I visited Hong Kong first time ever last november and became infatuated instantly. Coming back this january to confirm my love and yes, I have a new favorite among many others!
The friendly people, great shopping, breathtaking sceneries both in town and up the hills make you feel instantly at home but the most pleasing thing about this new acquaintance was that good food was everywhere!
We stumbled upon restaurants where we'd be the only westeners among 300 locals, ordering whatever smelled and looked good. Finding hip lunchtime hangouts to share with the stylish saturday shoppers and indulged in long dinners in the most comfortable restaurants I've ever visited.
Since this was a holiday and I do enjoy the long wine and dine way without counting the calories I'll let you in on my favorite way of ending the day here.
You need to work up an appetite for what's coming so i'd recommend a brisk day with activities. We decided to do what every tourist in Hong Kong should do and went to see the Tin Tan buddha. It's a very touristy- though excellently run- industry around it with the ngong ping 360 in front. One can also take a hike up the hill to the monastery and buddha but we spent some dollars to get us up with the cable car -it's still a fair walk from the end station to the statue.
In my opinion it was great. The view was beautiful and the statue itself very mesmerizing, go see for yourself.
A lively afternoon of shopping and wondering around hong kong island and kowloon side beats the rest of the energy out of your body so it's time to feast!
We started the night with drinks and nibbles at Tivo, a cozy and warm bar-restaurant run by an international aqua-group. i find it great to come across a place that belongs to a restaurant group and yet doesn't seem like it at all. Being dispirited by the poor quality of Helsinki's chain restaurants I might be overly excited by this one, but nevertheless I liked it. The cocktails were well made, delicious and served by friendly staff. The barsnacks fresh and tasty and by the looks of the plates at next table the dinner menu is also worth a taste.
But we dragged ourselves away from the cool drinks and navigated just few blocks down to Bistecca, an italian-style steakhouse with lots of great beef. The decor is rustic buthershop with taste and I must say lots of heavy food is better enjoyed seated on sturdy furniture without having to worry if something's gonna tip over.
The service was very attentive and the open kitchen kept customers entertained while savoring the delicious courses. We had ricotta meatballs, linguini with clams, steak, rosemary potatoes, gorgonzola salad and mouthwatering homemade sorbet with fresh cookies. Along with a bottle of wine, perrier, coffees and limoncello the bill was just a bit over 200€ and worth every penny!
The restaurant doesn't seem to have a website of it's own but you can see the menu here :)
meats on display at Bistecca
