Let's do launch(3)
"The local Hong Kong Chinese were constantly telling us they wanted more seafood, so we put it on the menu," he says.
"Mainlanders will go for something simple like steak. Because it is just a steak, it is not something we would ever have done back in Melbourne."
Pearl on the Peak has also introduced a set lunch menu to cater for the tourist crowd.
After nine years in Melbourne, British-born chef Donovan Cooke moved to Hong Kong after the closure of Ondine, his restaurant in the basement of the Republic tower.
After a decade in Australia in which he also ran est est est in South Melbourne and Luxe in St Kilda, he says he needed a change.
He took up the position of chef de cuisine at a restaurant with an almost entirely Chinese customer base, albeit a highly educated and sophisticated one.
The Derby Bar and Restaurant is the flagship of the members-only Hong Kong Jockey Club and Donovan's clients include some of the most powerful people in Hong Kong.
"I believe the food I do here is better than anything I did in Melbourne," says Donovan, who describes his menu as French-based but lighter and fresher than classical cuisine.
"We have an expansive menu," he says. "Our older customers prefer simple dishes like sole and I always (offer) lobster bisque. But I also have more innovative things on for the younger set such as roasted butternut pumpkin and sage ravioli and black olive braised brill."
One of the biggest challenges any chef faces in Hong Kong is the sourcing of produce - everything has to be imported.
That requires a high level of organisation but it also presents an opportunity to use produce from anywhere in the world.
"Sourcing has been a great thing for me," Lindsay says. "We use as many international ingredients as possible - oysters come from all over the world, scallops from Canada, Boston lobster and foie gras from France."
The big difference is seasonal produce - there simply isn't any. For a chef like Ezard, whose food is produce-driven, that presented teething problems.
"I had planned to have the same menu in Hong Kong and Melbourne but it didn't work out," he says.
"In Hong Kong, a lot of restaurants work by the recipe rather than the produce."
Ask any chef who has worked in Hong Kong what their greatest challenge is, though, and the likely answer will be finding good staff.
That was certainly the case for Dane Clouston at Jia. "Chefs here don't see cooking as a career choice, it is more of a labour job," he says. "These are not people who are going to go home and read about food."
There are also cultural differences in kitchen etiquette. Kitchens in Hong Kong are largely manned by local Hong Kong Chinese staff who do not respond to shouting or kitchen tantrums.
"The problem is Chinese chefs work in gangs," Ezard says. "If one isn't happy then they all get up and go. You have to be very diplomatic and treat them with a lot of respect."
If it's hard to find the right kitchen staff, then front of house presents even more of a problem.
For a start, waiters need to be bilingual. "They need a lot of training in how to approach guests, the food philosophy and the whole dining experience," Ezard says.
Greg Malouf is something of an old hand when it comes to Hong Kong. He lived here for three years in the 1980s and came back in 2004 to launch Olive.
This month, his second restaurant, Arabesque, opened. The new Malouf's is more elegant and glamorous than the bistro-style Olive.
Malouf's chef at Olive, Mick Van Warmelo, worked with him at O'Connell's in South Melbourne and at Mo Mo, while the new chef at Malouf's Arabesque, Robin Sutcliffe, spent the last two years at the one-hat Healesville Hotel. Front of house will be Adrian Hall, most recently assistant manager at Taxi.
"If you have the right staff to train your foot soldiers, the formula becomes manageable," Malouf says.
"Olive isn't flash and the service can be really ordinary but as long as the food is consistent people will come back.
In Hong it's not about money at all - it's about face and consistency and having a dish and liking it and coming back. You don't want to change the menu too often."
Malouf hopes that in a few years' time there will be a family of Malouf's Arabesques dotted around Hong Kong.
"It's a tough town," he says. "But there's something about Hong Kong that always draws me back."
