Wooloomooloo Steahouse: Wooleimacha steak...

Shop Info:
Wooloomooloo Steakhouse
31/F, the Hennessy,
256 Hennessy Road,
Wan Chai


3 May 2011, Lunch
$163 per head


I have (rather unfortunately) stumbled upon this place when going for lunch with a friend Mr. PL.  I've heard from my locust friend about the Wooloomooloo steakhouse in Central and its bargain lunch but never realised that it has a branch here on the 31st floor of the Hennessy.  So when I discovered this Wooloomooloo when wandering in Wan Chai waiting for Mr. PL I decided to drag him along to try this place.


Trying to get to this restaurant was a bit of a challenge.  The lift which took us up to 31/F had two doors, and apparently the door which opens depend on the buttons on which side of the lift you pressed.  Unfortunate for us, those in the lift pressed the button on the wrong side and it took us minutes of going up and down before finally getting to the restaurant.


The view from such a height was amazing.  At 31/F this restaurant was located easily higher than the roof of a lot of buildings in Wan Chai and from where we sat we had an almost unobstructed view of Kowloon Bay.  Not the most gorgeous view in Hong Kong but not bad at all.


"Executive" Lunch set was for $148 + 10% so of course choices were limited.  There was a choice of appetizer or clam chowder, then a choice of three mains -- steak (sirloin), fish (salmon) or pasta (spaghetti bolognaise).  We both chose the clam chowder (the appetizer didn't sound tempting at all) and this being a steakhouse, we both chose the sirloin.  As usual (and as expected), the waiter tried to sell us bottled still / sparkling but we went for tap.

Before the chowder arrived we were served this HUGE bread which looked the same as the one in the Central Wooloomooloo.  Bread was hot when served and was soft inside.  Herb butter was served soft.  Thumbs up for the bread.

The plain-looking clam chowder was served in a small metal pot and looked rather uninspiring.  However, the chowder was full of flavour and was rather nice.  Hidden at the bottom of the pot were the (meat from) half a dozen (probably frozen) clams.  Not bad!

The steak, however, was a big disappointment.  This being a steakhouse I definitely would expect them to do better.  Unlike the clam chowder, presentation was lacking to begin with, and from its looks alone one could tell that the chef wasn't paying his full attention to making a good dish.  The sauce was all over the place and the steak was lazily slapped onto the mesh.  There was a choice of 4 mustard which was fair, but one would at least expect it to look a bit more refined.


All that would have been fine if the steak was good.  And it wasn't.  We asked for the steak to be made medium-rare and as shown in the photo above it was pink throughout -- closer to medium-welldone I'd say.  And I hate welldone steak.  Looking back I probably should have sent it back to the kitchen.  So from the rather nice bread and good clam chowder, the meal took a big plunge here.  The cut probably wasn't that good either, and when combined with it being overcooked, I found it tough to cut even with the steak knife.  The sauce (mushroom something... couldn't be asked to properly taste it by then... was too disappointed by the steak) did not add to the already weak flavour of the steak and instead almost covered it up.  The only explanation was that the chef was well aware that the steak wasn't any good and was trying to cover up the lack of quality and flavour with this rather strong sauce.  The mesh wasn't much better either.  It could have been smoother and better seasoned (its flavour was weak) but was by far the better part of this main course.  

For drinks I asked for hot coffee (Mr. PL ordered iced coffee, as can be seen in the background).  At the beginning it looked promising but the first sip revealed the truth -- it wasn't much good either.  Now I'm no expert in coffee, having just started drinking it a few months ago, but even I can tell this coffee was either cheap or poorly made -- even my daily breakfast coffee from DELIFRANCE taste much better.  It was strongly sour and bitter and devoid of the aroma I'd relate with coffee (sorry, no idea re. notes / aftertaste / texture etc...)


The biscuit that come with the coffee was an annoyance, to say the least.  I was trying to break it in half when moaning about the poor quality of the coffee, and before I knew it, I've showered myself in crumbs of the biscuit.  It was so powdery and dry that I broke it in to the many pieces shown in the photo above, in one go.  A bite of the remaining pieces confirmed that the biscuit was dry, powdery and mostly tasteless.  Frankly, if you can't be asked to make the coffee and biscuit properly as a part of the "executive lunch", don't bother to include it.  I'd rather have to pay for a cup of coffee instead of being served something like this.


At this price and environment, and had it not for such a poorly made steak, this would have been a bargin.  Obviously those working in Wan Chai are aware of the quality of food here -- the place was never completely full when we had lunch.  Mind you, we ate from 12:30 to 13:40 which should cross the lunch hour of most office workers here and the restaurant was almost empty at the beginning and around 1/3 full when we left.  It is quite a shame because given the bargain steak lunch price, good location, comfy environment and a lack of steakhouses in the area, this could easily be a restaurant fully booked for every lunch service.


What I can say is, if you really, desperately want to eat in a Wooloomooloo steakhouse, go to the one in Central.


Summary (Rated 1-5)
Food:   (2) would have been 1 had it not been for the bread and chowder
Service:  (4) efficient and courteous.  The waiter didn't even stutter introducing the mustards to us.  Good front of house team.
Environment:  (4) comfy, good view
Big Locust's Recommendation:  (2) let down by the food...