Frites Belgium on Tap  

Made a reservation and had the set lunch, My friends chose the pumpkin lasagne and the Fish which was a good choice for them and it looked delicious.
However I chose the Sausage and Mash and was very disappointed when they served me two large hotdog sausages as opposed to proper sausages like with the Good Wife Sausage on the A La Carte Menu. When I'm spending over $120 on lunch I would like to expect two proper sausages at least.

mussels were big enough, and tasted alright. however, the service was very pushy: asking us every 5 minutes whether everything was alright and refilled the water (even though the glass was still full).

the environment was very cosy and casual and it was a great night out!

When I tried to find it in Taikoo place I got a little lost, I found a security guard and he pointed me in the right direction...

When I first saw it I was really suprised, there was a buzz about the place... It was fast paced but it was working... and brilliantly...

I was seated by a Young Aussie guy, he was really friendly and offered me a seat in a corner as I was dining alone(i didn't feel like sitting between lovers sharing a meal), then he even offered me a magazine... That was great.. I was shown the Beer Bible (AMAZING) and recommended a fruit beer as I was not a huge fan of beers, I had a Raspberry one as recommended... great... I had 2 more.

Then I looked over the menu and decided to tackle the Knuckle which my lovely waitress (sorry cant remember her name) offered to have the chefs chop for me.... I was warned that the cooking time would be about 25-30 mins which i was suprised about but when it came out I understood)

It was cooked to perfection...

Then I had the Fondant for dessert and it was perfect..

I would recommend this place to anyone who wants to enjoy Great service, great food and an AMAZING selection of beer...

11/10

Being Belgian I just had to try this place...
Note; the owners aren't Belgian, but it's Australian. That aside, they bring a good choice of beers and the food is say 50% belgian, and the rest ecclectial european.
The beers I had were so so. Obviously I had tasted the ones I hand (Stella, Orval , Palm) beforehand in my homecountry, but here they were rather dissapointing. One should check with the owner, but probably they are not kept on the right temperature since they are imported.
What did make me feel quite enthousiastic were the fries. They're about as close as you can get to the real thing and that's an achievement. Most places around the world know how to professionally screw up fries, but not here... well done. Perhaps cutting a bit down on the salt might be good (or have customers salten their fries themselves as is customary in Belgium). And the mayonaise also was pretty good. not sure whether it was home made, but the taste sure was right. I also had a platter of charcuterie which is more french/spanish style then belgian, but I enjoyed it. The meat was ok, good enough to fullfill my expectations.
One note; it's bloody expensive. We paid about 450 HKD for 3 beers and 2 small dishes , not even a full meal. The same would cost in Belgium say 250 HKD max.

Next time I'll be back for the mussels for sure, curious to know how they pull that one off.

My sis suggested we try out the new Frites in Oxford House. We arrived at 12:40pm without a reservation, and were seated immediately The restaurant had a nice open feel, thanks to the generous floor plan and high ceiling. Unlike Frites' Central branch, the space didn't seem too cramped and there were plenty of long tables for group dining. The waiters and waitresses were also very nice and friendly.

My sis and I decided to order the "Express Lunch" set:We also ordered 1/2 kg of House Mussels which came with fries:The mussels tasted quite fresh, but the broth that they came in was too watery. Having had Frites' mussels before, the dish would have tasted better if the broth/sauce was more creamy.

For the set meal, I chose the Smoked Salmon Horseradish and Potato Salad:The presentation was nice, but it was disappointing to find only one thin slice of smoked salmon on top of the potato salad

Next was the NZ rib-eye steak, which was delicious! It came with french fries and some pumpkin. Overall, the food was OK. The steak was the hi-light - it had a lot of flavor and the meat wasn't tough to chew - but the salad and mussels could have been better. The atmosphere was nice, and I wouldn't mind coming back for a drink, but since lunch was quite expensive, it might be a better dinner spot.

