Hemingway's By The Bay  

The Jamaican Jerk Chicken Pasta looked like a bowl of soup, with pasta added. There was chicken somewhere and when my wife finally found it, it tasted terrible. We sent the dish back and got a refund.

Thank God the drinks and appetizers were good or we would have got up and left.

A crueler man than myself would remind readers that Hemingway shot himself, and then suggest that this restaurant has this name because it inspires diners to act similarly, but I wouldn't want to take such a cheap shot. However, while it's not that bad a place, it's got room to do quite a bit better.

Many dining experiences in Hong Kong seem polarised by volume: either it's an aged couple eating in complete silence, or it appears to be a late round in a greatly rewarded shouting competition. We arrived at Hemingway's after a long and arduous walk up a hill (nothing like accidentally ascending 200 concrete steps to work up an appetite), and, in a bar that was scarcely full of people, got assigned a table slap bang next to four Koreans who were happily yelling at one another at the top of their voices. Since every other table seemed to be free, I would have assumed the staff might have put us a little further apart, but maybe they figured it was more efficient to have everyone in one place. And being English, one never, ever complains.

Staff were attentive to a fault (to begin with) - asking twice in the space of about two minutes from seating us if we wanted to order, but then vanishing after we'd asked for a little time to peruse the menu. Meanwhile, the room grew ever darker, until the only light seemed to be from the television playing Australian motorsport in the corner. I'm not sure that this really supplied ambience in any sense, or at least the combination of darkness, motorcycles and shouting doesn't really convey to me the wonders of the Caribbean. When asked, the waitress seemed a little surprised but then turned the lights up far enough that I could see across the table - but I'd have expected this need to be anticipated. I wouldn't have wanted anyone to trip in the darkened confines of the restaurant and fling a plate of food across the joint.

So to the beverages. There's a wide selection of mojitos and rum concoctions. As it's Caribbean, I was expecting them to push a strong ginger beer on us, but aside from one rum cocktail, it was conspicuous by its absence. The only non-alcoholic drinks seemed to be the smoothies. I had a Blueberry Nutter - slightly grainy, almost earthy taste which made me feel there was just a bit too much coconut in there, not enough dairy. My companion had a raspberry mojito, which she assures me was very good. I found it a bit too fizzy when I tried it, but I'm fastidious and also not a big drinker of cocktails (see being English above - a pint of pale ale and I'd be content).

Food: one order of crabcakes for her, one veggie burger for me.

On the positive side, the cayenne pepper mayo that came to dip the potato wedges in was flavourful, although not with much kick - like an innocuous mustard. The portion was ample, although I would have preferred a salad that was more interesting than a dose of coleslaw. The burger itself was huge, and required dismantling before I could bite into it, such was the height with the included onion, tomato and (interesting touch) slice of avocado.

However, size is not always enough. Although filling, it didn't really leave an impression of anything in particular - just a bit bland, really. This is a problem, as Caribbean food should be fiery, exciting stuff, whether it's hearty rice and peas, a fantastically filthy greasy roti, or one of those supernaturally yellow patties that I used to dine on back in Brixton. Instead, the burger was just ok - not something to aspire to eating. It filled a gap rather than making me want to sing and dance for joy at the experience. The potato wedges - ok, not salty enough. As per my other reviews of food that isn't probably the kind of thing you should eat every single day, it should reward you for occasional patronage, not leave you thinking "hmm, this probably isn't that great for me".

Crabcakes, likewise - could have done with being spicier, or more pepper. They were ok - they weren't the kind of thing that repulsed or disgusted, but they were just food. On the other hand, the accompanying salad (think a combination of fruit salad with beans and spices) was unexpectedly good - which makes one wonder why the rest of the food was so bland.

One shouldn't be too critical. We're not in Kingston now, Toto, and it's not as if Hong Kong is blessed with a plethora of Caribbean restaurants - this place deserves encouragement for not being one of the identikit Italian/Japanese/blah blah blah restaurants that fill much of the rest of this sceptred isle.

So maybe Hemingway's is catering well to its clientele; a bit like Discovery Bay, down to the shiny, plasticated menus it feels like a Disneyfied impression of the Caribbean, rather than the real thing. (Which raises another problem - can a man who's only ever eaten Caribbean food in West Indian restaurants in London and the outskirts of Vancouver give any kind of lecture on authenticity?) Are there popcorn dispensers in any other Caribbean restaurant? Am I being unfair on people that like popcorn? (I doubt it - if you want popcorn, go to the cinema, not to a restaurant.)

