Text: Richard Smith

Situated in the restaurant hub of Times Square on the 11th Floor the Press Room Group offers their take on modern casual dining with a style and flair of their own. At the entrance you are greeted with an art installation called ‘SML BabY’ by local artist Michael Lau and commissioned by the restaurant group proving their continuous commitment to supporting the art world. There’s a main dining area, reminiscent of Waggamaa’s style dining with long communal tables, another dining area situated in front of the open kitchen that allows for flexible table sizes, the bar and most notably – a huge outside terrace allowing for al fresco dining (and also for those in need of their nicotine fix). The interior, designed by Alexi Ronbinson, gives a refreshingly neutral feel to the space in terms of colours and textures and in the use of hand-crafted materials.

The concept of the restaurant is to offer what they call a ‘democratic dining experience’. “SML is our attempt to break away from the conventional starter-main-dessert format and introduce a new democratic dining experience that is both dynamic and choice-driven.” – as stated in their press release. And the concept works very well and is totally ideal for the Causeway Bay dining scene amongst the crazy shopping, numerous cinemas, karaoke’s and other entertainments as all the dishes in the menu can be ordered in small, medium and large portions that can suit every customer whether they are alone or in a large group. You can choose to feast yourselves with a full dinner sharing many dishes or just take a dish just for yourself. Lone diners to large groups are easily accommodated in the venue and you can dine to your own requirement with a quick bite before the cinema, a full dinner before karaoke or a sinful late evening dessert after some late night shopping.

The menu covers a broad range of foods erring on the Mediterranean style of cuisine with everything from meat, seafood, pastas, risottos, salads, soups and much more. On arrival for a late lunch we asked the manager to order for us with the hope that they would order the items that they considered their ‘signature’ dishes. When you order from the menu – as goes with the style of the restaurant – the dishes come as and when they are ready. The first dish to arrive was the beautifully presented Salmon Tatare. This finely chopped raw salmon was piled in the middle of the plate and displayed on top were two raw quails eggs in the shell with the top cut off and surrounding this were separate lines of additional ingredients including fresh chili, pepper etc. and a shot glass of fresh lime juice. You can either mix the ingredients yourself or ask the staff to do so for you at the table…the result is an extremely inspiring, fresh and clean dish with a kick of chili (don’t mix too much in at first so that you don’t over spice the mixture). We were then presented with Crispy Pork Belly with Red Cabbage & Apple Coleslaw, this is quite a hearty dish with strong flavours and the fat of the pork almost melts in your mouth. The Risotto with Braised Oxtail & Parmesan was equally rich in savoury notes, a dish that I would list among my favourite comfort foods (it’ll be a great winter warmer!). The Deep Fried Polenta with Parmesan & Tomato Sauce was probably the least impressive of all the dishes and although a great vegetarian option I found the polenta a little too soft for my taste.

After a little break from our table of dishes we moved on to dessert and oh boy were these good. The Caramel Profiteroles with Butterscotch Sauce were just perfect for those days that you simply must get your sugar fix! Another thumbs up for presentation of their Pot of Chocolate with Chocolate Mousse & Fudge served in a glass jar made us feel like kids in a candy store. Fear not for those who prefer desserts on the lighter side as the Citrus Panna Cotta with Grapefruit & Orange Slices was a light and refreshing combination of the acidity of the citrus fruits and the soft mellow texture and taste of the Italian cream.

SML offers and extensive wine list, and for those oenophiles you can try out the self service Enomatic wine system that offers a range of wines by the taste, half glass or full glass, perfect if you wish to pare some wines with the many dishes from the menu to enhance the whole dining experience. Additional to wines there are numerous cocktails including SML Baby using Yakult probiotic, strawberries, raspberries and milk and their Guava and Strawberry Bellini. But it really is the food and the restaurant concept that stands out in this new Times Square dining venue and the competition in the area pretty much fades to insignificance. The pricing of the menu is mid-range and considerately great value for the quality of food being served. The Press Room Group seem to have the ‘Midas’ touch when it comes to bringing their restaurant concepts to Hong Kong and I wait with baited breath and knife and fork at the ready for their next venture!