with loved ones in lovely environment with great food, putting your phone down, and forgetting about the outside world for those few hours. Everyone has brought their own invaluable cultural twist to the programme and this is not only amazing for our guests but the team as well.” For the young chefs at the Lobster Bar and Grill, it’s a rare opportunity to work with a roster of acclaimed, award-winning chefs from different restaurants to learn new flavours, techniques, and cooking methods, fostering a spirit of camaraderie and growth.
Hong Kong’s red-hot dining landscape cannot escape the double-edged sword of continuous evolution and innovation. In a city where many restaurants do not survive past the two-year mark, there’s comfort in knowing there are pockets of familiar places where you’re always in for a comfortably predictable meal that hits all the right notes. Lobster Bar and Grill is not reinventing the wheel, and nor should it. It’s a bastion of classic surf and turf dining—and that’s what draws diners back to it time and again.
Island Shangri-La, Level 6, Pacific Place, Supreme Court Road, Central, Hong Kong
Tel: (+852) 2820 8560
All images courtesy of Lobster Bar and Grill.
