Words: James Soo

I know it’s bad, but sometimes I just need meat. Thick, juicy meat. Luckily, Hong Kong doesn’t exactly have a shortage of places where I can get my fix. Of course, I’m talking about steakhouses… And Prime is a prime example of where you can get a great steak in a comfortable setting without breaking the bank.

Prime has been around for a while, but it’s in Civic Square at Elements so it suffers from the usual problem of people not being able to find it. But if you can get past this hurdle, you’ll find a cozy, candle-lit restaurant with great food and attentive service. When we went there was a table of quite loud corporate types, but this is Hong Kong, so what do you expect? That aside, the tables are well-spaced, with enough room to give everyone a sense of privacy without being so far apart as to destroy the atmosphere.

The speciality here is clearly steak, with a range of different USDA and Canadian cuts to choose from. Prices start from $198 for the sirloin to $688 for the 32oz two-person Canadian Bone-In Ribeye. The prices may be on the lower end for Hong Kong, but the quality certainly isn’t. My 14oz Prime Ribeye was just the meat fix I needed. Beautifully cooked (rare), it was probably enough for two small(ish) eaters, but that didn’t stop me pushing through and finishing the last delicious (and enormous) bite. If you’re not into steak, I’d recommend their Lobster & Scallop Bisque which is hearty enough on its own, heaped with plenty of lobster meat. There are certainly plenty of lighter options as well, but you’re at a steakhouse – why would you have a salad?

Address: Shop R008 3/F, Civic Square, Elements Mall, 1 Austin Rd West, West Kowloon
Tel: 2311 3108

Words: James Soo

Xia Fei Society is a pleasant new addition to the high-end Chinese, and specifically Shanghainese, restaurant scene. The decorations are sober and business-like, without the rococo fussiness that characterizes so much of what passes for interior design here. With a location in the heart of Central, it is perfect for business lunches – and its numerous private rooms make office functions easy to arrange.

The menu is vast and encompasses much of the gourmet Chinese repertoire, including (unfortunately) shark’s fin. However, it’s easy to skip that page. Being predominantly Shanghainese, seafood is a speciality, with crab and river shrimp featuring most prominently. However, Shanghai has plenty to offer meat-lovers – grilled pork belly, smoked duck with tea as well as of course the xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) – as well as some excellent vegetarian dishes.

We were only two for lunch, which meant that we couldn’t over-order in true Chinese fashion. In fact, we were virtually frugal, content with only a few dishes. Of course, we started with some xiaolongbao, which were truly excellent – plenty of soup and the dumpling-skin was the perfect thickness: thick enough to be handled without breaking but delicate enough not to overpower the dumpling. It was a toss-up between the deep-fried eel or the Shanghainese-style smoked fish, but we went for the crunchy, crispy eel to contrast with the softness of the other dishes. The sauteed river shrimp were tiny and delicious, as opposed to the large tasteless ones you normally get, and the stir-fried niangao (coin-sized slivers of rice dough) were well-flavoured. To make up for our frugality, we decided to have a dessert – the sweet Chinese herbal soup, perfumed with osmanthus flowers, wolfberries and citrus peel – perfect for a cold winter’s day.

Address: 4/F, Century Square, 1 – 13 D’Aguilar Street, Central
Tel: 2522 7611

Words: James Soo

Tucked into the stairs under the LKF Hotel where Sushi Qube used to be, Robata Zawazawa is a tiny 20-something seat Japanese robata grill restaurant. Most of the seats cluster round the bar, and a few tables fill the rest of the compact space. Of course, Zuma and Roka are probably the most well-known robata restaurants in town, but Zawazawa is a welcome addition (especially since they’re open most nights till 2am).

We went there for lunch and tried out their well-priced sets – I had the black cod while my companion had the chicken. We also tried their seasonal vegetable hot-pot. The sets all came with soup, rice, salad and we were offered a beautiful appetizer of 6 different types of Japanese pickle elegantly presented on artfully chosen ceramic dishes arranged in a special six-compartment laquer box. Of course everything was excellent, although we felt that the chicken was probably the better choice in the end, even though the hot-pot was perfect for that unusually chilly December day. We weren’t drinking, but I couldn’t help but notice the wide variety of Japanese malt whiskies, sakes and the large cocktail menu.

