Sunday, August 22, 2010

ABC Kitchen, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Decent Western food in a cooked food market?
Not your average Hong Kong char-chan-teng type soda tenderized marinated meats on a sizzling hot plate? pork chop bun with refried chips and cocktail canned fruits in "salad" sauce?
No wonder I've heard so much about this place.

I've been wanting to try forever, but the place's always fully booked, but finally, I had my chance, and we went all out, almost ordering the whole menu :)
ABC Kitchen, Sheung Wan
One of my favorite items of the night was the
soft shell crab appetizer. Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, well seasoned.

We were so hungry that night, these warm and fluffy bread were consumed the minutes they were placed on the table.
ABC Kitchen, Sheung Wan
Nice touch of herbs...but I wish there was more butter...a tiny chunk was not enough for the four of us ;)

I've never tried a proper
bouillabaisse before...
ABC Kitchen, Sheung Wan
...but this one tasted like a watered down lobster bisque.
It could really use more seasonings...the gorgeous piece of bread on top is a nice touch. If only the soup was tasty enough, it'd be perfect.

My other favorite dish was the
linguini carbonara.
ABC Kitchen, Sheung Wan
The pasta was perfectly cooked, the sauce was creamy and tasty. We couldn't get enough of it, we ordered another portion :)

The
pizza appetizer was alright...but it's nothing memorable.
ABC Kitchen, Sheung Wan

Our centerpiece of the night was this
whole roasted suckling pig, which had to be ordered in advance.
ABC Kitchen, Sheung Wan
The owner kindly took out the whole pig for photographing purposes, before sending the pig back into the kitchen for more roasting. We were a little worried, our pig looked kinda...small.
But, let's get back to the pig later...

The
spring chicken stuffed with goat cheese and spinach looked gorgeous.
ABC Kitchen, Sheung Wan

However, I found that the inner part of the chicken was a little bit undercooked. Yikes!
ABC Kitchen, Sheung Wan
Nevertheless, loved the idea, the goat cheese gave the chicken the slap of flavor it needed, it was juicy, and the salad on the side balances the dish perfectly.

The tuna steak was a little dry, flaky and underseasoned, but the sauce was nice.
ABC Kitchen, Sheung Wan

Now, let's get back to the pig.
ABC Kitchen, Sheung Wan
Crackling golden crispy skin...with mostly tender, tasty and juicy meat, especially the fatty bits. However, there were still some dry and tough parts...I guess that's the risk of ordering the whole pig, you don't only get the best bits.

We underestimated our pig a little, we had a lot of leftover, I brought home even the brain, which was a very special treat, as it is not easy to find pig's brain served anywhere in Hong Kong these days, despite the belief that the Chinese eat everything :)

PS. If you want a touch of heat, ask for some hot sauce, but handle with care, the hot sauce is really
really hot, even for me, and I can handle my heat ;)

We also ordered their
paella (that's right, we almost ordered everything on the menu).
ABC Kitchen, Sheung Wan
Beautiful flavors, meaty and savory from the stock and bacon :D fragrant and fresh from the seafood.

However, the rice was a bit mushy...
ABC Kitchen, Sheung Wan
...and I was missing the crispy burnt bits at the bottom of paella it was almost...soupy.

To end our meal, we had the dessert platter to share.
ABC Kitchen, Sheung Wan
The creme brulee was nothing memorable, the chocolate puff was decent, but we've had better from Bread Papa, the mousse...again, nothing special, the black sesame souffle looked gorgeous but it left a weird aftertaste...the best for me was surprisingly...the banofee pie. The caramel was super rich, smoky, sweet with a tinge of saltiness, perfect with cream, chocolate sauce and banana.

We were absolutely stuffed at HK$250 per person (with a few beers, and several portion of pig for lunch boxes for the next day ^_^)

ABC Kitchen
Shop CF7, Food Market, 1 Queen Street, Sheung Wan
Hong Kong
上環皇后街1號皇后街熟食市場CF7號檔
Tel: +852 9278 8227

8 comments:

  1. God, all that food looks delicious. I'm curious about the pig ! Here, in Montreal, there is a restaurant named : Le pied de cochon (It means a pig foot and pig is the speciality on the menu. And they also cook pigs feet !

    Clodo xox

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  2. It looks like it was a vaguely disappointing meal, then? But the photos look yummy! I wonder why it's so hard to get into...

    Jax x

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  3. I loved fried soft shell crab! Looks like a good dinner.

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  4. What a delicious spread!! About paella: I actually even had the same problem with mushy paella when I was in Barcelona some weeks ago, quite disappointed - but a few people told me that paella are meant to be a bit like risotto??? If so, then I don't like the authentic mushy paella, I like my paella well cooked but not wet.

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  5. I thought it is hard to imagine a whole roasted suckling pig to be serve amidst pasta dishes and banofee pies :O

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  6. Did you say brain?! My friend loves it but I can't do brains!!!! Seems like most of the food were only so so!

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  7. You ate a whole baby pig by yourself?

    I'm shocked! ;)

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