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Lifestyle100 Top Tables

Beyond the plate: Hong Kong’s top hotel tables offer experiential dining with plenty of drama

These hotels are turning meals into immersive spectacles with optical illusions, opera, coffee raves and dining in the dark

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Guests enjoy a show with their meal at The Magic Table experience at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong. Photo: Handout
Victoria Burrows

Guests sitting down for dinner at The Residence at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong will find that their tabletop has been turned into a visual spectacle. A virtual story is projected onto the table, with optical techniques and length distortions creating the illusion of depth and a 3D effect.

The interactive, immersive dining experience, called The Magic Table, is the global premiere of a new show by two stars of America’s Got Talent, Thommy Ten and Amélie van Tass, who perform as The Clairvoyants. Taking place from Wednesday through Sunday, with two shows per evening, the experiential dinner is the second of its kind at the Grand Hyatt. The immersive experience follows on from February’s Le Petit Chef, in which a miniature chef projected onto tables interacted with dishes.
Beef tartare, one of the dishes available at The Magic Table at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong. Photo: Handout
Beef tartare, one of the dishes available at The Magic Table at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong. Photo: Handout

These technology-meets-dining storytelling events are just two of a wider range of unusual experiential options in the city this year. Hongkongers have also had the opportunity to sit down for dinner in pitch-black darkness, enjoy dishes paired with live opera, and attend a daytime rave serving salted dried plum and cherry tomato coffee.

This trend raises the question: what happened to just meeting at a coffee shop or going out for a meal with good food, good wine and good conversation? In a city known for flaunting expensive wines and luxury ingredients, have we shifted to showing off with exclusive experiences?

At a time when many restaurants are struggling to fill seats, the organisers of these unique events say they are highly successful.

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