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Compared to most Spanish restaurants in Hong Kong, Sabrosa's value for money is unparalleled.There are delights on the menu, including an outstanding gazpacho - served cold, refreshing, with a smattering of crunchy croutons.   For the price paid, it was a generous portion, and was the cooling factor that we needed on a hot summer night.Gambillas are dutifully cooked to a snappy medium rare (the right way to cook prawns) although I wish the drawn butter sauce had a whisper more of garlic.   A kale and parma salad was an unexpected delight - large enough to share with multiple diners and lavished with plenty of ham and in-season grilled peaches.A pairing of chorizo and artichoke pasta - something I've never seen before - works well and packs a decent amount of heat to boot.At $88 for a pour of wine, the pours are generous, in keeping with the theme of the generous portions of food.And the ambience was pleasant - cheerful but not too loud.  The front of house staff were gracious and attentive.As a grumpy ex-New Yorker who misses consistency of food and outstanding service, Sabrosa is a good enough proxy for what Hong Kongers should expect from a Spanish restaurant. …查看更多

One of the worst Italian meals I've had in Hong Kong.Price - way too high for the quality / quantityService - slow an inattentive.  I had to get out of my chair and approach a waitress in order to get more water and request salt and pepperFood - Abysmal.  Canellini bean soup had zero flavor... no salt, no pepper, no garlic, no trace of onion or any other aromatics. Chicken breast on our green salad was dry, cold, and un-seasoned as if they'd just chucked it straight out of the fridgePizza - the crust was dry without being crispy or charred which meant that the pizza oven isn't hot enough and they've overworked the pizza dough which is something you learn not to do in bread baking 101.I haven't hated a meal this much which is a shame because the views are lovely.…查看更多

While browsing the web for Mamasita's menu, I stumbled upon the website of Mamacita's, a small chain of restaurants based in Texas.  Whilst browsing that menu, I found myself yearning for the good / cheap Tex-Mex restaurants that are popular across the United States.  It's the food that most American's think of when they think of Mexican (even though it's not even close to the real thing).At Mamacita's (TX), tacos come three to an order and are served with refried beans and rice and costs $9.99 USD (roughly 77 HKD)  At Mamasita's (HK), a single beef cheek taco costs $68 HKD.  It's piteously small an outrageously expensive for such a dear portion of food.  But then again this is the restaurant that charges $78 whereas most restaurants would provide this free of charge.Beyond the taco, the food is uninspiring and at times, flat out terrible.  Mushroom quesadillas ($108), while mushy and bland, were inoffensive and unmemorably ho-hum.  The same went for a medley of corn, bell pepper and zucchini which is listed as a side ($38), served from a kitchen that is obviously apathetic at veg cookery.  However the food went from uninspiring to flat out terrible with the Birria ($238), which is typically a rich dish of lovingly braised goat in a fiery and complex mole-like stew.  At Mamasita's (HK), 5 graying tough-as-bullets hunks of lamb sit in a thin soup redolent of Campbell's tomato soup.  In fact I could probably do just as well to buy some discounted lamb meat and boil it up with a can of Campbell's and call it at a day for less than 25 HKD.The service is clumsy and the food comes out in a puzzling progression... the veg side comes out first (probably because it's sat wilting in a warming bin), then a taco, then the birria, then another taco, and finally the quesadilla (perhaps because its the only thing cooked to order?).In concept, execution, and value, Mamacita's fails in every way. …查看更多

This restaurant has seen better days it seems. The outside signage and inside walls are adored with press clippings praising this austere venue. Inside, things are a different matter - the dreary lighting gives the restaurant a tired and shambolic look that is exacerbated by un-bussed tables, peeling paint, and un-ironically retro decor. The padding on the ancient dining chairs are caked with decades of grime and gunk that set my skin to crawling.My dining companion remembered a decent meal roughly five years ago, so we decided to give it a try. It seems that the food has degraded since then, or even worse, they're serving the exact same food that was prepared 5 years ago and have sat around since then.Goi cuon / summer rolls ($50) - Prepared long in advance as it was refrigerator cold, rubbery, and had about as much life as petrified wood. The anemic looking shrimp took on the texture and flavour of a kitchen sponge in their negligence. Pho ($50) - Slices of beef as tough as shoe leather lay lurking under the cover of murky, salty and over-reduced broth . I would mention the small portions but I didn't even manage to finish more than a few spoon fulls of soup.Bun Cha ($90) - Gristly and greasy, served with dried out rice noodles, stale lettuce and a browning sprig of basil. A restaurant that knowingly serves food of such abysmal quality obviously doesn't give a rip about the customer. Even worse, if a restaurant un-knowingly serves food this bad, it ought to get out of the food business.…查看更多

