Eat Drink Hong Kong

12&13/F Langham Place,
8 Argyle Street,
Mongkok,
Kowloon
Tel 3514 9288

6/F Canarvon Plaza
20 Canarvon Road
Tsimshatsui
Kowloon
Tel 2152 0375

25/F Morecrown Commercial Building
108 Electric Road
Tin Hau
Hong Kong
Tel 2234 6628

13/F Henry House
42 Yun Ping Road
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2504 2928

Regal Riverside Hotel
34-36 Tai Chung Kiu Road
Shatin
New Territories
Tel 2649 7878

Shop GB 18-20 Yat Wah Mansion
45, Tai Hong Streed
Lei King Wan
Hong Kong
Tel 2539 0098
Fax 2539 7638

Pak Sha Road
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong

7/F Circle Tower
28 Tang Lung Street
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2836 0671

2/F 49 Hollywood Road
Central
Hong Kong
Tel 2541 1599

I bumped into an old colleague at a function a few weeks back. It was a bit of a surprise for both of us I think but a pleasant one nonetheless. We decided we really must keep in touch and, to seal our vows, went out to dinner.

She suggested we go over to Observatory Court which I thought was a splendid idea. I’m a bit slack at getting over the other side of the harbour, I have to admit. After snooping around a while we decided to go for teppanyaki at Akita.

Akita is on the first floor and stepping out of the lift, we found ourselves in a surprisingly spacious restaurant decorated in a mock traditional Japanese market style. In front of us were counters displaying fresh seafood and vegetables. To the right was a robotayaki dining area. We hung a left to the teppanyaki area.

Teppanyaki derives it’s name from the hot iron plate, called a teppan, on which the food is cooked. But with teppanyakai you don’t just get dinner, you get a show. We decided on the Hokkaido Teppanyaki Set performance at $498 for two people. We also ordered a bottle of cold dry sake. It was a rather a nice sake but I don’t remember what it was called - leading me to suspect I may have consumed more than my fair share.

The performance, of course, is watching the chef prepare the food. Ours was not only an excellent chef but a good entertainer, twirling pepper mills and cooking utensils with as much aplomb as any cocktail waiter.

We started with a light salad with crab while the chef topped and tailed two jumbo prawns. He set the heads aside for later. The prawns were firm and tasty. “Buttery”, said my friend. I had to agree, but I didn’t think that was a bad thing.

The hint of butter was prevalent throughout the whole meal but it never became overbearing.

The prawns were followed by scallop and geoduck clam dishes. The clam is actually pronounced “gooey duck” but is also called elephant trunk clam and has the distinction of being the largest burrowing clam in the world. It’s also said to be something of an aphrodisiac, possibly due to its phallic shape and the fact that the female produces something like 5 billion viable eggs during her lifespan. They are also an excellent accompaniment for sake.

By now the chef had turned his attention to the Angus beef steak. This was going to be served with a generous amount of fried garlic. While we watched, a bowl of lobster miso soup was served. After the steak we had fresh garden vegetables. The prawn heads were then pressed and cooked until crisp, and then finally, the Akita special fried rice. The fried rice was unusual in that it is cooked with bacon and ground beef, and was really rather nice.

By this time we were both feeling replete but I always feel that the meal is not complete without dessert. That said, in Japanese set meals the dessert is usually ice cream and I wondered if I could cheat. In the end I’m glad I didn’t because the ice cream flavour was sesame and tofu which I had never had before and was most enjoyable.

Afterwards we snooped around Observatory Court some more before clambering into our respective taxis vowing to do it all again soon.

