Hokkaido Dairy Farm Milk Restaurant: Long queue here? DAFUQ?

Shop info:
Hokkaido Dairy Farm Milk Restaurant
Shop D1, G/F, Far East Finance Centre, 16 Harcourt Road, Admiralty

Various dates, lunch
~$50 per head

This is a restaurant that I fail to comprehend.  Like Bentopia downstairs, I looked forward to the opening of this place, tried it in its first few days of business, liked it, and eventually not returning as quality deteriorated.  YET, countless office workers queue along the bridge connecting Queensway Plaza and Far East Centre, sometimes stretching all the way across, for a takeaway cha siu rice with fried egg.  Baffling.

THE ENVIRONMENT

There frankly isn't much of an environment to speak of.  The dining area is tiny compared to the large office population that frequents this restaurant and it is near impossible to find a seat despite fast turnover time.  A row of high table seats faces a busy path along the shop front (yes, you'd be watching and watched by the office lunch crowd as you eat) and more normal tables lies behind.  Decor was bright and rather comfortable but completely ruined by the proximity to the crowd.

This is a place where you'd at most like to have a quick lunch during its busy hours and not to linger any longer than necessary.

THE SERVICE

There isn't much service to talk about, and what would you expect - this is a busy cha chaan teng.  That said, the ordering process is strange and perplexing, which does deserve some mention.

At most restaurants, when you what to take away your food, you tell the cashier guy / girl that it's a takeaway after you place the order.  Here, you must tell them before the order - a rather awkward habit that takes time to get used to.  Then, you must wait.  As the staffing and kitchen space afforded by this restaurant is not sufficient to cope with such a large lunch crowd, you can be sure as hell that the wait would be long and uncomfortable.  What else would you expect, blocking the path on one of the busier routes in Admiralty?

Then there is the "I don't give a damn, bugger off" attitude by the staff.  I once had to stand there and wait without a number and with my order hanging in the air - because the cashier girl made a mistake with my order and couldn't be asked to fix it, and instead continued to serve others when I was told to wait.  On another occasion, breakfast service was cancelled since the key holding staff couldn't get up to get to work.  How brilliant is that?

THE FOOD

Back when I still visit Hokkaido Dairy Farm, the only real option for lunch was the "Otaru" BBQ Pork Rice.  Now for those unwilling to read my bickering on this so-called BBQ pork:  It's crap.  Period.

To begin with, I do not understand how "Otaru" is a pile of poorly made chaa siu - it is not Japanese style chaa siu.  Obviously, the owners of the restaurant chain wants to make their products sound Japanese so they can charge more for exoticness, or maybe it was intended as a suggestion for quality which it somply doesn't have.  The meat itself is consistently tough and chewy across a few visits, as demonstrated by the photo below.

Tough.

Then, as suggested by the use of sauce on the chaa siu, the meat itself was rather tasteless.  So bad, actually, that the restaurant has to add flavour via the overpowering and salty sauce.

A mess.

Worse still, the chopping up of the chaa siu was horrid.  Usually in siu mei shops the chaa siu can be reassembled into a whole piece and are laid down accordingly.  Not here.  The "Otaru" chaa siu always seems to have been butchered with an unbelievably blunt hatchet, ran over by a truck then with the remaining pieced picked back up to serve.  Although it's probably not, it always felt like it is made up of leftover bits and pieces.

Poorly made scrambled egg.

Oh, and did I say that you can order it with scrambled egg?  If you do, there could be two outcomes:  1) they'd still give you a fried egg despite what they input into their system, as shown in first photo below, or 2) you'd get a scrambled egg that hasn't been properly mixed - with white bits in it.  More often than not the surface would be overcooked despite having a "flowing" core.  It's obvious that the chef wasn't putting much effort...

Scrambled-turned-fried egg.  Note that the receipt says scrambled!

At $39 plus at least 15 minutes of wait, this is by no means cheap.  The now closed siu mei shop used to serve a far superior chaa siu rice at much lower price.  Oh, and if you come after 12 noon, the queue would be so long that it'd be more like a 30 min wait.

So I couldn't help but ask... what are these people queueing for?  The fun of it?

CONCLUSION

On price alone, not expensive, but if waiting time and quality is taken into consideration, a ripoff.  Even if it is worth the $39 price tag, which I don't think it is, it is not worth the wait.

