Restaurant review: The Common Room in Sai Wan – ‘gastropub’ dishes generous and full of flavour
- Don’t be fooled, The Common Room lacks the buzz of a gastropub – it’s just a hotel restaurant – or the prices; red prawn spaghetti, while excellent, is HK$500
- What diners get here are simple dishes done well and served in generous proportions, such as bouillabaisse, grilled ox tongue and cutlet Milanese style
My guest and I were sceptical when we arrived at The Common Room in Sai Wan, in Hong Kong’s Western District. The menu calls its a gastropub, but it lacks the warm, convivial buzz of the gastropubs we’ve visited, and seemed more like a rather generic restaurant in a hotel – which, in fact, it is: it’s in the One-Eight-One hotel and serviced residences.
We were quickly won over by our first bites of food.
The menu is extensive, listing a good variety of starters and mains, with an emphasis on pasta. There’s also a page of weekly specials.
My guest’s bouillabaisse (HK$180) was delicious. The broth was a little thin, but it had a deep seafood flavour, and was full of ingredients such as clams, a whole shell-on prawn, pieces of tender squid, and really fresh fish.
Grilled ox tongue (HK$180) was actually too generous to be a starter for one, although it would have been fine to share. It came as three thick pieces of tender ox tongue, with a light peppercorn sauce, and a wedge of baby cos lettuce, which was welcome because it gave a bitter balance to the rich meat.