Hit pause on the revolving belt of takeaways that you’ve ordered in the last week and head out for a real restaurant experience this week. They still exist! Not without sanitised hands, two per table and the whole keeping careful shebang, of course.
To inspire another long week of Work From Home, here’s a little help from our F&B friends to bring back some normalcy that is beyond eating from your sofa-desk: A new seasonal menu at one-starred Andō (set your reminders: bookings open tomorrow, 1 March, at 12pm), dry-aged specialities from French-Japanese steakhouse, BIFTECK and Black Sheep Restaurants’ Plated Afternoons with Carbone, Le Garçon Saigon and Fukuro.
But if you’d rather stay in, having just purchased a whole new set of cutlery and crockery to go with the long hours of breakfast, lunch and dinners at home, we understand. The Coffee Academics has just rolled out their own delivery service, TCA+ Delivers and RŌNIN and Yardbird are doing some tasty takeaways that’ll be delicious from wherever you’re sitting.
Andō introduces a new seasonal menu
Agustin Balbi‘s Andō has garnered a list of adoring fans, phone bookings and Michelin stars since its opening in 2020, and that list is only set to grow. Known for the Argentinian chef’s Japanese-influenced, Spanish-style cooking, the menu is a collection of chef Agustin’s childhood flavours inspired by his lola‘s homemade dishes.
Tokyo-trained chef Agustin — counting experiences at 2-Michelin star Zurriola, 3-Michelin Nihonryori Ryugin and 2-Michelin Michel Troisgros — continues an innovative new menu for the season that embraces both his training and roots. It includes the Tardes En Palermo, a French Blue lobster starter with cauliflower with Kristal caviar in a roasted piquillo pepper sauce; Que Raro Este Flan, a savoury edition of the typically sweet flan made of Japanese Ama Ebi and clams steamed in chawanmushi egg custard; Medio Mundo, line-caught sea bass served with white beans, Japanese nameko mushrooms and Spanish smoked bacon; and Risas Del Jardin, a 21-day dry-aged Argentinian Hereford beef.
The menu’s hearty signature Sin Lola, makes a return, of course, where the Andō-style take of the traditional Spanish arroz caldoso now features Hokkaido yumepirika rice with Brittany blue lobster, cecina, snow crab and chilli. Set in either six- or eight-course, the menu rounds off with Mi Domingo Favorito, a wagashi-style dessert of garrapiñada, maple syrup and caramelised pecans.
Andō, 1/F, Somptueux Central, 52 Wellington St, Central, Hong Kong, 852 9161 8697
Coffee Academics’s TCA Delivers+
That cuppa morning brew is still an essential while working from home, if not even more so to keep you from crawling back under the covers just as the alarm rings. To make WFH mornings a little better, The Coffee Academics launches TCA+ Delivers, an in-house extension for door-to-door delivery around the city. And this includes you, too, fellow Kowloon and New Territories friends. Finally! Along with the coffeehouse’s signature brews and coffee retail products including drip bags and coffee capsules, TCA+ Delivers will serve a selection of already curated combo sets and a la carte menus of breakfast, brunch and snack specials including pasta laksa, lobster roll and crab avocado salad.
Order here.
Black Sheep Restaurants’ Plated Afternoons
During fifth-wave days, dinner is the new lunch. Keeping up with the times, Black Sheep Restaurants’ Monday and Tuesday weeknight special Plated Series have also made the change. Introducing: Plated Afternoons.
Carbone Comfort Club
Hearty, home-style New York-Italian serves will do just the trick in offering some comfort through these moments. Head chef Jack Carson whips up an easy-to-love lunch menu of all-time venue favourites among tasty newcomers including the signature spicy vodka rig (duh, what else?), Beets Siciliano and pork chop and peppers. A new Ferrero Rocher cake joins the classic carrot and New York cheesecake trolley rotation — you’ll be back again next week just for it, promise.
Carbone, 9/F, LKF Tower, 33 Wyndham Street, Central, Hong Kong, +825 2593 2593
Fukuro Hirugohan Omakase
Night owls currently missing their usual SoHo joint, Fukuro, will be pleased to know that head chef Shun Shiroma and team are back. This time, they will be serving the delicious flavours in daylight. Introducing a brand new selection of izakaya-style serves set among the expertly sliced sashimi and creamy Spinach Ohitashi, it includes a crab tart flavoured with yuzu kosho and buckwheat risotto stirred in a jet-fresh medley of seafood, including clams, scallops and cod.
Fukuro, G/F, 1-5 Elgin Street, SoHo, Hong Kong, +852 2333 8841
Le Garçon Saigon Midi à Saigon
If a midday getaway from home is what your Monday and Tuesday need, make it lunch at Le Garçon Saigon. Chef Theign Yie Phan’s vibrant Vietnamese serves have been prepared in a special afternoon menu featuring restaurant staples, including the Goi Du Du Bo Kho green papaya beef jerky salad and Bo Luc Lac, tender shaking beef served with rice vermicelli, along with an off-menu egg drop soup, Sup Cua.
Le Garçon Saigon, G/F, 12 Wing Fung Street, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, +852 2455 2599
Plated Afternoon is available until the end of March.
Dry-aged specialities at BIFTECK
Instead of searing up your own steak dinner at home, leave it to the professionals — plus, no clean-up after. French-Japanese steakhouse BIFTECK’s executive chef Ken Kwok instils his Japanese, French and Italian training into a menu that offers a brand new perspective on steakhouse dining. One highlight is the dry-ageing: BIFTECK dry ages its cuts all in its own dedicated dry-ageing chamber. Adding four new dry-aged specialities to the menu, it includes a 60-day dry-aged WBI US 100-days grain fed Angus OP Rib served with bone marrow sauce; 35-days dry-aged Belgium beef tartare that comes with seaweed chips; rare 15-day dry-aged Australian Wagyu Tongue Steak; and a unique roasted 10-day dry-aged French pigeon, complemented by foie gras and gem lettuce salad.
BIFTECK, 23/F, QRE Plaza, 202 Queen’s Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong, +852 2246 8805
This week at home:
- RŌNIN is doing a “Home-akase” takeaway, which also means the intimate izakaya will be packing up bento-style boxes with their refined selection of Japanese serves, including season-fresh sashimi, sushi and hand-rolls. Also within, a flower crab-topped with uni, grilled seasonal fish and fried seasonal fish and vegetables and whatever you choose. They will also be doing a la carte. Order here. RŌNIN, G/F, 8 On Wo Ln, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, +825 2547 5263
- There’s a whole charcoal-grilled chicken at Yardbird, who, for the time being, is swapping yakitori sticks for a whole triple yellow chicken with their newly introduced takeaway set. It comes with a bevy of mouth-watering sides, including miso onion gravy, flagrant hot sauce, The Green Sauce, Yardbird caesar, Brussel sprouts, sweet corn, tater tots and mushroom rice. Beats whatever you’re thinking of having tonight. Order here. Yardbird, G/F, 154-158 Wing Lok Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, +852 2547 9273
Hero image courtesy of RŌNIN
Lorria Sahmet
Editor
After two years writing in luxury retail, Lorria now covers food and drink happenings in Hong Kong. When not taste-testing for the best fries in the city (shoestring, always!), find her at home obsessing over tableware and attempting a fruit garden on her tiny bay window. She is happiest by the ocean with a giant fishbowl-glass of Aperol Spritz.
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