How Syed Asim Hussain, co-founder of Black Sheep Restaurants, became one of Hong Kong's most successful restaurateurs in just six years.

Co-founder of Black Sheep Restaurants and Gen.T Lister, Syed Asim Hussain, breaks down the interior of his most personal project to date

"The unexpected winning main course of tuna maremma was beautifully cooked while also fatty and soft, with other notable dishes including the raw red prawns and fried baby squid."

"My meal at Le Garçon Saigon was so fresh and green, it was easy to convince myself that I was having an assortment of salads for dinner. I love how Chef La pushes the boundaries of exotic Vietnamese flavours on his never-ending quest to innovate and make Vietnamese food interesting."

"From the neon cow on the sign at the entrance, to the dessert trolley coming round just when you think you couldn't eat another bite, La Vache! doesn't disappoint."

“There’s an old Barbadian rhyme ‘one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong, four of weak’, which is a pretty good basic guideline to use. Here, the sour is fresh lime juice, the sweet is Falernum and Orgeat, the strong is subpar rum and the weak is ice and fresh orange juice.”

The Fiasco at Carbone is the uncivilised booze-fest, with a story, dancing and far too much Italian-American goodness.

We chat to Bao about his earliest food memories, get his fool-proof recipe for nước mắm chấm sauce, and find out some of his favourite foodie destinations in both Hong Kong and beyond.

For this relatively young restaurant group, 2016 was already a landmark year, with three stellar new openings in the first six months alone. And it's looking like another bumper year for restaurateurs Syed Asim Hussain and Christopher Mark, who have lifted the veil on three new venues in 2017.

Osteria Marzia is certainly a welcome addition to Wan Chai’s eclectic culinary mix, and its small but carefully curated menu is testament to the focus and mastery behind each dish. There are no showy or unnecessary bells and whistles here – just elevated and excellent versions of classic dishes, where quality ingredients take centre stage.

A Hong Kong-born Punjabi, Hussain has revealed NPC to be his biggest passion project yet: It's inspired by The Punjab Club, the private social and athletic club in Lahore where Hussain spent his childhood; as well as a nod to Hussain's father, a restaurateur who operated The Mughal Room in Hong Kong in the '80s. This emotional attachment may have been the catalyst for aiming to set the bar even higher with this latest opening: Without question, New Punjab Club is one of Black Sheep's most thoughtfully curated venues to date.

"Were it not for the super neat settings, Osteria Marzia could easily pass for a family-run space, where the owner knows you by name, the waiter is quick to pour your favourite wine and the chef remembers what you like from the menu."