La Creperie, Queen's Rd East, Wan Chai

Crepe with caramel ice cream
and caramel sauce

Rating: 2/5

It’s too obvious and only partly true to say that the first ‘e’ in ‘creperie’ should be replaced with an ‘a’. La Creperie holds much promise – it has a nice new Brittany inspired nautical décor, complete with lighthouse shaped salt and pepper shakers, a drool inducing menu of sweet and savoury crepes, seafood and cider and it’s run by Frenchmen. What could go wrong?
A lot. Like a teacher whose brightest student achieves only average grades due to laziness, I was disappointed. I can’t fault the food much, the crepes were tasty and light, if unfulfilling but I guess that’s the nature of crepes. I thoroughly enjoyed my crepe (singular) with caramel ice cream and caramel sauce even though it was gone in a few bites.


A number of things detracted from the experience - wine stained cushions that looked like they’d been used to wipe the tables, having to ask repeatedly for a glass of water, seeing the table next to us being given the wrong order and later seeing our order delivered to another table twice but the real crime occurred when our hot chocolates arrived. This came close to the worst ‘hot chocolate’ I have ever been served which was a cup of drinking chocolate dissolved in boiling water at L’Hotel in Tin Hau (I know, it was L’Hotel in Tin Hau so got what I deserved). Well, La Creperie really should know better than to try to pass off watery milk with a tiny glob of chocolate at the bottom as chocolat chaud. Even when I got to the bottom of the cup there was no chocolate taste.


As mentioned at the start, La Creperie should be good which is perhaps why it was disappointing so I’m willing to give it another try in a few months time. Hopefully the service levels will have improved by then.

agnes b le pain grille, Leighton Rd, Causeway Bay

Rating: 2.5/5

I've passed this restaurant many times and have often wondered what was hiding behind the white cotton curtains that shield diners from the gridlocked streets outside. Today, Mother's Day, was as good a day as any to find out.

Stepping through the front door felt like stepping into French bistro. Rustic yellow floor tiles, wooden furniture and a recorded chanteuse helping set the mood.

Our waiter promptly delivered a basket of bread to our table and brought over a chalkboard to show us the lunch specials. Our party all opted for the three course set menu - hard to pass up given the set cost as much as an a la carte main.

My choice of entree, the cream of broccoli soup, was too watery for my liking but had a nice flavour. For the main course I chose the mussel bouillabaisse because I saw that a neighbouring table ordered it and it looked good. Unfortunately it was more style than substance. The mussel meat was small and chewy and the bouillabaisse tasted like the ingredients had been thrown together just before leaving the kitchen. It wasn't bad, just a bit disappointing. My husband, who was sitting closer to our neighbours mussels than I, later told me that he'd tried to stop me ordering the mussels by nudging me as I gave my order to the waiter. If only my telepathic powers had been working!

The highlight of the meal, as it often is for me, was dessert. I usually prefer dessert to come from the chocolate family but was more than satisfied with a slice of bread and butter pudding served with vanilla ice cream, although the rainbow of raspberry, kiwi and orange coulis decorating the plate was a bit strange.

The Verdict: Top marks for ambience. The lunch specials are great value but the food is not good enough to justify the a la carte prices.

Mist? Sun Wui Rd, Causeway Bay

Rating: 3/5 (but the Ramen is 4/5)

I noticed Mist? a couple of weeks ago when I saw a large crowd waiting on the footpath for a table as I drove by. Crowds are usually an indication of good food so I made a mental note to come back and tonight I did.

My first impression was that Mist? is my kind of place - the heavy red leather chairs are a nice cross between chic and stuffy, the waitress put on white gloves to set the table and the music is distinctly chilled.

The menu is small but it's clear from the blurb in the hidden cutlery/chopstick drawer that details where their ingredients come from that Ramen is Mist's specialty. Ignoring this - don't ask me what I was thinking, it had been a long day - I ordered the oven baked Chiba pork. I don't know if it was due to a mix up in the kitchen or the waiter's fault but I received the Sakura wood smoked Chiba pork. The pork didn't taste like it had been smoked but the smell was overpowering and it was strangely garnished with two pieces of melted mozarella and a sprig of rosemary. It was alright but not satisfying.

Thankfully my dining companion ordered the kara miso ramen. The noodles were fresh and the soup rich. I will definitely return for more ramen.

To finish the meal we decided to share dessert which usually means I eat 90% of it. The green tea creme brulee was disappointing, hot in some places, cold in others and the toffee sugar top was soggy, not brittle.

The Verdict: I enjoyed the atmosphere and decor at Mist? but next time I'll be sticking to the Ramen.

Nahm Vietnamese and Thai, ICC

Rating: 2.5/5

Wandering around ICC on Sunday evening my husband and I decided to have an early dinner. It wasn't until we'd been seated that we noticed Nahm was both a Vietnamese and Thai restaurant, I had assumed it was just Vietnamese given its name. Normally I try to avoid restaurants that don't stick to one cuisine as they typically fail at both (a number of sub-standard Japanese/Italian restaurants spring to mind). But we decided to stay because the food on surrounding tables looked and smelled promising.

As it was an early dinner we only chose three dishes which proved to be more than enough as serving sizes are generous.

Our appetiser of spicy minced chicken with lettuce cups arrived promptly and was consumed almost as quickly. Of the three dishes we ordered this was the best and is the only one I'd order again. The flavour was nice with a hint of chilli but describing it as spicy is an overstatement.

The grilled marinated pork neck with tamarind and chilli sauce arrived next. The tamarind sauce was nice but the pork was quite chewy and a little disappointing.

Our final dish was the braised cha ca (a type of fish fillet) with turmeric, macadamia and dill. I prefer whole fish to fillets but the fillets were cooked nicely and weren't dry or rubbery. It was a light dish although I searched to no avail for traces of macadamia.

The Verdict: Nothing special but satisfying. I'd try Nahm again but am unlikely to become a regular.

Ah Yat Harbour View Restaurant, iSquare

Rating: 2/5

Let me start this review by declaring that Cantonese food is my least favourite Asian cuisine, however there are a number of Cantonese restaurants I would recommend ... unfortunately Ah Yat is not one of them.

The dining experience got off to a promising start. Located on a high floor of the iSquare shopping complex, Ah Yat boasts a spectacular view of Victoria Harbour, looking down on its neighbour, Felix, at the Peninsular. It's a small restaurant with only about 13 tables and on this particular (busy, public holiday) Saturday night was only half full. The decor is nice, as are the complimentary cashews and honeyed walnuts that await diners.

Now to the food. Our party of nine ordered soy and shallot prawns (in shells), oxtail stew, crispy skin chicken, sweet and sour pork, claypot mushroom, conpoy and fish maw, fried rice cooked in tea leaves, eggplant with preserved vegetables and boiled spinach. The prawns weren't overpowered by soy sauce and thankfully weren't overcooked which is all too common when cooked in the shell. The oxtail was tender but the flavour was a bit bland for my taste and the eggplant was nicely cooked. The best dish of the night was the crispy skin chicken which was very tender.

The Verdict: The food wasn't bad but neither was it good enough for me to return and even though the restaurant was only half full the service needs improvement - in the middle of dinner our teapot disappeared for a long period and the waitresses were slow to change dirty plates.

Thermostat: Too cold, wear a jacket.