Review | Modern Greek food without the moussaka at Estiatorio Keia in Central, Hong Kong
- Keia forgets the usual Greek classics, offering dishes such as squid with fish roe and stuffed aubergine
- A Greek-style pizza topped with truffle was the dish of the night
It’s probably deliberate that Estiatorio Keia – the new modern Greek restaurant in H Queens, an art-focused tower in Hong Kong’s Central business district – avoids the dishes that most people associate with Greek cuisine: the taramasalata, moussaka, avgolemono and spanakopita.
They probably figured if they had them on the menu, people would stick to the familiar and not try anything else. They’d probably be right, because they were the dishes we searched for on the menu.
Our meal started with a complimentary dish of spiced bread chips with a very delicious soft and creamy goat cheese dip, with olives and pickled peppers.
Squid with bottarga (HK$168) could have used more of the cured fish roe, but the squid rings were fresh and meaty with a light coating. The squid went well with the dill flecked tzatziki.
The troufa (HK$168), listed under the section of “Greek pies”, wasn’t at all what we expected.
Our preconceived notions of Greek cuisine made us think it would be a two-crusted filo pie; instead, this had a yeast-raised crust similar to that of pizza (from Italy) and pide (from Turkey).