Summary (rated 1-5):
FOOD:  (2/5)  "Otaru" chaa siu is quite bad.
SERVICE:  (2/5)  not much service to speak of.
ENVIRONMENT:  (2/5)  Uncomfortable...
BIG LOCUST'S RECOMMENDATION:  (2/5)  Don't bother.  Not worth the wait.

Pizzazaza: zazazazazazazazazazazazaza!!

Shop info:
Pizzazaza
G/F, 7 Wun Sha Street, Tai Hang
Tel:  2881 8287

15 August 2012, dinner
$180 per head

This was, actually, part three to Locust Tunghok and I's dinner in Tai Hang on this hot and humid day.  For no logical reason whatsoever, we decided to start our even with a rather expensive yet disappointing yakitori dinner with Sapporo beer at a nearby new-ish restaurant called Ikki (一輝日本料理), followed by a scoop of smooth and rich chocolate ice-cream at the recently opened Lab Made.  We locusts were still hungry (trust me, we smartly refrained from ordering much on our first round at that yakitori place) and we happened to see this new pizzeria, so in we went.

Pizzazaza (previously known as MIST Pizzeria) was the new opening by the ex-boss of the ramen shop MIST in Causeway Bay of Michelin 1-star fame.  The starred restaurant was unfortunately closed following shareholder disputes between the Hong Kong owner and the Japanese advisor (please correct if I’m mistaken on this) and the Hong Kong owner invested to open three new shops in Causeway Bay / Tin Hau.  Pizzazaza was the first to come, followed with the just opened Rasupermen (ramen, of course.  Priced lower than MIST) at Hysan Square and the soon-to-be-launched Sawadelight at MIST’s old place.

THE ENVIRONMENT
Pizzazaza, rather unlike MIST ramen, is a casual diner located on Wun Sha Street, at the shop where “Little White House” used to be.  Perhaps to show its break from MIST’s rather serious, carefully choreographed and poker faced style, the name of the restaurant was recently changed to Pizzazaza.  So recent, that the store-front still says MIST Pizzeria!

The inside of the store is of a relaxing white.  Space between tables are understandably limited due to the very narrow store front but dining here doesn’t feel particularly claustrophobic thanks to the high ceiling and the light coloured walls.  Various artworks are hung on the walls and the yellow hued window into the kitchen showcases a collection of pans and other kitchen tools.

What I liked most, though, was the menu which is shaped like a pizza!

THE SERVICE
I was very impressed by the wait-staff here.  Not only are they very aware of what they serve, they were also aware of what ingredients are used, how the food taste and good combinations.  The waitress who took our order, for instance, suggested the bread basket to go with the slow cooked egg with wild mushrooms, and described the different flavours of the three types of beer they serve.  Another waitress told us what ingredients are used in their impressive looking mountain like Rucola pizza and how it’s constructed.  Yet another waitress taught us how best to eat the slow cooked egg and pointed out every ingredients in the dish.  This is the kind of knowledge we come to expect of Michelin starred restaurant staff, but unheard of at a casual pizzeria!

It was actually more than that.  I actually felt that they are genuinely proud of the food they serve, have probably tried most of them and is happy to tell customers about them.  Hell, they were more enthusiastic and genuine than the waiters who served us at Robuchon a Galera / au Dome in Macau.

THE FOOD
Obviously, good environment and friendly helpful staff is not enough to get me excited for a pizzeria.  The food need to match.  And the food was certainly decent.  Here we go…

Having had a tiny half pant Sapporo between us locusts, we did not plan to have more beer here… yet the waitress suggested their special beers, named Pizzazaza, Sawadelight and Rasupermen respectively.  I was pretty sure that these weren’t going to be house brewed (that would be asking a bit much, right?).  These were actually re-labelled bottled beer.  The one we ordered (Pizzazaza a.k.a. Weizen) was from the Kiuchi Brewery in Naka-shi of the Ibaraki prefecture in Japan.  As the waitress suggested, there was a slight banana-like flavour to the beer, which was light and refreshing.

To our surprise, the ($5 per portion) bread basket came with olive oil & vinegar, pesto and a spicy tomato puree.  The three items seems brought in but I liked the “inflated” grissini-thing.

