Asia Flavours

Modern Toilet"

Taking that good Yorkshire expression - "where there's muck there's brass" - to whole new levels, the Modern Toilet restaurant in Causeway Bay is, well, an interesting experience. Every single aspect of the restaurant has been themed from the decor to the crockery to the somewhat dubious descriptions of the dishes on the menu. 

Diners sit on full-sized toilets (padded to protect your derriere from what could otherwise be quite an uncomfortable experience) and at tables with ceramic sinks below the glass top; the walls are decorated with bathroom features such as tiles and shower heads. Even the crockery is themed with food served in miniature ceramic toilets or baths, and with drinks served in miniature ceramic urinals. They were probably the most disconcerting feature. For some reason, my mind started playing tricks on me and I started to smell things that simply weren't there - all of which made drinking my urinal of coke rather tricky! 

If toilet humour is your thing then I suggest going with someone who is able to read Chinese. The English translations say things like "Indian curry chicken" and "chocolate ice-cream" but the Chinese versions breach the boundaries of good taste with descriptions that are distinctly stomach-turning and graphic! 

I was expecting the food to be absolutely terrible and while it wasn't exactly going to win culinary awards, it wasn't totally inedible either. I opted for the Indian curry chicken while my friend C.L. chose the curry chicken gratin, both of which came with soup to start. The soup was pretty rubbish but the mains were standard, if somewhat stodgy, cheap'n'cheerful fare - and frankly, haute cuisine served in mini-toilets would have been a bit wrong. The clear star of the show was the "constipation ice-cream" which was absolutely ginormous - and which gave us a seriously extreme sugar rush because of all the jellies, sweets, sauces, red beans and biscuits, not to mention the poo-shaped ice-cream swirls ... extremely dangerous given C.L. and I were heading to Times Square for a spot of retail therapy afterwards. 

Not a great culinary experience but at HK$100 a head for soup, main, shared pudding and a drink, it's worth it for the sheer comedy value - and as an interesting insight into Taiwanese psyche!

Modern Toilet
Shop 4E, 4th Floor, Capitol Centre
5-19 Jardine's Bazaar
Causeway Bay

Tel: 28956288

The Farmhouse

The Farmhouse is a bit of a strange place. For starters, it's on the first floor of a commercial building with one of the most macho marble lobbies I've ever seen, the restaurant is so cold that they willingly give out thick woollen pashminas and there are shelves filled with dried bits of abalone that wouldn't look out of place in a dusty old museum... 

Despite the unusual surroundings, the food is pretty good although I'll admit that some of the dishes were a little bit too traditional for my liking, especially the "healthy" soup. 

The house-speciality are these rather genius deep-fried stuffed chicken wings which have been de-boned and stuffed with glutinous rice, seafood and mushrooms, among other things. They were definitely the star of the show. 

One of the other dishes we had was an egg-white with seafood mixture which was interesting although I have a fundamental problem with the consistency that I just don't seem to be able to get over. In my mind, these Cantonese egg-white dishes have the consistency of a pudding, not a main course. Combine it with bits of seafood and serious alarm bells start ringing in my mind...

The slow-cooked pork dish was divine but also about the least healthy dish ever invented. It just melted in your mouth. 

We had a couple of other dishes including a chicken with pineapple dish which were good and a couple that were not so great - the balance unfortunately falling slightly on the less-good side. For example, less interesting in my books was the "healthy" soup which we had - frankly a bit uninspired on the taste front, as was the plate of debris from the soup which we were presented with! While the soup may have been "healthy", the rest of the meal was definitely not healthy at all. Interesting but I'm not sure I'd rush back.... 

1/F, 18 Hysan Avenue

Causeway Bay 

Tel: 2881 41331

Hutong (8.90)

My natural instinct is to dislike Hutong on the grounds that it seems, at first look, like a expensive tourist-trap. Time and time again, I have a good meal, yet I don't seem to be able to kick this feeling that it's all a bit of an overpriced affair. This time round, I think I've done it.

The meal, while far from credit-crunch friendly, was superb. We opted for the Michelin Award Set Menu which gave us the advantage of being able to try little bits of everything. One thing I've found about Chinese food is that it can be a bit much unless you have a big group with lots of different dishes you can pick'n'choose from. This tasting menu solved the problem perfectly. 

We started with a selection of fresh abalone and coriander salad, scallops with pomelo and green asparagus coated in white sesame. Proving that there is always an advantage to taster plates, all three of us predicted that the scallops would be our favourite item and all three of us decided that the scallops was the most disappointing dish. The abalone was stunning. 

Next came boneless cod with fermented beans and chili, and "Ma La" chili prawns fried with Sichuan dried chili and Chinese celery, both of which were superb. The duck with pancakes was equally stunning. Crushed salty fish with kale and "Dan Dan Noodles" with minced pork, peanut sauce and chili soup topped off a fantastic main course section. Normally I find the appetisers the highlight of any meal - they tend to be more interesting, more intricate - but in this case, it was the main courses that impressed. 

