Restaurant review: Aberdeen Street Social, SoHo
PMQ venue's dishes are delicious, but a little heavy for a Hong Kong summer
Aberdeen Street Social was one of the most highly anticipated places to open in recent months, almost as much for the location (in PMQ on Hollywood Road) as for the chef, Jason Atherton, the man behind 22 Ships, Ham & Sherry in Wan Chai and the Michelin one-star Pollen Street Social in London.
The menu was brief, but consisted primarily of heavy, wintery dishes suited to English climate.
Beetroot-cured salmon and salt-baked beetroot (HK$200) was the unanimous favourite. It was gorgeous and delicious, with the deep red of the salmon, several types of beetroot, accented by green herbs and the stark white of frozen horseradish powder.
We also liked the roasted quail breast with confit leg (HK$245), which came with a generous chunk of wobbly and rich foie gras.
Slow-cooked hen's egg with stodgy black pudding, crispy pig's ear and pickled king oyster mushrooms (HK$168) was a little too heavy. Raw Hokkaido scallops (HK$228) were of good quality but needed something tart to balance their richness.
We ordered the ravioli of Suffolk pork (HK$218) primarily because it came with peppered hearts and kidneys. However, they didn't have the offal's unique taste and texture.
Our main course — braised ox cheek with roasted bone marrow (HK$318) — was succulent, but again, way too heavy for a Hong Kong summer.
Desserts were excellent. We enjoyed the roasted corn (caramel popcorn with cherries, shiso leaves and waffles, HK$110). Even better was the light, summery dish of strawberries with lychee, yoghurt and crisp meringue, goat cheese and what tasted like pickled rosella flowers (HK$110).
