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.

Harakan-S: Read the menu first. Always.

Shop info:

Harakan-S Japanese Dining Room

Shop 311, 3/F, Lee Gardens Two, 28 Yun Ping Rd, Causeway Bay

www.harakan-s.com

5 August 2012, Lunch

$290 per head

Some say it is most important to at least read the menu before entering a restaurant – so you’d at least know what they serve and form an idea of the budget for the meal – and often Locust Tunghok and I would turn away from a restaurant if we don’t like what we see, or we simply think the food might not warrant the price.  This Sunday, however, we made this amateurish mistake of taking the risk to enter a restaurant via its backdoor, without even seeing the menu, and sitting down only to find that the menu isn’t as attractive as we thought.  It was lucky that we survived with just a minor hit to the bank, although that was a rather optimistic view of the events…

THE ENVIRONMENT

Located on 3/F of Lee Gardens 2, Harakan-S is the renovated and rejuvenated version of the previous Harakan.  We entered through the back door, through Habitu Ristorante and the Garden.  The furniture chosen creates a casual dining environment although I kept hitting my head on that interesting pink-sea-urchin-like chandelier.  The Japanese paper door styled partitions echoes the cuisine this restaurant serves and the green wall makes the dining room a relaxed place to be.

THE SERVICE

Nothing much could be said about the service.  The staff was sufficiently attentive, but given the format of the lunch there really isn’t much service required…

THE FOOD

So why not much service is required?  Because it’s a semi-buffet lunch.  Had we known that it is a semi-buffet we wouldn’t have entered at all.  Worse still, the choices at the semi-buffet were very limited, with only a handful of choices for appetizer and one (ONE!!!) choice of green tea cheese cake for dessert.  To add to the insult, I found on its website, when researching for this post, that normal lunch with appetizer trio (salad, chawanmushi and “daily special”) is priced much lower than our semi-buffet lunch.  How convenient – oh it’s Sunday, let’s turn it into an appetizer buffet so we can charge more and use less service!  Genius! 

As one would reasonably expect, since these appetizers have been sitting on the table for quite a while they weren’t in their prime condition at all… even the sauce has shown signs of drying…

Grilled Cod Marinated in Saikyo Miso (Semi-buffet:  $298.  Normal:  $258)

This Saikyo grilled cod was quite forgettable – normal flavour and slightly on the dry side, with skins that are quite burnt with a pretty strong charcoal taste.  Portions were rather generous but that hardly compensates for the burnt skin and the inflated price.  The equivalent of 3,000 yen for a mediocre Cod Saikyo Yaki?  Come on…

Classic Grilled Eel over Rice (Semi-buffet:  $228.  Normal:  $188)

I have only had a bite of the grilled eel and from that can only say it was a disappointment.  The texture of the eel was rather mushy and the flavour quite weak – a long way away from the ones we’ve tried in Izuei Honten in Tokyo or the one with egg cover at かねよ at Kyoto!  Again, a 20% premium for coming on a Sunday, for less service, is outrageous.  On their normal menu at least there is a chawanmushi…

CONCLUSION:

We should have read Timeout HK’s 3/5 review and avoided this place, or read the menu at the main entrance before coming in.  Personally I feel that given the quality the normal lunch set prices are already on the high side, but with this Sunday premium the overpricing is outrageous.  Perhaps they make better dinners, and perhaps the a-la-carte menu is superior, but we definitely would not risk our hard-earned dough again just 0to try those.  Not coming back.

Summary (rated 1-5):
FOOD:  (3/5)  Mediocre at best, very expensive for the quality.
SERVICE:  (3/5)  Not much service to speak of especially given it’s semi-buffet.
ENVIRONMENT:  (4/5)  Very comfortable.
BIG LOCUST'S RECOMMENDATION:  (3/5)  Maybe, if you’re willing to risk a not-small amount of money on a meal that will probably be less than satisfactory!

Further reading:  原了，就是完！@ Harakan-S Japanese Dining Room

Pastis Bistro Francais: Why did we bother?

Shop Info:

Pastis Bistro Francais

G/F, 65 Wyndham Street, Central

4 August 2012, Lunch

$360 per head

A year or so ago, Locust Tunghok and I first tried this place for lunch.  Back then, we were here for the pint of Kronenbourg and discovered its exquisite Boeuf Bourguignonne and its most delicious bangers and mash.  No, that's not its French name but that's what I like to call it.  Back then the sausage was house made and juicy, the caramelised onion soft and sweet and the mash silky smooth.  We also decided that we will return to try its steak tartare, among other items.

So when I saw advertisement on HKEJ saying this shops is "for let" yesterday, we panicked and decided to come here for lunch immediately.