8 Observatory Court
Tsim Sha Tsui
Kowloon
Tel 2316 2727

Shop B 2/F Hennessy Apartment
48 Percival Street
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2890 8234

1/F Dragon Rise
9-11 Pennington Street
Causeway Bay
Tel 2576 5684

29+30/F 1 Peking Road
Tsim Sha Tsui
Kowloon
Tel 3427 2288

Shop 3027-28, IFC Mall
Harbour View Street
Central
Tel 2530 2188

Shop 3027-28
IFC Mall
Harbour View Street
Central
Hong Kong
Tel 2530 2188

G/F Shop A, 77 Wyndham Street
Central
Hong Kong
Tel 2526 5551
Fax 2526 5559

G/F Shop A, 77 Wyndham Street
Central
Hong Kong
Tel 2526 5551
Fax 2526 5559

30 Tai Wong Street East
Wanchai
Hong Kong
Tel 2338 3498

9/F World Trade Centre
280 Gloucester Road
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2576 6777

F1 Fashion Island
19 Great George Street
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2882 1582

2608-10 Harbour City
Tsim Sha Tsui
Kowloon
Tel 2736 5006

12 G/F Miramar Shopping Centre
132 Nathan Road
Tsimshatsui
Kowloon
Tel 2377 3780

34 Leighton Road
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 203 4009

71 Chatham Road
Tsimshatsui
Kowloon
Tel 2838 7678

26/F Continental Diamond Plaza
523-527 Hennessy Road
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2838 7022

2/F Fenwick Street
Wanchai
Hong Kong
Tel 2122 9363

Shop C-D 132 Main Street
Ap Lei Chau
Aberdeen
Hong Kong
Tel 2518 3638

16 Gilman’s Bazaar
Central
Hong Kong
Tel 2850 8371

18 King Kwong Street
Happy Valley
Hong Kong
Tel 2893 3395

11/F Times Square
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 3102 9363

Basement 3, Hennessy Centre
500 Hennessy Road
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2895 3505

G/F 20-22 D’Aguilar Street
Lan Kwai Fong
Central
Hong Kong
Tel 2525 6628
Fax 2521 6188

B3 Mitsukoshi Department Store
Hennessy Centre
500 Hennessy Road
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2576 5222 x 287

4/F The Lee Gardens
33 Hysan Avenue
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2907 2688
Fax 2907 2088

Unit A, B/F The Toy House
100 Canton Road
Tsimshatsui
Kowloon
Tel 3105 8950

R001, 3/F Elements Mall
1 Austin Road West
Kowloon
Tel 2196 8126

2/F Empire Hotel
62 Kimberley Road
Tsimshatsui
Kowloon
Tel 2367 3666

3/F W Square
318 Hennessy Road
Wanchai
Hong Kong
Tel 2832 6636

Shop4, G/F Tai Kut House
7 Greig Road
Quarry Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2561 2727, 2561 8800
Fax 2561 2526

When you really don’t want to leave Central, but a friend insists you accompany her to Quarry Bay to try out her new favourite restaurant, there’s not a lot you can do to resist. So it was that three old friends met up to eat at Dining Art Japanese Restaurant last week.

It is hidden just off the main King’s Road, close to Exit B of Taikoo MTR station. The little row of restaurants behind a sitting-out area seems a little too tucked away to get very busy, but even so, there were only 2 empty tables at Dining Art as we arrived at 7.30.

Everything was very relaxed from the welcome we received as we came through the door, to the comfortable, cream-coloured seats, and cleverly arranged tatami-lookalike sunken table affairs. The lighting is bright, without being garish, and the spotless kitchen area is open to the main restaurant floor, so you can watch the chefs do fancy things with huge lumps of fresh fish.

The menu was extensive, and there were also daily specials on a chalkboard (in Chinese only - but the friendly owner/manager, Sam, was on hand to offer advice and explanations). We ended up with 9 dishes, along with a cold sake!

First along was Deepfried beancurd rolled in bonito flakes - the bonito adding some flavour to the soft tofu. New Zealand steak cubes with Japanese ponzu (vinaigrette) - small cubes flash-fried and still red in the centre.

We plunged ahead with the house special Mixed sashimi rice, then Lightly grilled salmon & bonito sushi, a large, crunchy, Soft-shell crab roll, and another special, the delicious Salmon florette topped with crab meat and crab coral. As we were feeling flush, the Fatty tuna (Toro) sashimi had to be ordered as well. All the sushi was very fresh.

Next up, my friend had insisted on the mysterious (to me at least!) Crab leg soup in teapot. It came with teeeny little cups, and was very strong-tasting, and full of goodies (see the picture). Good stuff for a cold night.

