What are the ‘wow’ dishes at third Samsen Thai restaurant in Hong Kong? We find out

Opening in Central, the third branch of Thai restaurant Samsen will have some new menu items, founders Adam Cliff and Bella Kong explain

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Samsen’s third location in Hong Kong, in Central’s On Lan Street, will serve chef Adam Cliff’s takes on some classic Thai street food dishes. Photo: Nicholas Wong/Sixteen Photography

Charmaine Mok

Published: 6:15pm, 16 Oct 2024Updated: 7:58am, 17 Oct 2024

When Samsen first opened in Hong Kong, in Wan Chai in 2016, chef Adam Cliff became known as the Wagyu beef noodles guy.

Then came the second Samsen in 2019, a larger space in a Sheung Wan side street, which was where Cliff could let his version of khao soi – a deep and richly flavoured curried chicken noodle dish that was not always available at the Wan Chai branch – fully take flight.

Now, with the third branch to open imminently in On Lan Street, Central, the chef is taking stock of which dish might define the new location.

“You just want to create more, do more, and more, and more,” says Cliff, describing the process of building Samsen’s menus of crowd-pleasing dishes. “There’s a list of [new] dishes that I’ve been collecting, and building almost daily. But I think it’s a very slippery slope.”

Still, unlike franchise and fast-food restaurants, his menus are not horrifically large because there are some self-imposed boundaries in place to keep his ship tight and his team happy.

Samsen co-founder Adam Cliff at the new restaurant in Central. The chef is taking stock of which dish might define the new location. Photo: Jonathan Wong

“I strip back the menu as much as possible to what people want,” Cliff says. “I don’t like a lot of chefs and restaurants who will keep things on the menu for the sake [of it], but they sell one a night.