Restaurant review: Dub – Concept by Saam in Soho serves modern bistro-style dishes

Ambience: it was very quiet on the night of our visit; we were alone for most of the meal, but another party came as we were eating dessert.

Pros: our waitress was friendly and recommended what turned out to be our favourite dish.

Cons: fried chicken (HK$108) comes either as Korean-fried or Buffalo-fried, with matching condiments and sauces. We chose buffalo fried, and while the meat was moist, with a slightly spicy tangy sauce, the crumbled blue cheese was too strong; there’s a reason the blue cheese is usually served as a dip. Charred steak tartare (HK$148) had too much pickle and we couldn’t really taste the meat. Crispy 24-hour pork belly with parsnip purée (HK$228) was the most disappointing dish of the night because the meat was tough and the skin was chewy.

Recommended dishes: mac and cheese with three cheeses, candied bacon and parmesan crust (HK$68) was perfect comfort food: good and creamy, cheesy but not too heavy, and the candied bacon was so moreish. The waitress recommended the lamb T-bone with red wine-infused honey reduction and roast potatoes, which was our favourite dish of the night. Although the meat was slightly overcooked, it was moist, tender and perfectly seasoned.

It went very well with the blistered French beans with parsley and lemon butter (HK$58).

Pecan pie with bourbon-vanilla ice cream (HK$88) had a nice, crumbly crust, although it needed a bit more filling.

What else? The restaurant used to be known as Saam and served fusion dishes. The food is more focused in this incarnation.

While you’re in Soho ...