Meals From Underground : Hong Kong gourmands turn to 'secret eating societies'.(private dining)(Brief Article)(Illustration)

To find Hong Kong's hottest restaurants, don't bother checking the phone book or strolling through the city's entertainment districts. These days, the most sought-after tables are hidden away, several floors above ground, in the city's cramped high-rise apartments. To know this, you'd have to be a member of one of Hong Kong's "secret eating societies"--cliques that patronize a growing crop of tiny establishments run by chefs out of their own homes or from makeshift, rented spaces.

So popular are some of these private dining rooms--they have limited seating and keep irregular hours--that they are booked up weeks or even months in advance. And because most are unlicensed and don't advertise, merely requesting a reservation can be as difficult as getting one. Jacky Yu--who serves whimsical Japanese, Southeast Asian and Chinese dishes out of his small, third-floor art gallery in the bustling Wanchai district--doesn't answer his phone. Instead, prospective diners must send a fax to a number obtainable only through good connections. Several days later, Yu or an associate calls back. The current waiting time: seven months.

The trend is, in part, a response to the excesses of the 1990s. During the boom, confident Hong Kongers strutted about in Versace and ate at posh chrome-and-glass restaurants. These days, few want to be seen spending money on such extravagances. Since 1997 property prices have fallen by more than half. The unemployment rate hovers at about 7.8 percent, three times its 1996 level. Personal bankruptcies increase exponentially with each quarter. An influx of big spenders from China has only compounded snobbish Hong Kongers' distaste for flashy eateries. Says Christabel Lee, a regular private diner and managing director of a printing company: "There's too much overseas money [in the best restaurants]. It doesn't make for an appetizing meal when the people at the next table are loud ladies from Shanghai or Beijing."

For chefs, the trend is mostly about staying employed in a tough economy. Many launched their businesses after ...