Slow cooked egg with wild mushrooms, potato puree and black truffle sauce ($108)

We at this as suggested, mixing the potato, egg, truffle, mushroom and the spinach puree on the side and dipping with the inflated grissini.  Egg was nicely cooked, mushroom well sautéed, potato puree smooth and generous scoop of black truffle sauce.  Couldn’t be bad, really!  Yum!

Pizza Margherita ($158)

Buffalo mozzarella, cherry tomatoes & basil

Pizza was nice too – the thin crust was dry and not soggy with a wheat-y flavour especially on the rim.  The mozzarella was richer than the usual tasteless crap we find on Margheritas from a lot of “pizza restaurants” in town and the cherry tomatoes were fresh and retained that nice natural sweetness to it.  We were actually pondering, when we ordered, that why this Margherita is $40 richer than the Quattro formaggi pizza as usually it’s the other way round.  This is well worth the price!

CONCLUSION
I like this pizzeria.  I like the pizza, the slow cooked egg, the beer, the staff’s enthusiasm and the happy dining ambiance of the place.  If you look at price, at $180 per head this was in the same price range as the nearby Piccolo pizzeria (which, IMHO, despite having a nice wood-fired oven was not as good as its sister shop in Kennedy Town).  Recommended!

Summary (rated 1-5):
FOOD:  (4/5)  
SERVICE:  (4.5/5)  very good service
ENVIRONMENT:  (4/5)  Nice and relaxing.  Slightly crowded though.
BIG LOCUST'S RECOMMENDATION:  (4.5/5)  Recommended.  It’s not perfect, but for this price?  Must try!

Nico's Spuntino Bar + Restaurant: Oil overflow

Shop info:
Nico’s Spuntino Bar + Restaurant
G/F, 49 Elgin Street, Central

13 August 2012, dinner
$325 per head

Quite a few years ago when I started eating around, this shop at the junction of Elgin Street and next to Bouchon Bistro Francaise was a Fat Angelo’s, where I’ve had quite a few fun-filled meals with friends.  Food, though, was mediocre at best.  Then a year or so ago the Fat Angelo disappeared and was replaced by Popup @ Elgin, a casual diner whose food Locust Tunghok and I disliked.

Recently, though, that popup restaurant was finally replaced by a proper Italian restaurant and bar called Nico’s.  With new décor and a new menu, Locust Tunghok and I decided to give it a try.

THE ENVIRONMENT
Kudos to the management and / or the designer, the dining room of Nico’s was actually quite a comfortable place to be.  Lighting was sufficiently bright that you can see properly, unlike its predecessor(s) were it was so dim that taking photo was impossible, yet not eye-stingingly bright.  The seats were comfortable and large but given their size make the place feel quite crowded, especially when full.  That said, the high ceiling does provide a sense of spaciousness which helps dealing with that.  Hygiene was good, but the dusty shelves next to the table does suggest more cleaning is needed.

Located on Elgin street the outer portion of the restaurant was mostly taken up by the bar and the dining area is located to the inside of the store.  Interestingly, and similar to its predecessors, to get to the toilets diners need to exit via a back door, navigate a small but largely unlit outdoor area, before they can relieve themselves…

THE SERVICE
Staff were friendly and courteous but can be more attentive, as we found it difficult to get their attention to check the bill.  Some may find their playful way of serving unprofessional, but for me, for a casual diner like Nico's, it felt just right.

THE FOOD
I'd put this up front - the food at Nico's is not bad at all.  In fact, the other locust and I quite enjoyed our dinner here.  That said, there is one unifying theme uniting almost all dishes:  they were all quite oily.  It's not the kind of "oh I want to eat healthily and a drop of oil is too much" oily.  Given that us locusts could gobble up a nice piece of "gold coin chicken" and still want more, that would not have been any problems had it been kindergarten-grade oiliness.  No... every dish was genuinely oily, as we shall see...

Before the oil, though, we shouldn't forget the beer.  Us locusts have almost made it a habit that if we were to dine at a bar, we might as well have the beer too.  Usually, I'd go for the Stella draught, as we did here... until after we ordered and the waiter came back apologetically to tell us that they ran out.  No luck this time, so Locust Tunghok settled for her Hoegaarden, and I got my Kroenenbourg Blanc.

Kronenbourg has been my favourite beer ever since I got used to it during my M.Sc.days in UK.  Back in Hong Kong, however, this beer is difficult to find, especially if you want draught.  This is my first time trying Blanc, and as usual, I like its crisp, light taste, although the Blanc has a peachy, almost orangey flavour to it.

