Eat Drink Hong Kong

This is a lively Turkish restaurant towards the Observatory court end of Knutsford Terrace. It’s been there for some time and my last trip to the terrace a few weeks ago reminded me that I still hadn’t been here. I decided to rectify the issue.

I arrive quite early but here were quite a few people there already. They can still find me a table with ease. After eight o’clock it would not have been so easy. The decor is pretty well what you would expect for a middle-eastern restaurant. Red ochre coloured walls and plenty of souk lamps scattered around.

There is a small al fresco area but it didn’t really look inviting so I opted to sit inside. Along the bar the dining area is quite narrow but it opens out at the back and is quite spacious.

The boasts a fairly wide selection of mezz or small dishes which can be served as starters or just snacks with beer. I decided to order two and see how it went.

The first up was deep fried lamb ribs ($70). These were seasoned with salt and paprika and very tender indeed. They went rather well with the Efes Turkish beer ($35) and I soon found myself ordering another bottle. Efes is made with rice which gives it a very clean dry flavour that goes down well even without the lamb.

Hot on it’s heels were sardines on barbecued on swords ($40). They weren’t very big swords of course and the waiter did remove them. I presume the point is that the heat conducts along the length of the metal cooking from the inside as well as out. They were very moist and tasty and erm.. a rather good accompaniment for Turkish beer.

I ordered another bottle and also put in an order for their ‘Hot Pan’ speciality Circassian Chicken ($145).

This would take a while to prepare but that was fine with me. While I waited the lights dimmed and the music grew louder. A lissom young thing in flowing pink silk and golden bangles floated in and performed an approximation of a belly dance. She was way too slight to carry it off effectively but it didn’t seem to matter. She was pretty and graceful and she earned herself a round of applause before floating out again.

As if on cue my chicken arrived just as the lights went up again. This is a dish that comes from the European corner of Turkey in the north-west. The chicken id seasoned with walnut and paprika and in this case was serves with fresh vegetables.

Although I was fairly full I still felt I had enough strength left to push a slice of date tart with walnut ice cream ($55) around the plate. I finished off with a regular coffee and, since it was a pleasant evening, took myself for a stroll along the harbour front.

G/F, Yiu Pont House
12 Knutsford Terrace
Tsim Sha Tsui