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2014-01-30
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My plans for local Chinese fare somehow often end in trendy, upscale fare. Take today for instance. We planned on some clay pot rice just down the road. But, oh wait, today is the day before the lunar new year. So yeah... it's trendy, upscale fare time.I never made it to Chom-Chom-the-Private-Kitchen. I heard their pho wasn't great, but I could say the same about every Vietnamese joint in HK. Now it's a Vietnamese street-food thing. I can't speak to its authenticity, since I never made it to Vie
I never made it to Chom-Chom-the-Private-Kitchen. I heard their pho wasn't great, but I could say the same about every Vietnamese joint in HK. Now it's a Vietnamese street-food thing. I can't speak to its authenticity, since I never made it to Vietnam either. But I don't really care about authenticity anyway.
The first thing we got was the Smoked Eggplant with Crab Salad (menu description: "Crab, Steamed Egg, Shallot, Spring Onion, Mint, Coriander 108"). Soggy, cold eggplants are low on the list of things that I like. My more sympathetic companions thought the smokiness of the eggplant was nice and the crab was an interesting combination. For what it's worth, my wife gives it a B+: good.
OK, now we're getting closer. The spicy tuna roll (md: "XO Sauce, Vermicelli, Herbs 78") was neither spicy nor... no wait, it was tuna. I found these fairly unmemorable. I'm a little ill, so maybe I'm missing something complex here, but I never recommend that you try to carry the flavor of a dish with XO sauce. It's never spicy and at worst its offensively fishy. Here it was just bland. OK, C.
The salt & pepper squid (Garlic, Ginger, Black Bean, Chili Mayo 88) I really liked. It was very tender, while retaining a nice firmness, and the breading was soft and less crispy than one often gets with calamari. I'm often finicky about my mayo, but I thought the dipping sauce here was an excellent accompaniment. While this didn't rise above great calamari one finds elsewhere, it didn't fall below it. Great, A-.
The kaffir lime chicken salad (Red Onion, Rau Ram, Mint 88) was fairly straightforward. Rau ram is "Vietnamese coriander," "Vietnamese mint," or "Laksa leaf," take your pick. There was some cold, sliced, breaded fried chicken with it, and the salad also contained shredded chicken, along with cabbage and carrots, and a sort of lime and fish sauce dressing. Good B+.
Oddly enough, everything in the restaurant seemed to come in 5's, which is the number least ideal for sharing after 1. I had one of the five VFC (Vietnamese Fried Chicken Wings, Garlic, Coriander, Mint 88) and it was good. The garlic, coriander, and mint toppings just fell off when you picked it up, so that's more like presentation garnish. The wings were crispier than the other fried dishes we got, and fairly sweet. They were relatively meaty and the meat was juicy and tender. It's hard to get "excellent" from me on fried wings, because McDonald's does some really boss wings, and if you can't beat McDonald's why am I paying you $88? Still, I liked these. Good, B+.
Here's a dish where there was some disagreement on. The beef in betel leaf (Beef, Curry, Shallot, Peanut, Spring Onion 88) was something one of my dining companions "really liked," but I found it bland and unmemorable. I didn't catch the "curry" in it (but again, I'm ill). And I'll say that aside from sushi, I don't like edible leaves, including those mediterranean grape leaves, and now also betel leaves. I'm going to go with OK, C+.
Hong Kong has converted me to frog. After my first two Cantonese experiences, I branched out and had Sichuan frog, and this time I more or less demanded the Vietnamese frog. So good! This was a special, so it won't be there every time, but do give the specials menu a look, b/c there is good stuff to be had. The frog is succulent and meaty and tender. I recommend avoiding the dipping sauce as it ultimately just takes away from the froggy excellence. A+.
The pho rolls (Grilled Beef, Fresh Rice Noodle, Pickled Daikon, Purple Basil 78) were more like cheong fan than the standard Vietnamese rice paper rolls. The beef here was sweeter and obviously more, uh, grilled than pho beef. I don't think there was much going on here. Like pho, I should have put sriracha on them. OK, C.
I apologize, I recently "upgraded" my computer (intentional scare-quotes there) and now I can't figure out how to rotate my pictures. Anyway, this is a Phojito (Pampero Blanco, Lemongrass Syrup, Lime Juice, Mint, Thai Basil, Pepper, Soda 98). I was a big fan. The drink is rather spicy, and otherwise rather fun. A+I liked my experience at Chom Chom. The wait was long (~30 minutes), but the servers/ service was nice, swift, and professional. We had 2 dishes per person, and even that was maybe a little on the small side (total check: $1,168 for 4, with some drinks). HK Island has pretty poor Vietnamese food, so it's good that there's something out here to turn to. Still, as with most of the trendy joints I always wind up at, I came with expectations higher than were met. Maybe I need to tone it down a notch? Or someone needs to step it up. Overall: Good: B+.
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