I imagine at night with the robata grill on full force, the spot will be toasty and cosy in the cold winter months ahead. And despite its location right on the stairwell up to Wyndham Street, it’s a space that manages to avoid the scrum of both LKF and the bars above it, a perfect sanctuary of Japanese barbecued goodness right in the thick of it all.

Address: LG/F, 41 Wyndham Street, Lan Kwai Fong, Central
Tel: 2536 9898

Words: James Soo

It’s always struck me as odd that Hong Kong doesn’t have more dim sum bars. For something so quintessentially Hong Kong, why is it that whenever I ask people for a good dim sum place, people mutter something about Maxim’s at City Hall or there’s that one in Mongkok with a Michelin star, but you have to wait all day etc. etc. So I was pretty pleased to hear about dim sum bar, a new no frills, but modern-look dim sum restaurant in Harbour City – perfect for some char siu bao action during a frenetic last minute Christmas shopping frenzy.

The decor is fresh and clean – a far cry from traditional dim sum houses – and you don’t have belligerent waitresses screaming at you as they wheel their trolleys round the bustle. Instead, you have a full range of classical dim sum (some with flavours quite unexpected from their more conventional counterparts) as well as a selection of modern approaches with interesting flavour fusions. Our steaming baskets of goodies arrived quickly and we were impressed by the taste. I can’t claim to know what Michelin-starred dim sum tastes like, but this place really isn’t bad. Their signature dishes include the luxuriantly rich King Prawn Dumplings in Lobster Bisque as well as the Baked Abalone and Chicken Pastry. Modern takes on traditional fare are Steamed Siu Mai with Truffles.

If you’re a dim sum fan, you’ll be excited to know you can get your fix from 11am till 11pm every day. And best of all, you won’t have to wait for hours outside till you can get your gnashers round a perfect char siu bao.

Address: Shop G103, Gateway Arcade, Harbour City, Canton Road., Tsim Sha Tsu
Tel: 2175 3100

Shop 119, 1/F, Nina Tower Shopping Mall, 8 Yeung Uk Road, Tsuen Wan, New Territories
Tel: 2400 9038

Words: James Soo
There isn’t much left of Hong Kong’s history that hasn’t been turned into a Disney attraction or high-rise condo. But Jimmy’s Kitchen is a real link to the rise and fall and rise again of Hong Kong through the twentieth century. Aaron Landau founded Jimmy’s Kitchen in 1928, but the name came from the original Jimmy, a former US army officer stationed in China who set up the first Jimmy’s Kitchen in Shanghai. Landau wanted to leverage off the Hong Kong-Shanghai trade routes in the heady 20s by providing a familiar name to the huge numbers of foreign merchants docking at both ports. As a result, the menu is a unique fusion of British Raj classics, such as their signature curries, as well as Franco-Russian staples like their French Onion Soup, Chicken Kiev and Beef Stroganoff. A beacon of colonial comfort food in an oak-paneled clubby interior, the restaurant has catered to a roll-call of the great and the good over the ages: Hollywood stars, property magnates, politicians and visiting dignitaries. But is it any good?

Thankfully, yes. The menu has barely changed in 80 years, so the kitchen has had a good deal of time to perfect its dishes. Looking around at the well-heeled lunchtime crowd, I’m pretty certain many of them were taken to Jimmy’s as children for a special treat and every so often crave dry lamb madras – it probably bears no resemblance to anything you could find in India, but that’s the draw. How many restaurants in Hong Kong can claim to have served four generations of the same family? Jimmy’s Kitchen rarely comes up as a place to go, but that’s a shame because if you want delicious comfort food in an atmosphere that takes you back to a more civilized time, Jimmy’s is the biz.

Address: G/F South China Building, 1-3 Wyndham Street, Central
Tel: 2526 5293

Words: James Soo
I’m convinced Escher had a hand in designing Elements. Whenever I go there, I seem to get lost in an alternate dimension that always takes me back to that Bals homeware shop, no matter where I’m trying to get to. So it was with some trepidation that I ventured over to check out Papi, a new Italian restaurant in Civic Square, the outdoor dining rotunda above Elements.

