1/5 Nuevo  

1/5 nuevo is a Spanish restaurant and bar on Star Street, which is opened by the Elite Concept Group. The setting is casual, yet lush - you could choose from bar tables with stools to comfortable suede couches, depending on your mood. Its convenient location and approachable drinks menu make 1/5 nuevo an attractive place for post-work drinks.

I decided to come and try out their set dinner menu priced at $238 per person (you could add $88 for a wine tasting set of 4 wines), which is available throughout July and August. Even though the food at 1/5 nuevo was very far from exceptional, there was an additional 20% off the bill on Sundays, which made our meal quite a bargain. There is also a “One Price Concept” on Monday nights with a full round of tapas (you can order more after you have finished one round), plus unlimited drinks for $388 per person.

(1) The first course of the set dinner was the cold tapas platter. On the left was the spicy tuna on toast. The “spicy” tuna was, in fact, not spicy, and it tasted a bit bland. In the middle was the gazpacho soup, which was in the colour of thousand island dressing, and had a delicious, fresh taste of peppers and a great chunky and grainy texture. On the right was the iberico ham, which was beautifully aged and had a deep, alluring taste. The bread was light and fluffy, and I loved the fact that it was placed in a clay flower pot - this kept the bread warm for a long time!(2) Then came the second course and also the best part of the meal, the hot tapas. On the left was the “nuevo” tortilla de patatas, which was a Spanish omelette with egg and potatoes. It was warm and freshly fried, the potato was scrumptiously soft while the egg was suitably crispy, and the layering of potatoes and eggs gave an attractive texture. The restaurant sprinkled it with a bit of cheese powder, which added extra flavour and richness. On the right was a piece of pequillos stuffed with crab meat. The beaten crab meat was wrapped in a piece of red pepper. I could taste the fresh crab flavours, and the red pepper’s veggie taste was a great complement with the seafood.(3) For the main course, we could choose between the pan-fried halibut and the grilled iberico pork. The pan-fried halibut with tomato salsa was soft and tender and it flaked delicately in the mouth. The halibut was nicely fried, and a drizzle of lemon juice cut through the buttery taste. The tomato salsa then added a refreshing note to it. The mashed potato on the side, however, tasted peculiar, and for almost 15 minutes I couldn’t figure out why it tasted different from other mashed potatoes. I had to resort to asking the manager in the end, and found out that the chef used olive oil (instead of butter) to season the mashed potatoes, which explained its vegetable taste. Healthy indeed, but not too yummy!(4) The grilled iberico pork with cinnamon sauce was disappointing. Even though the meat was reasonably juicy, its texture was tough and chewy. I liked the hint of black pepper seasoning, but I could barely taste the cinnamon in the cinnamon sauce. Moreover, its presentation was really unexciting.(5) I always really look forward to desserts at a meal, but this dessert platter made my spirits sink. The only thing I liked was the chocolate puff, which had a massive blob of cream inside, and was deliciously soggy (I like puffs and eclaires soggy, that’s just my thing!) The lemon cake was dreadful - it was achingly foamy, I think the restaurant must have messed it up. The most ridiculous thing about the dessert platter was that it said “vanilla ice cream” on the menu, but the kitchen ran out of it, so they gave us lemon sorbet instead without telling us or asking us if it was all right! This was seriously below-McDonald’s level of service…I like the glitzy decor of 1/5 nuevo, and it is a charming venue for drinks. However, the food quality was below average and the service was absent-minded. Surely, one would have expected something better from the Elite Concepts group!

1/5 Nuevo has a loving atmosphere, which is more affectionate than the photos. It is emphasizing comforts and casual elegance. The menu has a wide range of cocktail and of course Sangria. The a la carte menu offers a great selection of hot and cold tapas as well as entrée.