Mentaiki chicken wings came finally - who’d have guessed there was enough meat on a wing to stuff them…? These ones are spicy as they are stuffed with crab roe and kimchi.

While we were debating the merits of the few desserts on the menu, Sam came over again and told us they had another special they were trying that day - Frozen strawberries stuffed with vanilla ice cream, dipped in white chocolate and drizzled with condensed milk. What a decadent and also completely delicious end to the meal (which totalled somewhere around $900 for the 3 of us).

Dining Art has only been open a few months, but I would guess this will become a very popular ‘off the beaten track’ hangout. Of course, there’s no guarantee that everything we had will be available on the day you visit Dining Art, but I bet Sam will be able to recommend something just as good.

22 G/F Grand Building
Granville Circuit
Tsimshatsui
Kowloon
Tel 2739 9431

B/F Grand Right Centre
10 Cameron Road
Tsimshatsui
Kowloon
Tel 2366 8072

G/F 451 Lockhart Road
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2834 8851

One of the great things about sake is that it never seems to give me much of a hangover. One of the not so great things about it is, I don’t realise just how drunk I am until I try and stand up. It’s then that I discover that my knees have turned to jelly and my feet point in opposite directions.

I was drinking sake the other evening in Dozo, the trendiest sushi-go-round in Central. Chilled sake, which is just about the trendiest way to drink sake these days. Traditionally, of course, it is served warm and that is how I’ve always drunk it but after a few sips I was rather warming to it. We’d ordered Ichinokura, a sake from Miyagi prefecture that boasts a light fruitiness.

A sushi-go-round is what I call the popular kaiten style restaurants where the dishes pass by on a conveyor and the all the diner has to is grab the ones they fancy. At the end of the meal the bill is calculated by the coloured rings on the rims of the dishes. At Dozo the dishes start $20 for a black rim, $30 for red etc up to $75. The dishes usually contain either two pieces of sushi rice with toppings or two sushi rolls.

All of the usual culprits were trundling by; Norwegian salmon, yellowfin tuna, those little sweet omelettes called tomago with their belts of seaweed. But there were some slightly unusual ones as well. One that caught my eye is called the Dozo roll. This is actually crispy duck with miso and spring onion. Unconventional but quite delicious all the same, the whiteness of the rice on the outside is freckled with sesame seeds.

But the kaiten does have its drawbacks, especially if you are indecisive like me, and can’t make your mind up that you want something until it is already out of reach. So Dozo also offers a la carte and my guest, who is very good at this sort of thing, took matters - and the menu - in hand.

Within moments she had dispatched the waiter with an impressive looking list then leaned forward and said; “I ordered the sashimi sampler” ($180). I knew she had ordered considerably more than that. Indeed the first item to arrive was prawn tempura maki ($40). The prawns are made crispy by the light batter and wrapped in seaweed.

The sashimi was the next to arrive. An impressive platter that included tuna, arctic clams, yellowtail and prawns neatly presented on a bed of radish. The restaurant apparently takes two deliveries, flown fresh from Japan, each day. The reward is exceptionally fresh sashimi. Even the clams, which I find disappointing in most places, were tender and tasty.

This was followed by prawn yakisoba; ramen noodles fried with prawn chicken, red and green peppers, and bean sprouts garnished with sesame and red ginger. We also had some skewers of chicken yakitori.

After this, sake and conversation took over for a while. It still wasn’t late and it was only Tuesday but the restaurant was doing very well. The menu offers ten different types of sake to cater for all tastes and pockets. They also offer a range of sake and shochu cocktails, hara kiri - chilled sake with triple sec and and gin - caught my eye. I was tempted but sensibly decided to save it for my next visit. We still had an almost full 300ml. decanter on the table.

After a while we decided we needed some tempura. We ordered the mixed ($75) in which vegetables are served with the prawns, and we also ordered some spicy roast tataki beef both of which lived up to the same high standard set by our previous dishes.

There is not a wide range of desserts on the menu but they do have Japanese ice cream, including the very popular green tea flavour. I have to confess, green tea ice cream has never really captured my heart, but sesame ice cream has. What’s more it goes perfectly with sake and was an excellent way to to end a very enjoyable evening.

