HONG KONG: Oysters, oysters and oysters

Yes, I know, I've been gone, how inconsistent of me... the good news is, the foody is BACK!!


A friend told me about this hidden restaurant tucked away under a highway in North Point, Hong Kong. You wouldn't even notice it if you didn't know exactly what you were looking for. Oyster C. You'll recognize it by the glass windows with red, blue, green pen marks all over it. Takes up to a week to make reservations on weekends, the ambiance is casual and no doubt a fun one, scribbles all over the wall from lovers writing messages to each other to testimonials of the dishes customers gush about.

Don't expect to see a hostess, no one is free enough to just stand by the door, asking if you have reservations. Seated admist a crowd of laughing drunken customers, the ill-dyed-mafia-looking server comes to us asking us in the most casual manner what we'd like. He takes the menu out of our hands before we even had a chance to take a glance. He then asks us what we DON'T like. He goes on in his casual but warm manner, telling us what oysters he is going to choose for us. Satisfied with not having to decide what to eat, we just smiled and nodded.



After a few moments, 8 oysters were served with the usual cocktail sauce, shallot vinegarette and a special olive vinegarette that i especially liked. The olive vinegarette was rather sweet, highlighted the bursting flavours. We were quickly done and ready for round two. We had a total of three rounds with and array of oysters from New Zealand, the States, Ireland and South Africa, with South African oysters topping my list.


Our server came back and brought us our Tom Yum Goong soup with lobster. The lobster was served on the side as a sashimi plate. Did you know that Tom Yum Goong is one of the dishes that excites all your taste buds? It's a bit sweet yet salty and clearly sour and spicy. The lobster is fresh but served with the Tom Yum Goong, the flavours were washed out, a bit of a waste.

Now this is my favorite part of the evening, when the server came back again, we knew and he knew, it was time for the mains. We requested pasta and not too much as we were already quite full. He asked what we didn't like, I pitched in what I liked, mushrooms and what I didn't, celery and corriander, preferably not angel hair pasta as I find that it gets soggy. He said he will leave out the celery and corriander but to prove me wrong, he said he's going to specifically use angel hair pasta! He was so confident that I just HAD to say YES.


Soon after, our pasta was ready. Our parma ham-mixed-'shrooms on angel hair ensemble was perfect. The pasta was dry, texture went well with the wine sauce. The parma ham was crispy and the mushrooms were not soggy. It was a bit peppery and unlike most dry pastas, it was not overly oily. The pasta and mushrooms weren't too rich, the parma ham enhanced the flavours as well as the texture.

Although our tummys really couldn't contain anymore food, not even water, we still HAD to have a dessert. Souffle caught my eye and asked our guy to serve it in 20-30 mins while our stomachs digested a bit of our previous food.


25 Minutes later, a fluffy ginger souffle in a ramekin appeared, the sweet smelling dessert caught the attention of a few tables around us. Despite the heat, the dessert was gone in merely 5 minutes. The flavour wasn't too sweet, and the texture was light, melted pretty much the moment it hit my tongue.

It costed about $80USD per person, including one wine. Considering the quality of the food, it was good value. This is not your idea of a romantic date but definitely a fun, warm place to go to with a few friends. Oh, by the way, no corkage which is a big plus!!

Another dish that we tried on another night and proved to be just as delicious:


Garlic Toast and Crab dip: this was on the heavy side and very very filling