It claims to be a Spanish restaurant, but the food bares only a skin deep resemblance to a typical tapas meal. Said sad fare comes at a wallet-gouging and eye-watering price. Where to begin? Let's go in order of price - Sourdough bread slices ($48): Yes, $48 for 4 stale slices of un-toasted sourdough bread. It's not served with butter or even olive oil. Only the shame that you've paid nearly 5 quid for the pleasure of someone slicing into a loaf of not-so-fresh bread.Pan con tomate ($68): Typically this dish is served on crusty bread and glossed with good olive oil. The beauty is in the simplicity of good tomatoes and good oil. At Cassio, un-toasted bread achieves the soggy consistency of wet paper towels. The tomate atop lacks salt and oil. A truly incompetent take at an exceedingly simple dish.Padron peppers ($88): These arrive within minutes of ordering, a speed at which you might be grateful for if you're eating in say, McDonalds. At these prices, I would expect them cooked to order rather than arrive limp and watery from a warming drawer. Pass. Tortillas classic ($88): For those that have tried to cook an egg only to find yourself with a dry scramble sitting in a pool of water and albumen, this is science at work. You see, you've accidentally de-natured the egg proteins so rapidly that all liquid is squeezed out of the protein bond. You learn not to do this in Cooking 101. The Chef at Cassio must have forgotten that lesson as the tortillas immediately gushed water and albumen upon cutting.  At least it was well seasoned egg water.Mini vegetables ($98): This dish was particularly memorable. Not because of the dish itself which was exactly what is advertised - "mini vegetables with honey dijon dressing". It's because when I asked the waiter to recommend a "good vegetable dish for sharing" he steered me towards the Spanish sirloin ($228). I thought he might have mis-heard me so I repeated the request and was again up-sold the sirloin. The clueless waiter looked me directly in the eyes and grinned. I almost appreciated the fact that Cassio has the gall to look you in the eyes as they attempt to rip you off.Juicy seafood rice ($178): At least they don't have the balls to call this a 'paella', which is what I think they're trying to go for. Instead of a massive pan of fragrant rice with a crispy bottom - aka a proper paella, the 'juice seafood rice' is 5 spoonfuls of fishy flavoured rice the texture of baby food with 4 overcooked clams on top. The clam meat is overcooked to an alarming rubbery texture.Assorted cold meats ($248): This is where we start entering truly criminal attempts at dishes. For $248, you'll get cold, lifeless, and greasy bits of sausage on a platter roughly the size of two playing cards.Patatas bravas ($88): Even though this dish was not the priciest, I saved it for the end as it is by far the most insulting dish that we were served. Instead of chunks of potatoes with a lovingly crisp exterior and a fluffy interior served with a garlic aioli you get shards of limp, undercooked, unsalted potato with plain mayonnaise. I thought perhaps the kitchen messed up so I asked for a re-fire. The exact same dish came back, only oilier from the re-heating. Puzzled, I asked the waiter if it was supposed to be like this. He checked with the kitchen and quipped that it was the Chef's 'unique' take on patatas bravas.That's when a horrified thought gripped me. It's not that Cassio suffers from mis-execution or even an overloaded kitchen (the dining room was nearly empty) which may have caused such mistakes in the kitchen. It's that the food is intentionally cooked to this level of awful. The mediocrity was on-point and well executed. There are no excuses for this experience. Cassio is a bad restaurant, period.…查看更多

