Comestibles and Cars at Mercedes Me

I admit, I was a little confused at first. Why was Mercedes, the luxury car brand, suddenly serving food? Was this a new tactic? Ply customers with copious quantities of food and drink and before you know it, hey presto you’ve accidentally bought a Merc, (it could happen). Regretably, none of my friends have unexpectedly left Mercedes Me with a car, (my dreams of getting a free ride have been scuppered), but most of them have reported delicious things happening within the store. Thankfully, you don’t have to be a car lover to appreciate the high quality food that’s on offer and if dishes influenced by Peruvian, Japanese and Spanish cuisines sound like your kind of thing, then you won’t be disappointed.

Boozy Sunday brunch is somewhat of a rarity these days for my friends and I, and the Sunday I visited Mercedes Me for the first time (by kind invitation), was no exception, with me balking at the thought of more alcohol following a Saturday night of a delightful combination of whisky, G&Ts and beers that tasted as awful as its name (The Brown Note). However, gluttony was the order of the day, and what a feast we had in store for us: you can choose from their buffet stations of salad/ bakery/ cold selections, interactive stations of cheese/ eggs/ fish, before choosing a main and dessert which are served in a sharing style for the table. If you want the booze, there’s free flow Champagne Perrier-Jouet, Red and White wine, Bloody Mary and Beer that will get you rapidly merry on a Sunday afternoon.

I opted for the mocktail version of the Bloody Mary which was lovely- nicely balanced, not too fiery nor too tart and was enough to rev my appetite. Greed got to me as I piled my plate high with a wonderful selection of cold meats, salad and tasty morsels such as miso eggplant and fried artichoke hearts, and our table enjoyed the extensive cheese offerings and the gorgeous pain au chocolat and bread. I liked the “interactive stations” where you can ask for sous-vide egg with a variety of toppings and sauces- I asked for a sous-vide egg with salmon – and the fish station which was essentially sashimi and dressing of your choice.

For mains we noshed on Sobrassada Slow Cooked Chicken Thighs with sweetcorn stew and red wine jus that was tender and rich. I am a big sweetcorn fan, and loved the creamy texture of the stew. The Sobrassada and Mozzarella Bikini were tasty cheesy bites but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the Broccolini fried with chilli, garlic and sesame, which were especially moreish and flavourful.

If you don’t wear stretchy pants, you might find tucking into their desserts difficult. Their serving of Catalan Cream Foam is generous, and it was creamy yet light. The Dulce de Leche with Coffee Sponge and Whisky Curd is decadent but if you’re a a Ferrero Rocher obsessive then their Chocolate and Hazelnut Delice will be right up your street.

At midday the Mercedes Me store was very quiet but by 1pm, it was buzzing and completely transformed the atmosphere, so if you want to attack the buffet selection without fighting others, the earlier your reservation the better! Service was good, with very attentive staff. Price-wise $490 for the food is really quite reasonable, but the additional $280 for the free flow may not seem so appealing to some. However, given the location, the quality of the dishes, the guaranteed food coma, plus the chance to ogle some flashy cars, I’d say it’s definitely a lovely alternative to the hotel Sunday brunches that are on offer.

Chopstixfix rating: 4/5

Mercedes Me, Shop C-D, G/F, Entertainment Building, 30 Queen’s Road Central, Central, Central, Hong Kong/ Tel: +852 28957398 / https://www.mercedes-benz.com/hk/mercedes-me/st

This was by kind invitation. 

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Sunday Brunch Blowout at the Intercontinental

I’m not usually one for a huge Sunday buffet these days, as my days of fast metabolism are behind me *sob*, and I can’t quite eat EVERYTHING I want without feeling as though my gut literally wants to explode. However, The Intercontinental was very generous and extended a kind invitation to myself and a friend to try their Sunday buffet lunch a few months back. (Bit behind schedule writing, whoops! But don’t worry nothing has changed with the buffet!) If a lazy Sunday sipping free-flow Perrier-Jouet Champagne, nibbling leisurely on seafood, imported cheese, pizza, noodles and carved meats to name a few, whilst enjoying the views of the Hong Kong harbour sounds like heaven, then look no further than the Harbourside’s elaborate Sunday Brunch.

