While Hongkongers scout remote destinations for their first holiday in 2026, a journey of discovery for the palate is now on offer closer to home. Yurt, newly opened on SoHo’s Elgin Street, is bringing the hitherto unexplored flavours of Central Asia to the heart of the city, proving you don’t need a boarding pass to be an adventurous gourmand.
In a dining scene that prides itself on diversity, Central Asia has remained conspicuously absent from the many menus on offer in Hong Kong. For the founders behind Yurt, filling that gap has been a project a long time in the making.
“This idea has been in the back of all our minds for years, even before we met,” they share. The catalyst was when Xeniya Tregubenko was introduced to fellow Kazakh native Ali Nuraly through a mutual friend early last year. What started as a casual chat quickly touched on a common dream – to introduce Central Asian flavours to Hong Kong.
