Owner-chef Max Levy in his barlike Okra Hong Kong.[Photo by Mike Peters/ China Daily]

"We didn't want a location that's going to get too commercial too fast," he says. "I like this building because it's been in one family's ownership for generations - since 1852. Our neighbors aren't going anywhere, either."

Okra's a la carte menu includes a tuna tasting with "three primal selections of fresh and aged tuna" for HK$268 ($34) and Unakyu foie gras, housemade barbecued unagi with honey miso duck liver and sanbaizu (seasoned rice vinegar) for HK$238, and the comically named roasted beef "love handle", Black Angus prime chuck tail flap with burnt olive oil soy sauce for HK$188. A few offerings are priced under a hundred Hong Kong dollars.

Levy says he avoids traditionally raised wagyu beef - "The practices involved in it are bad for the cows and bad for us" - and adds that the food and culture of a restaurant should speak of its location, not what it can import.

"Everything on our menu is meant to be shared, picked at, swallowed and most of all, enjoyed with sake," Levy says.

Contact the writer at michaelpeters@chinadaily.com.cn