Lobsterpalooza

Weekends are for decadence, and especially when they're of the type epitomized by MO Bar's Lobster Lunch, my new favourite mid-afternoon weekend experience.

How could it not be, when you have the option of starting with a lobster roll, one of my favourite foods from back in Boston? It looks small in the picture, but we actually had a difficult time finishing the whole meal...

There are a number of main-course options -- the poached version I think is the lightest, and there's a crazy thermidor, as well as a non-lobster-oriented entree, but I went for the lobster benedict. People don't eat lobster that much in Hong Kong (or maybe that's just because the only other place I've lived in is Boston, where they eat lobster all the time), but if it was always this yums, I'd eat it every day... or maybe alternate it, every other day with MO Bar's pulled pork sandwich. There's a whole lobster in there, folks.

Sides aren't cheap, but they're pretty hearty for the price, and include options of lobster mash (if you want to go for the overdose), or fries with truffle mayo.

And look! Not only do you get lobster lunch flatware on which to eat your meal, you also get this super sexy lobster lunch bib, which you can take home and/or tie to your dog so that when it runs around, it looks like Superdog...

You know it's a fun lunch when your meal-mates start pretending to be lobsters...

And then, when you're done playing with your bib, eating lobster, pretending to be a lobster and however else you choose to entertain yourself, there's always a dessert buffet to fill what small gaps are left in your stomach... including the chocolate cake they serve at Amber. So rich. What my crappy pictures don't show is the high quality of the desserts -- this is certainly not your average dessert buffet, they're proper haute pastry concepts.

The lunch is priced at $588, with free-flow Prosecco for an extra $100 or Veuve for an extra $200, and sides are $180 a pop. It seems like a lot, but not when you consider the amount of premium-grade lobster they give you, and the skilled manner in which it is cooked and presented. Essentially, you're getting Amber-quality food (it's all conceived by the same culinary team, I believe) but in a more casual atmosphere and at seriously lower prices. When you work in media, you do get access to a lot of one-off meals; I think a good test of an excellent meal is whether you'd go back and pay for it yourself. And in this case, it's a resounding yes.

PS If the pictures in this post look familiar, it's because I accidentally pressed "Publish" instead of "Save" when I first started writing this post, so a phantom version sat on the site for a week before I noticed. Oops, sorry!

PPS By request -- Superdog!