Beertopia, Organ Cuisine and a New French-style Dessert Shop

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Published: 4:00pm, 29 Mar 2012Updated: 3:09pm, 19 Oct 2016

Talk of the Town

There’re already plenty of occasions to indulge in alcohol in this town, and the all-new Beertopia (April 28, 2/F, Western Market, 323 Des Voeux Rd. Central, Sheung Wan, www.beertopiahk.com) is set to be added to this never-ending list. What’s special about this particular beerfest is that instead of just trying to get you drunk and buzzed and happy, Beertopia is also heavily promoting the educational aspect of beer with a range of lectures throughout the day. A beer tasting, beer pairing (apparently there is such a thing) and homebrewing course will be offered to beer drinkers who actually care about more than whether their beer is cold or not. To be honest, I have a hard enough time coming to terms with wine tasting and pairing, so I wouldn’t want to take the joy out of a refreshing pint by analyzing it to death. But hey, nobody’s making you do anything at Beertopia—the option’s just available if that’s your cup of… um, beer. They want you to drink too, of course—organizer Jonathan So has arranged for 90 types of specialty beers from Australia, Belgium, Japan, America, Hong Kong and even Estonia to be showcased at the event. But the brands will be more Little Creatures, Lindemans, Hitachino and Big Sky rather than Labatt, Stella or San Miguel—you know, the big players everybody already knows about.

Watch Out For…

Leave it to the Japanese to turn something god-awful into the hottest mode-du-jour. Enter Osaka Horumon (G/F, Golden Dragon Building, 41-43 Tang Lung St., Causeway Bay, 2591-1821)—here’s a restaurant that literally means “trash” in Japanese, and features internal organs that will make even we Chinese cringe. (OK, maybe not.) Pork rectum, pork uterus (pictured) and “udon with dregs of offal fat” are samples of what’s on offer at Horumon—and it pains me to say this (Japanophile that I am), but who in their right mind would want to eat the lower digestive tract of any animal? But then again, someone out there must, because apparently this special type of new-age Japanese cuisine is gaining more and more popularity throughout Japan.

Now I have to counterbalance all that talk about asses with something much sweeter. Black N White (Shop B and D, 88-102 Ivy St., Tai Kok Tsui, 2789-1330) has been on my list of places to try and I swear, after seeing the pictures from the press release, it’s where I’ll be headed this weekend. This French-style desserts shop is the brainchild of former Mandarin Oriental pastry chef Jeffrey Koo, and serves cakes, pastries, macarons and all-things-pretty in the happenin’ hood of Tai Kok Tsui.

Where To Go…

…for multi-course sushi: Sushi Hiro (10/F, Henry House, 42 Yun Ping Rd., Causeway Bay, 2882-8752) has a very generous offering of set-course menus, all of which come with so many different kinds of sushi and sashimi that I totally lost track by the third plate when I did a taste test at their Tsim Sha Tsui branch last week. For instance, if you order Sushi Hiro’s $550 tsumami (snack) and sushi special, it comes with 11 whopping courses, four of them filled to the brim with fresh tuna, salmon, prawn and other delicious fish species. They make you wash it down with lots of broth and soup (which I found to be a bit much—two whole courses are dedicated to miso and a veggie or meat-based “simmered” dish that they refuse to label as soup, but really is soup). They also balance the meal out with grilled things and vinegared things. The point is, it’s great value for money here, and you can get even cheaper sets starting from $410 (although it might not be as many courses and will feature different things such as tempura or beef).

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