This month in new restaurant menus: Saigon-style grilled seafood; seasonal Indian specialties by chef Manav Tuli; The Murray’s new contemporary Chinese dining experience; and much more.
Dinnertime additions at Hotal Colombo
Beginning this month, Hotal Colombo (BSR’s laidback “Sri Lankan canteen” on Elgin Street) has introduced a quartet of new dishes, bound to lend credence to the phrase ‘fight fire with fire’ this summer. From crab kottu (HK$158) to black pork kari (HK$138), diners can expect these recent menu additions to be a fun and fiery accompaniment to long drinks or a freshly pulled pint of draft.
Chef Gizzy has also begun serving brunch over the weekends (HK$218+10% service). From noon till 3.45pm every Saturday and Sunday, indulge in a selection of Sri Lankan street food twists including bacon & egg hoppers (a brunchtime exclusive), stuffed cheese paratha and an assortment of free-flow packages.
Hotal Colombo, 31 Elgin Street, Central, +852 2488 8863
Regional Chinese fine diner MIÁN opens at The Murray Hong Kong
Not so much a “new menu” as it is a full-blown restaurant opening, MIÁN unveiled its gilded setting to local diners earlier this month. Situated off of the main annex at The Murray Hong Kong, the restaurant replaces the hotel’s previous Chinese fine diner, Guo Fu Lou; and managed in partnership with the same group behind Sushi Ima and Toriten.
In keeping with the hotel’s storied, culturally significant location, diners can expect flavours extracted from the ‘8 major Chinese cuisines’, as cooked by Sichuanese veteran Ronald Shao. Despite an extensive menu of home-style Cantonese favourites — not to mention a daily yumcha service — Shao’s affinity for the broad spectra of Chinese chilli peppers comes across in many of MIÁN’s signature dishes. Highlights include the much-photographed poached tiger grouper (HK$1,288); chilled mantis shrimp served with torched green chilli (HK$488); and the ubiquitous xiaolongbao soup dumpling (HK$78), filled with a suitably numbing broth of Sichuan peppercorns.
MIÁN, U/G, The Pavilion, The Murray Hong Kong, 22 Cotton Tree Drive, Central, +852 3563 6405
Arbor’s ‘Nordic’ afternoon tea arrives at K11
Having had over a year to polish his ‘Nordic’ afternoon tea service at Arbor to a high shimmer, Finnish wunderkind Eric Räty is now taking that popular concept across the harbour and into K11 Musea. Available every weekend (until 30 May) at Artisan Lounge, diners are invited to sample a smorgasbord of inventive savoury and sweet delicacies, inspired by Chef Räty’s equally matched passion for Japanese and Finnish cuisine.
From almond pie made with wild Finnish bilberries to a number of delightful twists on the consummate purin (Japanese-style custard pudding), only 40 sets (HK$860 for 2 persons) will be created per day. Reservations, as such, are strongly recommended.
Artisan Lounge, Shop 008A, K11 Musea, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, +852 2601 3428
New seafood dishes at Le Garçon Saigon
To ring in the return of warm weather, Black Sheep Restaurants’ resident “Saigonese grillhouse” has introduced a handful of new seafood items — light, bright, and oh-so right for summer. Ranging from street food classics to contemporary twists on Saigonese fare, diners may begin their culinary adventure with hamachi tartare (HK$168) before repairing to large plates which are perfect for sharing among friends (e.g. whole market fish or grilled prawns).
The star of the show however is Chef Theign Phan’s bánh xèo (HK$208) — a kind of crispy seafood pancake that’s back on the menu by popular demand. Chockful of shrimp, oysters and bean sprouts, all laced in a punchy chilli dressing, it’s bound to be a warm weather crowd pleaser any night of the week.
Le Garçon Saigon, 12-18 Wing Fung Street, Wanchai, +852 2455 2499
Seasonal recipes (and Port!) at Chaat
Among our most favoured restaurants of 2020, ‘refined Indian’ destination Chaat is back once again, with an assortment of new seasonal dishes that speak to the plurality of culinary traditions throughout India. This month, Chef de Cuisine Manav Tuli is particularly excited about tandoor cooking, with no less than five oven-cooked additions to his dinner/weekend lunchtime menu. Green warriors should avail themselves of the beetroot kulfi (HK$108), whereas carnivorous types can opt for much-polished versions of classic tandoor recipes like the lamb seekh kebab (HK$198) or Nargisi Kofta (HK$298).
There’s good news too for lovers of tippling, as Chaat is fortifying its new culinary items with a trio of Port wines that run the gamut from ‘light and refreshing’ to ‘deliciously delicate’. Casual drinkers can order the citrus-forward Graham’s Fine White as an apertif (HK$90) or in a range of cocktails (HK$120) whereas inveterate wine snobs will find plenty to dissect in the Graham’s 1994 (HK$298) — a 95-point vintage number that has been variously described by critics as being “sexy and intriguing” and possessed of “brooding intensity”.
Chaat, 5/F, Rosewood Hong Kong, Victoria Dockside, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, +852 5239 9220
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