As Hong Kong finally cools down, some people reach for hotpot, others for mulled wine. At The Hari Hong Kong, winter now comes with something a little more eccentric: a bubbling pot of Swiss-meets-Japan cheese fondue spiked with premium sake, served under a living wall in the middle of Wan Chai.

Zoku, the hotel’s contemporary Japanese restaurant, is reviving its Sukiyaki Cheese Fondue this season and moving the ritual outside to The Terrace, its alfresco bar. It’s designed less like a one-off promotion and more like a weekly winter habit—something you book with a friend or two when the city’s wind suddenly feels sharper on your walk home.

“We are thrilled to reintroduce our Sukiyaki Cheese Fondue this winter, making it a cherished cold-weather tradition at Zoku,” said The Hari Hong Kong food and beverage director Francesco Gava. “Its success last year confirmed how much our guests value creative, communal dining experiences, and so it felt only natural to bring it back.”

From December 5, 2025 until January 31, 2026, the fondue returns every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 6–9 p.m., turning a corner of Wan Chai into a cozy pocket of après-ski energy—just with sake instead of schnapps.

A Japanese twist on Swiss comfort

Classic fondue is usually a mix of Alpine cheeses and white wine. At Zoku, the base is a blend of Swiss Emmental and Tokachi cheese enriched with premium sake, simmering in a pot that sits in the center of the table. It’s a little bit Switzerland, a little bit Hokkaido, and very much Hong Kong in the way it borrows, bends and remixes influences.

The setting helps. The Terrace is framed by greenery and a dramatic triple-storey living wall, an open-air nook that somehow feels both lush and intimate despite being right in the heart of Wan Chai—one of the city’s oldest, busiest and most layered districts. Orange bubble glass tealights, light linens, patterned aqua fabrics and statement marble lean into a kind of urban warmth, more design-led than rustic chalet.

Inside, Zoku itself—“clan” in Japanese—continues that mood with leather fluted booths, crimson velvet banquettes and bar lounge chairs lit by pink bubble glass tealight holders and orange hand-stitched fringed lampshades. Overhead, a ceiling of angled timber slats mimics folded origami, reminding you this is still very much a contemporary Japanese restaurant, even if there’s cheese stretching from your chopsticks.

What ends up in the pot

The Sukiyaki Cheese Fondue is priced at HK$688 for two people, including tea or coffee. The menu leans surprisingly vegetarian, with accompaniments chosen as much for texture as for flavour. Dippers include toast bread, shiitake mushrooms, broccolini, asparagus, broiled cherry tomatoes, Japanese sweet potatoes, taro and shishito peppers.

Seasoning is where it tilts back toward Japan: shichimi, wasabi, sesame and yuzu kosho are all on the table, allowing you to turn each bite into something punchy, citrusy or gently numbing depending on your mood.

For those who want something more substantial, an enhanced set at HK$988 for two adds skewers from the binchotan grill—U.S. prime beef, Kyushu chicken thigh and Hokkaido scallop. There’s also an optional seafood tempura plate (HK$228) featuring soft-shell crab, tiger prawn and octopus spring roll, two pieces of each, for anyone who likes their cheese followed by crunch.

How the night ends

Because this is still The Hari, the evening doesn’t stop at melted cheese. A matcha layer cake and white chocolate mousse closes the meal on a sweet, layered note—green tea bitterness against creamy white chocolate, plated as a gentle landing after all the dipping and skewering.

On the drinks side, the team has curated a short list of warm sake pairings to echo the fondue’s own sake base. Options include the elegant Gassan Houjun Karakuchi (HK$168) and the refined Yamagata Masamune Junmai (HK$198). For those who prefer a more classic night out, there are signature cocktails and champagne as well, making it easy to turn a casual fondue into a low-key celebration.

A new clan around the pot

Fondue’s story began in 18th-century Switzerland, where families would gather around a single pot and dip whatever bread and cheese they had left as winter dragged on. Its name comes from the French fondre—“to melt”—and it was never meant to be fancy: just a way to turn what was available into something heartening and communal.

This winter, Zoku and The Hari Hong Kong lean into that legacy while happily drifting from the script. The Sukiyaki Cheese Fondue keeps the spirit of gathering and sharing but filters it through a Japanese-Swiss lens that feels native to Hong Kong’s habit of remixing cultures. Friends, colleagues or couples gather under a living wall instead of a farmhouse roof, dipping asparagus instead of stale bread, sipping warm sake instead of white wine.

The ritual is the same, even if the soundtrack is Wan Chai traffic instead of Alpine cowbells.

If you go

The Sukiyaki Cheese Fondue menu is available at Zoku & The Terrace from December 5, 2025 until January 31, 2026, every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 6–9 p.m.

Price:

• HK$688 for two persons, including tea or coffee
• HK$988 for two persons with binchotan grill skewers (U.S. prime beef, Kyushu chicken thigh, Hokkaido scallop)
• Seafood tempura add-on (soft-shell crab, tiger prawn, octopus spring roll; two pieces each) at HK$228

For more information, visit:

https://www.thehari.com/hong-kong/the-hari-hotel-hong-kong-eat-drink/zoku/sukiyaki-cheese-fondue