Restaurant review: Fang Fang in Central – a few highlights, but disappointing overall
If we’d ordered the roasted duck it could have been different, instead, despite the tasty, savoury soft shell crab with curry leaf and smooth, ginger crème brûlée dessert – the menu lacked focus and was sloppily plated
As the Fang Fang roasted duck was being carried by a server to another table, we realised we’d ordered the wrong thing.
The duck (HK$595, or HK$1,288 if you want 30 grams of caviar with it; although the menu neglected to say what kind of caviar it was) looked enticing – unlike much of what we’d ordered.
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Our waitress, who was friendly but hovered around us too much – did recommend the duck, but we thought a whole bird was too much for our small group of three. So we ordered other dishes, and had more misses than hits.
The backstory behind Fang Fang is that it’s about a fictional character – a Shanghai opera singer who, according to the menu, “wanted to travel around Asia to experience all the cultures and cuisines she’d only heard whispers about”. But the menu lacked focus: there were dishes inspired by Thailand, India, Japan, Mongolia and China, and the prices were high for what they were.
Softshell crab with curry leaf (HK$165) was easily the best savoury dish of the night, but even that had its faults. The softshell crab had a crisp, light coating, but the toppings – sliced almonds, fried garlic and curry leaves – were what lifted it out of the ordinary.