Still... they ran out of draught Stella...

Caciocavallo Silano in Carrozza (region:  Calabria) $98

Crispy fried, fresh cow's milk cheese, on a bed of fried leeks

Behold the oiliness!

Let the oiliness begin.

Interestingly, with some googling (and after seeing Locust Tunghok's post here), Caciocavallo Silano happens to be a D.O.P. product, protected and can only be made in designated areas in Southern Italy.  Interesting how they do not advertise the D.O.P. status on their menu - if the food is good I guess nobody really cares!  The batter was light, thin and crisp when served, and the cheese has a certain stringiness to it, but not too much.  Flavour was strong and somewhat salty.  Very nice!

The fried leeks on top... I guess defeats the English name of the dish:  it's fried leeks on cheese, not the other way round!  In any case, I didn't care much for the leeks.  Yes they were done nicely, surprisingly dry but the leeks themselves were a bit too "old" for me.

Now the problem:  look at that puddle of oil in the second photo above... enough said.

Mamma Assunta's Pulled Pizza (Region:  Campania) $118

When the pizza was served we were speechless.  It was way bigger than we expected.  Yet it was good enough that we almost finished the whole thing.  Oiliness, of course, was again a problem.  Every slice was dripping oil, which I guess was a combination of excessive olive oil added and oil from the pork sausages?  That aside, flavour was nice and well balanced.

Porceddu (Region:  Sardinia Island)  $188

Crispy-roasted Suckling Pig served with Honey Gravy

Mash potato as a side dish to the Porceddu

The proceddu was only mediocre, at least for me.  The fat under the rather crispy skin was way too thick and uncomfortable to eat.  The meat itself was somewhat bland, and when we guessed that the gravy would help with the flavour, it really didn't.  The gravy was quite weak as well.  Very stark contrast when compared with the oily but delicious fried cheese and the pizza!

The mash, however, was decent.  Just like the other dishes, the chef has been rather generous with his butter.  As a result, the mash was rich and flavoursome.  Personally I would prefer a silkier mash and perhaps even more butter in it, but as it is, I'd still take it any time!

Tiramisu $58

Classic combination fresh egg sabayon, espresso coffee, Savoiardi biscuits, chocolate in an hermetic glass jar

We wanted to end the meal with a nice tiramisu, but unfortunately, we were let down by this Tiramisu-in-a-jar.  Gimmicks aside, the sabayon (why not just mascarpone?) was stiff and jelly-like.  The biscuits were dry as hell, and defenitely not soaked in espresso.  I had no idea where the chocolate went, apart from the chocolate powder.  I can see it as a layer on top, but couldn't taste it at all.  The whole thing was so dry that we only manage to finish half.  What a waste!  If I had to pick a worst dish of the meal, this would be the one.  Shouldn't have ordered.

CONCLUSION
This quasi-new restaurant shows potential to be a good one.  If you look past the oiliness and the failed dessert, dinner at Nico's was actually very enjoyable.  The ambiance of the place makes for a relaxed meal.  Yet work needs to be done with the dishes themselves.  Oil should be better controlled, at least the diner shouldn't be seeing puddles of oil on their plates!

Judged alone, Nico's is a nice place for a meal with friends, but with Posto Pubblico nearby... hmm... 

Oh, and I like how they advertise the region a dish is from on the menu... 

Summary (rated 1-5):

FOOD:  (3/5)  Flavour was good, but very oily... need better execution!
SERVICE:  (3/5)  
ENVIRONMENT:  (3.5/5)  Somewhat crowded, but relaxing.
BIG LOCUST'S RECOMMENDATION:  (3/5)  Dragged down by the food that needs fine tuning!

Shugetsu (麵鮮醬油房 周月): Very, VERY, salty...

Shop info:
Shugetsu (麵鮮醬油房 周月)
G/F, 5 Gough Street, Central

15 May 2012 and 28 July 2012, Lunch
~$110 per head

I like ramen.  Or to put it better, I like good ramen, especially after trying Menya Musashi at Shinjuku (not Kwun Tong, thank you) a few years ago, where I first tried Tsukemen, the “dipping” ramen which the broth is served separately from the noodles.  Strangely, even with the proliferation of swine-based broth ramen in Hong Kong in the past year or so, choices are still limited when it comes to tsukemen.  Maybe it’s the owners tendency to follow established trends, or maybe it’s demand driving the new shops to the swine broth – the limited variety in ramen shops in Hong Kong is rather disappointing.