THE ENVIRONMENT

Located at the turn of Wyndham street, Pastis is small.  The high tables seat approximately 20 excluding the bar and two of the table faces the busy Wyndham Street directly - perfect for the Parisian pastime of people watching and being watched with a pint in your hand, but not so perfect if you intend to have a quiet meal, or if you are concerned with the possibility of getting pneumoconiosis.  Wyndham Street is busy.

That aside, the environment is actually quite cozy and is perfect for spending an afternoon sipping beer / coffee and relaxing.

THE SERVICE

It's easy to be intimidated by the manager / owner and the staff at Pastis, especially if you're Chinese and not used to the French arrogance.  No, perhaps arrogance is not a good description.  The manager and the staff are actually very friendly once you start chatting with them, but they do have this typically French coldness that one might feel difficult to break through.  Worry not.  Talk to them, ask them about the dishes, even ask them to teach you how to read those French names.  Once they start talking they're very friendly and welcoming!

THE FOOD

Unfortunately, the food we had this time was nowhere near as good as those we had a year or so ago.  The manager suggested an off-menu frog legs in place of the escargots we originally wanted, and with that we also had a small sized steak tartare, "bangers and mash" i.e. pork sausages with mashed potato and French lentils, and confit de canard.  Before those, however, I found it disappointing that they only have Stella draught now… no more Kronenbourg… 

Off menu frog legs ($108)

The Frog legs were only mediocre.  As I was busy consuming the steak tartare I only briefly sampled these.  As Locust Tunghok may agree, they were really quite oily.  There was a small swimming pool of oil at the bottom of the plate when we were half way through the dish and the greens on the side ended up being used to mop up the oil.

Steak Tartare coupé au Couteau

Traditional Steak Tartare Served w/ Frites or Green Salad ($108 / $188)

The "or" in the name of the dish was probably misplaced - as we were given both Frites AND greens.  Some may find the seasoning of the steak tartare to be too light, but I found it just right and more subtle than the one at e.g. Bouchon.  Slightly heavy on the salt though…

Saucisses de Toulouse

Pork Sausages served w/ Mashed Potato & French Lentils ($145)

This bangers and mash (yes I like calling them such) was a big disappointment for me, partly because the one I had last time was just so good.  This time, the sausages were quite dry, the skin rather chewy, the onions tasted "sweetened", the mash was dry and bland and probably need triple the butter, double the work put into mashing and a hell lot more salt.  The lentils was a mystery for me.  Why put some rather dry lentils next to some rather dry mash (i.e. more starch) and some rather dry sausages?  Frankly, this dish felt like a patch work - the three elements as they were really didn't work well together.

Confit de Canard

Confit Duck Leg with Carrot Mash & Creamy Mustard Sauce ($198)

The duck confit was not very good.  Meat was dry, skin not sufficiently crispy and had quite a bit of fat underneath.  Nowhere near as bad as the catastrophic one we had at Chez Patrick Deli in Wan Chai though, fortunately!  The carrot mash was quite nice though, especially when eaten with the onion - nice and refreshing!  My biggest problem with this dish was the price.  At $198 (~EUR 20!!) it is not cheap and did not have a quality to match.  Not worth ordering really.

CONCLUSION

We talked with the manager afterwards about the advertisement that concerned us in the first place and he clarified that they do not have any plans of moving soon.  Glad to hear, but frankly it doesn't matter to us as much anymore - the food just isn't as good as it was.  Perhaps the head chef was on leave.  Perhaps they have changed their chef.  That I wouldn't know.  All I know is that for $360 per head this meal was not even satisfactory.  For this kind of price one could easily get lunch at e.g. Madam Sixty Ate where the setting, the food and even the service was far superior.

It pains me to say this, but we won't be coming back.

Summary (rated 1-5):

FOOD:  (2/5)  Poor execution of dishes in general.

SERVICE:  (3/5)  Friendly staff.

ENVIRONMENT:  (3/5)  Can be hot and some might find high tables uncomfortable.

BIG LOCUST'S RECOMMENDATION:  (2/5)  Don’t bother.  Price / quality mismatch.


Further reading:  Crying in the party @ Pastis - by Locust Tunghok

Hatsu Japanese Restaurant: Maybe cooked food is better?

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


1 August 2012, Lunch
$230 per head

UPDATE:  A later visit ordering cooked food gave a much better experience.


I was filled with joy when I learnt a month or so ago that a new Japanese restaurant will be launched near my workplace where the barren dining landscape limits lunch choices to Café de Coral, Maxim MX, McDonald’s and Hokkaido Dairy Farm Milk Restaurant.  So when I discovered that it has opened I waked in without a second thought, on its third day of operation.


