The graffiti-laced hoarding at the top of the Kowloon MTR station escalators was the first thing that caught my eye. I use these escalators to get to Elements in West Kowloon a lot, and renovations announcing a second branch of The Night Market piqued my interest.

I was already a fan of the original in Central, both for its food and its good looks courtesy of wife and husband designing duo Alexi and Michael Young. They imbued the space with a funky industrial feel that is also warm and inviting, and I wondered what they would do with the West Kowloon edition.

Despite my usual rule of giving new restaurants at least three months to get their act together before I sample, my curiosity got the better of me. As I hurried to join a group of friends for lunch, I rationalized that Taiwanese entrepreneur and The Night Market founder Allen Lin have already been operating the Central location since 2009. I was sure that everything would be running in tiptop shape.