Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Pub Style: Alfie's

We're delighted to welcome hkLifestyleGeek as our food and travel blogger to Hong Kong Fashion Geek. She'll give us the scoop on fantastic restaurants around town and travel tips. Contact her at hklifestylegeek@hkfashiongeek.com

If you're looking for a banker boyfriend or husband to help finance your fashionista lifestyle, perhaps you can hang out at Alfie's just above Alfred Dunhill in the Prince's Building.

The gastropub is actually a joint venture between Alfred Dunhill and Kee private members club. And it does have that exclusive feel, with the rich-looking interior of leather seats, maroon walls and the female wait staff in form-fitting tuxedo suits minus the bow ties.

And in the evenings after work the place is jam-packed with suits – the pinstripe variety so go hang out at the bar and try your luck at snagging one. Or you can sit down for a meal and see and be seen.


The place opens at 7:30am for power breakfasts during the week, a great alternative to the hotels in the area or to satisfy a hankering for bangers and mash. Meanwhile the lunch and dinner menu are the same to keep things relatively simple for the kitchen.

The ticklemore goat cheese tart ($95) is a good starter, not too heavy and has a creamy finish. It’s accompanied with grated beetroot, carrot and apple.
However the prawn and crab cocktail ($128) was hardly interesting, the prawns were previously frozen and the sauce did little to liven up the dish. They sat on a bed of intricately cut circles of iceberg lettuce.

And the foie gras parfait ($138) seemed diluted in flavour, though it went nicely with the fresh fig halves and Melba toast.

You can’t go wrong with the pumpkin and parsnip soup ($85). It’s nice and creamy with the dollop of Devonshire crème fraiche decorated like a leaf. The parsnip cuts the sweetness of the pumpkin and it’s the perfect winter soup. I hear the oxtail soup ($108) with cottage cheese and herb dumpling is also good.
During our dinner we saw the waitresses bringing several fish and chip dishes ($220) to the tables near us so we had to try it. It turns out this is Alfie’s signature dish and it’s not hard to see why.

The halibut is safely ensconced in the deep-fried turmeric batter and so it comes out very moist – in fact a tad watery. Nevertheless the fish itself is cooked to perfection and refreshing with a squeeze of lemon. The thick potato chips with a sprinkling of rock salt are great too, though not enough to satisfy our chip craving.

A relatively new addition to the menu is the roast pork belly and crackling ($210) and it’s a wonderful combination of a very crispy skin on top and moist pork underneath. It goes down best with the swede, apple and mustard mash. Brussel sprouts and a small candied apple accompany the dish.

For a sweet finish, try the raisin and apple crumble. After a big meal it’s best to share and it comes with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream.

By the late evening the banker crowd around the bar has thinned out which makes it an ideal place for an intimate meal if you’ve reeled in your catch.

Alfie’s
Prince’s Building
10 Chater Road
Hong Kong
2530 4422
booking.alfies@keeclub.com

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2 comments:

  1. Welcome and thanks for this review!
    I think you'll be a great addition to the team of geeks :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. why do most HK restaurant reviews have to revolve around gold-digging or business deals?

    ReplyDelete