Cuisine: Spanish
Food rating: 4/10*
Service: 6/10
Ambiance: 8/10
Price: HK$400 pax

* Food Rating: 6/10 is equivalent to 1 Michelin star, 8/10 to two Michelin stars, and 9/10 or above to three Michelin stars

Hummus (3/10)
This was the first cold appetizer, it is a Middle Eastern food, which is mashed chickpeas and blended with tahini sauce, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic. I think the hummus was lacking the tahini sauce, and the presentation was rather pretentious. I prefer the standard one. Gazpacho (2/10)
A gazpacho should be a cold, refreshing soup with a fairly high level of acid that comes from vinegar, tomatoes or lemon or lime juice. To keep the cooking time short it’s the keys to success, because it can maintain the fresh flavour of the vegetables. However, the gazpacho was rather bland and watery, lacked seasoning (Tabasco, sherry vinegar, salt and pepper). Overall, it was acceptable. Grilled Sardine (3/10)
Like other oil fish, sardines spoil quickly so the chef should make sure they are very fresh. But how? Look for bright, clear eyes and firm flesh, and check that they smell faintly of the sea – definitely not ammonia or too fishy.
The Sardine was too lightly season, lacked some rosemary and thyme, but the timing was about right. Scottish Rock (5/10)
The Scottish rock was decent, light flavor with a smooth texture and a hint of sweetness. It tasted fresh and loved the delicate after taste, which linger around your mouth. Iberico Pork (5/10)
The pork was really good, the sauce was exceptional well. The pork was just slightly over cook, it would be prefer to cook pink. Nonetheless, it was still the best dish of the night by far. Dinner was good in general; the waiter explained the menu well and suggested what’s good with passion. The ambience was lovely, definitely would like to come back happy hour and a quick snacks.

Give me a thumbs up if you like it!

I went to 1/5 Nuevo on Friday with a few friends to try their lunch sets. I had the lasagna as a main and scallop salad as an appetizer while one of my friends ordered the blue cheese risotto with WALNUTS as a main and smoked salmon as an appetizer.

While my lasagna was a large portion and decent (although none of us expected the scallops to actually be a salad as it clearly stated scallops on the menu), my friend's risotto came with PEANUTS instead of walnuts. This was a shocking and irresponsible substitution on the restaurant's part as peanut allergy can be fatal. The menu clearly stated walnuts and any substitution should have been notified in advance or at least mentioned on serving! What happens if someone with a peanut allergy ate the risotto?

It was a great disappointment and ruined our entire lunch. It also made us wonder what other ingredients had been substituted without letting us know.

Service was fine but with such a shock, I don't think anyone in the group will be going back.

If you are looking for a happy hour drinking hole with beautiful people, dramatic setting and great atmosphere, this is the place to come. Be sure to make a reservation on Friday nights or you'll end up looking pretty in the long line, which is not such a bad thing really. The drinking crowd doesn't stay late here however, they move off probably to LKF or SOHO by about 9.30pm.

But if you're a foodie and rate a place by its food above all else, then this is NOT the place to come. We ordered a wide variety of tapas and not a single one is up to mark. The servings are frugal, the tapas came as slivers on sliced french loaf, not in bowls of succulent ingredients dripping in rich olive oils and fragrant herbs. No. It was shockingly disappointing. They are also very skimpy with the bread, it came in a coffee mug size. Such a sad sad thing.

The only saving grace was the Iberico ham which was imported and nothing to do with the prowess of the kitchen. The worst dish was the seafood paella. Although the rice was up to mark but the seafood was not fresh; the clams were rubbery, the prawns chewy; as though the chef forgot to go to the market and just picked some discounted stuffs off the nearby supermarket shelf.

I'll come back, for a drink and then I'll move on to another restaurant for real Spanish cuisine. Makes me wonder what the 1/5 means in its name.

Went here for a date at the weekend and must say, very impressed with the place.

The thing is with Spanish restaurants, to get a good appreciation of the various dishes on offer, you have to order many dishes which can be a problem if there's only two of you eating. For that reason, we had the set menu of four courses for 188 which even with drinks and service on top, represented really good value.

