英國。不只下午的Afternoon tea， Tiny Tim's Tearoom

回想起來，住在英國大半年，其實自己煮多，外出吃少．

說英國是美食沙漠一點沒誇張，卻於離開前才發覺自己原來未曾Afternoon tea -
喂，說的是英式鬆餅，三文治，是英國食品中比較正常的食物喎，難得來到這邊生活，連一次下午茶也沒喝過，怎過得去？

倫敦。簡單的快樂，Burger & Lobster

早前看了個關於英國菜的日本節目，內容大概是批評英國菜如何難食，進行家訪，更訪問學者探討背後原因．其實英國本身出產高質素食材，又能從歐洲進口食材，照道理有輕鬆煮好菜的先天條件，為什麼英國菜還是如此難吃？或許真如節目所指，是社會工業化造成的負面影響，令英國人只顧工作，沒有時間煮食，因此只求飽肚，忽視味道。所以只有英國才容得下炸魚，薯條三文治，翻熱餡派，和劣食中的劣食，jellied eels - 當然還有把整個廚房燻臭的微波爐brussels sprouts．

當然，伴隨英國人對生活和味道的要求大大提高，現於倫敦找間正常甚至好的餐廳，總算比撞版的機會為大！難得父母來到英國，當然要精挑細選餐廳 - 而第一天的第一餐，我們都愛吃海鮮，到Burger & Lobster就最好不過。

倫敦。24/7的圈圈麵包，Brick Lane Beigel Bake

像倫敦這種國際大都市，自然吸引大量來自各國的新移民前來尋找機會，其中不乏曾被英國統治的印度。印度移民甚至更在Brick Lane建立自己的小社區，令那一帶的連道牌也以印度文寫成，為倫敦的多樣化添上一筆。

倫敦。義無反顧的The Breakfast Club

在香港一直都很喜歡吃eggs benedict的我，自從來到英國後就很少吃，原因不外為瘦身和省錢。天知道那酸咪咪的Hollandaise要用多少蛋黃和牛油製成！

所以當蛋癮起時，我多會以自製的乳酪咖喱hollandaise頂住先。不過當然調味和質感不及仔細分明。

[試吃]What is British Food? - Pret A Manger

記得Jamie Oliver在關於英國食物的電視節目中講過，所謂的British Food，就是受各國飲食文化影響形成的獨特味道．所以chicken tikka是英國菜，chop suet也是英國菜，其多樣化程度反映著當地各民眾文化類匯聚的特色．



雖然香港曾受殖民地政府管治多年，英國菜卻沒在香港留下太多蹤跡，除了少數高級英式酒店和餐廳除外；比較'入屋'的英國菜，反而是近年才進軍香港的快餐輕食小店Pret a Manger.

快活像皇帝 - Clipper Lounge

自從Duchess of Bedford發明在下午與茶享用的小點，並稱之為afternoon tea後，這種輕食文化就深得各階層喜愛，人人都愛下午來一杯一件．香港這前殖民地也沾了英國飲茶文花，不過喝的是熱奶茶，吃的是菠蘿包！

但在這華洋雜處之地，除了地道的港式三點三，也有不少餐廳，酒店，提供正宗的銀架下午茶．但喫茶的地方多，食物，容器，氣氛都走正宗英國路線的地方，恐怕只有文華東方酒店的clipper lounge．

週末英倫 - Harrington's Gastropub

在香港這前英國殖民地，除了下午茶，別的英國飲食文化都不見普及，這和一海以隔的前葡殖民地澳門有明顯對比。

可能這是因英國菜不及葡菜精彩: 在不少人心目中，它只是afternoon tea，fish and chips，English Breakfast，scottish scones，甚至垃圾食品的同義詞。

就連W. Somerset Maugham亦說：to eat well in England one has to have breakfast three times a day. 但其實英國也有好菜，例如各式各樣的pub food，煮得好也是美味的。

眼睛也能吃的eye-candies - The Mandarin Cakeshop

先要謝謝開飯網送出的現金卷，讓我可以再嘗文華餅房的出品．

C'est la tea - Teakha 茶。家

香港人的飲食文化和茶分不開－無論是粵式茶樓的一盅兩件，潮州菜的功夫茶，英式下午的afternoon tea，就連最代表香港文化的茶餐廳，客人坐下後伙計奉上的第一件東西，通常都是清茶一杯．但正如茶餐廳的茶通常淪為洗餐具的大配角，香港人－尤其是年輕點的一代－對茶這一種源自中國的偉大飲品總是不太重視．

