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2010-08-22
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Decent Western food in a cooked food market?Not your average Hong Kong char-chan-teng type soda tenderized marinated meats on a sizzling hot plate? pork chop bun with refried chips and cocktail canned fruits in "salad" sauce?No wonder I've heard so much about this place.I've been wanting to try forever, but the place's always fully booked, but finally, I had my chance, and we went all out, almost ordering the whole menu One of my favorite items of the night was the soft shell crab appetizer. Cri
Not your average Hong Kong char-chan-teng type soda tenderized marinated meats on a sizzling hot plate? pork chop bun with refried chips and cocktail canned fruits in "salad" sauce?
No wonder I've heard so much about this place.
I've been wanting to try forever, but the place's always fully booked, but finally, I had my chance, and we went all out, almost ordering the whole menu
One of my favorite items of the night was the soft shell crab appetizer. Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, well seasoned.
We were so hungry that night, these warm and fluffy bread were consumed the minutes they were placed on the table. Nice touch of herbs...but I wish there was more butter...a tiny chunk was not enough for the four of us ;)
I've never tried a proper bouillabaisse before...but this one tasted like a watered down lobster bisque. It could really use more seasonings...the gorgeous piece of bread on top is a nice touch. If only the soup was tasty enough, it'd be perfect.
My other favorite dish was the linguini carbonara. The pasta was perfectly cooked, the sauce was creamy and tasty. We couldn't get enough of it, we ordered another portion
The pizza appetizer was alright...but it's nothing memorable.
Our centerpiece of the night was this whole roasted suckling pig, which had to be ordered in advance. The owner kindly took out the whole pig for photographing purposes, before sending the pig back into the kitchen for more roasting. We were a little worried, our pig looked kinda...small. But, let's get back to the pig later...
The spring chicken stuffed with goat cheese and spinach looked gorgeous. However, I found that the inner part of the chicken was a little bit undercooked. Yikes! Nevertheless, loved the idea, the goat cheese gave the chicken the slap of flavor it needed, it was juicy, and the salad on the side balances the dish perfectly.
The tuna steak was a little dry, flaky and underseasoned, but the sauce was nice.
Now, let's get back to the pig. Crackling golden crispy skin...with mostly tender, tasty and juicy meat, especially the fatty bits. However, there were still some dry and tough parts...I guess that's the risk of ordering the whole pig, you don't only get the best bits.
We underestimated our pig a little, we had a lot of leftover, I brought home even the brain, which was a very special treat, as it is not easy to find pig's brain served anywhere in Hong Kong these days, despite the belief that the Chinese eat everything
PS. If you want a touch of heat, ask for some hot sauce, but handle with care, the hot sauce is really really hot, even for me, and I can handle my heat ;)
We also ordered their paella (that's right, we almost ordered everything on the menu). Beautiful flavors, meaty and savory from the stock and bacon fragrant and fresh from the seafood. However, the rice was a bit mushy...and I was missing the crispy burnt bits at the bottom of paella it was almost...soupy.
To end our meal, we had the dessert platter to share. The creme brulee was nothing memorable, the chocolate puff was decent, but we've had better from Bread Papa, the mousse...again, nothing special, the black sesame souffle looked gorgeous but it left a weird aftertaste...the best for me was surprisingly...the banofee pie. The caramel was super rich, smoky, sweet with a tinge of saltiness, perfect with cream, chocolate sauce and banana.
We were absolutely stuffed at HK$250 per person (with a few beers, and several portion of pig for lunch boxes for the next day ^_^)
http://mochachocolatarita.blogspot.com/2010/08/abc-kitchen-sheung-wan-hong-kong.html
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