44, Lyndhurst Terrace
Central
Hong Kong
Tel 2581 1338
Fax 2581 1333

42-44 Cameron Road
Tsimshatsui
Kowloon
Tel 2311 9198

4/F Ho Lee Commercial Building
38-44 D’Aguilar Street
Central
Hong Kong
Tel 3102 2255

1/F Golden Dragon Centre
38-40 Cameron Road
Tsimshatsui
Kowloon
Tel 3428 2500

2/F Plaza 2000
2, Russell Street
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2834 3255

393 Lockhart Road
Wanchai
Hong Kong
Tel 2828 2260

12/F Langham Place
8 Argyle Street
Mongkok
Kowloon
Tel 2782 6886

Funky Fish is a Japanese restaurant at the top of the Langham Place mall in Mongkok. I don’t often go to Japanese restaurants, I tend to indulge my sushi craving at lunchtimes so they tend to get overlooked when it comes to dinner.

I don’t often go to Mongkok either, under normal circumstances the mere suggestion would be enough to fill me with horror but then someone said “There’s restaurants up there you know…”

Well I didn’t know. I’d sort of suspected there must be, but I was using lack of evidence as an excuse not to go and look. So when that someone threw down the gauntlet like that there was only one thing for it.

So there I was one rung from the top and getting hungry. I had been to the top and there are restaurants there but I made the mistake of peering over the edge into the abyss of shops below. I beat a hasty retreat, down a floor and ducked into Funky Fish.

The vertigo was just beginning to subside but the waitress led me to a table that offered just an inch thickness of glass between my back and a fall of … I concentrated hard on the menu. The sushi and sashimi was tempting but I wanted to try something a bit different this time. The waitress was very helpful and patiently answered all my questions.

My first question had about what was included in the Chef’s Selection Appetizer Box ($98). She explained that it contains nine different dishes some of which are on the regular menu but others that vary slightly from day to day depending on what chef finds in the market. It’s quite big and is usually shared.

I was hungry so I ordered one anyway and a bottle of Asahi beer to go with it. All of the dishes in the box were tasty but the ones that stood out for me were the octopus in shiso wasabi sauce, braised whelks and one of the two squid dishes. I’m afraid I don’t know what the sauce was - the waitress couldn’t remember the English name (and I forgot the Chinese name) but I can tell you it was very good indeed.

It’s a popular restaurant. I’d arrived about 7.30 and was one of the first customers but by eight it was doing a brisk trade.

You don’t have to have fish - the menu includes beef teppenyaki as well as lamb, pork and chicken options. But I love fish, and while the grilled yellowtail and the salmon belly were both tempting, I went for the herb grilled sea bass with fried bean curd sheet.

The fish was firm and fresh and quite a generous size. Nevertheless I did find myself wondering if I should order a noodle dish to finish off. But then some noodles were delivered to the people sitting nearby and I came to the realisation that it would indeed be too much.

Instead I ordered a dessert of sesame mousse ($38). There were also numerous green tea options on the dessert menu including ice cream and whilst I don’t mind it I find it hard to get all that enthusiastic about it. Sesame in the other hand is a wonderful dessert flavour. My mousse, sweet but not too sugary, was served in coconut milk and was delicious but could perhaps have benefited from being just a little more chilled than it was.

I paid my bill and got up from the table trying desperately not to look down. There’s a lot more in Langham Place and I shall be back to explore in a little more depth before long.

Silvercord
30 Canton Road
Tsim Sha Tsui
Kowloon

G/F Prosperous Centre
1 Knutsford Terrace
Tsim Sha Tsui
Kowloon
Tel 2722 1555
Fax 2366 8998

4/F Miramar Shopping Centre
132 Nathan Road
Tsimshatsui
Kowloon
Tel 2375 8100

1/F Wharney Hotel
Lockhart Road
Wanchai
Hong Kong

G/F, 13-15 Lan Fong Road
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2577 7981

