IF YOU took all the restaurants in Hong Kong specialising in 'East Meets West' cuisine and lined them up, they would stretch round the globe. If you took the ones that do it well, you would get no further than Pokfulam. Spices At Repulse Bay is one that does it well, although it does have the benefit of an exceptional setting, something not enjoyed by its other half in Pacific Place.
The Repulse Bay Spices is in a corner of what used to be the Repulse Bay Hotel. It has a large terrace; from your candlelit table you can gaze over the East Lamma Channel on one side and at a monstrosity of an apartment block on the other.
The hotel is no longer a hotel and has not been since 1982, when it came under the influence of the wrecker's ball. Tourists still wander around looking for bellboys to show them the way to the toilet, but the bellboys have gone. In their stead is a shopping arcade with luxury boutiques, a sandwich shop and a laundry. Upstairs is the Verandah restaurant, a last colonial outpost where ceiling fans whirr and the black pepper steak is flambed at your table. The Bamboo Bar next door is a good place for a quick sundowner.
The original Repulse Bay Hotel - governor Sir R. E. Stubbs checked himself in as the first guest in 1920 - has gone, has not been bulldozed into complete oblivion. A few sad artefacts remain - the fountain head, the wrought iron, the flowerpots and candlesticks. Much was destroyed in the war, although the management did hang on to their tinned lobster bisque and smoked salmon. They ate it all on Liberation Day.
But these days it is a shell. Restoration has sucked some of the life out and left it clean and clinical. Of that opening day in 1923 The China Mail said: 'One old resident stood on the beautiful balcony, gazed out at the gorgeous view and the motor cars rushing over the new road and felt as if it were all a dream.' It went on: 'The weather was perfect and every car in Hong Kong was driven to Repulse Bay for the occasion.' This still happens today, especially on a Sunday, when the effect is not dream-like, but nightmarish. At some point your meal at Spices will be interrupted by the sound of car horns being honked by irascible motorists unable to get into the car park below.
Some of the artificial Edwardian-starched-linen-and-waxed-moustache ambience has been carried over to Spices. The floors are tiled, the shutters wooden and the atmosphere informal. There are no dress restrictions, but the ghost of the Repulse Bay Hotel is in residence, and diners are expected to dust off the creased linen.
The menu does not specialise. There are hot and cold appetisers, soups, tandoori dishes, curries, vegetable dishes. Everything else comes under the heading 'From The Spice Islands'. The excellent mach ka nizam ($75) is naan bread topped with cream cheese, fresh salmon and a bit too much black pepper. The tofu ($68) is light and clean on the palate, if a little oily. Many starters have their origin in Thailand, as far from the Spice Islands as caviar is from a Big Mac. The spicy seafood salad, or yam thala is $75, the spicy beef tenderloin salad $70 and the sla udang kurang, fresh lobster salad with spicy mango sauce, $119. The po pe pei young (duck spring rolls) are $68 and a pleasant departure from the standard chicken and bamboo shoot variety.