GEEZ,LOUISE

For JIA Group’s Yenn Wong, the timing couldn’t have been more fortuitous. This March, Julien Royer, the darling of Singapore and chef-owner of fine-dining restaurant Odette, knocked Bangkok’s Gaggan off the top spot in the 2019 edition of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. Within the same week, Julien announced he was teaming up with Yenn to open Louise, his first venture outside the Lion City. The zeitgeist was coming to Hong Kong.

Thinking back, Yenn laughs at how seamlessly everything seemed to come together. The two had been friends for a long time—enamoured by Julien’s early work at Jaan in Singapore, Yenn had approached him to open a restaurant even before the chef had moved on to open Odette—but it wasn’t until recently that the two had the opportunity to join forces. After