Saravanaa Bhavan

Sadly beaten to the punch by HK Mag and the good folks at "fuck yeah noms" but have to review since South Indian food is generally under-covered and underrated in HK.

In short - we have a new winner. Best South Indian food in town.  Saravanaa Bhavan is a Chennai-based chain of quick service restaurants serving South Indian Vegetarian food throughout India and has a presence in a number of countries. Hong Kong is its newest outlet outside of India.

Did two trips to this place (within 2 days).

Day 1: Dinner: Started with Mango Lassi and Filter Coffee. Both high quality, authentic. Latter came with traditional South Indian style tea crockery. Plain Dosa and Tomato, Chili and Onion Uttapam, best I've had in HK and like being in South India. Dosa crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside with HK's best (and most authentic) sambar, also served with 3 chutneys (coconut, tomato and chili). Uttapam (see pic on earlier Woodlands review here) much heavier and served with same sambar and chutneys. Perfect to share.

Day 2: Lunch. Vegetable paratas served with "spiced potatoes" (hint its the "masala" that's served in a Masala Dosa) and a sort of vegetable curry. Parathas flexible, but strong enough to full grasp potatoes and not get too soggy when immersed in the curry. Highlight was "Special Meal" which came with a healthy serving of rice, 2 Puris a number of curries including sambar, rasam, a number of other vegetable curries, a few curds and a little Indian dessert. A lot of food and for 90 HKD. In India this is called a "Thali" or "Meal" and is typically eaten for lunch. Ended with Mango Lassi and Special Milk Tea. Lassi as good as Day 1, Tea was Indian style Chai but nothing special, stick with the Filter Coffee.

Credit cards accepted
HKD 75 -  HKD 150 per person

4/F.,Ashley Centre , 23-25 Ashley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui 
尖沙咀亞士厘道23-25號雅士利中心4樓

2736 1127

Muslim Meal

Figured that I was almost done with these. Apparently I have a few left (one more after this to come and that's it. I swear).

Cathay Pacific describes this meal as " Containing no pork and pig by-products, gelatine, non-white fish meat from species without scales or fins, alcohol and flavouring extracts with alcohol"

In other words, expect something South Asian, I did and was not too disappointed. Although I was seated in Business (hooray upgrade!), aside from the plating/cutlery, don't think main dish different than what would have been served in Economy. Chicken boneless, juicy, flavorful and a touch spicy. Rice typical, a tad dry and over-spiced, but ok when combined with chicken or okra. Okra a bit heavy/stodgy and heavily salted but edible. Fruit and dessert from Business Class provided and very nice (but we all knew they would be). Overall could do Muslim meal again.

Date of travel: 25 April 2015

Flight: CX 635 HKG (Hong Kong) - SIN (Singapore)

Daju Bhai

Friendly Nepalese owners and staff welcoming and there's always Indian tv playing in the background. This time it was the ongoing Cricket World Cup (India had beaten Pakistan handily). Menu is unsurprisingly a mix of Indian and Nepalese food.

Chicken momos were solid, nothing special. Garlic naan, ditto, likewise butter chicken (in other words, tasty). Avoid chicken tikka masala here. It's a different version and not up to scratch. Real reason for write-up is the chicken 65 here. Chicken 65 is a South Indian dish. Originally from Chennai, it's spicy usually boneless pieces of chicken deep fried. Usually an appetizer or a quick snack, it's timeless. Have yet to find it in HK, until I stumbled across Daju Bhai and it's why I go back. Chicken is slightly crispy on the outside, moist and juicy on the inside, and is spicy and full of flavor. Garnish of curry leaves only helps add to the flavor.  For those wanting to drink, there is a full bar, beers (including Nepalese) and seemingly a strong selection of pretty cheap Indian whisky (you've been warned)...

Credit cards accepted
HKD 100 - HKD 200 per person 

Flat E, G/F., Wing Lee Building, 32-40 Spring Garden Lane, Wanchai
灣仔春園街32-38號榮利樓地下E舖

2982 6177

Child Meal

Only requested this meal once, but CX applied it on both flights. Quick verdict - so much potential to be "good" but an ultimate disappointment. Use of fun colored plastic cutlery and swirly straw with attached fish kind of cute; niece ended up loving it as a present. Kids can be so easy to spoil.

Dinner 

Appetizer of macaroni and white sauce. Mistakenly thought it was cheese. Mac n' Cheese would have been incredible for flight kids food. Alas, white sauce appeared to be mayo based and pasta cold. Bland, tasteless dish. Sigh. Main a soft/soggy fish fillet on a bed of steamed corn/peas/carrots and standard dry flavorless mashed potatoes. A US-style chicken tender/finger would have been more appropriate. Dessert was a sweet and tasty mango mousse/pudding.

