Semi decent

I mentioned in my previous post that rumours have it that most of the features in 飲食男女 are actually paid for by restaurants themselves. Now, this is just hearsay, but the fact that the following restaurant has been featured no less than 3 times in the last 3 months is either a sign that this is true, or that there is absolutely nothing to write about in Hong Kong.

I very excitedly read about Limehouse in Wanchai very soon after my arrival here. Not only was it a British restaurant, but the name is just instantly appealing, to the extent I wondered whether it was a play on the fact that Limehouse is now where loads of Chinese people live in London. I soon hopped along hoping for some British delights.

Turns out the place is pretty small, and dinner is hard to get a reservation. But their location at the wrong end of Ship Street means that lunch traffic is pretty dire, so they have come up with a ridiculously good value $88 two-course lunch including tea or coffee:

I got overexcited again struggling on what to choose, as their a la carte menu was also full of nice comfort foods from home:

The $88 menu was too difficult to resist though, especially as I found out it was oyster chowder as soup of the day. Not bad, although not sure about the doily (actually doilies seemed to appear a lot, again not sure if there are being ironic):

I loved the inclusion of chicken tikka masala on the menu, so I had to get it really, even though I've eaten the total of about 3 chicken tikka masalas in my over 20 years of living in England, despite it being our national dish and all now. This was comforting, yet really very bland. Was this another play on Britishness, a play on how bland our food was? Maybe. Or maybe they just forgot to add any spices in the sauce.

Jonny went for the throw-back shepherd's pie, which was a tomatoey version rather than a sticky savoury brown version (you know what I mean!):

Caris loved her duck liver and egg from the a la carte menu:

And I thought the best dish of the day was Sen's salmon fishcake actually, very meaty with fish and very well seasoned:

Caris and I have returned since for dinner and have had a nice little chat with the owner Toh. Unfortunately, the whole thing is a lot less British than I had hoped. Toh has basically spent a few years in catering college in England (Leith's, iirc), but has picked up some of the British classics which he has imported into his menu. But that is where the Britishness ends! He didn't quite get my sense of humour when I was ribbing him on the inclusion of the word 'scallions' on the menu, and I had a somewhat heated debate on the merits of British wine with him. Actually that reminds me, I promised to bring him back a bottle of Camel Valley - all those of you in England, do try the Camel Valley Rose sparkling wine!! Super yummy from Cornwall!!

It turns out that Toh and the head chef at Limehouse are refugees of the now defunct M on the Fringe, which closed after its owner turned her attentions to expanding in Shanghai. The rest of the team is now apparently working at another quite cute Western concept, with one of the first dai pai dongs serving Western food at the Sheung Wan Queen's Street food market. Dubiously named ABC, it literally is a in a dirty wet food market. However, I was pretty impressed with how full it was, with two or three tables of gweilos tucking in:

The menu has the same retro feel of Limehouse, to the extent that they both feature Steak Diane on it. Has anyone eaten Steak Diane since the 70's except for in these two restaurants?! Anyway, the prices are ok, but when you think about it pretty steep when you think they must be paying zero rent on the place, and you are sitting in a plastic chair eating with school dinners cutlery. The menu also reads like the mandatory list of 'things to include on menus in Hong Kong. Truffles? Tick (twice in fact). Foie gras? Tick. Suckling pig? Tick. The only elements missing are wagyu beef and sea urchin (although they do have steak and salmon roe as substitutes).

The salmon roe and crab tortellini with lobster sauce sounded very good, and was not badly presented on the plate. But when you tucked in, it was a pretty amateur effort. The pasta is just a little too thick, the filling just a little clammy and mushy. The lobster sauce also tasted suspiciously of lobster bisque out of a can that had been boiled down a bit...

The seafood paella was better, crammed with clams, prawns, squid, and the texture of the rice was pretty good. The only real offender here though was the inclusion of bacon as well as chorizo, which was just too much saltiness.

We also tried the churros and the apple crumble, both of them pretty disappointing. Although I should just learn never to eat churros unless I am at that little shop near Sant Antoni Market whose name I will never remember and will probably never find again.

Both of these establishments are fine, but both of them are pretty much cooking food I can cook at home at home-cooking quality. There is also the problem that because they are cooking these 'classics', they are never going to please my palate as I am so particular about what goes into my crumble and the sausages in my bangers and mash. Which reminds me I forgot to smuggle some of Rod and Diane's sausages back here :(