bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

quizIds

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

paywallTypes

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Janine Stein

Here is a tip for eating in Wan Chai: do not miss the chips at Carnegie's.

 This is, without a doubt, the best use made of potatoes on Lockhart Road, if not in the entire neighbourhood. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, served steaming hot, they satisfy every craving for a high-calorie fry-up. And if that is not reason enough, they cost just $40 for a fair portion.

 It would be a wonderful feat if the rest of Carnegie's menu could live up to the standards set by its chips. This is a tall order, and one that goes largely unfulfilled.

 Most of the dishes reach no higher than mediocre. Some are so bad they deserve to be drowned in the brown sauce they are served with.

 The exceptions are the burger and some of the sandwiches.

 The burger is a respectable size, well-flavoured, and served with an honest-to-goodness, old-fashioned burger bun (none of this new-fangled fancy bread stuff), a hearty portion of big, fat chips (no French fries here), the usual selection of toppings (chilli, cheese, onion) and some greenery.

 One lunch-time, we decided to depart from our regular order of a burger or roast beef sandwich and go for some of the more 'creative' menu selections.

 Amid the starters, soups, vegetarian, salads, mains, sandwiches and dessert selections, a great deal of attention is given to fancier Mediterranean dishes such as stuffed roasted red peppers in olive oil.

 We did not know this then, but Carnegie's is best at plain, modern bar food. Never mind the tempting range of trendy dishes the menu promises, including the avocado Caesar salad ($50) and chicken fajitas ($60).

 The overwhelming feeling when these arrived was: 'too much sauce'.

 The fajita was swimming in brown gravy, which made the whole dish too soggy to do anything with, much less roll it up like a real fajita should be. Rolling was, in any event, all but impossible because the parts that were not sodden were as hard as board.

 The 'Caesar' salad was good as far as greens go - or it would have been without the too-liberal helping of a dressing that bore little resemblance to what most would label Caesar. For $50, we were not going to be too critical about the absence of anchovies, the presence of avocado, or too picky about whether or not raw eggs were used in the dressing.

 The lettuce was fresh and crunchy and the avocado portion generous. That was probably more than we could have hoped for. Next time, we will ask for the dressing on the side.

 Although in the early days Carnegie's had a fair reputation for its vegetarian selection, it has obviously lost the plot somewhere along the line.

 The roasted red peppers in olive oil stuffed with sauteed vegetables ($75) looked terrible and tasted worse. The peppers turned out to be one big red pepper, sad and wrinkled. The vegetables in the filling tasted like soggy canned country vegetables without the soup.

 This is definitely one to avoid - and we did, sending it back to the kitchen virtually untouched. Herein lies proof that Carnegie's is not hot on responding to non-verbal feedback. Even though we did not complain, surely an untouched dish sets culinary alarm bells ringing in the kitchen. Yet no one asked us what was wrong with it. It was whisked away and that was the last we heard until we saw it on the bill.

 A more customer-focused restaurant would have had someone at our table in a flash asking what was wrong. Other than that, the service was friendly.

 In the grand scheme of Hong Kong dining, Carnegie's chips will always be overshadowed by this place's core reason for being.

 This is first and foremost a rock 'n' roll bar, and the atmosphere and design reeks of it. Guitars are strung up on the walls and the two-storey venue is covered with pictures of rock 'n' roll days.

 There is live music which those in the know say can be good on occasions.

 And, unlike during lunch when the place is filled with various nationalities in suits, Carnegie's has the potential to get rip-roaring trashy at night. It is not for everyone, but fans love the half-naked men on the bar and the full-on girls-night-out atmosphere.

 Against this backdrop, we should be - and are - grateful the chips are as good as they are. As one diner said: 'It's the middle of Wan Chai. What do you want?' Carnegie's, G/F, 53-55 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, Tel: 2866-6289. Food served 11am-11pm, Sundays 5pm-11pm 



The chips are up