Therefore, I'll give it another chance - perhaps the ambience on the tables outside facing the bay is superior, perhaps the curry on the menu would provide a bit more fire, but thus far it felt a little mild for my tastes. Nothing was offensive, but sometimes if you're scared of being rude or putting people off, you won't really satisfy anyone. (And not to harp on about one's Englishness too much, but if you're not giving an Englishman opportunity to complain that there's not enough spiciness, you really are erring on the side of caution) So I'll probably try this one more time on my next visit to DB, but there are some gaps with both the food and the service that need fixing in order for them to raise their game.

Original Blog with MORE Pictures: http://jason-bonvivant.blogspot.com/2009/11/hemingways-by-bay.html

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Among the works of Ernest Hemingway, my favorite is The Old Man and The Sea followed by Farewell to Arms. If this Discovery Bay's D Deck restaurant Hemingway's by the Bay is to publish a book, I think it should be called The Chef an The Sea! Why you ask? Simple, it was because the afternoon I was there, the CHEF has left the kitchen and likely to be out in the sea fishing for some fresh seafood which the kitchen ran out of! The al fresco dining area was nice especially on this wonderful afternoon with a light cool breeze together with the sea view.

(1) Apple Sour + Blueberry Nut Smoothies
After my first sip of the the Apple Sour, I immediately withdrew myself from it because it was not just very sour but very unusually in my own opinion. What do you know, it was actually okay when compared with the blueberry Nut smoothies my friend ordered. It EXTREMELY watery and rather flavorless for some odd reasons. A picture is worth a thousand words so take a look at the zoomed in picture below regarding the WATERY aspect of this drink. The layers were visible only after a few minutes. Two Thumbs down!

(2) Steamed Mussels
(with a lightly spiced tomato broth and served with cumin toasted bread) I really didn't understand why it was called broth when thick paste was found! Before getting to the mussel, the cumin toasted bread was very hard but flavor wise it was alright in general.

As for the mussels (and the paste), they were definitely overcooked! Many of the mussels escaped the shells and there were many empty shells! It seemed there were more capers than mussels in this dish! Once again, what broth? It should be lightly spiced tomato paste with excessive amount of capers?? The empty shells (likely due to mussels being overcooked) really disappointed me!

(3) Seafood Paella
Just from the look how it was served, one can be sure that the paella was not cooked from the accompanied pan! It must have been cooked somewhere else and place in this pan for serving because a good paella should be served "flat" on a big pan! It should be wide round and shallow! I was already disappointed at this stage.

How was the taste? It was rather dry and tasteless despite the vivid color of the rice and ingredients! The prawns accordingly to my friend was very firm and seemed like frozen prawns. There were plenty of empty mussels shells again. I thought I was eating Chinese fried rice for a second! Another thumbs down!

(4) Pan-fried Crab Cakes
Now the pan-fried crab cakes, it looked decent but it was rather loose in texture and lacked real crab meat. It contained plenty of flour though. Relatively speaking, this one was more enjoyable than the other two items ordered.

Likes:

* Atmosphere / alfresco dining

Dislikes:

* Steamed Mussels - too many empty shells, mussels overcooked and tomato paste instead of broth!
* Seafood Paella - dry, flavorless and not cooked or served directly from a paella pan
* Blueberry Nut Smoothies - too watery!

Avg Spending: HKD 200 - 300 per person

Original Blog with MORE Pictures: http://jason-bonvivant.blogspot.com/2009/11/hemingways-by-bay.html

I think the manager need to teach their staffs how to look at the customers!! Terrible service.

Before I heard all those negative comments from this site about the bad service and atitude about the manager and other staff, I called there and was trying to make an reservation. At first it was a woman spoking English took the phone, and I was trying to book a table for two on the 14th with noisy backgroud on their end. The woman was sound so unpatient,but on the same time she keet on putting me on hold while I was talking. After once a 5 to 10 mins wait, I final could try to tell them my phone number and chinese last name. When I was in the middle of leaving my phone number, she just past the phone to a chinese guy without saying anything. That chinese guy told me that due to the woman is an English spoker so he asked me all the questions all over again. Oh my god!! if my English is that bad, that woman should have told me that she couldn't understand what I was talking about for those 10 mins.

anyways, I don't think I will go there on the 14th. Thanks for listening....

My friend and I went there around 7 something in the evening on Friday. There were not many people.

I ordered from the grill, King prawn, but it was quite a disappointment. There were only 2 prawns just a little bigger than my middle finger on my dish, and the rest are veggies, including a slice of grilled tomatoes, slices of onion, green pepper, corn, eggplant and a baked potatoe. It's $130! If I did not had a glass of white wine, I would be hungry very soon after that dinner.

My friend had lamp chop from the grill. The size of lamp chops are reasonable, but it's $150.00. My friend (a female) was soon hungry after the dinner.

In terms of the ambience, it's good! There are seats both outdoor and indoor. The restaurant is just next to the beach. It's not crowd or noisy. The tables are a little sticky though.

The service is quite good in general and the people are quite friendly.