It is therefore a joy to learn from the pages of fellow bloggers the opening of a new tsukemen shop on Gough Street.  I first visited on an extremely rainy day in May and subsequently with the other locust in July.

THE ENVIRONMENT
Located on Gough Street near the (in?)famous 9 Kee and “Win Fragrant Garden”, Shugetsu is surely in good company.  After entering via the sliding door so appropriate for shops with limited space, the chefs can be seen working the quasi-open kitchen to the right and a rather narrow dining room is directly in front.  Having been seated twice at the wall-facing seats near the entrance, I can only tell that as far as I saw most seats are of these wall-facing type – inevitable given they use half the width of the shop to showcase their ramen-making process!

That aside, the setting is that of a casual quick meal eatery.  Everything is where you need it, and seating is reasonably comfortable but not of the type that you can spend any significant amount of time chilling out here – good for their turnover for sure!

THE SERVICE
Given the small floor space of the shop, the staff is reasonably attentive.  That said, on my first visit they have mistaken my 200g tsukemen order as 300g.  No price difference but the result was a significant amount of leftover ramen which I simply couldn’t finish.  I did, later, hear the guys sitting next to me discuss why their 300g tsukemen is smaller than my 200g though…

THE FOOD
On both visits I had their signature tsukemen with extra egg.  The first was 200-turned-300g and the second time 100g, as lunch-part-two.  The egg was slightly more cooked than I’d like on the first visit but almost perfect on the second visit – with a yolk that is not flowingly runny but maintains a jelly-like texture.  From the colouration one can tell that these are better flavoured than the almost all white versions at some lesser ramen shops!  Very nice.

First visit

Second visit - much better!

Tsukemen - 300g

Tsukemen - 100g

The tsukemen itself is thicker than the usual we have at other ramen shops and was cooked just right.  Its thickness, however, does make it feel somewhat more filling than others.  Served on a bamboo mat to drain off excess water.

Extremely salty and sour broth

Some say the broth makes or breaks a bowl of ramen, and it is certainly the case here.  Unfortunately, in this case it wasn’t for the better.  Whatever heritage they have in the soy sauce they use, and however famous their recipe is, it was consistent across my two visits:  consistently sour and salty.  These two flavours are so strong and so overwhelming that one couldn’t taste any other flavour other than its saltiness and sourness.  The pork?  Very salty.  The marinated bamboo shoots?  Very salty.  What’s the point of a carefully made broth if it’s so salty that the customer couldn’t taste anything else?

This broth was miles from the one with the tsukemen I had at Shinjuku.  That one was full bodied, well balanced with every flavour playing its role.  This one was like an orchestra with a dozen trumpets and a dozen trombones – you couldn’t hear anything else!

CONCLUSION
I haven’t tried their ramen with scallops, or the normal ramen with broth.  Their signature tsukemen, however, was ruined by the broth.  Way too salty, come on.  I’m definitely not the first to comment such, and likely won’t be the last.  Maybe this is their traditional taste, but why, then, was the one at Shinjuku so much better?

For me, unless they better balance their flavours, I won’t be returning.

Summary (rated 1-5):
FOOD:  (3/5)  Egg was good, ramen OK, ruined by extremely salty broth
SERVICE:  (3/5)  
ENVIRONMENT:  (3/5)  
BIG LOCUST'S RECOMMENDATION:  (3/5)  May be worth trying… once?

Further reading:  have a look at Locust Tunghok's review!

W28: So bad that it was funny.

Shop info:

W28

9/F, QRE Plaza, 202 Queen's Road East, Wan Chai

11 August 2012, lunch

$150 per head

If you take trying restaurants you haven't been to as a habit, you'll experience a wide range of emotions in the process - the pleasure of running across good meals, the excitement of finding decent meals at good price, the annoyance of dealing with waiters who don't give a damn, the pain of paying for overpriced meals at sub-par restaurants.

This place, though, has taken it to another level.  This place has left me so shocked that it was funny.  More about that later…

THE ENVIRONMENT

Located on the 9th floor of QRE Plaza in company of other restaurants such as La Cucina Italiana on 21/F, Akita Teppanyaki on 8/F and Zummer on 23/F.  The first impression exiting the lift was that of an elegant, somewhat hip dining room.  Once the staff lead you into the inner parts though, with booth seats and sofas the inner section of the restaurant feels surprisingly crowded.  The booth seats have a strange, unclean feel to it which made me squirm.  Air conditioning was weak.

