Asia Flavours

Izakaya Misaki

Just when I think I'm starting to get there, another area of Hong Kong I've never heard of pops out of the woodwork - and, rather embarrassingly, I'm not talking about random bits of the New Territories which it's kind of excusable not to know. My latest "new" area is Tai Hang, a former fishing village within spitting distance of Causeway Bay. J.L. and I stumbled on Tai Hang on Saturday evening in pursuit of the rather impressive Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance Procession.  

After inhaling more incense than our lungs could possibly cope with we headed for Izakaya Misaki, a small Japanese restaurant in the heart of Tai Hang. The reviews on Openrice, I've subsequently learnt, haven't been that favourable but we had a great time - nice food, great service - and I'd definitely go back. 

We started with red clam sashimi which was tasty and beautifully presented on the clam shells. Then came what in my mind was the star of the show - the fire dragon roll. The middle part had been lightly battered and had this wonderful crunchy texture. It also tasted really delicious. The other star was the pumpkin tempura. The pumpkin was perfectly cooked and the tempura light and delicate. So good in fact that my friend C.L., who joined us after her family's Mid-Autumn Festival dinner, ordered a second helping!

The king crab claw was beautifully simple - so good that it didn't need any sauce - and the sea urchin sushi something that I tried because I'd always meant to but wouldn't necessarily rush back to. 

We didn't have any problems with excess mayonnaise - seemingly the issue that most people on Openrice were unhappy about - but the broiled mackerel salad did have excess dressing. The beautiful tasting marinated mackerel came on a bed of rather dull iceberg lettuce that was literally swimming in an oil/vinegar dressing. It was a shame because the mackerel was fantastic and would have benefited from a much more sophisticated lettuce bed. 

The guy running the show was fantastically enthusiastic and attentive which gave it a relaxed pub-like feel that an izakaya should have. Definitely a winner in my books.

2 Sun Chun Street
Tai Hang

Tel: 3488 5543

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

Bicho (9.0)

You're pretty much guaranteed to improve your chances of an authentic Japanese dining experience by picking a restaurant near to Sogo in Causeway Bay and Bicho has the advantage of being virtually on top of it. The intimate yakitori restaurant with its simple but excellent - and incredibly reasonably priced - food is on the 26th floor of a commercial building crammed full of more sushi restaurants than you could ever possibly visit. 

We ordered about three dishes each, having wolfed through the raw veggies provided at the start of the meal. We started on a slight damp note with the lychee and pork which we weren't totally sure about, mainly because neither component had a particularly strong flavour. However, things quickly improved. On the veggie front, the vegetable cake tempura was excellent and the aubergine with miso, delicious and interesting. The beef and the pork neck more than made up for the lychee/pork dish on the flavour front. The pork neck was fantastic - not at all fatty. Another slight disappointment were the stuffed chicken wings - the meat was beautifully cooked but the stuffing wasn't my thing. However, the tofu with sesame dressing was a great fresh accompaniment to the mains. 

The meat and vegetables were excellent but the star was the squid-ink coated fried udon noodles. Not only did they taste delicious but there was added comedy value in that everyone had temporary moments of Gothic-black lipstick or dirty pirate-teeth!

Small things, small minds and all that but I liked the little touches like the fact that you got to choose your own design of sake cup and that the dining experience was complemented by really helpful and cheerful staff. The other thing I liked was that we ordered three dishes each - which was plenty - and a bottle of house sake for HKD230 a head. Serious value. 

Continental Diamond Plaza

523-527 Hennessy Road

Causeway Bay

Tel: 28387022

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

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

Irori (7/10)

Irori is a great little restaurant. It's homestyle Japanese food at its best with a lively atmosphere and friendly, enthusiastic service. The restaurant itself is pretty small (with the lack of natural light making it seem even smaller) but the noise level means that you just don't notice that the tables are actually quite close together. 

Completely thrown by the seriously extensive and varied menu, we ended up ordering a little bit of everything. Some of the dishes like the salmon sashimi and cod with teriyaki sauce were excellent. The mixed tempura was beautifully light and non-greasy; the soft shell crab handroll that my friend KK had was apparently delicious. 

Almost as interesting as the successful dishes were the slightly odd ones we accumulated through our somewhat random ordering policy. The Japanese rice flour pizza was really tasty but wasn't going to make Italian pizza makers quake in their boots - it was almost impossible to speak for the five minutes it took to shift the sticky rice base from one side of the roof of your mouth to the other and back again. Then there were the really beautifully presented fermented soybeans. Frankly, an acquired taste and not one that any of us acquired, despite repeated attempts. Covered in quail egg yolk, they were seriously bitter with an aftertaste that made you physically squirm. 

Working out at just over HK$200 a head, including sake, it was very good value for money. 

