Liberty Exchange Kitchen & Bar, Central - 28.09.10

I have heard a lot of talk recently about the new offering from one of Hong Kong’s best Private Kitchens – Liberty Private Works.  It was therefore with great anticipation that I attended a dinner at Liberty Exchange last night.

The restaurant is located at Exchange Square – a great position, one would think, for a trendy new restaurant to open up, given that Exchange Square, IFC and all the neighbouring sky rises house thousands upon thousands of expense account diners.  It was a bit of a shock therefore to find the restaurant almost half empty at 8:30pm on a Tuesday night - very strange for any reasonably new establishment in Hong Kong.

The menu is modern American, with the likes of burgers, short ribs, deep fried oysters and US steaks on offer.  All look pretty appetising, making my choice a difficult task as usual.   Upon the recommendation of the waitress, I went for two of the restaurant’s ‘signature’ dishes: the Caesar Salad, and the Short Ribs. 

Upon its arrival, I could already tell the Caesar Salad was going to be a disappointment.  Although a healthy sized portion, the cos salad leaves looked like they came out of a packet, and were covered in a very pale white creamy dressing that had absolutely no depth or indeed any flavour to it.  A couple of lardons, and some quite decent croutons did nothing to enhance the blandness of the dressing – a real disappointment.  I always feel that if a restaurant can do a Caesar Salad right, then it will probably do everything else right also.  I was therefore not looking forward to my main.  When the Short Rib arrived, it did look quite promising however.  A nice big chunk of juicy rib, accompanied by a creamy potato side.  The rib was reasonably tender and the sauce not bad - nothing spectacular though.  The potato accompaniment was in fact a potato salad – cold and really nothing special.  I had also ordered a side order of Mac and Cheese.  This is another American staple that really should be cooked superbly, with just the right amount of tangy cheese, and a whole host of spices or flavours that can be added to give it depth of flavour.   In this case, apart from the fact that the pasta was cooked well, the dish was bland, with only the few tiny morsels of chorizo adding any real flavour to it. 

I won’t go on, but needless to say, the rest of my group felt similarly about their food.  The one saving grace of the night was the dessert, which although not fantastic, were at least polished off.  The Charlie Brown Brownie especially went down a treat . . . but perhaps that was because everyone was still hungry after having left most of their mains?

To top off an already disappointing dining experience, at around 10pm, music suddenly blared out from the speakers above us – far too loud for a restaurant that was nearly empty.  Check please!

Liberty Exchange Kitchen & Bar

2 Exchange Square

8 Connaught Place

Central

Hong Kong

T: +852 2810 8400

Cafe Gray Deluxe, Admiralty - 27.08.10

I have waited a long time to eat at Cafe Gray Deluxe, mainly because after having a drink at the bar when it first opened, I got a terrible bout of food poisoning and blamed it on their bar snacks. 

I am over the food poisoning incident now however and ready to give the place another chance.  We were lucky enough to be taken for dinner on Friday night by some family friends of my husband.  I am glad we were not treating that night, because Cafe Gray, located on the 49th floor of Upper House, not only has spectacularly high views and high cuisine, it also has high prices.   Chef Gray Kuntz’s creative menu of reworked classics offers an array of tempting dishes, but all at a price: appetizers start at around $85 for a tiny Gazpacho to nearly $300 for the truffle Risotto.  Mains are all upwards of $300 and most hover around the $450 mark. 

I began with the Bib Lettuce and Guacamole.  Refreshing and tasty though it was, it literally was just lettuce and guacamole, something I could have whipped up in the blender myself in 10 minutes flat.  My husband had the steak tartare, which was excellent in my opinion, but only so-so according to him.  For my main, I had the ravioli of tomato and thyme.  Although this dish sounds ridiculously simple, it was a brilliantly turned out dish, with perfectly sweetened tomatoes, a hint of cream or mascarpone I suspect, and just the right amount of herbs to accent the pasta without overpowering the other flavours.  My husband had the steak, which was perfectly cooked, and had a very good flavour to it.  The sides that came with the steak were a little on the rich side however.  Our friends had the lamb and they were very pleased with it.   

Unfortunately, no one had room for dessert, and we instead indulged in a few after dinner drinks.  We became quite merry and probably a little obnoxious in all honesty, but our after dinner conversation was quite hilarious.  At one point, someone was referred to as 'vors raw', meaning 'sitting on the fence not making a decision'.  Literally, the translation into English from the Afrikaans original is ‘raw dick’ - hysterical and definitely one to remember for the future!

Overall the food was good but not outstanding.  The service was pretty appalling.   Although perfectly polite and though the waiter delivered our food on time, it was damned near impossible to get anyone’s attention from our enclave table by the kitchen, and we ended up having to get up to pour our own wine a few times.

I can't even begin to imagine what our bill came to, but I would estimate the cost to be at least $1000 per head for three courses including wine.

Ask for a table by the window in the main dining area to ensure better service.

Cafe Gray Deluxe
49th Floor, The Upper House

Pacific Place

88 Queensway

T: +852 3968 1106

W: www.cafegrayhk.com

Lamma Hilton (Shum Kee), Lamma - 26.08.10

When you live in a small yet insanely overcrowded, polluted and hectic city such as Hong Kong, it comes as a huge relief when you get the opportunity to escape from the craziness, even just for a couple of hours. 

And so I find myself climbing on board the ferry that will take me from pier 4 in Central to Sok Kwu Wan on Lamma Island, where frazzled Hong Kong locals and a fair few curious tourists can escape to a world of yesteryear and delicious fresh seafood.

As you step off the ferry, a long line of similar looking seafood restaurants await, each beckoning hungry diners in with their promises of free Carlsburg or the ‘best seafood on the island’.  They needn't bother however as every local Hong Konger has their firm favourite, usually either Rainbow or the Lamma Hilton, which they most likely have been frequenting for years.

My favourite is the Lamma Hilton and as I wasn't the organiser of last night's outing, I was secretly very relieved that the organiser also preferred the Hilton to the other choices.  To say the least, it saved my husband from a torrent of complaints for the rest of the evening!

Satisfied with the choice of restaurant, my next hurdle to overcome was to ensure that all my favourite dishes were ordered.  Not a problem, anyone familiar with Lamma knows to order the Pepper Prawns and Deep Fried Squid.  Both were fantastic - the prawns were fresh and the crispy salt, pepper, chilli and garlic topping so moreish that the savvy ones on our table were scraping the excess from the dish into our bowls to eat with rice.  The squid was less rubbery than usual – not bad for Lamma standards!  We also had a great big Garoupa picked straight from the fish tank where it was swimming happily moments before being presented to our table beautifully steamed with spring onion and soya sauce.  We also had a spicy tofu dish, which wasn't bad, a seriously garlicky aubergine dish with vermicelli noodles, and a fried morning glory, which was nice, but I find this particular green vegetable a little stringy.   We did not have the baby lobster with minced garlic, a dish I would highly recommend trying, nor did we have any crab, which can also be amazing with black bean and spring onion.

Overall it was a pretty good meal – lots of food and fantastic value for money.  We each paid $180 for the food and lots of beer (no wine).  I would say that the price per head tends to get less the more people you have in your group, and a group size of 8 or more is ideal so you can try lots of different dishes.

Lamma Hilton (Shum Kee)
26 Sok Kwu Wan Road

Lamma

T: +852 2982 2941