COCONUTS CRITIC’S TABLE – Lately, the Gaia Group has been one of the town’s more active restaurant operators, expanding aggressively as others consolidate and slow down.
Besides their Italian eateries (Isola, Joia, Bene and the eponymous flagship Gaia Ristorante), they also run the Greyhound Café franchise and the Shanghainese chain Wang Jia Sha. Now, they’re turning their attention to developing their own in-house restaurant/bar brands.
After the successful experiment that is Glasshouse on the IFC Mall podium level, Gaia is now serving up more casual Asian fusion small bites and hip cocktails in another insanely Instagram-able setting. Townhouse, occupying the entire 23rd floor of the newly opened California Tower, is an even sleeker space, with high ceilings and full glass windows that frame a stunning view of Central.
Certainly, Townhouse seems to have found a working formula, delivering a healthy dose of Central sophistication with funky culinary concoctions. Its long list of dishes sound fun and sexy, rather than pretentious and chef-y. And considering it’s in the heart of Lan Kwai Fong, it’s relatively reasonable in price. With some restraint, you can easily keep dinner and drinks for two under HKD1,000.
The cocktails are a big selling point. The fruity Welcome To Town (HKD98) is a grapefruit flavoured gin drink infused with chamomile. Equally enjoyable was Mr. Charming (HKD98), made with the citrus tang of calamansi, plus sugar cane juice, vodka and triple-sec.
Asian inspirations make their mark in tapas sized orders like the Hamachi Sashimi with Green Apple Wasabi and Yuzu (HKD128) and Chinese Rice Noodles, Bacon and 62 Degree Egg (HKD78), a comfort food variation on mac and cheese and carbonara using cheung-fun (rice rolls).
If you’re familiar with some of the dishes, it might be because executive chef Lo Ka-ki previously worked at Bo Innovation and has retained some of that playful spirit of mixing East and West ingredients and cooking techniques.
The Shelter Crab, Spicy, Deep-Fried (HKD118 – see header photo) is a cheeky twist on the typhoon shelter crab, putting a fried soft-shell crab in a crunchy crumble of Dorito chips, fried chillies and frosted corn flakes to simulate the textural condiment of the traditional dish. The odd combination of sweet and salty with savoury crab makes for a great beer snack.
The robatayaki options are pretty good, too. The Portobello Mushroom with Kimchi Cheese (HKD42 per skewer, minimum two) hit the palette like a rich umami bomb.
Even more satisfying was the Coca-Cola Prime Beef Rib Meat (HKD78 a skewer) which features astonishingly tender strips with just a hint of the caramel sweet marinade.
Coca-Cola Prime Beef Rib Meat
As the dinner progressed, the music gradually got louder and the lights more dim. Yes, this is Lan Kwai Fong, and Townhouse is a one of those bar/restaurants that morphs into a club as the evening wears on.
To finish off our meal, we tried Townhouse’s Fried Dirty Duck with Potato Salad and Sambal Sauce (HKD298) and it was another winner. Each bite took us to Bali nirvana. The half duck was meaty, succulent and crispy to boot. The only disappointment was the sambal, which has none of the heat you’d expect, coming off more like a sweet capsicum dressing.
The dessert of choice for many is the sweet Fondue Set with a Hong Kong style egg puff (gai-daan-tsai), but that seemed too heavy so we switched to an alternate signature, the Banana Crème Brulee with Moscovado Sugar and Dark Coffee (HKD88).
Initially we forgot to drizzle the bitter java over the custard, but the dish was still fine. The mellow fragrance of the ripe banana worked fantastically with the custard, even if there wasn’t much caramelised topping. That’s because for added wow factor, it’s flambéed at the table, which looks great but doesn’t generate the intense heat needed to properly break down the sugar.
Another refreshing finisher was the Fresh Shaved Coconut Ice with a touch of Malibu Liquor (HKD98). It’s a tad pricey for shaved ice, even if it’s served with a splash of the tropical booze, but the combination, like this restaurant, makes perfect sense.
Townhouse, 23/F., California Tower, 32 D’Aguilar Street, Central, (+852) 2344-2366.