Harbourside – Image courtesy of Intercontinental

The spread is highly impressive with tonnes of choices, so even the fussiest of eaters have something to tickle their fancy. On one fine Sunday a girlfriend and I basked in the sun and took in the hustle and bustle of hungry patrons and wait-staff enthusiastically passing around specialty items such as pizza and ‘Shooters’ of sweet or alcoholic delights. Unfortunately, we missed a few of these mini items as we were almost always otherwise occupied at the stations devouring the spread with our eyes.

Mini treat from the Pass Around schedule

The fresh seafood section is always a hit at buffets, but I was thoroughly excited by their “action stations” with Peking duck, curries, pasta, dim sum and the carving station with plenty of succulent meat. I loved the rack of long bone-in beef but we were sad that their Yorkshire Puddings were on the more doughy side and weren’t crispier. I was also happy to tuck into freshly pan-fried Foie Gras (very decadent) and as a self-proclaimed cheese and cold cuts fanatic, went wild over their selection of Italian and Spanish hams and salami as well as their delicious display of French cheeses. Cheese baked crab meat still in the crab shell was a hit with us, but with so much to choose from, we had to put our spoons down after one.

If savouries aren’t your thing, the dessert buffet will definitely be. Macarons, cookies, mille feuille, chocolate fountain, pastries and other cakes, is enough to make one diabetic just looking at it. Crepes made-to-order certainly made a few children excited. If you want something a little less sweet, there is also an array of Chinese desserts on offer as well as fruit smoothies for a lighter end.

So what is the wallet damage after a buffet such as this? It doesn’t come cheap at $888 per person for the free-flow champagne or $838 for soft drinks only and for children it’s $588. However, if you are looking for a special occasion brunch, have hours to ease into the meal and slowly nibble your way through, it is a delightful afternoon spent by the harbour. And let’s face it, sometimes, you just need to treat yourself to a sumptuous feast on a Sunday.

Chopstixfix rating: 3.5/5 

Harbourside, Intercontinental Hotel, 18 Salisbury Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel:  +852 2313 2323 Opening times on Sunday: 11am- 3pm

This review was by invitation. Many thanks to The Intercontinental.

Man Oh Mano

As much as I like seeing new things, the ground floor of the L Place doesn’t seem to be overly blessed by long-standing tenants, so I hope that newest occupant Mano can, over time, prove itself to be a popular establishment that deserves that space. European café and restaurant Mano offers all day dining from brioche, bread and pastries with your morning coffee and brunch spreads for your midday hunger pangs to swanky dishes at dinner, so really, you can pretty much spend your whole day there if you’re lazy!

I like simple décor, and Mano’s black and white interiors with a lovely marble workspace open kitchen and plush Italian leather seats does give it an air of urban elegance. When my friend V and I went one evening, we found the service quietly efficient and friendly, though our waiter faffed with our seating a bit, deciding between five sets of identical tables. The menu is attractive- dishes such as Parmesan custard with basil and zucchini emulsion and Mezze maniche Mancini sound rather grand and there is a good variety of meats and seafood to satisfy anyone’s palate.

Prices are less friendly with mains coming in at $200-350 each, so if you think ouch, then I would stick with their morning and brunch. We started by sharing the Pan-seared Hokkaido scallops with home smoked Iberico pork belly. Presentation-wise, our three plump and perfectly cooked scallops looked a little lonely separated out from each other on this huge plate, but aside from that the whole dish more or less came together and the accompanying pork belly was a crispy, salty delight. The porcini ratatouille had a slightly bitter aftertaste unfortunately, which affected the overall taste.

Pan-seared Hokkaido scallops

For mains, the 120 days grass fed Sirloin of New Zealand Ocean beef ($318) was excellent. The beef was well-seasoned and succulent, but I thought that it didn’t need all of the shaved, aged Parmesan that it came with as it made it a little too rich. V had the Seared tuna loin with parsley mash, roasted beetroot, squid cappuccino and truffle caviar ($308). The tuna loin was perfect in the middle but the outside was over-seared but we loved the parsley mash and the caviar gave it a good umami kick. But there was a downside to our experience. Both dishes were served a tad under lukewarm. Now, I have no idea whether it was because the staff were waiting for both dishes to be cooked before serving, or whether they simply were slow to bring them out after they were prepared, but having my hot mains served hot is quite important. Luckily it didn’t affect the taste of my beef and good conversation between friends was enough for us to overlook this.

