The Aubrey

A Floor That Had Something to Prove

When a hotel retires a fine-dining institution, the replacement inherits not just the real estate but the expectation. Pierre, the French restaurant that held the 25th floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong for years, earned the kind of loyalty that makes any successor's opening a fraught occasion. The Aubrey, which took over that panoramic floor, answered with a format that sidesteps direct comparison: a Japanese izakaya built around rare spirits, a multi-room layout, and a beverage program that treats shochu and awamori with the same curatorial seriousness that other Central addresses apply to Burgundy. A collaboration between Maximal Concepts and the Mandarin Oriental, the project is less a restaurant replacement than a category shift, from formal French dining to a venue where you might spend two hours or five, depending entirely on your mood.

The Room as Argument

The physical environment does substantial editorial work here. The 25th floor is divided into four distinct spaces: a main bar, a four-seat omakase cocktail bar, the Curio Lounge, and the Drawing Room. The logic of this division is not decorative; it is operational. Guests move between zones over the course of an evening rather than anchoring at a single table, and the room calibrates differently at each hour of the day.

The design registers as a considered collision of art nouveau and Japanisme, 140 period artworks sourced internationally line the walls, the whole effect evoking the home of a well-travelled collector rather than a hotel bar. Dark wood, warm lighting, brass accents, and light brown upholstery characterise the Main Bar, while the Curio Lounge runs lighter and more social. The four-seat omakase cocktail counter, tucked in its own quieter corner, operates almost as a separate venue within the floor. Aubrey Beardsley's aesthetic sensibility runs through the curation: the deliberate, slightly daring arrangement of objects and surfaces that refuses easy categorisation. For Central Hong Kong, where luxury interiors often trend toward the expected, this is a floor with an actual point of view.

Lunch at The Aubrey: The Bento Case

Lunch and dinner divide at The Aubrey is sharper than at most comparable addresses in the neighbourhood. During the day, the panorama carries different weight, Central's towers read more clearly in daylight, the harbour visible with the kind of precision that evening lighting softens. Lunch here positions itself as a contained, considered affair, anchored by a bento served in a handcrafted box. The format draws from izakaya tradition in Ginza, where the bento is not an afterthought but a considered assembly of technique and sourcing: Edomae sushi-making methods, fresh sustainably sourced ingredients, and the kind of menu breadth that lets a single lunch encompass sashimi, small plates, and cooked items without feeling scattered.

Izakaya format is well-suited to midday eating in ways that Central's more formal dining rooms are not. At 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana, Caprice, or Amber, the expectation of a full tasting progression shapes the pacing of a meal regardless of the hour. The Aubrey's à la carte structure allows a sharper edit at lunch, arrive, eat well, leave without committing to a format designed around a full evening. For comparison, Ta Vie on nearby Stanley Street operates a Japanese-French tasting menu that requires a different level of time and attention than most lunch schedules allow.

Dinner and the Multi-Room Drift

Evening at The Aubrey operates on different logic. The Curio Lounge, described by the venue's own inspectors as the natural home of a lively dinner, shifts in atmosphere as the night advances. A DJ programme runs on Friday and Saturday evenings; on other nights, the curated playlist of upbeat but unhurried music sustains the room's energy without tipping into noise. The cozy corners distributed across all four spaces mean that dinner here does not require committing to the room's social centre, the floor accommodates intimate meals and larger group energy simultaneously.

After dinner, the Main Bar's dark wood and Japanese-styled artwork provide a different register entirely. The drinks programme, led by hotel beverage manager Devender Sehgal, is built around spirits categories that remain genuinely underrepresented at most Hong Kong bars: shochu (presented with the note that no two bottles are alike), awamori (the oldest alcoholic drink from Okinawa), and Umeshu, the Japanese plum liqueur. Signature cocktails take their names from chess, the Two Bishops combines aged rum, rye whiskey, matcha, and milk; the Endgame uses tequila blanco, Campari, and vermouth. These are not gimmick names attached to standard builds; the chess taxonomy reflects a menu architecture where each drink occupies a calculated position.

The Curio Lounge's Champagne and Sake Bar extends the drinks programme into a different register: more than 50 champagne labels are available alongside 25 sakes, including three sparkling varieties. The house champagne, Hostomme Tradition Cuvée, was developed in collaboration with maison Hostomme in Chouilly, Champagne, a detail that places The Aubrey's beverage ambition in the same tier as hotel bars that commission rather than simply curate. For Hong Kong's broader bar scene, see our full Hong Kong bars guide.

The Omakase Cocktail Counter

The four-seat omakase cocktail bar operates as the floor's most focused experience. Where the main bar and Curio Lounge reward grazing and mood-driven exploration, the omakase counter asks for attention. The format begins with product provenance, moves through craftsmanship and production process, and closes with a completed drink, a structure that mirrors the omakase logic applied to food at counters like those in Ginza, translated into liquid form. For a city with a sophisticated cocktail culture, this is a format that earns its position: the depth of Japanese spirits knowledge required to run it well is not common, and the four-seat capacity ensures it does not become a performance for a crowd.

Izakaya format has evolved differently across markets. In Los Angeles, Budonoki and in San Francisco, Fish & Bird Sousaku Izakaya represent the genre's Western adaptations, while in Japan itself, Flippers in Tokyo and Touhichi in Osaka operate within the original cultural context. The Aubrey sits in a different position from all of these: a hotel property with a hotel address and hotel-scale backing, deploying izakaya logic in a room that had previously housed a formal European kitchen. The format holds because the beverage programme is genuinely serious and the kitchen draws on Edomae techniques rather than approximating Japanese food for a Western-leaning hotel clientele.

Where It Sits in Central's Dining Tier

Central Hong Kong carries some of the highest concentrations of rated restaurant addresses in Asia. Forum represents the Cantonese anchor; the European fine-dining tier runs through Caprice, Amber, and Otto e Mezzo. The Aubrey does not compete in that formal-dining bracket, it competes for a different kind of evening, one where the format is more fluid and the drinks are as important as the food. Google's reflects a venue that delivers consistently across a broad visiting public, not just a narrow specialist audience. For the full picture of Central's dining options, our Hong Kong restaurants guide covers the category in depth. You can also explore hotels, wineries, and experiences across the city.

Planning Your Visit

Location: 25/F, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, 5 Connaught Road Central. Dress: Smart casual; no shorts, torn jeans, singlets, flip-flops, or gentleman's sandals. Music: DJ programme on Friday and Saturday evenings; curated playlist on other nights. Booking: The four-seat omakase cocktail bar requires advance planning given its capacity; the main floor accommodates walk-ins depending on the hour, though weekend evenings fill early. Timing: Lunch suits a contained visit anchored by the bento format; dinner rewards a longer, multi-room evening that extends into the Main Bar after the meal.

at The Aubrey?

The answer depends on the hour. At lunch, the bento, served in a handcrafted box and drawing on Edomae sushi-making techniques alongside fresh, sustainably sourced ingredients, gives the broadest read of the kitchen's range in a single order. At dinner, the à la carte menu spanning sashimi, tempura, and robata allows a more selective approach. On the drinks side, the omakase cocktail experience at the four-seat bar is the most considered format available; for casual drinking, the Two Bishops (aged rum, rye whiskey, matcha, milk) is one of the signature builds most closely tied to the venue's Japanese spirits focus. The Champagne and Sake Bar in the Curio Lounge, with over 50 champagne labels and 25 sakes, suits guests who want depth in a specific category rather than the full cocktail programme.