Poké is food that you didn't know you could live without, until you try it. Sure, one could live a happy life exposed to just ceviche, tartare, or even tataki, but Pololi takes minced fish to a different level while remaining blessedly low key, unpretentious and familiar.Poké (pronounced like 'okay') is a Hawaiian riff on flavoured raw fish mince. Here they ply blushing cubes of tuna with various sauces, each catered for specific palates. For the ordinary, a straight forward "Hong Kong style" sauce. For the plucky, a wasabi and yuzu focused flavour. For the daring (but not too daring) a spicy Thai marinade that isn't too over the top, especially when cooled by a base of mesclun salad or rice (or a mix of half and half).What I love about Pololi is that it's the right blend of healthy and filling, while still a powerhouse of flavour. And if one is in for a splurge, I'd suggest trying the spam musubi ($30), a slab of cooked spam pressed into rice and wrapped inside a strip of nori.Pololi is also strong on quality - the salad greens have always been fresh and crisp on my visits, and the rice still moist and fluffy, rather than the gummy stuff that comes from disuse. While the poké is pre-mixed and marinated, they bring it out in small batches to prevent over-oxidation or over-marinating.Despite the familiar flavours, warm service, and dreamy Hawaiian reggae music in the background, there are slight flaws. Compared to equivalent dishes to the already expensive food prices in Hawaii, the food here is at least 25% higher than I would expect. Ancillary toppings such as a single sprinkle to scallions or extra sauce will run you $10.I can live with overpaying for quality Hawaiian food. Once you've had a few good bowls of poké, you'll wonder how you've ever lived without it.…查看更多

'The Night Market' may be the most flawed moniker that I could think of when describing this restaurant. There is little to no connection to the real thing and the restaurant's namesake other than a perverse fantasy. In a Taiwanese night market, the food tends to be delightful and at it times dainty and diminutive. But regardless of the dish, whether it be a stick of roasted quail eggs or a simple bowl of noodle soup, the food is dirt cheap and is enjoyed to the last bite, morsel, or slurp.At the Night Market in Elements, the food is a rip-off ($120 for a lunch set), bland, and utterly lifeless. Normally when dealing cuts of beef beyond the filet, we can expect a lower yield of edible meat. After cutting out the gristle and fat from my beef ribs, I ended up with around 30% yield and a ton of stringy bits between my teeth. Sides of veg are served ice cold and under seasoned. At best they feel like an afterthought.Beyond the disappointing lunch set, the service is rushed, impersonal, and lacks the hospitality or coherence that any restaurant ought to have. Case in point - at our four top, 3 of 4 dishes hit the table within a few minutes. However the poor straggler was forced to wait 10 minutes to be served. Adding insult to injury, the restaurant tacks on a compulsory 10% service charge to the final bill.Maybe it's a function of being located in a shopping mall and having to spend sky high rents. Maybe it's a function of trying to align with the general mediocrity of Hong Kong's restaurant scene. Whatever it may be, this place represents the real thing only in its name.…查看更多

There is a script by which a health food restaurant typically adhere to, some more successful than others. Whole grain. Organic. Kale. Quinoa. Beet salad. Tofu... Stop me if you've heard this before.However in Nood's case, they pull off a wonderful dining experience through a script that seems so idiot-proof its a wonder why most health food joints come off as boring or contrived. That is to say, Nood serves the above ingredients in surprisingly tasty ways with great customer service to boot. They add enough salt, acid, and flavour to make an ingredient like kale sing in many different dishes. Importantly, they understand that variety is the spice of life, and offer a menu that allows diners to customize with 8 different salads on order, a revolving door of sandwiches, and hot options such as soups, roasted veg, and other comfort food done in a healthy manner.I've yet to eat my way through the menu as I typically stick to a single script - the 4 salad combo box with pulled white meat chicken ($120), juicy despite its provenance, made even better with a thin utilitarian brown gravy. Beyond the bird, I always go for the kale with avocado dressing, the ever present beet salad, and when available, a playfully crisp and refreshing preparation of sugar snap pears with sesame. It's a combo that I eat once a week, and never grow tired of. Nood also gets it right with fantastic customer service, something that I rarely see in Hong Kong restaurants. The service is all smiles and warmth - not just once, but on every visit. Want that meal to go? They'll carefully tape the takeaway box to prevent leakage. Squeamish about mixing your salad and chicken? They'll break up your meal into separate containers without an extra charge.If that script sounds heedless, rest assured that you'll have a good meal at Nood. A meal that nourishes both your body and goodwill.…查看更多