THE ENVIRONMENT
With its plain wooden table, leather seats, plenty of sunlight and the rather industrial pebble stone pile wall, Hatsu brings an air of simple refreshing elegance to the rather dull ground floor of the BoA Tower.  On the other hand, similar to the Burger King which occupied the same space a few months ago, the main dining area is quite open, with one side facing the rather busy McDonald’s.  If privacy is a concern or if you feel uneasy dining where lots of people walk by every moment, booking a table with the specific request for a table at the inner side of the premise along the full-height windows facing Cotton Tree Drive would be a good idea.  Traffic outside will unlikely be a significant concern thanks to the dense vegetation of the planters outside.


Be warned, though, that air-conditioning at certain locations may be very strong, such as where I was seated near the entrance…

THE SERVICE
Service was pretty standard here.  The waitresses were courteous and respond promptly when you signal for their attention and the manager came concerned when he noticed that I left half my sashimi untouched – more about that later.


THE FOOD
Some say ordering sashimi / sushi at a “Japanese restaurant” is a dangerous act unless the establishment is traditional Japanese with a Japanese chef at the helm, where chances of survival would be better.  Even I myself have warned friends against doing such a rackless thing.  Yet, this is exactly what I’ve done today – ordering a sashimi & sushi set lunch, but oh my, even the mentality of venturing where no sane person would go, for the sake of truly gauging the merits of this new restaurant, was not enough to prepare me for the shock I received when I saw this:

Sushi & sashimi set ($230)

The prevalence of the colour orange was appalling.  Maybe they have to pay their rent and bills, maybe they think the Hong Kong people like salmon sashimi, but I almost felt cheated that I was given the cheapest cuts possible for a price of $230.  Come on…

Let’s start with the maki rolls and the sushi.  In the front there’s the salmon, Japanese amberjack, tuna, shrimp and octopus.  The salmon was rubbery, amberjack mediocre, tuna not fresh and lacks texture, shrimp was tasteless and octopus… well I don’t usually eat octopus so couldn’t really tell.  Hell, although this is completely not a fair comparison in any sense, look at Locust Tunghok’s recent review of Sushi Xuan.  Although that sushi set was 50% pricier, the difference of quality is the best example of heaven and hell.


The maki rolls...  Salmon and cucumber.  Seriously?  I’ve had cucumber maki rolls at decent sushi restaurant too, such as this one at Sushi Iwa in Tokyo.  That, was a cucumber maki roll, refreshing and sliced up for better crunchiness.  Another version I’ve had at a location I’ve since forgotten had it finely chopped for a completely different texture.  Not this one.  This was a chunck of cucumber wrapped in rice wrapped in nori.  The salmon maki roll… was just that.

The sushi was not appealing, but the sashimi was worse.  The Japanese amberjack was tasteless and rubbery but edible.  The salmon was half-half, as in half of each piece tasted OK whereas the other half had a strange mushy texture.  One can easily buy better salmon sashimi in, for example, CitySuper.  The maguro, or toro as the manager claimed (tuna, anyway), was the worst of the three.  The fishiness of the tuna was not as pungent as the foul prawn sashimi we were served at Kyoto Joe, but bad enough that its non-swallow-able and had to be spit out.  The fishiness almost develops in your mouth, getting more acute with every chew.

How about the salad?  Again freshness was a problem.  Look closely and you’d realize the leaves were withered.  There was also a strange bitterness to the dressing which I couldn’t identify nor like.  This could be a matter of preference though.

The chawanmushi was perhaps the only dish which I marginally liked.  The egg was smooth and cooked just right, although the flavor was weak and lacks the layers of flavor usually found in better versions.  Not surprising since the only ingredients in the chawanmushi was the mushroom as shown, a 1/4 piece of Japanese fishball and a tiny piece of chicken.


The miso soup… I was furious enough by then that I couldn’t recall how it tasted.

Coffee was decent, but the size of the cup and its contrast with the creamer was baffling… 


CONCLUSION
So, this can be taken as the prime example of what not to order at a “Japanese restaurant”.  Had the price been $85, the quality of the food provided would probably have been less infuriating, but I would nonetheless suggest all raw items to be avoided like a plague.  Cooked food?  Maybe on a day when I’m feeling adventurous enough, I’d give those a try.


Summary (rated 1-5):
FOOD:  (2/5)  Cheap ingredients that’s not fresh sold at premium price.
SERVICE:  (4/5)  Friendly staff and proactive manager.
ENVIRONMENT:  (3/5)  Casual dining environment, too open.
BIG LOCUST'S RECOMMENDATION:  (2/5)  Don’t bother.  At least don’t bother with its sushi / sashimi.