Papi is a childish nickname for ‘daddy’ in Italian, as well as a combo of ‘pa’ for pasta and ‘pi’ for pizza, we were told. Although, pasta and pizza aren’t all the restaurant provides. Half the menu is made up of small Italian-style tapas dishes (for accompanying a cicchetto, or a little drink), such as cubes of parmesan doused in balsamic, marinated squid, vegetables sott’olio, as well as their house favourite: Papi’s meatballs (made with raisins which gives the dish a succulent and slightly sweet flavour). Pizzas and pasta (handmade daily) make up the more substantial dishes, and there are daily specials such as steak or tagliarini with white truffles. The pizzas are large, light and simple, showing off the pure flavours of the artisanal hams, cheeses and tomatoes imported from Italy. Papa’s Pici is their signature pasta dish, composed of thick udon-style pasta in a mildly piquant tomato sauce. Again, the pastas are limited in variety but have been chosen to focus on the quality of the ingredients – sea urchins, clams, lobster. There are puddings on offer as well, but the one to go for is the dessert pizza – fresh fruit, cream and icing sugar on a pizza base – somehow light but sinful at the same time. Papi’s is comfortable and relaxed, and if you’re already in Elements, it’s a good place for drinks after work or shopping, or for a light meal before the cinema.

Address: Shop R011, Civic Square, Elements, MTR Kowloon Station, Kowloon.
Tel: 2811 2681

Words: James Soo
When they told me the old Volume was going to become a tapas bar, I was intrigued. Why would anyone want to eat greasy hors d’oeuvres in a dank sweaty grey box? So it was with more than a little trepidation that I went over to have a look. But what a wonderful surprise – the space feels enormous and airy, the cold greys are now warm and earthy brick tones and all I want to do is install myself on a sofa and sip tea all afternoon, reading something edifying (or playing Words with Friends more likely).

The menu varies throughout the day, with a lunch set, tea set and finally the full tapas menu in the evening. Again, seeing that the kitchen is essentially where the bar used to be, I was expecting a much smaller menu. But somehow they’ve managed to come up with a really decent variety of tapas – with Spanish Omelette made to order, Patatas Bravas, King Prawns in Chilli and a dozen other temptations. And they were all phenomenal. My favourite was definitely the Pork Belly, which was perfectly crispy on the outside and meltingly tender within. But to be honest, there wasn’t a single bad dish. And we went through half the menu.

Joseph wants to turn Volume HEAT into something of a ‘community centre’ for local, expat and visiting gays and lesbians. There are books to read, lots of info about the local gay scene (including your not-to-be-missed guide to gay Hong Kong, DS Magazine), and perhaps even a bulletin board. The old DJ booth has become a stage, so there may even be performances. It’s funny how with the facelift you don’t really even think of what the space used to be. Of course, it’s lucky those walls can’t talk.

Address: LG/F 83-85 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong
Tel: 2857 7683

Words: James Soo
Cantopop is a classic Hong Kong coffee-shop with a twist. Its huge menu encompasses the whole crazy pageant of Hong Kong classics, from Ying Yang Tea (Tea, Coffee & Condensed Milk) to Beef Brisket Curry Rice via a waistline-unfriendly meander through the realms of Condensed Milk on Thick Toast as well as Salt & Pepper Ribs. But of course, there’s a twist: there’s no MSG, everything’s organic and farm-sourced (including the eggs) and they even make their own Spam. Even the barbecue pork has its own distinct method of preparation – it’s slowly cooked using low-temperature sous vide (ie in a vacuum) techniques, then glazed with honey, which makes for a really tender pork, without any of the crazy bright red colouring you normally get.

The decor resembles the sterile formica setting of traditional coffee-shop, but instead of peeling Ovaltine ads from the 70s, the walls are festooned with bright Pop Art cartoons, giving the space a bright, buzzy feel. Lunchtime is the busiest, with workers from Central forming huge queues to get in – no surprise given the high quality of the food & the reasonably priced revolving set lunches.