At some point in your evening at Malt whisky bar, all conversation will stop and your attention will be held rapt by the bartender. Your healthy debate about politics will drift off as you watch the bartender spark up a smoking gun, inculcating an American bourbon that's been muddled with sugar and bitters, with the fragrance of apple wood chips. The 'smokey old fashioned' is a must order, an ingenious riff on the original cocktail, made hip again with a modern technique.During a delightfully nerdy conversation about the 'Game of Thrones' plot line, we stopped dead in our tracks as I gawked at the bartender carefully chipping an ice block into a perfect sphere, which was to be dropped into an awaiting negroni. I've not been so blown away by a cocktail bar since I left New York City 9 months ago.Despite the outward revelry and devotion to the brown spirits (Malt has an impressive selection of Japanese whiskeys and Scotch), I love Malt's appreciation of the somewhat obscure drinks. To wit - the Vesper Martini, a recipe of Ian Fleming, which settled the debate of whether a proper Martini ought to consist of gin or vodka, by including equal amounts of both spirits as well as a playful splash of lilet blanc. This is gilded by a peeled-to-order twist of lemon. During one visit, the bartender, unhappy with the quality of the lemons, binned several until finally finding the perfect specimen. I've never witnessed such devotion to quality and customer experience anywhere in Hong Kong.There is enchantment from start to finish at Malt. The second your group walks through the hard-to-locate entrance, the staff pop a tray of mustard tinged pretzels into the oven. The warm treats are served along side a leather bound booklet of Malt's signature cocktail menu. Beyond the skillfully crafted drinks and professional service, the bar manages a facile exoticism in its dark and sleek decor.After the reverence and sophistication at Malt there is a final surreal moment as you walk down the desolation of New Stt. For me a sense of nostalgia and glee from the incense wafting from Tai Ping Shan St and the happy thoughts of yet another evening at Malt.…查看更多

If one were to visit Okra, a new-ish Sai Ying Pun restaurant without doing 60 seconds of googling, the fact that it is a fine dining Japanese restaurant will come as a complete surprise. For a start, it is tragically located in the un-hip section of town, smack dab between two very hip neighborhoods (SoHo and Sai Ying Pun). This choice of location almost immediately gives the restaurant a sense of rebellion - almost as riotous as not having a single dish on the menu that contains the restaurant namesake, namely the humble Okra.Instead a solemn Japanese sushi master behind the counter, you instead encounter two American bros, one of whom is the restaurant's Chef, Max Levy. Mr. Levy hails from New Orleans, where fish comes blackened or smothered in traditional cajun style. Here it is treated with all of the due respect of any good sushi-ya. Upon ordering the daily sashimi preparation ($280), the waiter asked that we trust the Chef aka. Max aka. 'the tall white guy'. The trust was re-paid in the form of lovingly fat Norwegian wild salmon and deeply satisfying slices of parrotfish and Spanish mackerel. Trust me it was tasty.There was blackened fish of sorts in the form of unagi don - marinated and roasted salt water eel served over rice that had been gussied up with sesame, soy, and pork fat, thus dialing the savory dial to a 11. That dish was found on 'The B-Side' of the menu, which indicates a larger dish for sharing. On the smaller dishes of the A-Side of the menu, we loved the fried brussels sprouts ($58) which had been simply tossed in homemade XO sauce and sprinkled with sultanas for a bit of sweet and sour.It is clear that Mr. Levy is a student and advocate of Asian flavors, but at times may not fully appreciate the subtlety of the craft. Home made tofu, treated in the manner of dish salad tricolor, where the mozzarella and basil are replaced by tofu and shiso respectively sounded better than it tasted. The house made tofu was grainy and dry, rather than the silky elegant as it ought to have been. The shiso was like the unwelcome party crasher - the guy who causes a scene, drinks all of the beer, and ultimately leaves a negative impression of what would have been a lovely evening.Once the diner realizes that they are indeed eating in a Japanese restaurant, the best surprises come in the form of the decidedly non-Japanese fare. Those brussels sprouts for a start, but then there was the 'love handles' ($188), the tail flap of beef that while generally is very affordable, can turn into an intensely pleasurable cut of meat in the right hands. In Mr. Levy's hands, the love handles are marinated in olive oil and soy, cooked to a meltingly tender medium rare, and paired with roasted spring onions and pickled radish for an awesome contrast and lovely bite of food.There are other quirks that make Okra a love-able restaurant - the affordable sake list, charming wait staff, and a sound track that is basically my gym play list (Social Distortion, Bad Religion, etc). But to define Okra, look to that dish of beef flap as a perfect synopsis - the origins are austere yet unconventional, the technique is undoubtedly French, the flavors unmistakably Asian, and the outcome is unquestionably delicious.…查看更多