Breakfast

A sugar fest. What better way to have kids bouncing off the walls of a confined metal tube on a late night/early morning flight? Main of a thick french toast slice surrounded by pineapple papaya pieces. Use of real maple syrup would have made it a win. French toast and fruit were soaked in it... Fruit dish pieces of overripe/past it watermelon and some nice papaya. Standard Nestle strawberry yogurt (more sugar). Funny dessert/addition of some kind of "vegetarian" (read: no egg) marble cake. Was dense and not too tasty. Juice standard out of the carton stuff. More sugar.

 

Date of travel:  January 2015

Dinner Flight: CX 631 HKG (Hong Kong) - MAA (Chennai)

Breakfast Flight: CX 632 MAA (Chennai) - HKG (Hong Kong)

TaKorea

A new "KoMex" (Korean Mexican) kind of place. Nearly hidden basement joint near the intersection of Wellington St and Pottinger St. Seating limited to 25-30 people or so, and still ironing out wrinkles. Big lunch crowd and staff quick to say food might take some time (staff estimate of 25 - 30 minutes, food showed up in 15). 

Ordered beef tacos, chicken tacos and Kimchi fries with beef. Beef in tacos was well marinated and tender and was accompanied by ample sliced garlic and significant amounts of sliced spicy green chilies on a bed of mixed greens, all of which masked the beef or deadened the flavor. Need some kind of sauce to spruce it up, over reliance on green chilies for strong flavor. Chicken tacos better, consisted of small pieces of Korean Fried Chicken in a sauce, with sliced green chilies and mixed greens. Better, but more chicken would have been welcome for taste and texture. So why am I posting? Well, the Kimchi fries (pictured below) were incredible. Fries perfectly cooked, crisp, and topped with cheese, sour cream, sliced green chilies (notice a pattern?), Korean chili sauce (think bibimbap red sauce), kimchi and with marinated cubes of beef (same flavor as in the beef tacos). Best to see if you can order the fries without the beef or beef without the fries. Both tasty but don't mix well. Ate each separately (moving beef to the side) and was one happy camper.

Cash and Octopus accepted
HKD 100 - HKD 150 per person 
B/F, 55 Wellington Street, Central
中環威靈頓街55號地庫
2362 1999

Djiboutii

Name is not a typo. Newly opened and hidden down a tiny alley off of Landale Street in Wanchai. Intimate, cozy cocktail bar serving some interesting and tasty, interesting cocktails as well as some great food. Run by some amiable Italians. Food menu is small and Mediterranean influenced with some salads, kebab skewers, rotisserie chicken and sides such as grilled haloumi and dips such as hummus/baba ganoush with zaatar flatbread.

Grilled haloumi, "Djiboutii Naan" and mixed grill platter were sampled.  Haloumi grilled perfectly, soft but chewy in texture mixed beautifully with tomato jam and naan bread. Definitely wanted seconds. "Djiboutii Naan" (1st picture) was the same bread as served with the haloumi, but stuffed with a beautifully spiced onion and potato filling. Was finished in minutes. Skewers (second picture) sadly inconsistent (2/3 were good). Beef skewer was overcooked and dry buy fried fish cutlet was fried beautifully, crispy on outside, soft, moist and flavorful on the inside. Chicken, taken from rotisserie, was soft and juicy, with crispy skin. Accompanying salad was crisp with nice dressing. Accompanied by some dips including a sweet tomato sauce and a capsicum dip. Latter was impressive.

 

Cash, Credit Cards accepted (V/MC)
HKD 100 - HKD 200 per person 

G/F., 2A Landale Street, Wan Chai
灣仔蘭杜街2號地下A舖

9449 0777

http://www.djiboutii.squarespace.com/

Raw Vegetarian Meal

Dinner


No awards for guessing that it would be.. well...raw vegetables and fruit. Cucumbers in both the main and appetizer were crisp and fresh tasting. In the main, the bell peppers also held up to standard. Tomato slices slimy, flavorless and lacking anything redeemable. We still can't seem to get tomatoes right in America... Fruit platter of mixed quality. Grapes plump and ripe, but melon and canteloupe not ripe, cut way too early. Pineapple was ok.

 Breakfast 

Fruit plate same as dinner. Okra pieces sadly tasted of some sort of chemicals, (or is that how unflavored/unripe stuff tastes?). Celery was crispy and fresh other bed of veggies likewise. Although not ideal, a step up from dinner. Creme de la creme of the course was a dessert of applesauce. Glorious memories of being a grade school kid...

Date of travel:  December 2014

Flight: CX 899 EWR (Newark) - HKG (Hong Kong)