Review: Fish & Meat

either a bad menu or a very good one when the diner has a hard time deciding what to order; the former because none of the dishes sound tempting, the latter because everything does.

In the case of Fish & Meat, opened by Maximal Concepts (which has Blue Butcher and Brickhouse, among others, in its portfolio), it's definitely the latter.

The large space, with its entrance on Glenealy (although the address reads Wyndham Street) previously housed the short-lived Sal Curioso. Gone are the deliberately mismatched patterns and tiled bar, and in is a starker, more basic decor that befits the simplicity of the restaurant's name.

The menu is divided into small and medium plates, and sides. The small plates sounded more interesting and we ordered primarily from that section, focusing on dishes made in limited amounts.

Sea urchin bruschetta with lardo di Colonnata (HK$120) was a fine starter, although we all thought the toast was too dry and firm. The crunchiness was almost jarring against the softness of the sea urchin and the paper-thin slice of cured pork fat. The marinated raw ahi tuna with compressed watermelon (HK$145) was interesting because the two main elements looked similar but had different flavours and textures.

We loved the two pasta dishes that we tried. The soft duck egg raviolo with ricotta cream and burnt sage butter (HK$120) was delicious. The bright orange egg yolk oozed out from between the thin layers of pasta when we sliced into it. The richness of the sauce for the fresh tagliatelle with chicken and truffle emulsion was offset by the crunchy chicken crackling.