Caveat #1: This review is in reference to Boomshack's food at the HK Food Truck Festival, held the first week of May 2016 at the PMQ.Caveat #2: This review is in reference to roughly 3 bites of the insipid, greasy, and mushy cheesy chicken sandwich on a limp, room temp waffle. At a certain point, food crosses the line between pleasure to simple sustenance. In this case, I decided a pleasure devoid bite of food wasn't worth the caloric intake.Caveat #3: This review was written in an emotionally compromised state. My tiny sandwich cost $90 (which works out to about $30 per bite) and recalling that disaster of a sandwich makes me incredibly angry.…查看更多

At its heart, Spanish food promotes quality of ingredients, quality of execution, but most of all, simplicity of its recipes. At Iberico & Co., they get the last part correct, while failing in many different ways.I couldn't fault the general construct of their dishes which follow themes that all good tapas venues will feature. Namely a primary ingredient propped up by a bit character to elevate something simple - say an excellently seasoned melange of tomato and basil piled upon competently toasted bread ($62) - a ridiculously elementary dish which was unfortunately one of the few winners of the meal. The same went for a lovingly braised lamb shoulder ($108), one of the only dishes that received smiles of delight from our table, rather than eye rolls and angry quips that followed most dishes.On the other hand a three ingredient dish of chorizo, duck egg, and an over abundance of acrid onions ($97) felt like a Freshman attempt at tapas - utterly missing finesse (raw onions) and a stingy hand with only a whisper of chorizo actually present. A dish of octopus marinated with parsley, chili, and lemon ($98) - understandably significantly more difficult to execute - was a failure in its sponginess and overwhelmingly fishy flavor... Aye dios mio!Frustratingly, the massive menu of tapas standards kept striking out, despite the ease of execution. Goat cheese stuffed piquillo peppers ($62), served ice cold and obviously pre-made days in advance, delivered with about as much soul as lift muzak.Service also failed in its naivety of the food and wine they were attempting to sell - multiple service staff couldn't describe the wine list beyond general superlatives such as "good" and "popular". When prompted for food recommendations, we were steered only to the most expensive dishes without further explanation.The buyer's remorse continued with the delivery of what should have been the highlight of a sub-par meal: the $340 seafood and chorizo paella. Instead, it compounded the disappointment and annoyance of the entire table who had to endure through insipid rice, rubbery seafood, and most disappointing, the lack of any inspiration in the form of the socarrat (crisp rice), which is the hallmark of the dish. Without that crispy contrast, the paella at Iberico & Co is reduced to an overpriced, weakly flavored, mushy rice, with bits of half thought ingredients thrown in.At the surface, this restaurant resembles a cutting edge and trendy tapas restaurant. At it's heart, Iberico & Co is a misinformed impostor posing as the real thing.…查看更多

