The Scores
The Restaurant
Mora is the restaurant Vicky Lau opened to chase one ingredient. Lau already held two Michelin stars at Tate Dining Room when she launched Mora in Sheung Wan in 2022, and built its kitchen, run day to day by chef Fai Choi, around soy in all its forms: silken tofu, tofu skin, soy milk, fermented bean paste. In the 2024 Michelin Guide Hong Kong Macau the room earned a Michelin star and a Green Star, and Choi took the guide's Young Chef Award.
The "Characters of Soy" menus — five courses at lunch for HK$680, six at dinner for HK$1,080 — treat a humble staple as a fine-dining subject. The Thousand Layer Tofu, built up pain-perdu style with roasted maitake, black garlic purée and a mushroom sauce, is the dish the kitchen is known for; a bean-curd tartlet under pumpkin-soy foam and a Mont Blanc rebuilt from tofu show the same trick from sweeter angles. The cooking is French in technique and Chinese in soul.
The room is small and low-key, a heritage shophouse on Upper Lascar Row, Cat Street, with the kitchen in view and a team that talks you through the fermentation behind each plate. Set against Hong Kong's soy-sauce-and-dim-sum everyday, Mora does for tofu what a Kyoto kaiseki counter does for dashi: it takes the thing everyone eats without thinking and makes you pay attention. It is closer to a research project than a restaurant, in the best way.
Best Occasion Fit
Solo Dining: Mora is one of Hong Kong's best solo tables. Ask for a counter seat, where you sit in the middle of the kitchen's quiet choreography and the team has time to walk you through each ferment. A menu built on one idea is easy to follow alone.
First Date: The single-ingredient conceit does the talking. Explaining why a tofu can taste of black garlic and maitake is far better first-date material than another tasting menu's truffle, and the room is intimate without being loud.
Impress Clients: Mora's Michelin star, Green Star and sheer originality flatter a guest who values ideas over gold leaf. It signals that you chose somewhere thoughtful rather than merely expensive.
Not For
Not for a big celebration or a meat-and-wine blowout. There are only a handful of tables, the menu is fixed and soy-led, and committed carnivores may find the premise too austere. If someone at the table wants a steak, book elsewhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mora worth it?
Yes, for anyone who finds ideas as appetising as luxury. Vicky Lau and chef Fai Choi won a Michelin star and a Green Star in the 2024 Hong Kong guide for a tasting menu built entirely on soy, and it is genuinely unlike anything else in the city. Go curious; do not go expecting a conventional fine-dining spread.
How hard is it to book Mora?
Moderately. The room is small, so weekend dinners go first; reserve a week or two ahead through Chope or the restaurant directly. Lunch is the easier seating and, at HK$680 for five courses, the smarter-value way in. Ask for a counter seat when you book.
What should I order at Mora?
You order the set menu — five courses at lunch, six at dinner — so the real choice is lunch or dinner. Look out for the Thousand Layer Tofu with roasted maitake and black garlic, the bean-curd tartlet with pumpkin-soy foam, and the tofu Mont Blanc. Add the pairing if you want the full argument.
What does Mora cost?
The "Characters of Soy" lunch is HK$680 for five courses and dinner is HK$1,080 for six, before drinks and service. That is mid-range for a one-star Hong Kong room, and lunch in particular is strong value for cooking at this level. Wine and tea pairings cost extra.
Where is Mora?
At 40 Upper Lascar Row, Cat Street, in Sheung Wan, a heritage shophouse just off Hollywood Road. It is an easy walk from Sheung Wan MTR, and the antique-market lane is worth arriving early for. The dining room sits above the street with the open kitchen in full view.
What Guests Say
I came to Mora sceptical about the concept and left having reconsidered my relationship with an ingredient I eat every day. The tempeh course with six-month fermented black bean paste was a technical and philosophical statement about Chinese culinary heritage. Exceptional.
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