To start we had the cold tapas plate of Iberico ham, ratatouile salad and the chilled gazpacho soup which came in a pretty neat shot glass. This came with a pot of bread and butter, which I found a bit strange as usually English/Western/French restaurants serve bread with butter whereas our Mediterranean counterparts tend to offer olive oil. Regardless, a self-confessed butter-holic and Brit I gobbled it all up. The bread was crispy on top and dough-ey in the middle but I usually prefer my bread granary and a bit of texture and I found it a bit plain for my liking.

The ham was rich without being overly greasy and the ratoutille salad was zingy and fresh.

The next course of hot tapas included grilled octopus with aoili sauce and a mini lamb kebab which I thought was cute and provided me a suitable fix for my lamb craving, something I rarely eat enough of in the UK let alone in HK. It tasted like a much refined version of the types I eat on a boozey night out and certainly without the grease, infact in true UK fashion I dolloped a whole load of aioli (think garlic mayo) on it and it tasted great! The octopus was OK - a tad chewy for my liking.

My partner choose the confit duck with garlic potatoes which was delicious whilst I had the mackerel with herb crust which was only OK and lacked the punch and impact of the previous two rounds.

There was then a long wait for desserts for around about 10 minutes or so but we had the mixed plate of chocolate bar, vanilla ice cream and apple pie. Pretty safe selection of desserts here which are all tastey in their own right but lacked synergy as a unit. The chocolate bar was like a set ganache and very hard to eat with a spoon as it was set very cold whereas the ice cream was almost beginning to melt. The apple tart was nice slivers of apple and pastry topped with roasted cinnamon which my only gripe would be there wasn't enough of it!

Total bill came to about 770 for 2 people, who had a bottle of water, 2 cocktails, a beer and service on top which I think is reasonable for nice surroundings. If we got our drinks order in earlier we could have saved on HH prices - So get in early before 8 !

Very romantic and atmospheric restaurant with good food and good value menu! Would definitely return again and maybe try some of the dishes offered a la carte too!

Gave this new Spanish bar/ restaurant a shot, and I have to say that it was well worth it.

Amongst the three of us, ordered a couple of appetizers, including iberico ham, snails, sausage, mussels, soup and fries. The bread that came along with the soup, some type of focaccia was warm, soft and yumm.

For mains, ordered two paella and pork belly, all were quite delicious, though nothing spectacular.

As for the non-food related comments, waitress was quite attentive, seats are a good length apart and therefore it wasn't too noisy. Not an especially romantic or decorated restaurant, though the plush sofa's do make it seem more cozy.

These days its hard to find a decent well rounded restaurant, where you can just drop by any night for a simple good meal, but this is definitely one of them.

T3 was hoisted and I spent the night at 1/5 Nuevo having its Wine Cocktail dinner under the rain and storm outside.

There was a set menu for the night and the whole restaurant was served the same thing at the same time. It was a 5-course dinner paired with wine from the vineyard at Luis Canas. We were served white before the dinner started, something light to bring up our appetite while we could observe the chef busily preparing food at the open kitchen. It was a bit too long before they started serving as we arrived at 7:15 and the first course was brought to us slightly before 8.

Cold Tapas – Avocado Toast, Shrimp pinchos, Rock Oyster
So this was the first course, and it came with 3 little tapas. The oyster was good, not very strong with the smell of the sea but tasted fresh. And I simply loved the avocado toast! Crisp and crunchy on the outside (pastry) while diced or mashed avocado was served with tomato and eggs. The pinchos was decent too.
This was served with its white from the year of 2008.

Hot Tapas – Roasted Spanish Sausage, Meatballs (barbecue sauce), Chicken “piperade” – refried potato skin
After the servers cleaned up everything of the previous course, the second course arrived and this was a meat dish. Spanish sausage was sliced and the meatball was good too, would be better if there were more than one. The piperade was great! The dried potato skin was like a tiny container of all the tiny seasoned ingredients (peppers, tomatoes and some other stuff) inside and there was a layer of salad dressing on top!
This was served with its red from the year of 2006.