G/F Energy Plaza
92 Granville Road
Tsimshatsui
Kowloon
Tel 2367 8519

Shop C, 29-31 Queen’s Road East
Wanchai
Hong Kong
Tel 2528 1568

Shop 111, CDW Place
388 Castle Peak Road
Tsuen Wan
New Territories
Tel 2739 2822

Shop 1-4, G/F Po Wan Building
26-36 Prat Avenue
Tsimshatsui
Kowloon
Tel 3426 9960

Shop G10-15, Hutchison House
10 Harcourt Road
Central
Hong Kong
Tel 2523 2524
Fax 2523 2174

1/F Ho Lee Commercial Building
17-22 Lan Kwai Fong
Central
Hong Kong
Tel 2521 0868

G/F Sunning Plaza
10 Hysan Avenue
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2882 8616

Kimberley Plaza
15 Knutsford Terrace
Tsimshatsui
Kowloon
Tel 2316 2121

Shop 110 New Town Plaza
Shatin
New Territories
Tel 2602 3008

Shop 51-52 Houston Centre
63 Mody Road
Tsimshatsui East
Kowloon
Tel 2366 1784

Shop 7, G/F Chong Hing Square
601 Nathan Road
Mongkok
Kowloon
Tel 3543 0123

Shop 2-3, Imperial Terrace
356 Queen’s Road West
Sai Ying Pun
Hong Kong
Tel 2540 0880

Shop 288 Deck 2
Ocean Terminal
Harbour City
Tsim Sha Tsui
Kowloon
Tel 2957 8909
Fax 2957 8835

2&3/F 8 Russell Street
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2834 4438

G/F 2 Lan Fong Road
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2890 7580

Shop 262, 2/F Phase 2
Cityplaza
Taikoo Shing
Hong Kong
Tel 2967 9678

L1-33 Festival Walk
Kowloon Tong
Kowloon
Tel 2265 7878

16/F Continental Diamond Plaza
423-427 Hennessy Road
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2836 0056

The Peninsula Hotel
Salisbury Road
Kowloon
Tel 2315 3175
Fax 2315 3140

1/F The Royal Garden
69 Mody Road
Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel 2733 2933

Level 4, Four Seasons Hotel
8 Finance Street
Central
Hong Kong
Tel 2805 0600

Shop G05, G/F, Block A
Water Margin
Discovery Bay
Launtau
New Territories
Tel 2987 2886

2/F Jardine Center
Jardine’s Bazaar
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2822 9877

2/F Bartlock Centre
3 Yiu Wa Street
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2838 5939

ShopA-B, 6/F Lee Theatre Plaza
99 Percival Street
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2882 1388

1/F Pearl City
24-32 Patterson Street
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2808 0384

9/F Continental Diamond Plaza
525 Hennessy Road
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2591 1159

5/F Island Beverley
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2882 9337

9 Cheong Tat Road
Chek Lap Kok Airport
Lantau
New Territories
Tel 2286 6668

3-4/F Soho Square
21 Lynchurst Terrace
Central
Hong Kong
Tel 2543 0505

G/F 12 Pak Sha Road
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 3188 2440
Fax 3188 2436

G/F 5 Pak Sha Road
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2882 8133

1/F The Plaza
21 D’Aguilar Street
Central
Hong Kong
Tel 2804 6883

G/F 56 Electric Road
Tin Hau
Hong Kong
Tel 2234 6691

7/F Causeway Bay Plaza 2
463-483 Lockhart Road
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2591 5589

8/F One Peking Road
1 Peking Road
Tsimshatsui
Kowloon
Tel 2269 5051

Grand Hyatt
1 Harbour Road
Wanchai
Hong Kong
Tel 2511 4204

G/F 12 Spring Garden Lane
Wanchai
Hong Kong
Tel 2573 6625

Shop 4 Promenade Level
Tower 2, China Hong Kong City
33 Canton Road
Tsimshatsui
Kowloon
Tel 2314 2907

G/F Luen Tak Apartments
45-51 Smithfield Road
Kennedy Town
Hong Kong
Tel 2986 5557

G/F 404 Jaffe Road
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
Tel 2882 4190
Fax 2576 5337

G/F Astoria Building
32 Ashley Road
Tsim Sha Tsui
Kowloon
Tel 2736 4268
Fax 2735 8368