Hong Kong is a city built on fast change, so a restaurant designed to last feels like a quiet statement of intent. Always Joy, the latest venture from Lindsay Jang and Matt Abergel, is exactly that. Located next to Yardbird – the duo’s acclaimed izakaya and a fixture on every Hong Kong dining shortlist – the Japanese diner offers a distinct yet complementary experience.
“What I love most about this place is that it feels permanent,” says Abergel. “The chairs and tables are fixed to the ground, and the kitchen is a solid block of stainless steel. There’s comfort in that.”
The space on Wing Lok Street in Sheung Wan, which was once a candy shop, feels more like a continuation than a departure. “We always wanted something next door,” says Jang. “It adds energy. Yardbird is so busy and we’re always turning people away. Now, we can walk them over here for a nightcap or dessert. It’s circular.”
That circularity isn’t just spatial. The project, Jang and Abergel say, is an evolution of their journey and one grounded in loyalty. The Canadian pair have kept the team behind their 14-seater sister bar and restaurant Ronin in Soho, which closed at the end of 2024 after over a decade. “We wouldn’t have opened this if the team wasn’t going to come with us,” says Abergel.
Hong Kong’s restaurant and bar industry is in a particularly turbulent state of flux. Rising rents and decreasing footfall have forced many long-standing favourites to shutter their doors at a faster pace than usual. Each closure throws up fresh headlines about changing tastes and irreversible decline (along with queues of diners eager to eat at said establishment one last time), but the city has plenty of new chefs and concepts opening in their place. Recent notable openings include the Japanese-Korean inspired dishes at Yorucho in Causeway Bay, and Voon by Edward Voon in Kennedy Town, a more casual, neighbourhood bistro venture from the established fine-dining chef. Bar Leone’s lauded founder Lorenzo Antinori has just opened a second bar called Montana, this time inspired by Cuba and in collaboration with Simone Caporale of Sips in Barcelona.
Always Joy is contributing to this fresh momentum, and the duo behind it have not done anything by halves. For the interior design, Abergel and Jang went to their fellow countryman, Willo Perron, founder and creative director of the LA-based studio Perron Roettinger, who is best known for retail interiors. Perron’s first restaurant design draws on the classic American diner but with moody elegance. Chrome finishes extend from the open kitchen to the bar, set against burgundy pumice-textured walls and mustard-yellow upholstery. There are quiet nods to the pair’s past: Ronin’s vintage Bruno Rey chairs, tiled walls, a refurbished Yardbird grill, and Hasami plateware collected over the years.
“When I first saw the space, it reminded me of those diner photos,” says Abergel. “That was the starting point that translates very well into our neighbourhood restaurant – casual and comfortable with very few limitations.”
The menu shares that spirit of ease. It will shift with what’s fresh at the local wet markets and dried seafood shops. Dishes lean into seafood and vegetables, simply prepared to highlight flavour, such as the tomatoes tossed with passion fruit and shio kombu for a punch of umami. “Uncomplicate and simplify,” says Abergel. Cocktails won’t be shaken. Beer and wine join a short list of seasonal sake and fresh juices sourced from a nearby fruit vendor.
“I think it’s nice to grab a bunch of stuff and experiment,” he adds. “I don’t want it to be perfect. I want it to evolve. We’ve been here [in Hong Kong] since 2009, so we have the freedom to do something without needing to define a cuisine or a concept. This is just a continuation of the story we’re already telling.”
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