Art + food experience in Hong Kong

A bank in Hong Kong just turned private banking into dinner theater for art collectors. On March 29, 2026, DBS Bank Hong Kong launched the second edition of DBS ARTable, a client event built around a four-hand meal, an art conversation, and a private exhibition. (dbs.com) This was timed to Hong Kong’s biggest art week. Art Basel Hong Kong opened public days from March 27 to March 29, 2026 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre with 240 galleries from 41 countries and territories. (artbasel.com) That timing is the whole play. When thousands of collectors, advisers, dealers, and luxury brands are already in one city for a fair, a bank can wrap wealth management inside the same social calendar they use for gallery dinners and private viewings. (artbasel.com) (dbs.com) DBS did not pitch this as a generic hospitality night. Its own announcement framed the event around “art, wealth and legacy,” and the bank paired chief executive Sebastian Paredes with actress, ceramicist, and curator Karena Lam for a discussion about the global art market and legacy planning. (dbs.com) (marketech-apac.com) The food was designed to act like an artwork, not just a meal. Chef Jun Lee of SOIGNÉ and Chef Nara Yun of Yunjudang created the menu together, with Lee serving a dumpling and Korean seaweed sauce tied to the “Black and White” concept from “Culinary Class Wars,” and Yun pairing it with a self-brewed drink called Hondonju based on an older Korean blending tradition. (dbs.com) The art side did not stop at conversation. DBS Private Bank also partnered with Christie’s Hong Kong on an exhibition called “Dialogue Beyond The Senses,” with works by Yayoi Kusama, Hilary Pecis, and Fernando Botero. (marketech-apac.com) (dbs.com) That mix of fair, restaurant, and salon is now all over Hong Kong’s March art season. Tatler Asia’s Art Basel Hong Kong dining guide was literally aimed at people moving from the exhibition halls into Wan Chai restaurants and bars, treating the meal after the fair as part of the same curated outing. (tatlerasia.com) Art Basel itself now sells Hong Kong as more than a convention-center event. Its 2026 guide pushed visitors toward museum commissions, hotel stays, citywide talks, and off-site installations, while Whitewall’s fair guide bundled exhibitions, restaurants, hotels, and design stops into one itinerary. (artbasel.com) (whitewall.art) So DBS ARTable sits inside a larger shift in how luxury finance is sold. Instead of inviting wealthy clients to a conference room and then talking about portfolios, banks now meet them inside the same spaces where they buy paintings, book tasting menus, and think about family legacy. (marketech-apac.com) (dbs.com) In Hong Kong, that strategy works because the fair is already a magnet. When 240 galleries arrive for three days and the city’s restaurants, hotels, and auction houses build around them, even a bank dinner can look less like marketing and more like part of the season’s official program. (artbasel.com) (whitewall.art)