Yu Chuan Club

Sijie's Wanchai rival, also has been covered by the blogs but somehow escapes most people's attention.  Splits opinion among my Sichuanese friends as to which place they prefer. I'm slightly partial to Sijie - probably because the proprietress there is so energetic and hilarious. Yu Chuan is tucked away in a side street in Wanchai in between Queens Road East (about halfway between 3 Pacific Place and the Hopewell Center, but on the opposite side) and Johnston Road on the first floor of a small building. Place is a bit fresher in looks than the old Sijie location, with cleaner looking white floors, a large tv playing in one corner, but only about 6 or 7 mostly large tables. The beef tripe here isn't as good as Sijie's but the kou shui ji, cold chicken appetizer is much better. Favorite dish is the cold Sichuan noodles. Other tasty dishes, like Sijie,  include ma po tofu, shui zhu yu "Mandarin Fish in Chili Oil" and the stir fried green beans.

Reservations recommended. Cash only.

HKD 230/person fixed. Corkage (correct me if I'm wrong) HKD 30/person

1/F, Shop B, Hundred City Centre
7-17 Amoy Street
Wanchai
2838 5233; 9858 1561

Si Jie

Probably my favorite Sichuanese place in town, covered by blogs but somehow still not known by so many folks who claim to love Sichuanese. Used to be hidden in an apartment building between Wanchai and Causeway Bay, and has now moved. Old place had paper tablecloths, a dirty-looking kind of white linoleum floor and was noisy. The food? Fantastic and family style. I'm a huge fan of her beef tripe starter dish, as well her shui zhu yu or "Mandarin fish in chili oil" with numerous chilies and the famous ma la or numbing chilies  Don't like fish? You can get the same dish as pork or even beef. Also a fan of the Mapo Tofu. The Sichuanese noodles are fantastic (I think Yu Chuan's are better - see next post), served at room temperature, spicy and al-dente-ish. Would avoid the kou shui ji , an appetizer spicy chicken dish, that's just not as good as the other stuff. Plenty of reasonably priced beer (Erdinger, Heineken/Carlsburg and Blue Girl? - no more Tsingtao) to go around and I think, free corkage (don't quote me on the latter.). The boisterous proprietress comes out and chats to everyone (despite not being able to speak English). Oh and she drinks beer. Lots of it. Fast. Faster than most dudes. Impressive.

New location much more posh than previous. Reservations suggested. Cash only.
HKD 280/per person fixed.
10/F Bartlock Centre
3 Yiu Wah Street
Causeway Bay
2802 2250

Photo above taken by a friend

Motorino

Well-known Brooklyn/East Village (NYC) pizzeria just opened up 4 days ago in HK. Had the pleasure of eating lunch there today. Set lunch came with a fresh green salad dressed with olive oil and I think, balsamic vinegar, a choice of pizzas and a soft drink/iced tea. Pizza quality, I would argue, was of the original location's level (ie. Some of the best I've had in the US). Pizza was half margherita/half without the cheese; need to try marinara next time. Working out a few kinks with the timing of dishes, but otherwise, service was pleasant and very helpful. Totally made my week and its only Monday. Blackberry camera does the pizza an injustice...

Recent second visit for dinner yielded pizza of same quality. Best crust in HK, chewy, just enough salt. Margherita as good as in previous visit. Marinara (no cheese but garlic and other spices in sauce fantastic as were others. Tiramisu was good, but nothing special.

Set lunch of HKD 118 +10% service charge. Dinner about HKD 200 per person (1 pizza pp, 1 app and 1 dessert split 4 ways)

14 Shelley Street (Just past Yorkshire Pudding)
Central, HK
2801 6681

http://motorinopizza.com/hongkong/

The point of this thing

I live in Hong Kong and like eating good food, especially with friends and family. Like most working professionals in this city who aren't married, I eat out. A lot. Sadly, like many other expats I often find myself going to the same mediocre and over-priced places in Central (where I work), which is kind of annoying (ok-I'm lying, it's really annoying).

I'm setting up this blog as a sort of resource for anyone who finds a place in this great city that has great grub and just isn't covered much (or at all) in the myriad of expat food blogs and publications. That being said, this blog is by no means an effort to replace openrice (http://www.openrice.com) which is a treasure trove of information and I would say, the "go-to" food directory/review site in HK.

The other goal is to keep it short and sweet. 1-2 paragraphs (I can't say my palette is great or that I'm some sort of expert), 1-2 photos as well as the place's address and phone number. Hopefully the bias is towards places that are not in Central and uber high profile (ie. well covered the folks at chopstixfix/dimsum diaries etc), or very new (ie. within a week or two). 

There are far too many solid places to eat in this town that don't get enough recognition (ie. people including myself often overlook them when we're thinking "what should I eat today?") for what they are, and I'm sick of complaining. So here we go...

Any submissions/ideas are more than welcome (I won't take credit for it)!