World food tour

Since we noticed all of the amazing restaurants along the central/mid-level restaurants, we decided to do a restaurant crawl for dinner on Friday night. We had high hopes of making it to 4, 5 or even 6 restaurants by the end of the evening. Our chief food critic, Abby, writes...

Today, my family and I went out for a "cultural experience dinner" in the Central part of Hong Kong. We tried samples of different kinds of food from 4 different restaurants. I'm going to tell you a bit about each restaurant and explain the different kinds of food we tasted there.

Restaurant #1: Taco Loco (a family-style Mexican restaurant)

I have to admit, I was expecting better.

I was expecting fresh and homemade food, but my assumptions were wrong. We ordered "freshly baked" tortilla chips (not "fresh" and possibly from a bag of Tostitos chips), with a side of "homemade" salsa and guacamole. I am not (as you know) from Mexico, but I do know that these tortilla chips were not fresh (and rather dry, but had a little bit of a kick to it), and as much as the salsa was good, the guacamole was not homemade or fresh. I could tell that it had been sitting there for a while, and I like fresh food. The guacamole was also smooth, however I like it chunky with LOTS of fresh cilantro in it (like Uncle Brian's guac).

It might sound like I hate this place, but that's not true. I liked the chips and salsa, but the ambiance beats the food. It was very colourful, and many plants, such as cactuses, were placed nicely around this small restaurant. The service was okay (refills for salsa and guacamole were self serve, as the waitresses were on their phones behind the counter), but overall the place was pretty good, but far from my favourite.

Rating 3/5

Restaurant #2: Le Souk (a fancy Moroccan cuisine)

This restaurant was defiantly my favourite out of the 4.

I'll have to start off with saying the ambiance was just spectacular! It felt like I was in Morocco, as there were many colourful pots and beautiful flowers, and the table setting was presented amazingly. I have to say, that if the restaurant has good ambiance, it makes your meal THAT much more enjoyable. The service was excellent as well. Good service is also a must in a busy restaurant like this one. The waiter let us sit down at the table, even though it was reserved for 8:00 (it was 7:15 then)! Now for my favourite part: the food. As we sat down, the waiter got us 3 ice waters and, of course, a beer for my dad, (he quite enjoyed that!). We were then served warm pita bread with olive oil, garlic, and basil hummus. That was so good and very filling! Next, we ordered falafels with a white dipping sauce. Now I'm not a huge fan of falafels myself, but I loved this dish! It was so light and the dipping sauce just made it so delicious! Overall, I absolutely recommend this restaurant to you, if you ever find yourself wandering about in the Central part of Hong Kong.

Rating: 5/5

Restaurant #3: Nepal (a Nepalese restaurant)

This cuisine was a close second to the Moroccan restaurant (above).

This was also on the fancier side, and again, the ambiance was outstanding. The waitresses and waiters were very friendly, and the food was amazing. We feasted on a light chicken salad tossed with sweet herb dressing, and papadam (a Nepalese/Indian style thin crispy bread with some spices) accompanied by 2 sauces: a spicy red one, and a very salty, but spicy, green one. I loved the chicken salad, and I loved how it was a really light dish, and gently tossed in the devine dressing, not soaked in it. The chicken was really well cooked, but not overdone or underdone (I would hope not), which is JUST how I like it. The lettuce and vegetables from the salad were very fresh and crisp. The papadam was quite nice, although a touch soggy because of the freshly washed chopped vegetables on top, but the sauces were very flavourful and spicy. I would also highly reccomend this place, although don't just order the salad (I was very jealous of the table beside us, because that curry looked amazing), try other local Nepalese foods as well. Overall, I really enjoyed this restaurant.

Rating: 5/5

Restaurant #4: Santorini (a Greek cafe)

Although this restaurant was excellent, 2 desserts were more expensive than the other restaurants.

This cafe makes you feel like you're in the ocean in Greece, because the walls are blue tiles and the floors and tables are a sandy looking concrete with sand dollars pressed into them. It sounds a bit odd, but it looks wonderful! Now, this restaurant is a bit on more of the pricy side, so if you don't want to spend a ton on food, this is not the restaurant for you. Although it's expensive, some items are reasonably priced. We ordered 2 delicious Greek desserts. One was a creamy cinnamon rice pudding, and the other (my absolute favourite), a creamy rich melt-in-your-mouth chocolate lava cake. It was delightful! Although the desserts were spectacular, one waitress did mess up my moms coffee order (cream instead of milk the first time, and then forgot to bring the milk for the coffee the second time), but I'll give her a break because she seemed like a newbie. Overall, I would reccomend this restaurant, but not that much because it is pricy.

Rating: 4/5

Well, I hope you enjoyed my review (it might be a bit long though...), and if you're looking for some great restaurants if you ever find yourself in Central Hong Kong, then feel free to try them because I really enjoyed them.

 

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