也許是茶在很多人心目中只是一種茶樓會喝到的苦澀黑水，又或是茶餐廳會加冰加檸檬的飲料；雖然在不少餐廳的set menu總是以'coffee or tea'為結尾，但兩種飲品在香港的地位，又似乎並不是這麼平等．

直至茶家，teakha，在太平山街出現．

煙花耀文華 - 快船廊

對文華快船廊的自助餐念念不忘，所以趁著農曆新年的好日子，又和家人來吃個煙花自助晚餐．

從頭到尾都不知道原來這晚餐是包括到酒店房間看煙花的節目！我們還以為所謂的煙花晚餐只是讓客人在餐廳的窗看出去觀看就算！所以當侍應跟我們說會安排我們分批上房時可真是感到無限驚喜的！

已經是最好的，聖誕大餐 - Jimmy's Kitchen

素來不喜歡在節日正日出外吃飯：原因不是討厭慶祝，而是覺得餐廳總是在那天瘋狂charge up the price，不斬客人一頸血不罷休．所以，也有好幾年沒在聖誕正日出外吃所謂的大餐．

沒想到家人今年興致大發，不發一聲就訂了中環的Jimmy's Kitchen．這也好，也有好幾年未試過像今年一樣，三人都在聖誕節前後有空閒，可以心無旁騖地享受這帶點寒冷的晚上．

晚上的上海快船 - 快船廊

自從試過快船廊的Brunch buffet念念不忘，碰巧這裡有上海主題的晚餐，更有大閘蟹提供，就訂了枱，搶在大閘蟹季節結束之前和家人來飽餐一頓．

晚上的快船廊，提供的食物雖然不同，但和早上光景同樣精彩，種類一樣是多得不知應該從何開始！

快船，早晚同樣精彩 - 快船廊

同樣的餐廳很少會重覆去吃（已上癮那些除外，如勝香園），而自助餐更是少之又少．我有自知之明，吃多一點就會胖，我又對食物完全沒抵抗力，而自助餐上的又不是樣樣精品，如果常常吃的話就會肥，但又未必肥得抵（是的，愛吃又怕胖的麻煩友，就是這樣的了！），所以我對它可免則免．

但，我在上月，一連去了兩次文華東方酒店的快船廊，吃自助餐．第一次是獲酒店方面邀請嘗試brunch buffet，第二次是自己去吃大閘蟹的．原因？只有一個，就是快船廊的出品，絕對有水準，值得一去再去！

Keep Calm and Carry On - The Limehouse

在香港，你可以找到各國菜式，從最大路的粵式港式，到刁轉些的地中海式，北歐式，非州式，都有．說在香港可以吃盡東南西北，絕不過份．但曾經管治香港逾百年的英國，反而未有在香港的餐飲界佔很大的席位．

在蘇豪區有一以倫敦車站為裝修藍圖的Yorkshire Pudding，位置和裝修都頗搶眼；而在灣仔的船街街尾，也有一間英倫風小餐館，但和前者不同，無論裝潢和外貌都含蓄內斂得多．

Benedict with Beer, anyone? - BRICKLANE

Was here for a friends' gathering. There are people in your lives whom you cant shut your mouth when you are with them, and there seem to be always new stuff to share and laugh about. The clock seems to tick a thousand times faster, and time always run short when you were with them.

 

Lunch at Angel's Share Whisky Bar & Restaurant - a groupon experience

I bought a groupon at Valuup a month ago for a discounted lunch at Angel's Share, Central - and since then had been tracking its lunch menu on its Facebook page (rotated on a weekly basis) until the choice of lamb chop and tenderloin came up, at last. Determined to utilize the discount (and fear for a sudden closure/suffering due to some irresponsible Groupon companies) as soon as possible, we quickly booked a table in advance (as required) and ate on a Friday.

Angel's Share is actually one floor above Jashan, an Indian restaurant i really like, serving authentic and extremely tasty Indian cuisine and a mega-lunch buffet at $98. I didn't pay much attention to the quiet bar-and-restaurant during my last Indian lunch and I knew more about it only after reading some media coverings, mostly focusing on its impressive collection of and dedication to whiskey, much less on its food. It was thus quite a bet on the quality of food (and the true value of the bargain), to be honest.

Upon arrival at the dimly lit (and cool) bar-cum-restaurant, a friendly waitress greeted us and brought us to our table, a nice,decent rectangular table by the window which is meant to be used for some serious eating (instead of drinking and lounging). The coupon I bought ($128 for two set lunches) allows us to upgrade to the $148 main dish by paying an extra of $20. Since the $98 choice of pasta did not sound tasty (octopus..uh), and we were interested in both the lamb and the beef, we paid $20 in extra. The soup of the day was the pumpkin soup - perfectly my cup of tea - and we both had that instead of the Avocado Tortilla Salad.

