Causeway Bay's fine-dining map has a new address worth a detour: Ébauche, the solo debut of chef Antonio “Toni” Au, has opened eighteen floors above Jardine's Bazaar with a tasting menu that runs modern French technique through a distinctly Hong Kong memory bank — think nam yu (fermented red bean curd) folded into a beef tendon beignet, or an okonomiyaki-inspired mille-feuille sitting under dry-aged duck.
In This Guide
What is Ébauche?
Ébauche means “a preliminary sketch” in French, a name chef Toni Au chose to signal that the menu is a work in progress rather than a finished statement — dishes are expected to evolve as ingredients change through the seasons. The restaurant occupies a compact, eighteenth-floor space built around an open kitchen and a chef's table, so the small dining room watches most of the eight courses come together a few feet away.
It's Au's first solo restaurant after years cooking in some of the world's most decorated kitchens, and it lands in Causeway Bay at a moment when the neighbourhood's dining scene is shifting away from its mall-and-chain reputation toward smaller, chef-driven rooms. For a wider view of what else has opened nearby, see our guide to Gyutan Valley in Causeway Bay.
Who is chef Toni Au?
Toni Au is a Hong Kong-born chef who trained at El Celler de Can Roca, the Girona restaurant regularly ranked among the world's best, before returning to the city to work the pass at Écriture, the two-Michelin-starred French restaurant in Central. Ébauche is his first venture as a chef-owner, and the menu reads as a deliberate bridge between those two influences: French plating discipline applied to ingredients and flavour cues — nam yu, okonomiyaki, miso — that read as unmistakably Cantonese.
That kind of cross-pollination has become one of the more interesting threads running through Hong Kong's fine-dining scene this year, alongside openings like Il Presidente and other chef-led debuts reworking familiar formats. Diners who enjoyed Hong Kong's established French dining rooms will find Ébauche sits at the more experimental end of that spectrum.
What's on the tasting menu?
The eight-course tasting menu costs HK$1,380 plus 10% service and changes with the seasons, but early highlights give a clear sense of the kitchen's direction. A nam yu beef tendon beignet takes the fermented red bean curd usually found in braises and works it into a fried, pillowy starter. A dry-aged duck breast arrives with an okonomiyaki-inspired mille-feuille — layering French pastry technique over a Japanese street-food reference. Elsewhere, snow crab is paired with a miso and dill panna cotta, and a kabu (turnip) chicken liver truffle tart shows the same instinct for grounding rich, French-leaning ingredients in something more familiar.
Portions are tasting-menu scale — built for pacing over a full evening rather than a quick dinner — and the open-kitchen layout means the courses are plated and finished in view of the room. Wine pairings and a la carte add-ons weren't published in English at the time of writing; call ahead to confirm current options.
Ébauche
Seating is limited around the open kitchen and chef's table, so book ahead — especially for Friday and Saturday dinners. Reservations can be made by phone; check Ébauche's Instagram or OpenRice listing for the latest availability.
Getting there
Aura on Pennington sits just off Jardine's Bazaar, one of Causeway Bay's busiest shopping streets, close to the Jardine's Crescent market. From Causeway Bay MTR Station (Island Line), take Exit E, walk along Hennessy Road toward Yee Wo Street, then cut through to Jardine's Bazaar — the building is roughly five minutes on foot. Given Causeway Bay's evening crowds, it's worth building in a few extra minutes either side of your booking.
Frequently Asked Questions
Worth knowing
Ébauche is open now in Causeway Bay — an eight-course tasting menu from a first-time chef-owner with a genuinely distinctive point of view.