Bread was served in between and it was nice. Hot, crispy on the outside but the bread was soft.

1/5 Nuevo Tapas – Roasted Octopus on white beans with chorizo
It was great. The octopus was cooked for the right timing – not too tough but remained to be chewy enough. The sausage was a nice complement and it blended well with the sauce so it was not too salty like when you have the sausage alone.
This was served with its reserved red from the year of 2004, and this suit my liking J

Main – Peppered Lamb Chop with lime gravy and Ratatouille
Loved the Lamb Chop! Though I was getting a bit full already, the lamb chop was great! Juicy and tender and even I am not a great fan of lamb chops, I still loved it! And loved how they served with ratatouille as compared to plain vegetables.
This was served with its reserved red from the year of 2003.

Dessert – Fruit mosaic with summer jelly and “Drunken” sour cherries
Pretty full from the previous dishes already and here came the last dish of the set – dessert. Maybe the cherries were used to “neutralize” the filling effect of all the meat intake, but it was too sour and tasted too strong of alcohol for my liking. Fruits and jelly was ok and was expecting a more delicate dessert.

Dinner was good in general, the server explained a bit about the wine and the vineyard when they served us the wine. And the ambience was great as this is a bar and restaurants, so there were lots of people standing outside enjoying their drinks when we arrived. Would like to come back again for tapas or lunch some time.

after reading a review in HK Magazine, we went to this restaurant to try their special tasting dinner os small bites: 198 pp for 3 cold starters (gazpacho, iberico ham, kind of bruschetta), 2 warm starters (chicken almond, suckling pig), 1 main (choice of beef short ribs or some fish) and 3 desserts (ice cream, lemon tart, chocolate mousse).
The cold starters were all very tasty, and was served with some delicious, warm bread. The almond chicken was very good as well, and I think that we don't really fancy suckling pig, first time I had this dish and I can't judge whether it was good or not. The main was OK and of a decent size, and the desserts were all nice. The dinner deal can be combined with 4 small servings of wine, one for each course (HKD88): an excellent, easy to drink cava to start off, then 2 glasses of red wine and a sherry to flush away the desserts. Other dishes we tried were the patatas bravas nuevo (fried potato cubes, capsicum, egg, chorizo all stir fried, good taste), a paella risotto with prawns (good) and an a la carte dessert (which is a choice of 2 of the desserts on the menu, we chose creme catalan and pineapple crumble). Overall a very nice visit, good food, very friendly and good service and a restaurant to come back to.

Original Blog with more pictures: http://jason-bonvivant.blogspot.com/2009/11/15-nuevo.html

This entry took me a while to write up because (1) I am lazy (2) I am lazy and (3) I am very lazy! I have passed by this establishment way too many times but never really got the chance try it. Since I felt like Spanish Tapas on this evening, why not give this place a try. So what do I think of it? I was 1/5 satisfied with the food but I was 5/5 happy to have a wonderful dining companion with me this special evening! I can go on forever about how much fun this evening and how the both of us took pictures of the food with undivided concentration; but let me get back to the review first. It was to my surprise that the actual dining area was rather small, almost half of the establishment is dedicated to the bar area with about a dozen of tables for diners.

(1) Eggs & onion dips
It was literally eggs and onion dips, how unoriginal! Truly no surprises in my opinion.

(2) Goose liver pies with port wine sauce
We were attracted by the name of this dish and the presentation was interesting enough that we took quite a while to take pictures of it from different directions. However, taste wise we can't even find hints of the goose liver flavors, perhaps overtaken by the rich port wine sauce??

(3) Chorizo sauteed with onions
Too salty, too oily and too chewy! Enough said.

(4) Pata negra iberico ham
Based on my humble knowledge with cured ham, pata negra or Jamón iberico ham (which consists of different variations as well) is of better grade than the slightly varied Jamón serrano. If we were to try, why not try the better grade right? It was to be ordered by the grams and was cut right in front of us.

