Review | Restaurant review: The Sky Boss takes flavours to new heights
Sister restaurant to The Boss in Central has same menu, though you pay a premium for the view from the 101st floor of the ICC in Kowloon
The Boss in the Peter Building in Central is a place I visit often, mostly for celebratory meals or when I want to entertain out-of-town guests. The food is delicious, the service is competent (if not exactly friendly) and it’s conveniently located.
Sky Boss – the new sister restaurant in the ICC – has the same menu, but has the advantage of a great view. Of course, you pay for that, although not as much as expected – we compared the two menus, and for the dishes we ordered, most were 15 per cent more expensive, although one was 25 per cent more. There was no minimum charge for having a prime table by the window, and they also didn’t ask for corkage for the wine we brought.
Pigeon egg with salt and pepper (HK$138 for four) was an excellent starter. Pigeon egg is more delicate than chicken egg, and the yolk, although fully cooked, was soft and smooth.
Baked crab with vermicelli and house-made sauce in casserole (HK$668) – one of our favourite dishes at The Boss, was just as good as we remembered. The crab shells were full of sweet meat, and the fine strands of mung bean noodles absorbed the peppery sauce without turning to mush.
Deep-fried chicken pieces with house-made shrimp sauce (HK$290 for half) is one dish we always order. This version was well cooked so the small pieces of meat were succulent with a crusty exterior, but the flavour was milder.
The English translation of the sautéed prawns with wasabi sauce (HK$238) was inaccurate (the Chinese description was pepper prawns) – we couldn’t taste any wasabi. The shrimp had a light, crisp coating but none of the flavour from the pink and white peppercorns had infused into the flesh. Another dish that failed to impress was the Japanese Kumamoto pork with sweet and sour sauce (HK$188): the meat was too thin and the batter too thick. You wouldn’t have known this was supposed to be premium pork.
The meal, which came at a good pace, ended well. Fried rice with minced beef and Tai O fermented prawn paste (HK$168) was assertively flavoured and had plenty of wok hei, while seasonal vegetables with almond soup (HK$168) featured tender baby pak choi in a smooth, light and delicate broth.
I still prefer the food at The Boss, but I wouldn’t mind making the trip across the harbour if I wanted to impress people with a good meal and a great view.
Sky Boss, shop B2, 101/F International Commerce Centre, 1 Austin Road West, Tsim Sha Tsui, tel: 3955 1755. About HK$460 without drinks or the service charge