Growing up, I used to think of a chicken sandwich as a joyless meal. That was until I'd met far superior versions of the classic sandwich at such places such as Fuku in NYC, Sylvain in New Orleans, or Hot Star Fried Chicken in HK/TW. Heck, even chain sandwiches, Nando's, Chik-fil-a, Bojangles, etc make a darn good chicken sandwich.The version at the News Room Diner reminded me of why I hated the dish as a child. Desiccate, flavorless, breast meat chicken on greasy toast with a perfunctorily limp piece of lettuce is about as unaccomplished as one could get away with, especially at $105.Beyond the chicken, the daily soup (vegetable) tasted canned, the side salad had all the life of a pensioner, and the service was spotty (one fellow diner's dish came nearly 15 minutes after everyone else's). At least the chips were nice - hot, crispy and well seasoned.If the News Room Diner is out to replicate soulless, race-to-the-bottom American staples, well then; News flash: They've done a fine job of it.…查看更多

How do your noodles speak to you? Some noodle soups bark at the the diner in a fierce manner with plenty of brawn and bite; think: laksa, khao soi, bun bo hue. Others whisper in dulcet tones; think: sulleongtang, pho ga, wonton mi. If you're at Tam Jai Samgor, you're here for the Yunnan specialty, 過橋米線 (Bridge Crossing Noodles), which you can either keep tame or transform into something fierce depending on your choices. Everything from the type of broth, toppings, and spice level can be customized at this chain of restaurants.At its core, the dish is a mellow thing - milky white chicken broth and benign mixian (rice noodles), not too dissimilar from the Vietnamese dish of pho ga. For a few honkies extra, you can take the broth all different places, adding vinegar, sichuan pepper corns (the numbing kind) or white pepper. Should you choose the upgraded broth, you're given an option of 10 spice levels which start at a whisper (10) and finish with a full on temper tantrum (1).What I love about Tamjai Samgor is that while you can opt to add a ton of flavor, you can keep it relatively healthy. Additional toppings ($6) include plenty of meat options, but also include chives, several variety of mushrooms, lettuce, tofu, and bean sprouts. For about $50, one can curate a relatively healthy and more than filling bowl of food. And despite the addition of a bit of chili oil, the broth eats cleanly, and not overly slick or fatty (unless one chooses it to be).Such a bargain comes at a cost, for eating here is not the most comfortable of experiences. Service is abrupt. Tables are cramped. If you're careless enough to leave a foot or elbow in the aisle, expect to get it gruffly bumped into. Lingering is not encouraged. You pay at the front and get out before the queue of hungry diners revolt.While most of the waitstaff don't speak English, there is an English menu available which you fill out by ticking the desired options. So how do Tamjai Samgor's noodles speak to me? With plenty of comportment and disdain. And I love them for it.…查看更多

In the American South there's a colloquialism that something is so good that it will 'make you wanna slap your mama'. *85 South doesn't evoke passion. It barely registers a shrug. Sure - relative to other American BBQ joints in HK, which are rarer than a hen's teeth **, it's a fine plate of 'cue. Objectively, it's a few fries (or chips) short of a happy meal. ***The pulled pork was dry and slightly greasy, but had enough textural contrast to discern that it was likely from a large primal - with a bit of fat and a bit of lean. But flavor-wise so underwhelming that BBQ virgin would come away with the impression that Americans aren't fit to come close to a pig (or any other meat for that matter).If you were to seek an authentic Carolina BBQ experience at 85 South, you may spend most of your meal recounting the things that are missing, rather than the things that are on your tray. Absent was a square of white bread, which is an essential component of Carolina 'cue, which is to be used as both a utensil and side dish. Sweet pickles, a classic palate cleanser, would have been welcomed to the party. Same goes for the smoke line (a tell tale sign that the meat has been cooked low and slow with actual charcoal or wood chips)?To be fair, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear ****, and similarly no one comes to Hong Kong expecting good American BBQ. And to think that you could find good BBQ this far from home is about as good as a cat trying to bury a turd on a marble floor.*****==============================* This is to imply that in a fit of passion and reverence for something, one might resort to domestic violence on their mother for denying them of such pleasures.** Doesn't exist as chickens do not have teeth*** Coming up short / lacking**** Can't make something out of nothing***** A futile effortAmericans are a strange lot.…查看更多