THE SERVICE

The waitstaff were obviously more interested in their own chit-chat than in serving their customer.  When we walked in nobody was at the door and we had to find a waiter to get a table.  By the time we wanted the bill they were so absorbed in their own cocktail party at the bar that we almost had to dance on our seat to get their attention!  On our way out, they were so excited in their discussion that they didn't even bother to turn around to say goodbye…

Their introduction of the soup of the day, of course, was incomprehensible and the waitress didn't even bother to tell us about the "daily dessert" until we asked.  And then, her mumbling was so quite that I didn't catch much of what she said.

THE FOOD

Seems shocking enough?  The food was definitely more "interesting".  Here goes…

The bread came in an interesting arrangement of dark / light / dark / light.  Normal and whole wheat baguettes, of course.  These came warmed and with a slice of flavourless butter that had a striking resemblance of a slice off an Anchor butter block.  The bread was worse than the butter.  The dehydrated outer layer shouts that it's a few days old, just like those little mermaid baguettes which you'd buy, leave on the dining table and forgot about.  The bread was so dry-aged that the cut surfaces are slightly caved in.  Reheating such a piece of bread, of course, makes no difference - it's still going to be horrid.

Something cream soup, according to the waitress.  This tasted suspiciously like the "white soup" of the "red / white soup" at Hong Kong style "western" restaurants.  A bit more potato-ey and without the typical canned corn and carrot bits.  Quite smooth, but really, that flavour only reminds me of the  soup of the $30 lunch I used to get when in secondary school!

Grilled fillet of sole "Meuniere" with Angel Hair

The fillet of sole was fine.  Still quite HK-western restaurants but the succulent fish went well with the lemon butter sauce (of course, that's a fail safe combination!).  The peripherals, however, were complete failures.  The angel hair was cooked with no seasoning whatsoever.  Bland and tasteless are the only descriptions that I can think of.  It was so bad that it tasted of the starchy leftover water from cooking that angel hair.  I'd even hazard to guess that the water was hardly salted.  Mixing in the lemon butter didn't help much, as after that it tasted of starchy leftover water that has gone sour.  Nicht gute.

The carrots and broccoli weren't any better.  These were simply blanched in boiling water, again without no seasoning and were utterly bland.  Furthermore, the broccoli was in one big lump that you'd have to chop it up yourself.  Frankly, the chef who did these should be sent to wash dishes instead.

As a result, the angel hair, the carrots and the broccoli… were left largely untouched and I left the restaurant still hungry.  It was that bad.

This was almost the sourest and bitterest cup of coffee I've even been served in such a setting.  Way too hot as well.  Thumbs down.

CONCLUSION

Even now, I find it difficult to properly understand this meal.  The setting of the place was that of a mid-to-high-priced restaurant.  Price wasn't cheap, as my fillet of sole lunch costed $118+10%.  Quality was that of a cheap HK-western restaurant (a.k.a. 港式西餐廳).  Service was non-existent.  These were enough strikingly contrasting elements that it takes it beyond annoying or infuriating, and instead made it funny.

This lunch, therefore, was a complete joke.  FML.

My recommendation, therefore, is to avoid this place.  I'm so glad that we didn't try the a la carte "recommended" dishes costing >$300 per dish.  

Oh, by the way, "奶茶咖啡檸茶檸水… 仲有檸蜜".  That's what she said.

Summary (rated 1-5):

FOOD:  (2/5)  Don't expect anything.

SERVICE:  (2/5)  Waitresses don't give a damn.  But at least they didn't pour the coffee on us. 

ENVIRONMENT:  (3/5)  Dirty seats… hmm… 

BIG LOCUST'S RECOMMENDATION:  (2/5)  Don't bother.

Bentopia: Utopia Lost. Can it ever be regained?