2F, Bartlock Centre

3 Yiu Wa Street

Causeway Bay

Tel: 2838 5939

La Bons Cafe (6/10)

I'd promised myself a bit of a stomach detox this week. The seemingly sensible decision to stick with smart restaurants in Cambodia had rather back-fired in one particular 5* hotel in Siem Reap and my stomach still hadn't forgiven me several days later. Unfortunately, the detox didn't quite go to plan - it turns out that I have absolutely no willpower whatsoever. The first problem that presented itself was Sunday brunch at the Mandarin Grill. I was completely powerless to resist the all-you-can-eat, all-you-can-drink food-fest. 

Then, the next day, with my stomach's festering grievances now getting close to boiling point, I was tempted into yet more over-indulgence. R.L. and S.J. had recommended a French restaurant in Wan Chai which they reckoned was a perfect credit-crunch friendly mid-week dinner place. All would have been well but somehow, when we got to La Bons Cafe on Ship Street, I just couldn't say no to the gooey chocolate pudding. Damn. Must try harder.

While the name of the cafe is a little questionable grammatically (perhaps some hidden ironic statement or an in joke?), the decor at La Bons Cafe is brilliantly French in that "I don't care about decor, it's all about the food" kind of way. What isn't so French, is the incredibly cheerful, polite service which greets you. For full authenticity, that is clearly something they are going to have to work on. 

The food is really pretty good, particularly considering the price. It's simple, homely cuisine, not perfect but not bad either. In keeping with the present theme of credit crunch carefulness, most of the main courses come as set meals with a salad or soup to start and tea or coffee afterwards. Ok, so the soup and salad are pretty nondescript but with most of the sets less than HKD 100, this can be forgiven. 

Although the chocolate pudding wasn't included in the price it was considered quite imperative by my dining companions. Anyway, true to form, it was excellent, if a little over-powering! Looking back at the other chocolate puddings I've had recently, this gives the considerably more expensive melted chocolate pudding at Jean-Georges on the Bund a real run for its money. Arghhh... getting hungry. Must stop spending time describing the puddings...!

La Bons Cafe

Ship Street

Wan Chai

Malaymama (4/10)

I was disappointed by Malaymama. It probably didn't help that it set itself a pretty high standard, claiming it was "the best Malaysian food in Hong Kong". I  can't agree. I don't have that much experience of Malaysian food in Hong Kong but Sabah certainly impressed me significantly more. 

E.L. and I went to Malaymama for a bowl of laksa, having been inspired wandering past the cafe's less-than-modest sign earlier that day. The ingredients - the chicken strips, the tofu puffs and the prawns - were fresh tasting but the spicy coconut-based soup and egg noodles were a bit disappointing. For HKD 49, it wasn't bad value but I reckon there are better cheap options in Sheung Wan. 

 

G/F 11A Mercer Street 

Sheung Wan

Nha Trang in Wan Chai (10/10)

The good thing about the Credit Crunch (and let's face it, there aren't many positives) is that it gives you the chance (/forces you) to explore the city's cheaper, less-SoHo-based restaurants. Nha Trang in Wan Chai is the ultimate credit crunch restaurant. It looks swanky inside but is actually cheap as chips ... and fantastic to boot.

The original version of Nha Trang in Wellington Street has been a staple of mine of for a while, a place to solve that mid-week craving of pho tai. It’s a great little café but the rather cramped interior and hectic atmosphere just isn't always what you want. This new restaurant with its identikit menu provides the solution for when you want your fix of pho tai in spacious surroundings with a bit of relaxed comfort.

 
If I’m being totally honest with myself, my cravings for Nha Trang are actually less about the pho tai and more about the Grilled Aubergine dish. It is phenomenal and rather boringly, I have it every time I go. The aubergine has been grilled and left to cool and, with its topping of shrimp and scallions, it is lip-smackingly juicy and sweet. It also contrasts nicely with the Pomelo Grilled Prawns Salad. The prawns sitting on skewers on top of the bowl were over-cooked but that didn’t really matter because in the grand scheme of things it is not about the prawns but about the bowl of pomelo covered with a tangy lime dressing. Our third shared starter was a plate of deep-fried vegetable rolls which E.L. had been going on about since before lunch and which therefore couldn’t be avoided. They were beautifully crispy without feeling too oily - and also contrasted nicely with the tangy pomelo salad!

Rather recklessly my friend L.O. decided to venture into the unknown and instead of the tried-and-tested pho tai, ordered the sizzling crepes Saigon, rice flour crepes flavoured with coconut and curry and filled with pork, shrimp and vegetables. Although it looked a little oily from where I was sitting, it was apparently really tasty - L.O. describing it as being in the category of comfort food!

It’s not fancy haute-cuisine but it is good, tasty food at fantastically reasonable prices in a nice setting. As such, perfect.

Shop No 2,
2/F Wu Chung House,
213 Queen’s Road East,
Wanchai

Tel: 2891 1177