Hong Kong's Top 7 Places for Beef Tartare
Contrary to what you might think, not all beef tartare is created equal. These restaurants have nailed down the perfect balance of quality raw beef, crunchy notes and creamy counterparts to create Hong Kong’s best versions of this classic bistro dish.
Mercedes Me
Restaurant and lifestyle hub Mercedes Me flaunts a steak tartare that carries itself with as much style as an S-class coupe—just with a price tag that you can actually afford. Visually stunning, the dish boasts vertical sheets of wafer-thin sesame crackers and bright yellow pools of pickled egg yolk dotted around the tender organic grass-fed beef. The complex flavor of the dish is derived from close to 15 different seasonings and ingredients; as long as the recipe remains closely guarded by the kitchen, we won’t mind forking out $210 to enjoy this dish again and again.
Shop C and D, Entertainment Building, 30 Queen’s Rd. Central, 2895-7398.
Frites
Belgian beerhouse and restaurant Frites may not have the most adventurous or creative menu in town, but it does a few things, and does them well: mussel pots, roasted pork knuckle, sausage, and surprisingly, a very excellent beef tartare. Like everything else on the menu, the tartare is packed full of flavor and generously portioned, using USDA grade beef with a mish-mash of ketchup, Tabasco, mustard, paprika, red onion and cornichons to tie it all together. The crowning glory is a perfect yellow egg yolk on top scattered with paprika, with buttery grilled sourdough on the side completing the perfect pub grub version of this dish.
$185. Shop 1, G/F, Park Haven, 38 Haven St., Causeway Bay, 2142-5233, frites.hk
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Ho Lee Fook
A twist on classic beef tartare, Ho Lee Fook’s Yunnan-style wagyu steak tartare is a mouthwatering play on different textures and temperatures, with heat coming from the fresh bird’s eye chili, acidity from the lime juice, crispness from the fried shallots, and a bit of funkiness from the addition of fish sauce. Per the style of chef Jowett Yu, this is a rough ‘n’ tumble reinterpretation, not a perfect cylindrically-shaped tartare, and the whole adds up to a mouthful greater than the sum of its parts. Ditch the silverware and use the heavy-duty cassava chips on the side as vehicles for scooping up this Southeast Asian-inspired version.
$138. 1 Elgin St., Central, 2810-0860, holeefook.com.hk
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Chez Patrick Deli
You can be pretty confident ordering beef tartare at just about any French restaurant, but with the quality of cheeses, cold cuts and comforting bistro fare that Chez Patrick Deli churns out, it’s a given that their version is going to be a standout amongst the pack. Keeping with the casual bistro vibes, the tartare here is made up of 160g of fresh hand-chopped raw beef fillet, to be enjoyed alongside a mound of crispy fries and a garden salad on the side. Seasoned liberally with red onions, chives, capers and egg yolk, the tartare packs a bold and flavorful punch with the perfect mix of ingredients in each bite—we dare you not to wipe the plate clean.
$168. 1/F, Brim28, Causeway Centre,28 Harbour Rd., Wan Chai, 2877-0121, chezpatrick.hk