Shop info:
Bentopia
Shop D, G/F, Far East Finance Centre, Admiralty
www.bentopia.com.hk

Various dates, lunch
~$60 per head

My workplace is located in the gap between Central and Admiralty.  10-15 minutes’ walk to the west is Lan Kwai Fong and SOHO with their numerous (somewhat pricy) restaurants as well as a collection of more-or-less reasonably priced Cha Chaan Tengs.  A similar walk to the east lies Pacific Place with the expensive hotel restaurants.  Here in the area surrounding Hutchison House, however, are mostly chain stores – Café de Coral, Maxim MX, McDonalds, Burger King (now closed), Fairwood, Caffe Habitu, Starbucks, PCC.  You name it.  Of course, I shouldn’t forget the Pumpernickel where I ended up having diarrhoea for the afternoon following their (some kind of) fish sandwich or the Shiki Japanese Restaurant where I suffered the same after their salmon sashimi don.

So, it was with great expectation and excitement  when I waited for the opening of this new takeaway shop at the nearby Far East Finance Centre, and I became its first customer when it finally opened in December 2011.  I loved the place back then, visiting three days a week, until things changed.  My last visit was in April 2012 to pick up the VIP card which I no longer carry.  This is, in fact, a record of how in the span of 2-3 months Bentopia turned from my preferred eatery into one that I would not return to. 

ENVIRONMENT
As a takeaway shop, Bentopia has paid surprising attention to its interior design.  The interior is mostly white with warm pink and brown décor.  A thin strip of table along the road side window provide for those who would like to “dine in” and the interior easily fits 10-15 customers waiting for their bento.  With more customers though, I’ve recently see queue lining up outside the shop, probably not the most pleasant experience in these hot and humid summer days!

SERVICE
The staff were generally friendly.  If you visit often enough like I did in its early days, they might even recognize you and can greet you by name.  Hell, they even remembered which bento I preferred!

FOOD
Bentopia is a combination of the words “bento” and “utopia” and the shop serves Japanese / Taiwanese bento.  When I talked to the staff in its first week of business when customers came only sparsely, they mentioned that their ideal is to provide delicious bento that is freshly made, which is why there was usually a 5-10 minutes wait for the bento.  During the first few weeks, they did stick to these principles and their bento were gorgeous.  Soon though, with the growth of customers… things changed.

Corners started to be cut.  Costs became more important in their equations.  Gradually items started to be not freshly made.  I still remember when I first visited the salad was mixed just before they hand you the bento.  Then they changed it to putting the salad in plastic containers and serving the dressing separately.  Then they changed to having it all mixed (with dressing) in those plastic containers.

The delicious "Stir Fry Beef with Ginger Sauce Bento" from Bentopia's first day of operation

The same bento, during the shop's third week.  Salad already separated, no more deep fried crab meat toast, and quality going down.

During the first week there was this delicious deep fried crab meat toast, as can be seen at the back of the first photo above, which they made to order.  That soon disappeared (costs?) and was replaced with crab meat vegetable packet, then there was gradually less and less crab meat in that packet until it disappeared from the menu.  To replace it was some kind of cutlet shrimp, which evolved from a well-made, fresh shrimp to a rather mushy one…

The above “stir fry beef with ginger sauce bento” was another example of how corners were cut.  In the early days the beef was filled to the brim, with a lot of beef and not much onion.  Towards April (my last visit) there was less and less beef, more and more onion, as well as increasing “white space” – where you can see the rice.  Quality deteriorated as well.  Whilst this may be difficult to tell from the photos, early on the beef was tender and flavoursome, whereas towards April the beef got tougher and overcooked.  They might have shifted from making it fresh towards having a pot of the stuff ready – that I couldn’t tell – but the difference in taste was monumental.  Tough onion skins started to feature in those bento as well…

Deep Fried Maltose Chicken Bento

The “deep fried maltose chicken bento” didn’t escape such fate.  To be fair, the honey sauce works quite well with the deep fried chicken, toning down the perceived “hot-air-ness” and adding an interesting angle to the saltiness of the chicken.  However, size shrunk, chicken got thinner, and the sense of “freshly made” was eventually gone.  Again, I have no evidence but got the feel from the bento that it was no longer freshly made.

Traditional Taiwanese Style Minced Pork Bento

Traditional Taiwanese style minced pork bento – never really liked this one, but that was probably personal.  The minced pork was probably a bit too fatty for me.

