Restaurant review: Mrs Pound - fun, but erratic
The exterior looks great, but the food is too hit and miss
Mrs Pound has been getting a lot of press. You may have heard that you need to take an IQ test before you get inside (well, not really — but you do have to figure out which of the carved chops in the display case by the entrance opens the door), and that they don't take bookings.
We just missed out on getting the last table, so initially we sat at the bar, which had very uncomfortable tall chairs that were difficult for small people (like me) to get into.
While we loved the exterior, we disliked the interior, which had neon lights and decorations that included make-up compacts, silver chopsticks and other remnants from the fictional Mrs Pound's colourful past as a burlesque dancer.
The sriracha street corn (HK$58) was an outright failure: the corn was overcooked (boiled, from the taste of it) so it was flavourless and too soft, and the pecorino was far too strong. Rendang poutine (HK$108) featured fragrant, tender beef, but the fries and cheese didn't add anything positive to the combination.
The cubes of fish in the tuna larb (HK$118) were overcooked, hard and too large, but the seasonings — Thai basil, chilli, string beans, and fish sauce — were vibrant.
Of the skewers, I especially liked the moist, tender bulgogi pork belly (HK$38 each) flavoured with sharp, fragrant shiso chiffonade. The chicken meatballs (HK$45), cooked in a lemon grass "cage", were juicy.
Mrs P's chilli crab (HK$468) was a spicy, saucy, delicious mess, but the baby corn and sliced bamboo were unnecessary. We liked the laksa bibimbap (HK$168) — fried rice with laksa leaves, chicken, vegetables and raw egg in a stone bowl, even if it didn't taste like laksa.
The servers were nice, but didn't seem to think outside the box. Our waitress wanted to serve the bibimbap immediately, before it had time to develop a crust, and was surprised when we insisted she leave it.
