Lux

UG/F & 1/F The Plaza, 21 D'Aguilar Street, Central Tel: 2868 9538 Open: noon-2.30pm (closed for lunch on Sunday), 6pm-10.30pm (Friday and Saturday until 11.30pm) Cuisine: upmarket bar food

Price: about HK$350 without drinks and service charge.

Ambience: Lux's new location (opposite its previous home in the now demolished California Tower) is on two levels; the upper ground-floor features high ceilings and bar seating for the after-work crowd, with loud techno music that's audible from the main Lan Kwai Fong drag, while a spiral staircase leads to a 24-seat upstairs lounge where the music is softer.

Pros: the upstairs lounge offers a calm respite from the crowded bar below, and our table was by a window with a view of the bustling nightlife scene. Service is efficient and unobtrusive.

Cons: perhaps because it is essentially bar food - albeit upscale bar food - everything we tried was on the greasy and salty side; however, the food goes well with beer. The large 'surf and turf' Caesar salad (HK$118) had generous portions of cocktail shrimp and chicken chunks, but the salt-laden, garlicky dressing was a little overwhelming. My guest's roasted live lobster spaghetti (HK$178) featured a small half lobster atop pasta tossed in a saffron sauce. The lobster flavour was masked by cheese - which wasn't listed as an ingredient - and the spaghetti was a bit dry.

Recommended dishes: we enjoyed our tapas of whole grilled baby squid stuffed with chanterelle and white mushrooms (HK$118); the calamari could have been charred a little more, but the bite-sized pieces were fresh and tender, with the juicy mushroom stuffing and the thin, aioli-like sauce. The Lux Kobe burger (HK$148) - cooked nicely rare as ordered - makes a tasty bar treat. In hindsight, we would have gone for brie as the cheese topping, rather than the salty, hard gorgonzola it comes with. The thick, soft fries come with Russian dressing, ketchup and mayonnaise.

What else? Happy hour at Lux is from 5pm to 9pm, with beer, cocktails and wines by the glass all at reduced prices. The bar stays open until 1am (3am on Friday and Saturday).