Okinawa Chef Teppei Zama Brings Japanese-Italian Pasta to Hong Kong

Teppei Zama has staged kitchens in Naples, run his own restaurant in Denmark, and built one of Okinawa's most talked-about pasta programs. On April 15 and 16, the Pastaione co-founder brings that entire arc to Hillwood Road when he takes over Zozzona, Tsim Sha Tsui's Japanese-Italian pasta bar, for a two-night-only engagement.

Pastaione earned its reputation the hard way. The Okinawa restaurant, recognised in the POP category at Gault & Millau Japan 2024, was built around Zama's training at the two-Michelin-starred Taverna Estia near Naples and his subsequent years opening and running his own Italian restaurant in Denmark. What he brought back to Okinawa was a practice grounded in Italian technique but filtered through Japanese seasonal precision: local prefecture seafood, island-specific proteins, and ingredients that don't travel far before they reach the pasta.

For the Zozzona takeover, that philosophy will be on full display across a menu that reads as both a primer on Okinawan produce and a showcase for what pasta can do as a vehicle for place. The evening opens with antipasti: a tagliatelle-style calamaro plating of Okinawan squid dressed with lemon zest and squid-ink powder, tuna tartare with olives, capers, and mushrooms, jidori chicken liver pâté with candied almonds, and zeppole di baccalà (cod fritters) served with jam and mascarpone.

The pasta courses are where the Agu pork argument gets made. Pappardelle al ragù di Agu pork, slow-braised with Chianti and onions, will anchor the menu alongside mezzi paccheri ai frutti di mare, Japanese seafood tossed with San Marzano tomatoes. A secondi of Bistecca di Manzo, Japanese beef sirloin with potato purée and beef jus, rounds out the savoury progression before dessert: Okinawa Tiramisu built on mascarpone, cocoa, and crumbled chinsukō, the island's traditional shortbread cookie that here acts as the local counterpoint to a savoiardi base.

Zozzona itself is no passive host. Chef Takayuki Kumai, who spent six years as pasta chef at Carbone before opening Zozzona with Christopher Mark and Vidur Yadav, has made Hillwood Road a neighbourhood destination on its own terms. The house Okinawa seaweed zeppole and seven-course omakase (HKD 458) have drawn regulars who will find Zama's takeover menu both familiar in spirit and entirely distinct in sourcing. For Zozzona regulars who already know what the house tiramisu tastes like, Zama's chinsukō version offers the kind of side-by-side comparison that makes a takeover night worth the trip.

Seating across both April 15 and 16 is limited and reservations are expected to fill fast. If you're coordinating a group, building a pre-dinner aperitivo on Hillwood Road into the plan gives latecomers a fallback and early arrivals a reason to linger. A kitchen takeover of this specificity, Okinawa Agu pork ragù on pappardelle in Tsim Sha Tsui, does not repeat itself.