The chefs have worked hard to create healthy, additive-free but flavoursome versions of the Canto Classics. If you’re used to the heavily MSG-laden offerings from their neighbours, you might be in for a surprise. For a start you won’t be drinking bucket after bucket of tea to quench your undying thirst. Secondly you won’t have a pounding headache from MSG overload. But most importantly, you’ll get an appreciation of what Cantonese fast food should be like. Some of the flavours are a bit delicate to be fair, but others are sensational. My faves: the Caesar Salad with Preserved Tofu Dressing, the Sous Vide Char Siu and the Ovaltine Ice Cream.

Address: UG/F, The L Place, 139 Queen’s Road Central
Tel: 2857 2608

Words: James So

Harakan in Lee Gardens 2 has reopened after an extensive reimagining by owner Jennifer Liu as Harakan-S (possibly in homage to Apple). Where Harakan used to be Japanese fine dining, with prices to match, Harakan-S has taken the unusual step of combining Japanese cuisine with the more palatable items from traditional Chinese medicine. The space has also been revamped – it’s airier and it has a ‘back to nature’ feel, with highly polished pebbles used as chopstick holders and a lush living plant wall used as a centerpiece to the room. There’s more than a hint of a Zen meditation garden about it.

Much of the menu is still traditional Japanese, with a full selection of sushi and sashimi. You can ‘go creative’ on many of the sushi dishes, so instead of just plain ika it will come with an unusual flavour pairing. While it’s not sushi as such, the Kurobata Pork Rolls exemplifies this: the rolls come with either peach or banana preserve – pairing meat with a sweet sauce in an almost British way. However, it’s on the fusion side of things where Harakan-S stands out. The Matcha Tea-Smoked Chicken is the perfect example, where Japanese green tea infuses the in-house smoker, making for a much more delicate smoked flavour. The other aspect to the fusion is the use of traditional Chinese medicine. So for instance, there is the excellent Goji-Berry Stuffed Cod as well as Gingko Herbal Soup (for people with sieve-like memories like me). Again, the flavours are very delicate, which makes for an odd contrast with the phantasmagoria of stunning serving utensils that come with each dish.

Harakan-S has a very unusual menu and it’s definitely worth checking out. The best thing is with its TCM inspirations, you can eat the entire menu, and still pretend you’re being healthy.

Address: Shop 311, 3/F, Lee Gardens Two, 28 Yun Ping Road, Causeway Bay
Tel: 2882 8616

Words: James So

Bourbon’s been around for some time, but we thought we’d pay the old place a visit, especially since Peel Bar next door has gone gay. After all, if you’re planning a night of debauchery, you should probably line your stomach first. And Bourbon’s perfect for people who can’t do carbs after five – it’s all about the meat.

The spirit is pan Southern (American) – hard-working Texan cowboys jostle next to Louisiana crawfish catchers. The decor is understated, with a certain rustic earthiness. The front bar opens out onto the corner of Elgin Street and that crazy dog-leg where it hits Staunton, and with the soulful bluesy tunes there is a definitely more relaxed vibe here than general in Soho’s frenetic scene.

The food is decent and complements the Bourbon cocktails well. We’re talking a lot of meat here of course: Smoked Baby Back Ribs, Smoked Brisket, Rib Eye etc. dominate the menu. But lighter fare includes the Crawfish Gumbo and Mardi Gras Jambalaya. The Ribs were good, and very generously slathered in BBQ sauce. They had been slow-cooked for around 6 hours so the meat was deliciously tender. In contrast, the Crawfish Gumbo seemed a bit too light – perhaps if I hadn’t been stuffing my face with pig I would have appreciated its flavours better. The Shrimp Corn Dogs are very moreish. The corn batter is crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside and the shrimp is a great alternative.

All in all, Bourbon comes up with the goods. It’s a fun place to go with a bunch of friends, especially if you’re planning on hitting the town after. Their bourbon-based cocktail menu is sure to get your engine started, and are an unusual offering in Hong Kong’s chocolate martini obsessed scene.

Address: 21 Elgin Street, Soho, Central
Tel: 2540 6630