Hong Kong's one-Michelin-starred Whey is swapping notes with Vietnam's one-Michelin-starred Upstairs Tasting Room. For two nights only — Tuesday 7 and Wednesday 8 September 2026 — the Central restaurant's kitchen will host Chef Hiep Truong of Ho Chi Minh City's Upstairs, joining Whey founder Chef Barry Quek and Head Chef Keith Nathaniel Teo for a one-off collaboration dinner built around the culinary overlap between Vietnam and Singapore.
In This Guide
What Is the Whey x Upstairs Collaboration Dinner?
Whey will hand its Wellington Street kitchen to a guest chef for two nights only, teaming up with Chef Hiep Truong of Upstairs Tasting Room in Ho Chi Minh City's Thao Dien district. Whey and Upstairs previously collaborated in Ho Chi Minh City, and this September's dinner is billed as a reunion — this time on Whey's home turf in Central.
The dinner sits inside a wider run of chef swaps Upstairs has been hosting through its 2026 collaboration series, which has already brought in two-Michelin-star Tokyo restaurant HOMMAGE and is scheduled to continue later in the year with Bangkok's Wana Yook and Singapore's two-Michelin-star Meta. Whey's turn — run in reverse, with Upstairs travelling to Hong Kong — lands right in the middle of that run, on 7 and 8 September 2026.
Who Are Chef Barry Quek and Chef Hiep Truong?
Barry Quek is the Singaporean-born founder and head chef of Whey, which opened on Wellington Street and earned its Michelin star within months. His food filters the flavours he grew up with in Singapore through European fine-dining technique — Whey's own tagline describes it as contemporary Singaporean cuisine. He now runs the kitchen alongside Head Chef Keith Nathaniel Teo.
Hiep Truong is the co-founder and head chef of Upstairs Tasting Room, a small tasting-menu restaurant tucked above a wine bar in Thao Dien. His cooking draws on the flavours of Hue in central Vietnam, where he grew up, reworking family recipes and regional specialities with modern technique. Upstairs earned its first Michelin star in June 2026, roughly a year and a half after opening — a fast rise that put Hiep on the radar of chefs across the region, Whey included.
What's on the Menu?
Whey and Upstairs have described the collaboration menu as a multi-course tasting menu exploring the culinary connections between Vietnam and Singapore, cooked jointly by Quek, Teo and Truong. Specific dishes had not been published at the time of writing. Whey's regular service runs a single seven-course tasting menu, so expect the collaboration dinner to follow a similarly structured, multi-course format rather than an à la carte spread — though the exact course count for this one-off menu has not been confirmed.
For a sense of the register each kitchen usually cooks in: Whey's everyday menu leans on Singaporean staples such as buah keluak and nasi ulam reworked through modern European technique, while Truong's Vietnamese tasting menus at Upstairs reinterpret dishes like gỏi bò cà (Wagyu tartare with aubergine purée) through refined plating. Diners who want a broader sense of what a Vietnam-leaning menu in Hong Kong looks like can browse our roundup of the best Vietnamese restaurants in Hong Kong.
Dates, Price and How to Book
The collaboration dinner runs for two nights only — 7 and 8 September 2026 — at HK$1,888 per person, plus a 10% service charge. That is a step up from Whey's usual seven-course tasting menu, which runs HK$1,398 per person on a normal night, reflecting the one-off nature of the event and the extra kitchen the collaboration brings in.
There is no online booking form for this specific dinner: reservations run through Whey's Instagram or Facebook pages rather than a web widget, so keep an eye on both accounts and be ready to message as soon as booking opens. For Whey's normal seven-course menu, reservations open two months ahead at 10am HKT via the restaurant's own website.
Whey
Whey holds one star in the MICHELIN Guide Hong Kong & Macau; guest chef Hiep Truong's Upstairs Tasting Room holds one star in the MICHELIN Guide Vietnam. Book via Whey's Instagram or Facebook — there is no direct online booking page for this specific dinner.
Getting to Whey
Whey sits right on the border of Central and Sheung Wan, on Wellington Street near PMQ and the Graham Street Market — walkable from either MTR station. From Sheung Wan Station, Exit A2 is roughly a 4-minute walk, while Exit E2 shaves that down to about 3 minutes. The restaurant is small, so arriving on time matters more than usual for a one-off event like this. For more of the neighbourhood's dining scene, see our guide to Hong Kong's Michelin-starred restaurants or our wider look at why Hong Kong's food scene is booming in 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Good to know
Seats for one-off collaboration dinners like this tend to disappear fast, and Whey takes bookings for this one via Instagram DM rather than a web widget — follow @whey.hk (or Whey's Facebook page) now so you don't miss the moment reservations open, and be ready to move quickly given it's only two nights.