The only disappointment of the meal was the dessert course. The baked egg tarts were greasy and all rather bland, and the red-bean ice-cream was perfectly pleasant but a little boring. 

Was it worth HK$880 a head? Yes, but only for a special occasion. The view across to the island is stunning, the decor atmospheric and the food excellent. Credit crunch friendly it's not but sometimes you have to go crazy... 

28/F, One Peking Road

Tel: 34288342

Fu Sing Shark Seafood Restaurant (9/10)

Why did no one tell me about this restaurant earlier? 

This unassuming restaurant has some of the best dim sum I've tried in Hong Kong. 

There is very little more I can say. The office block the restaurant is located in is all rather non-descript and the decor isn't going to win any awards but the food is fantastic. I think the photos say it all: 

WARNING: DO NOT VIEW THE FOLLOWING ON AN EMPTY STOMACH. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. 

1/F, Sunshine Plaza

353 Lockhart Road 

Wan Chai

Tel: 2893 0881

Yixin Restaurant (8/10)

My last experience of lemon chicken in Hong Kong could easily be renamed "nuclear reactor chicken". The sauce was a seriously disturbing neon yellow colour and frankly, I'd have been surprised if the chicken had come into contact with a lemon at any point during the cooking process. With that in mind, I wasn't exactly chomping at the bit when my friend C.L. suggested a lemon chicken dinner, particularly as I was expecting it to be a bit of a local Wan Chai experience.

Wrong on all accounts. My first pleasant surprise of the evening was the restaurant itself, a tastefully decorated restaurant round the corner from The Pawn. Painted a warm yellow, the dining area was clean and spacious with old black'n'white photos on the walls. Also, unlike quite a few Wan Chai restaurants, the menu is in English as well as Chinese. 

Second pleasant surprise of the evening was the food which was really quite unusual. The lemon chicken, in particular, was a highlight. I suspect that the following description will make you think I've gone mad but I assure you, it worked. The deep-fried chicken pieces, an excellent combination of tender chicken and really crispy batter, were covered in this thick, sweet lemon sauce that, I swear, bore a striking similarity to my grandmother's signature lemon drizzle cake. 

To accompany the lemon chicken, we had a stir-fried crab and egg white dish which wouldn't have been on my list if I'd ordered but which will be from now on. The subtle flavours and texture were great, real comfort food (although my friends tell me that it has to be eaten as quickly as possible after it leaves the kitchen because it is rather less appealing when tepid!). Then there was a house-speciality baked rice dish with chicken which was nice but which wasn't going to knock your socks off. 

The other rather cool dish was their version of that Chinese take-away staple, prawn toast. The deep-fried toast pieces were layered with fish and then a slice of ham for decoration. My friends thought the restaurant was all a bit gweilo although I did point out that I was the only non-Chinese person in the room and it was completely full on a Wednesday night. I think they eventually settled on the fact that it was western-influenced Cantonese food. 

All in all, a bit of unexpected success. 

Yixin Restaurant

G/F Shanghai Industrial Investment Building

50 Hennessy Road

Wan Chai

Tel: 2834 9963

Ovologue (8/10)

The food at Ovologue is very good and the presentation is stunning. There is only one thing that lets it down: the service. To be fair, we had a bad experience which I think we were unlucky to have. We booked a table and arrived to discover that they'd obviously overbooked and we were shoved into the entrance hall where they have two low tables. The draft from the door which was open all evening was horrendous and the atmosphere non-existent. If I'd known how bad it would be I'd have left before the meal but I didn't. Made worse, it was really difficult to get the waiters' attention and when we did, the orders got confused - the cappucino and two black coffees emerged as two cappucinos and no black coffee. 

Still, moans aside, the food was good. The steamed codfish with fermented black bean sauce was excellent, as was the Ovologue stewed chicken and sweet and sour pork. 

I'd be interested to try it again, this time in the main dining room.... 

American Peking Restaurant (7/10)

I'm always looking for restaurants that you can go to for a group meal where the food is good, the atmosphere loud enough that you don't feel embarrassed if you're a little noisy and the wine cheap enough that, despite loosing track of the number of bottles ordered, you don't get a sharp pain in your wallet when the bill arrives. The American Peking Restaurant in Wan Chai is one of those credit-crunch friendly places that is particularly good for group dining, with tasty, reliable food and some surprisingly cheap wine available on the menu. At HK$120 a bottle, the wine is not exactly of the highest quality but then it's an evening out in Wan Chai... 

The only downside to the group dining area upstairs is that the combination of rather large round tables, closely spaced together and low ceilings is that the noise levels can get really quite high. The problem only escalates throughout the night and you really need to talk loudly to be able to have any form of conversation across the table. 