Date Dined: Monday 17th Jan 2011 12.45pm

Ordered: Chicken Salad & 1/2 kg House Mussels

Taste: Chicken salad- that was delicious. couldn't have been better. The chicken was nice and warm. the dressing was just right, not too rich but enough. I was wondering what the dressing was- it is called Roquette Blue dressing, consist of mayonnaise and blue cheese. But it isn;t as heavy as Blue cheese dressing where it is too rich. This dressing is a little sour but little creamy. it is really nice. Vry refreshing and adds to perfect touch with the crispy bacon and sun dried tomato. I loved it. I can rave on and on about the salad. It is a must.1/2 kg House Mussels - I had to choose between the House Mussels or the Marinere Mussels. i usually rder the Marniere Mussels, but today for a change i decided t have house, which is tomato, cream and chives. There was only two siz prtion to choose from which is 1/2 kg and 1 kg. I chose 1/2 kg which is enough for me myself. The mussels came with fries and 1 piece of bread (not white bread) and mayonnaise. It was quite a big pot of mussels. The mussels were so big, I was quite amazed. there were juicy and fresh. I loved them. But the sauce was on downside. was not creamy enough. i prefer The marinere mussel more. I like the taste of wine and cream.
The Chips were lovely. Realy taste of potatoe, they were crispy and fragrant. Smells really nice. could not sto eating it with mayonnaise and dipping it into the sauce.The bread was rather dull. Not too hard, was soft, but just did not seem warm or freshly baked. Did not finish the piece of bread

Conclusion: Before Frites Belgium on Tap, this place used to be Belgo. Belgo in UK is very famous for their Mussels, and the mussels in belgo in Hk was good too. I quite like Frites Belgium on tap. he food seems to be better. Even the menu is clearer. IWhen it was belgo, the restaurant seems to be split into two parts, the inside and outside. The seatings outside were big tablesa dn some sofa, and some what seems like the outside had nothing do with the inside as it was out in the open. I like it alot more now, the outside seemed to have reunited with the Inside which makes it seem ALOT bigger. We did not make reservation for lunch, when we were greeted by the manager he asked if we had reservation. We answered no, and he gave a funny reply and seemed as if they were full, but then showed us to our seats. The restarant was half full and was about 75 percent full when we left. There were alot of people who works round here. The lady who served us had a very heavy accent which i did not understand her. She seems bit rushed and did not really answers my question, or i did not understand her. But she was very hard working, and refilled our warm glass of water very often. But after i was full, I had not yet finished the chips. she came over and took away my food, hich i thought was unneccessary to clean up RIGHT AFTER I finish. Bit unpolite.

Originally we wanted to go to their Central branch, but too tired to go back to Central. I was a bit worry about this new branch in Quarry Bay, as the feedback on OpenRice was not that positive. However, I've tried Frites in Central before, and if they are the same company, then they cannot be that bad. What a great surprise! Their service and food were both excellent! However, it would even be better if they were not as expensive la!!!

Mussles are the best ones I had in HK, very western style! Pork knuckle was crispy outside and very juicy inside, just the Best! Beer sampler is an excellent choice if you don't want to drink too much and has a variety of different beers. Last but now least, their fries w/ mayo ....... oh cannot resist!

My friends and I tried the new frites in Oxford house. We have dined in the Central Frites many times.
We were very happy to see that the menu was the same as in central and still had the lovely mussels.
The restaurant is much bigger than in central but they have tried to make it look the same.
We tried the Marinere mussels with white wine, onion and herbs. They were recommended as the Chef is French and they did not disappoint.
The steak tartare was perfectly seasoned and I thought it was great that I could add extra sauces to it if I wished as they leave a tray of them on the table for you.
For our mains we tried the flemish beef stew and the pork knuckle. We were told the stew was cooked with leffe brune beer so we thought we would give it a try. The flavour of the sauce was amazing however it was very rich.
The last time I had the knuckle in central it was a little salty, but this time the meat was perfect. It was so tender that the meat just fell apart. The waiter also asked the kitchen to cut this dish which was a great recommendation as the dish was very large.

We will definately be back, hopefully next time I will have room for desert.

Very nice interior design and spacious seating areas, provided wide range of beers.

Food menu is very meat oriented, all the Mains are meat such as sausages, lamb chop, burger, etc, and surprising put the only pasta choice, Risotto of the Day in the Starter column. I had just finished my yoga practise and no intention to have a big meal of meat. So, the only choice is the risotto...

As it's Risotto of the Day, the waiter did not realize he has to tell me what exactly it is, until I asked him...okay, it's asparagus and egg plants. Nice, as I don't want to eat meat at all.

The portion of "starter" is really not small, luckily I didn't order something else or it won't be a "light lunch" after exercise.

Honestly, it is NOT good. The rice and vegetables were obviously being cooked seperately. Just like you put some vegetables in a bowl of rice, taken out from a rice cooker.

The Asparagus and egg plants are way too OILY...I can see the oil drops, which usually happens in Chinese dishes. The risotto itself is not too bad, but it shouldn't be 2 items just being put in the same plate.

I think other dishes such as sausages should be fine, because they just buy it back as imported, basically ready-to-eat....So, it can be a nice place for happy hour, beer and maybe try their sausages; but definitely not just dining.