Sesame and poppyseed bun with herb butter

The wait was brief before the bread arrived, luckily warmed. The sesame and poppyseed bun looked delicious and smell great. The crust was a little tougher and it required a little wrestling to tear the bun open, but the interior had a dense but soft texture, which i really like - i am not really fond of the xtra-soft milk buns or whatsoever. The butter with herbs which came with the bread was chilled for too long and could not be spread on the bread, but as time lapsed it melted and could assimilate into the bread perfectly, giving it an additional buttery, lightly salted aroma on top of its wheaty taste.

Pumpkin soup

Our pumpkin soup were served in a shallow bowl and smelt great. The final touch of olive oil gave the soup a shiny appearance. It felt thick upon stirred, albeit not creamy. Suspected to be made of simply pumpkin puree without adding in cream, the soup tasted nice and sweet. The consistency was nice and i drank the soup while dipping the sesame bun into the soup. The two went extremely well together - yummmm! The soup was also huge in portion and I could only manage to finish 3/4 of the bowl. It was a pity really for the soup was really nice, but I could not risk bursting my stomach at such an early stage, for the main course and desserts had yet come.

Mixed Herbs Crusted US Tenderloin w/ Sherry gravy

Mixed Herbs Crusted US Tenderloin w/ Sherry gravy - this was my pick, but mum and I basically exchanged the meat to have a taste of both. It did not look medium rare to me tho. It was quite tender to cut, juicy, and yet bland and flavourful at the same time - flavoured as the meat was coated with a thin layer of strong herbs, and bland as the meat itself did not have much taste in it. Strangely it did not even taste like beef - I would be convinced if you told me it was veal, or pork, albeit badly cooked to wash away the distinctive aroma of porkchops. It was just a piece of - meat, unidentifiable. The sherry gravy was also ambiguous and tasted just like any gravy to me. The vegetables were nicely toasted, and I could not stop forking the roasted half new potatoes into my mouth.

NZ Grilled Lamb Chops w/ grand marnier sauce

NZ Grilled Lamb Chops w/ grand marnier sauce - another reason why we were here on that day. We were served with three rib-ful of lamb and it was, too, overcooked (unless i was colourblind and could not tell brown from pink!) despite being tender to cut. Similar to the beef it tasted bland. As a matter of fact I could not distinguish the lamb from the beef. Could it be consider as a total failure of the dish?

Coffee Mousse Cake

The dessert of that day was coffee mousse cake. I was slightly disappointed as I am not really into coffee-flavoured desserts and mousse cakes. The slices of cake served did not look great either, with the big pores in the mousse (which might mean not-so-smooth mousse). However it turned out to be surprisingly tasty-the mousse was quite heavy(which i like) genuinely resembled coffee, and it tasted (wickedly) like tiramisu to me. I didnt expect that! The alternative layers of mousse and sponge cake was well-balanced and, all in all, tasted marvelous. Shoving the whole thing in (which was not very me, now wheres that sense of guiltiness for eating too much?), I even wanted more of the cake!!!

Skimmed Latte

A drink was included in the lunch set and we could have either tea or coffee. I asked what coffee I could have, and they said latte and cappuccino were also fine. So I had a skimmed latte and mum ordered a plain coffee. It was the second biggest disappointment of the meal as the milk foam was extremely thin and watery. The coffee tasted bland as if it had been diluted. I could do a better job than they did with my crappy espresso machine at home, and I left 3/4 of the cup unattended. Yet to be fair, AS is a bar and not a coffee shop afterall, and we should not be expecting too much from the bar, not being specialized in making caffeine but liquor.

A $20 note was sufficient to settle our bill, in addition to the $128 already paid while buying the groupon. Was it worth it? Hm...I'd say yes. The meal costed only $74 per head and you wont probably find meals of comparable quality (with similar services, decor etc) anywhere else in Central. But if i were to pay the full fare for the meal I'd say it is overpriced. The main dishes we had could not convince me to pay, say, $100. The soup and the dessert were fine but i wont come back just for these 2 courses.

In short - won't come back for lunch, but there's a possibility for a revisit for a drink. The wine list is seriously impressive.

Angel’s Share
2/F, Amber Lodge
23 Hollywood Road
Central, Hong Kong

T: 852 2805 8388
F: 852 2805 2866
info @ angelsshare.hk

Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday 12:00pm to 2am
Sunday Closed
http://www.angelsshare.hk/
Angel's Share on Openrice