The food was varied and interesting with spicy aubergine and minced pork being one of my favourites. The sizzler dish of seafood added a touch of drama to the evening and was as tasty as it looked. The only dish that didn't really pass muster was the lemon chicken which was so neon in colouring that it looked like it had had a bit of a run-in with a nuclear reactor somewhere along the way. Despite the extreme yellow food colouring overload, it didn't taste particularly lemony which was all a bit odd. 

If you can cope with the noise levels, this is a good group dining place in which to being a Wan Chai night out.... 

20 Lockhart Rd.

Wan Chai

Tel: 25277770

Yi Jiang Nan (6/10)

I've walked past Yi Jiang Nan thousands of times and it always appeared to be a bit of a cubby-hole. Turns out I was totally wrong - it's got quite a big dinning area inside. Despite this, it's pretty cosy inside with tasteful, sweet Chinese decor (well, cosy except for the chairs which are decidedly hard and uncomfortable!).  

The food was surprisingly good although I'm not sure why I was surprised (I suspect it relates to the fact that I thought I was going to a tiny cubby-hole restaurant). The cold chicken, cucumber and noodle dish was particularly good although the aubergine with chili was excellent too. The food wasn't cheap although that's not a tremendous shock given it's in the heart of SoHo. To be fair, the three of us ordered an awful lot of food, including river prawns and a whole deep-fried fish. I think you could probably order in a much more sensible fashion, have a great meal and feel that you were getting pretty good value for money.

Yi Jiang Nan
33-35 Staunton Street
Central
Tel: 2136 0886

Lung King Heen (10/10)

Ever since the people at Michelin awarded Lung King Heen three stars, I've wanted to go and see what the hype is all about. I've kept putting the visit off because of the palpitations about the resulting dent to my wallet (my only other experience of a three star restaurant, Jean-Georges in New York, virtually involved remortgaging my flat and calling in the loan sharks...!) However, finally, my curiosity outweighed my fear of bankruptcy and I booked a table. Don't get me wrong, it was excellent - both in terms of the food and the service - but one of the best restaurants in the world? Perhaps not. 

Before I get to the food / experience generally, I should point out that the bill was surprising ... in a good way. The two of us enthusiastically ordered one starter and three main dishes, had the amuse bouche and petit fours, and more tea than you can ever imagine, all for HK$350 a head.  Not cheap but probably no more than you'd pay at any of the restaurants in SoHo. On a bill related point, the kitchen thought we'd ordered too much with our original order of four mains and suggested that one of the mains come as a starter portion. I was thoroughly impressed. They could very well have let us over-order and pay for far more food than we needed. 

The food was simply excellent. It wasn't cutting edge but it was very upmarket traditional Cantonese food. The minced pigeon, one of my favourite Chinese dishes whether in the spicy Sichuan form or the sweeter Cantonese form, was really flavoursome. Having said it wasn't cutting edge, the scallop and pear dish was interesting although I think I preferred the more traditional pork belly dish and the really tasty eel with aubergine. 

Excellent food is really only half the picture and the service couldn't be faulted. It was attentive but unobtrusive. In addition, as an added bonus, you got an excellent view of Victoria Harbour as you ate making it perfect for visitors in town. 

I imagine it could become quite an expensive experience if you had wine but I was very impressed. It is definitely on my list of places to take people visiting from abroad. A little safe, perhaps, but a great evening. 

Four Seasons Hotel

8 Finance Street

Central

Tel: 3196 8888

Chiuchow Garden (7/10)

I was slightly underwhelmed by the Chiu Chow food we had at Chiu Chow Garden. I hadn't eaten Chiu Chow before and I'm not totally sure whether the problem lay with the cuisine as a whole, with the meal we had at Chiu Chow Garden or with an over-excited level of expectation on my part. I'd done a quick bit of pre-dinner internet research which suggested that Chiu Chow is a comparatively healthy type of Chinese cuisine with an emphasis on seafood and vegetables, and on steaming and poaching. It all sounded rather good: back to basics, a focus on select ingredients rather than a heavy sauce. 

It didn't start too well because I really wasn't taken with the thimble of bitter oolong tea that they served before the meal. I'm sure it is good for you. Or, at least, I hope it is good for you because, frankly, it verged on the undrinkable and apparently it is traditional at Chiu Chow restaurants. 

I wasn't sure about the menu either - the offer of a fish "cooked alive" and a double-boiled soup of snail's head and chicken feet - just didn't do it for me. However, despite the initial concerns, the food was good, particularly the soyed sliced goose. The steamed mullet with salted lemon in Shantou style was tasty and the sauteed sliced lotus root, lily bulb and green vegetables were cooked well (despite the fact that lotus root and lily bulbs are not up there in my list of all-time favourite veggies). 

All in all, the food was beautifully cooked and tasty but I just couldn't get excited about it. I can't quite put my finger on why but it just didn't wow me. Annoying because I thought it might. 

Chiu Chow Garden

Shop 202, 2/F, Hutchinson House

10 Harcourt Road

Central

Tel: 2536 0833