Charlene Dawes’ first foray into hospitality came with Tastings Wine Bar. It opened in 2008 with more than 160-plus wine labels on rotation available on tap, mere months before the financial crisis plagued Hong Kong and the rest of the world.
Another venue of hers, The Envoy, the former Central-based colonial British restaurant-bar, opened shortly after the 2014 Hong Kong protests began in Hong Kong. And soon, Charlene’s next venues showed a pattern of coincidence, and resilience.
Draft Land, in partnership with mixologist Antonio Lai, launched right before the 2019 protests. Chef Vicky Cheng’s WING Restaurant opened their doors in the thick of the pandemic in early 2021.
“It is our goal to preserve during the hard times of Hong Kong,” Charlene shares. “At Tastings Group, we want to provide experience and be a good host.”
“Beyond the protests, pandemic, and financial crises’ Hong Kong has faced in the past two decades, every year in the hospitality industry challenges you. During really bad times or hard times, people still need small celebrations, people still want to have a drink.”
“Our guests like to come back and see familiar faces at our venues. When there are bad moments, people still need to eat and drink. With all of our bars and restaurants, we maintain consistency and we take care of our people.”
Joining Quinary, VEA Restaurant, The Opposites, Liz & Tori, and Medora too, Charlene leads Tastings Group, a collection – not a restaurant group as she is intent on pointing out – of venues trademarked with her leadership and an auteuristic style of Vicky and Antonio.
“I don’t see ourselves as a restaurant group. In a way, we are a little impulsive, driven by what we believe consumers want and for their experience.”
Traditionally, as Charlene finds, Hong Kong restaurant groups open a variety of venues that fits all cuisines and types, fitting the needs of diners that are looking for specific food styles, like casual Japanese, steakhouse, and gourmet Chinese. “We only open something because of the relationship I have with a chef or mixologist.”
At the root of Charlene’s hospitality philosophy, entering her 19th year in the business, relationships, and starpower, has nurtured success and attention for her venues.
Michelin stars, 50 Best placings, Diageo World Class rankings, and Black Pearl diamonds have arrived over the years, but diners have long lauded VEA Restaurant and WING for its fine-dining excellence and Quinary, The Opposites, and Draft Land’s with its artistic cocktail craft.
The pair’s concepts have been allowed to generate and grow organically to meet genuine needs in the market, rather than brainstormed endlessly in marketing meetings.
When Vicky Cheng returned to Hong Kong following stints at various North American-based fine-dining restaurants, the chef found a similar vision with Charlene for human-centric hospitality. With her support, Vicky launched VEA Restaurant in 2015, serving French-meets-Chinese cooking with a laser focus on personal dining experience for the guest.
Six years later, WING arrived as Vicky’s second project to focus on the fusing of traditional and modern Chinese cuisine, transgressing local Cantonese flavours through to the north across China.
“He was very passionate about Chinese food so we opened WING together. Our latest restaurant in Hong Kong, Medora, came about for him to explore ingredients used both in fine-dining and non-fine dining settings, completing the circle of how ingredients can power a restaurant.”
As for bars, her bread and butter, she worked with Antonio to open Quinary to feed his “love for molecular mixology.”
After Quinary opened, the pair launched the former ORI-GIN, Hong Kong’s first gin bar, in 2013 to inspire a local love for a liquor formerly unknown to the city’s palate. “At the time, Dr. Fern’s [Gin Parlour] and Ping Pong [129] did not exist, people didn’t really drink gin. We introduced gin as a yummy cocktail and converted people.”
The same happened with Draft Land, in collaboration with Taiwanese mixologist Angus Zou, now operating in two Hong Kong locations. “In 2019, Hong Kong did not have a bar serving cocktails on tap until we launched Draft Land. It was tough in the beginning, but we were able to convince people [to visit].”
In this sense, whether Tastings Group can be seen a true restaurant group is besides the point. Typically, in Hong Kong, chefs more often seek flexibility beyond their groups, hotels, and partnerships to grow their skills and repertoire, but the food and cocktails has tasted better within Charlene’s venues with a loyalty and trust with Vicky and Antonio. They have worked with her over a combined 25 years.
“[Tastings Group] is all about partnership and collaboration. With all three of us, we are creating and trusting each other. When things work, I don’t have to be in absolute control. They take charge.”
Charlene reiterates that “being a good host” is vital to entice guests to return to their venues, be that for an eight-course dinner menu at WING or a Saturday night cocktail at The Opposites.
“If you are having a really bad day, you come into our home. We give you that experience you deserve, to be a good host for you. We want to make sure that you are taken care of.”
Ingrained in the art of hospitality, Charlene found proof in the pudding when Vicky won the Gin Mare Art of Hospitality Award 2025 at the World’s 50 Best Restaurants award ceremony in 2025, a testament to the chef’s “excellence in restaurant service and dining experiences.”
The same year, he won the Inedit Damm Chefs’ Choice Award at the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, recognised by chefs for his mastery in the kitchen.
After VEA picked up yet another one Michelin star at the 2026 Guide ceremony, Charlene sees the future as bright with her fine-dining and cocktail bar collection.
“We are exploring different collaborations to explore more on the drinks spectrum. It’s just seeing what kind of opportunity comes up.”
“There is no one plan for the future. We want to enjoy having a good business that relates to food and drinks, not just doing business for the sake of business. To enjoy what we are doing, to explore new territories, and bring new places to eat and drink to Hong Kong.”
Book your next fancy meal or cocktail bar trip at a Tastings Group venue this weekend.