CONCLUSION
This is probably the most difficult post I have ever written.  Having been its first customer and thoroughly enjoyed the bento from the first couple of weeks of its operation, Bentopia is dear to me.  Yet, the gradual, obvious but inevitable decline in quality which I was weary of since the beginning was troubling to see.  Perhaps in this part of the city profitability is king.  Perhaps any insistence on freshness and quality is futile in front of cost cuts.  The bento are still not bad, probably still better than takeaway lunches from many nearby shops, and may provide decent lunch for many, especially those who do not know how good they once were.  For me, I couldn’t bear to buy one of these only to remember how they used to taste.  

Won't be returning unfortunately.

Summary (rated 1-5):
FOOD:  (3/5)  Not bad, but no longer amazing.
SERVICE:  (4/5)  Very friendly and cheerful.  Lights up your day. 
ENVIRONMENT:  (4/5)  Comfy for a takeaway shop.
BIG LOCUST'S RECOMMENDATION:  (3/5)  Not bad.  It used to be good value but with decline in quality I feel that it’s more expensive than it was.  At the same price.

Hatsu Japanese Restaurant: (Update) Yes, the cooked food is decent!

Shop Info:

Hatsu Japanese Restaurant
G/F, Bank of America Tower, 12 Harcourt Road, Central

6 August 2012, Lunch
$190 per head

Last week I had a rather disappointing lunch at Hatsu Japanese Restaurant, the new opening at BoA Tower.  The problem, of course, was partly due to my stupidity in going against my own advice of never eating sushi or sashimi at non-sushi-specialist restaurants.  Today, I mustered the courage to try Hatsu again, this time determined to stick to the cooked menu.  Having had a disappointing Cod Saikyo Yaki yesterday at Harakan-S Japanese Dining Room, I ordered the “Grilled Black Cod Fish” with the hope that this restaurant would serve a better version of the dish.

ENVIRONMENT

The earlier review has covered most I have to say about the venue.  Having sat at the innermost table this time, however, I can attest that the inner window-side tables are far better than the communal tables at the entrance.  Not only is the environment much brighter thanks to the full height curtain wall, the area feels more private.  There are occasionally smokers hot-pot-ing outside but other than that the path outside is scarcely used.

If one were to eat here I would definitely recommend to either arrive early and grab a table inside, or book one early on.  Where you seat could easily make the difference between a comfortable and relaxing lunch and a rather miserable one at a dim corner under the escalator!

SERVICE

Again, courteous with prompt response, never too intrusive.  The wait for food was reasonable.  And I like their teapots with matching cups!

Last time

This time

FOOD

Fortunately, Hatsu’s cooked food, the grilled black cod at least, is far better than its sushi and sashimi.  The saltiness and slight sweetness of the sauce cuts through the fattiness of the cod well and of course, also goes well with a bowl of rice.  The cod itself was cooked just right – very juicy and tender with the “pieces” separating easily.  Far better than the Harakan-S version I’d say!

"Grilled Black Cod Fish"

Separates nicely, moist and tender

Raw veggies

The salad that comes with the set lunch, however, was not very good.  The veggies were noticeably fresher than last time, but came un-seasoned.  I.e. that was a bowl of raw veg.  No dressing, no salt, nothing.  Hmm… maybe the chef forgot?

The chawanmushi wasn’t much different from last time’s, only that I probably erred by saying that there was a quarter of a piece of Jap fish ball in it.  No.  It was 1/8 of a piece… other than that it’s chicken and mushroom again.  Same weak-ish flavour but same smoothness.  Not bad!

Bought in ice-cream, stored in freezer with cup.  Not bad!

CONCLUSION

Whilst my first visit left me bad impressions of Hatsu, this second visit was much better.  The grilled cod was decent and chawanmushi not bad.  There are of course room for improvement, such as the salad or the raw items, but I can see this as the preferred Japanese diner in this small culinary desert between Central and Admiralty.  If you work in the area and would like a quick Japanese food fix, remember this place.  Also, remember to book or arrive early (i.e. before 12:00 noon!) so you can get a decent table towards the inside of the shop.  Also, it would be a safe bet to avoid those sushi / sashimi (unless you’re a salmon fan…)

I still think that at $190 this was by no means cheap… but in Central / Admiralty things does come at a premium…

Summary (rated 1-5):

FOOD:  (3.5/5)  Salad dragged it down.

SERVICE:  (4/5)  Friendly staff and proactive manager.

ENVIRONMENT:  (4/5)  Much better environment on the inside.

BIG LOCUST'S RECOMMENDATION:  (3.5/5)  Go for the cooked menu!  Still worth visiting in this area.