120 days grass fed Sirloin of New Zealand Ocean beef

Seared tuna loin

To end, there was Orange lemon crème brulee with lemon ice-cream. I have high hopes for Mano, I do. The citrusy taste of the brulee was fantastic and this dessert would have been wonderful if it had set properly. But our brulee was runny like a fresh yolk. The manager was great and offered to get us another, but at this point we had slurped it up, literally.

Orange lemon crème brulee

Next time I will try their breakfast and lunch. For now, I think I will see if a few months can sort out a few of their existing crinkles.

Chopstixfix rating: 3/5

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Mano Hong Kong, G/F, L Place, 139 Queen’s Road, Central, +852 2384 7339, www.manohk.com

Aberdeen Street Ascension

It doesn’t take a genius to work out where this latest restaurant is. It does however, take some sturdy thigh muscles to trek up this street to reach it, a street which usually induces a wrinkling of my nose whenever I need to walk up it. However, for the love of a pretty outdoor terrace, cool decor, (think gigantic bottles of tequila- fake unfortunately, and contemporary art) and a chance to eat away from the madding crowd, Aberdeen Street could become a few people’s new favourite haunt.

Aberdeen Street

 By kind invitation, my friend and I went to check it out one evening a couple of weeks back and after sweating like a pig from our mini-hike, declined the offer to sit on the terrace for fear of ending up like a puddle, reminiscent of Senator Kelly in the first X-men film *geek moment*. After taking up a table near the front, we got a good look at the sweet, compact space decked out in sea blue and tan hues. A bar area and the giant tequila bottles are the decorative features and creates a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere.

The menu is quite extensive and has a good selection of starters, salads, meats and sharing plates. Croquettes are always so enticing, probably because they are so easy to eat and pop-in-your-mouth parcels of fun when done well, and their Vegetarian croquettes of rice balls with carrots and mushrooms were a tasty start. Up next were a dozen Australian oysters which were fresh, fleshy and filling but I would say go easy on the oysters and get a half dozen if you intend to eat more and there’s only two of you!

Vegetarian croquettes

Australian oysters

Aberdeen Street highly recommends their monster Soho salads which are all quaintly named after various streets in Soho. The Old Bailey Street salad intrigued us with its various ingredients- chilli prawn, red and green peppers, Feta cheese, cucumber, watermelon and lettuce. It was crisp, light and our chosen dressing, the ‘Aberdeen Street’ vinaigrette did not drown out the refreshing watermelon.

Old Bailey Street salad

The Meat Touch was quite the show-stopper and definitely encourages parties to embrace the ‘Sharing Spirit’ that it is labelled under on the menu. Grilled back ribs, mini beef burgers made with grilled steak tartare, foie gras rècme brûlée, cornichons, pate de campagne, cold cuts and sauteed potatoes fill the eyes before the stomach. The ribs were disappointing, overly grilled and so were tough to pull apart from the bone. The mini burgers were rather nice, but I wasn’t sure about the patties being made from steak tartare specifically, as I couldn’t tell the difference between that and a normal patty. The foie gras creme brulee was smooth and delicious with cornichons and the extremely moreish potatoes.

The Meat Touch

To end we had their vanilla Crème brûlée which would have been good if it weren’t for the too charred caramelised sugar on top which left half of my mouthfuls with a burnt aftertaste. The custard itself was pleasantly sweet but this could have been executed far better.

Crème brûlée

Aberdeen Street has good service, the manager Morgan, is attentive and helpful and as mentioned, the ambience is laid-back and chilled. There is also a good brunch offering on the weekends with free-flow booze from 12pm to 3pm ($348), eggs done any way you like and ‘Total Recovery’ dishes for those hangovers. The food was a bit hit and miss, but I do think that with time this could become something worth making a visit to, even with that bloody steep climb.

 Chopstixfix rating: 3/5

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Aberdeen Street, UG/F King Ho Building, 41-49 Aberdeen Street, Hong Kong. Tel: +852 2546 5833. contact@aberdeenstreet.com.hk

This was by kind invitation- thank you Aberdeen Street for having us!