If you’re playing the ponies at the Shatin racecourse, you no longer have to content your stomach with just fishballs and cup noodles. The Jockey Club has put in a new restaurant to give the track a more upscale atmosphere and allure.
Hay Market, located on the mezzanine floor at Grandstand II, is an 880 square metre restaurant replicating the vibe of an old British horse stable, with solid wood, metal rails and rustic elements. Surely, the goal is to restore equestrian pursuits to its honoured status as the king of sports, and not the vice of desperate wretches hunched over betting sheets with cigarettes dangling from their mouths.
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“It’s a new concept and we’re aiming for a younger clientele, maybe between 30 to 45 year-old,” manager Angelo Wong suggests. “I don’t really think it will be for the traditional race fans. It will be a new crowd. Shatin is different than (the) Happy Valley (racecourse) which has a more festive party atmosphere. Shatin hosts more of the big major races so its audience is more hardcore.”
In short, they’re trying to reach a more sophisticated demographic with good taste. The interior, created by designer Joyce Wang, separates the space into distinct areas plus two private dining rooms on the floor above. A nice touch is the partition in the men’s urinals resembling a horse stable. Feel free to add your own stud joke here.
Naturally, there are also betting booths and even interactive wagering stations scattered around the facilities. They’ll even provide free iPad rentals for punters.
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Food wise, it’s definitely a step up from noodles and McDonalds. Forgoing an a la carte menu, they offer a HK$399 semi-buffet. It includes an egg station which can also prepare items like risotto, a bread and fruit stop, a salad bar with cold cuts, cheese and antipasto, an array of desserts, as well as a sashimi station, which is a requisite for any Hong Kong smorgasbord. Yes, there is also a well stocked bar with colourful cocktails for the ladies in big hats.
As buffets goes, it’s relatively ordinary. But betters can’t be choosers in the gastronomic wasteland of Shatin. To be honest, most of the mains are also a bit underwhelming. The French Baked Quiche Lorraine is flat and uninspiring. The six ounce M4 Wagyu Striploin with French Fries And Truffle Mayonnaise (with an HK$80 supplement) has little of the indulgence it suggests. The dish with the most character is the Hand-crafted Duck Sausages on Carrot-Potato Pancake. The juicy sausage is mixed with fennel to bring out the duck’s sweetness. It’s the winningest thing here, by a length and a half.
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Oddly, the biggest surprise is the food doesn’t in any way match Hay Market’s old English decor and aesthetic. There’s nothing traditionally British. Where’s the Fish And Chips? Bangers And Mash? Steak And Kidney Pie? Or even a good old hamburger to fill up the average bloke on his Sunday afternoon at the track?
“We will have new dishes every month,” Wong sheepishly offers as an explanation. “In Hong Kong, you can’t stick to just one cuisine at a buffet.”
He adds the menu could change according to customers’ preference. For now, the restaurant’s main selling point seems to be its luxury barn chic. Although, Hay Market’s real luxury is it will only open once a week on race days (Jockey Club members can book it for private events and dinners). That the horse track can afford this vanity tells you just how profitable the race days are.
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FIND IT!
The Hay Market
2/F, Grandstand II
Shatin Racecourse
Tel: + 852 3690 3690