It was good. Not too salty and very thinly cut. The flavor was very intense as it should be; a great way to stimulate my taste buds before the mains!

(5) Sea-bass, scallops ceviche
Definitely not something we expected; I mean not how we imagined it would look like. It was more like a dip to me, a very lightly flavored dip to be exact. I could not remember how the diced sea-bass and scallops tasted like, likely because there were not surprises.

(6) Seafood paella
Where can I find good paella in HK??? Not here (nor at Hemingway's by the Bay @ Discovery Bay) for sure. It was rather dry but at least it was served in the right paella pan compared with Hemingway's! Plenty of ingredients and flavors were alright, it was the dryness of the whole thing that they really need to work on!

(7) Steak Frites
Looks alright? Yeah, it tasted alright as well. We ordered Medium Rare and it came Medium Rare. Meat was tender enough that we gave it a passing rate. Fries on the other hand, no, it failed because it was rather stale and plain.

(8) baked chocolate cake & caramelized baked apple tart
One word: SWEET! Sorry I mean 2 words: TOO SWEET! Both the baked chocolate cake and caramelized baked apple tarts were way too sweet for my liking. The apple slices in the apple tart seemed to be soaked in sugar for a long while that even with the ice cream the sweetness remained. The sweetness of the apple tart and chocolate cake took over my sense of taste to a point that I thought I would get a sugar overdose!

Likes:

* Pata negra iberico ham - very thinly sliced + flavors were rich and intense, very good.

Dislikes:

* Desserts way too sweet
* Seafood Paella - too dry! I really want to find a great Paella place!
* Chorizo sauteed with onions - too salty & too greasy!

Avg Spending: HKD 300 - 500 per person

Original Blog with more pictures: http://jason-bonvivant.blogspot.com/2009/11/15-nuevo.html

This is part of the Elite Group, which also operates the close-by Cinecitta, Ye Shanghai and Union J locally, etc. Came for Happy Hour 1 Day - been planning this for a while but no one apart from me was interested somehow! Happy Hour drinks are NOT 1-FOR-1 here, but at around $20 cheaper per drink.

FLAMENCO - Some Espresso based Cocktail. Friend said it was quite sour and not enjoyable.
SIGNATURE COCKTAIL - I forgot the name of this but I remember its taste and components more. Consisting of some Vermouth, Grapefruit Juice, Raspberry, etc, - this drink was ok for me personally.
BACALAO GRATIN ON TOAST - The Salted Cod was not too diluted in taste, so on the toasted baguette slices it worked quite well.

I ENJOYED HERE BUT MY FRIEND DIDN'T LIKE HERE MUCH, STRANGELY ENOUGH.

Just like what KC said, food here at 1/5 nuevo is good. Although the bread was served cold, it was crispy and tasty. The pork shoulder was extremely tender and matched with a nice dressing. I also had the seared tuna salad as appetizer. There were 5 pieces of tuna together with fresh veggie. The restaurant was only half full, which gives a comfortable and quiet place to chat with friends. Will be back!

After closing of the old 1/5, I've been disappeared at Star Street for a long time. However, the new 1/5 offered me a very good feeling and I've backed to Star Street again. I used to go to 'Slims' which offered good food there but suddenly we couldn't smoke there because of the licence has been changed. Then we moved to 1/5 without hesitation where you can smoke as much as you can. The staff there is very friendly especially the Manager Austin and Mini. They have a signature snack which we called it 'Snake Sausage' and sure you can tell how 'long' this sausage is. Very good atmosphere there which attract a lot of office workers who are working at One, Two and Three Pacific Place to go there.

Just walked in for lunch the other day. The food is good; up to the quality in this price range. Didn't try to grilled food though.

One strange thing that's worth noting is that the waiter specifically asked us to make a reservation next time, and gave us the card even before taking the order; which seemed a bit odd to us.

Nevertheless, it's a quite place for a decent meal out.