Video
Read full review
2012-01-17
375 views
As an Ashoka regular, I can safely say that this under-appreciated small Indian restaurant deserves your business - and will quickly make you a repeat customer. My wife and I have introduced several friends to this place, and they all love it. I've 'Google translated' the Chinese reviews on here, and despite the hilarity of parts of it, it seems not everyone is satisfied - which I find almost unbelievable. I'm not sure what people are expecting when they go for Indian food here in Hong Kong,
The big local competition is Hin Ho Curry House, which last year received a Michelin star. Not only is Ashoka's chef and owner the man formerly in the kitchen at Hin Ho, but the latter's dishes are oilier, waitstaff ruder, food timing more horrendous, and overall flavor weaker by comparison. When Ashoka gets crowded it may take the waitstaff a minute or two to get to you, but they are always polite and hardworking.
Yes, as mentioned in the Chinese reviews, Ashoka's regular menu is a bit lengthy and unwieldy. That's because they serve a vast array of food. If it seems too complicated or expensive (curries between $40 - $50, tandoori a bit more than that), they serve set meals for both lunch and dinner that are an amazing value. For lunch, you get a papadam with chutney, a bowl of soup (either chicken, lentil, or occasionally squash), your choice of a main dish, rice or naan (plain, green onion, or garlic), and a hot drink. A cold drink is $2 more, you can add a samosa for $8 or garlic fried vegetables for $20, all of which are good value add-ons. Dishes include a thorough cross-section of meat curries, dal fry (lentils - quite good), and mixed veg curry. Meat highlight is arguably the lamb, but they are all tasty - and importantly for Indian food they look AND taste different from one another. They also have an equally good deluxe lunch special for $62, your extra $20 gets you superior dishes (including a Goa fish, a well-balanced palak paneer, etc.) and two pieces of steaming hot tandoori chicken. We often mix and match one from each menu, which with cold drinks is still only a bit over $100 for two.
The papadam is crunchy, the chutney flavorful, the soup is fresh and well-seasoned, the dishes have already been raved about, the garlic naan is the best tasting but they are all chewy yet sturdy like naan is supposed to be, and the cold lemon tea is good to cool things down. Cooling down Necessary for 'medium spicy,' which is not overwhelming but balances chilli heat with the other flavors. 'Mild' lets the herbs and spices shine through, which is certainly not a shame, while 'hot' just really isn't needed unless you've got something to prove to yourself.
The set menus for dinner are around $100/person, and are basically sprawling versions of the lunch special. Depending on how many people (the 3-person dinner set will easily fill four), you'll get everything from lunch as well as more dishes, both rice and naan, a fresh salad, plus grilled masala pineapple for dessert. It borders on excessive and usually results in a takeaway box.
The restaurant is sparsely decorated, the clean tables a bit worn, but overall it's cozy in an Indian way. To say it's unhygienic would be false - we've never gotten the curry scurry! Hin Ho may have a bit more glitz, so if superficial image is how you pick your Indian you'll probably be happier there, but if it's affordable and authentic food you're after, Ashoka is where it's at.
If you are interested in braving the apparently frightening novella-in-menu-form, the chana masala and navratan korma are particularly great amongst the vegetarian dishes, the rice biriyanis are solid, and so are the seafood dishes. Frankly, we've never ordered a bad dish here. The fruit (or plain) lassis are cooling and tasty, but if a yogurt cool is what you're really after then the vegetable raita is the better choice. Oh, and the buttery/flaky paratha is a nice change from the naan, but really the naan is so heavenly it's hard not to order extras (plain naan is $14). They also offer beer, San Miguel and Kingfisher, and wine. Perhaps I may be a bit biased as a regular patron, but with Ashoka's recent Groupon promotion hopefully the word will be getting out about this wonderful find on Hong Kong Island's east side, and I felt that a semi-knowledgeable Westerner's opinion (an American who spent a year traveling throughout the subcontinent) might be needed or even appreciated.
* My apologies on any inaccuracies in regards to price or the menu, doing my best from memory.
Post