I came here last week for restaurant week. Generally, food quality at restaurant week seems to be below average since restaurants foolishly do not utilise this time to showcase their best dishes to potential new customers (Plus, I think it's less profitable to them). Granted $400 for a 3 course meal at a restaurant at this level is a steal in Hong Kong where most of the cost goes into the rent. The atmosphere was nice too, we got the back table which had a semi partition, giving us a false sense of privacy. The music volume level is somewhat like a lounge so it's a little louder than your average restaurant, but not too loud where you can't hear what people are saying.
With that said, the food I had may not have been at its best and I came in having low expectations. Even so, it was pretty good. I went in a big group so we pretty much tried everything that was on the restaurant week menu. The KI-MO-CHI FRIED CHICKEN was very well done, and I'm not a big fan of fried. But the chicken was moist and was covered with just the right batter ratio. As a fan of Peruvian AND Japanese food, the CEVICHE OF YELLOWFISH AND TUNA was a star. Fresh with a tang of marinade. Their MAGURO AND AVOCADO roll was average, and without a lot of mayo which I like. The T3 SALAD was not as spectacular as expected, basically it's just a regular salad, kind of like the T8s without much wind and you're like wtf this is a typhoon? The PICANHA ribeye was where it fell short. In its defense, since there was so much food, it might have gotten a bit cold when I got round to it. One of the plate of ribeye was very tough, However another plate I tried was quite tender. SO it's not very consistent. The LA CAUSA was OK with a big piece of deep fried prawn. The TACU TACU had good flavours and came in a decent portion but I wish it had meat, it is a Vegatarian option though!
I've had better food, but I will say their portions were generous. Not sure if it was restaurant week or what, but their tapas sizes were double of most other tapas without much sacrifice of quality. We left full and satisfied. With the atmosphere and location, I would say it's value for money. (Only because its competitors are extremely overpriced)
Drinks were also unique, with fresh ingredients. Although I wasn't a huge fan of the MELTING MAIKO $120 and my friend hated the COCO LOCO WATER $60 (which was made with coconut milk instead of coconut water as it says in the menu?) I tried the EARL GREY LEMONADE $60 and that was very refreshing!
At $120 for an alcoholic cocktail, it's not too bad for Central prices (it depresses me to say this, because this price is more than Western standards!), however this is a restaurant so drinks are usually not as expensive as lounges.
***
Last words: Hip new restaurant created by the Pirata/Optimist group. One of the better quality restaurant groups out there. I think Optimist was slightly better in terms of quality and all the Italians at work tell me that Pirata is the best Italian in town, (maybe Pici is now, which will be my next review!)
Favourites: Good portions! Value for money especially restaurant week.
Meh: A couple cocktails did not taste great, but at least fresh ingredients were used. One of the plates of Picanha ribeye was quite tough even in medium rare.
Tip: It's inside a residential building so you have to walk up the stairs as there's no obvious signs. Becareful not to over order since their portions are more generous than your typical tapas in HK. read more