Most restaurants want you to sit down, eat and leave. Solstice Culinary Space would rather you stayed all day. Tucked into a tower on Lyndhurst Terrace (擺花街) in Central (中環), this is three ideas stacked on top of one another: a smart Korean tasting-menu restaurant, a loud and likeable Southeast Asian eatery, and a working cooking studio where you can pick up a knife yourself. It is one of the more ambitious things to land in the city's dining scene, and it makes a clever rainy-season plan when the typhoon signals start flying.
What is Solstice Culinary Space?
Solstice Culinary Space is a single venue with three personalities. It was created by ZS Hospitality Group — the team behind Hansik Goo, Hong Kong's only Michelin-starred Korean restaurant — and opened on Lyndhurst Terrace in 2025. The name is the clue. A solstice is a turning point of the year, and in much of Asia it is a moment for families to gather and eat. The venue runs with that idea.
Under one roof you get three connected concepts: SOL, a fine-dining restaurant; Uncle Quek, a casual Southeast Asian eatery; and the Solstice Cooking Studio, a teaching kitchen. The point is range. You can mark a big occasion, grab a relaxed supper, or actually learn to cook — all at the same address.
That mix is rare in Hong Kong, where rents usually force a venue to pick one lane and stick to it. If you are mapping out where this sits among the city's heavy hitters, our guide to the 50 best restaurants in Hong Kong is the wider picture.
SOL — Korean flavours, Western technique
SOL is the grown-up of the three. It sits on the fifth floor and trades in fine dining, pairing Korean ingredients and ideas with Western technique. Think gochujang and doenjang treated with the precision of a tasting-menu kitchen rather than a barbecue grill. It is the kind of room you book for an anniversary, not a Tuesday.
The menus are set. Lunch is the gentle way in, with a tasting menu around HK$388 per person; dinner steps up to a longer tasting from about HK$888, with premium options climbing towards HK$1,118. SOL has since earned a place in the Michelin Guide's Hong Kong selection, which tells you the kitchen is being taken seriously by the people who hand out stars.
Korean fine dining is still a small field in Hong Kong, which is part of what makes SOL interesting. It is not chasing the same diners as the city's Cantonese banquet halls or Japanese counters — it is carving out its own corner, and doing it with confidence.
Uncle Quek — the casual one upstairs
Head upstairs and the mood flips completely. Uncle Quek is the casual Southeast Asian eatery of the trio, helmed by Barry Quek — the chef behind the well-regarded Hong Kong restaurant Whey. Here he cooks the food he grew up around: Southeast Asian dishes with a distinct Hokkien twist, served without ceremony.
It is the accessible end of the building, and the prices reflect it. Set menus start at around HK$158 per person, which by Central standards is a steal. This is where you come with friends, order too much and share it across the table — the opposite energy to SOL's hushed dining room one floor below.
Having the two side by side is the whole trick. One night it is a special-occasion blowout; the next it is a casual bowl of something comforting. For more of the city's of-the-moment arrivals, see our round-up of the new restaurants to try in Hong Kong this June.
What can you learn at the Solstice Cooking Studio?
This is the part that sets Solstice apart from every other restaurant in Central. The Solstice Cooking Studio is a proper teaching kitchen, kitted out with professional-grade Gaggenau appliances, where you roll up your sleeves and cook rather than just watch.
The programme moves across Asia. Classes cover Korean, Southeast Asian and Cantonese cooking among others, and they are led by acclaimed, Michelin-recognised chefs — so you are learning technique from people who do it for a living. If a class fires up your interest in Cantonese cooking, our guide to the best Cantonese restaurants in Hong Kong is a good place to taste the professional version.
It is also a genuinely good wet-weather plan. Hong Kong's summer is hot, sticky and prone to typhoon signals — the storm warnings that can wipe out an afternoon — and a few air-conditioned hours learning to fold dumplings beats staring at the rain. Classes run on a set schedule and need booking ahead, so check the studio's calendar before you build a day around it.
The Snøhetta design — a room that follows the sun
The space itself is a draw, not just a backdrop. Solstice was designed by Snøhetta, the international architecture and design firm, across roughly 340 square metres and two floors. The brief was to make the passing of time feel physical, and the team leaned all the way into it.
The centrepiece is a gently concave ceiling that curves overhead and diffuses light across the main dining room, referencing the sun. Sculptural installations at opposite ends stand in for sun and moon, and the lighting shifts through the day to echo natural daylight — bright and clear at lunch, low and atmospheric by dinner. It is a lot of concept for a restaurant, but it lands.
For a sense of how it photographs and the thinking behind it, design magazine Wallpaper has a full look at the build. It is the kind of room that makes a meal feel like an occasion before the first plate even arrives — and a smart pairing with our pick of Hong Kong's buzziest new restaurant openings.
How to visit Solstice: prices, hours and booking
You will find Solstice at 5/F & 6/F, 8 Lyndhurst Terrace (擺花街), Central (中環). SOL is on the fifth floor, with Uncle Quek and the cooking studio upstairs. The easiest route is Central MTR, Exit D2, then a short walk up towards the Central–Mid-Levels Escalator — roughly eight to ten minutes, mostly uphill, so wear sensible shoes in the heat.
On price, the three concepts cover a wide spread. SOL's tasting menus run about HK$388 at lunch and from HK$888 at dinner (premium options near HK$1,118); Uncle Quek's set menus start around HK$158; and cooking classes are ticketed per session. Treat all of these as a guide rather than gospel and confirm the latest figures when you book.
Hours vary by venue. SOL serves Monday to Saturday, roughly noon–3pm and 6–10pm, and is closed on Sundays; Uncle Quek and the studio keep their own schedules. Booking is sensible for SOL and essential for classes, while Uncle Quek is the more walk-in-friendly option. Check the official Solstice website before you set out.
Solstice Culinary Space — Essential Facts
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Where to eat next
From Korean tasting menus to the city's newest tables, see everything worth booking in our guide to the new restaurants to try in Hong Kong this June.