Song

Pisco has walked by Song a hundred times, always wondering what kind of establishment could be hidden down the alley off of Hollywood Road.  A rainy day turned out to be the inspiration to give this Vietnamese restaurant a try.

The interior is quite beautiful and calming.  There is a central bar area with a couple seats, and tables on either side.  While not a huge space, the room probably seats close to forty diners, but it doesn’t feel particularly crowded.  The walls are painted in muted yellow, and there are tasteful black and white photographs of Vietnam displayed everywhere.  Add a touch of triphop and the environment feels sleek and modern.

The clientele on this evening was 95% Aussie, so if you’re from Sydney and you are homesick, this might be the place for you.

The service is adequate but could use some improvement. None of the service oversights were egregious but I did expect tighter service given the price levels (eg, don’t make me ask to refill my water glass).  Although it was a Saturday night, they were not close to full and nailing the basics is not an unreasonable request.

We ordered three dishes: soft-shell crab and avocado summer roll, beef salad, and green papaya and mango salad with prawn.

The soft-shell crab and avocado rice paper rolls were delicious.  It’s a great combination, with the rich avocado balancing the vinegar dipping sauce.  The crab was fried just right and it filled the roll in copious quantity.  It’s the one dish you should certainly order.

The beef salad was serviceable.  I felt the beef was a little tasteless and slightly chewy, but K enjoyed it thoroughly.

The green papaya and mango salad packs quite a punch.  It has a little kick from a few chopped chillies, but there are other strong flavors that are anything but subtle.  The kaffir lime leaf hits you over the head, so if you enjoy this flavor, you’ll love this dish.  The prawn were fine, if tasteless, but the tasty mango and papaya make this dish worth ordering.

Three small plates and one drink ran around 330 HKD.  If you order mains and a couple drinks, the bill will be substantially higher.

Song is a slick, modern restaurant that serves healthy Vietnamese cuisine.  The food quality is a little uneven but the environment is well-executed and polished.  If you need the security of a booking on a busy night, Song could be the place for you.  For a higher standard of Vietnamese fare, I recommend standing in line at Nha Trang.

Food: B
Service: B-
Environment: A-
Value: C
Overall: B-

Song
75 Hollywood Road
Central, Hong Kong
+852 2559 0997
[map]

La Taste

Pisco heard about La Taste, a new Vietnamese restaurant in Central, from a local weekly.  Normally there is a certain amount of pride we take in visiting new restaurants before they are well-publicized, but that’s not always possible.  Pride can’t stand in the way of a good meal, so we headed down to Stanley Street in the rain tonight.

La Taste is located on the second first floor, and as we walked up the stairs, smooth R&B filled the air.  The main dining room has a white and mint green (avocado? pastel? who knows…) color scheme, and it’s very calming.  The menu is on the simple side, with six or seven pages with 5+ dishes on each one.  I initially had intended to follow a one-week vegetarian/flexitarian diet, but one look at the menu and I crumbled.  Four dishes were ordered: lotus root salad with shrimp, grilled shrimp paste on sugarcane, grilled chicken skewers on vermicelli salad, and soft shell crab rice paper roll.

The lotus root salad came first and we immediately realized we had over-ordered.  A large bowl of sliced lotus roots appeared, dressed with a nam pla-based sauce, with tiny bits of red chili pepper sprinkled throughout.  Several decently sized shrimp, possibly poached, lounged in the salad, which was very tasty, light, and filling.  The chili added just the right amount of heat; it’s a very well-executed dish.

The grilled shrimp paste on sugarcane arrived next.  I had no idea how to eat it – wrap in lettuce and dip in the accompanying loose peanut sauce?  Eat it like a corn dog?  Sensing my confusion, the server came and instructed me to wrap and dip.  Perhaps experts could make this work, but it was beyond me.  The actual shrimp paste was tasty, but I could not get the hang of eating it correctly.  I am sure it would taste better with the right mix of basil, mint, and peanut sauce, but I doubt I’ll order it again.

The grilled chicken skewers on bun were heavenly.  For some reason, grilled chicken in Vietnamese joints is always spectacular.  Tender, juicy, and slightly sweet, the two skewers came with a large bowl of bun, filled with pickled veggies and ground peanuts.  The salad had quite a full flavor profile, and I wondered if there was chicken broth in it; whatever it was, it was very satisfying and much more filling than most other bun salads I have tasted.

The soft shell crab roll was quite average by comparison.  The pieces were a little too large to be comfortably eaten in front of someone, and since it’s a roll,  you don’t really want to pull it apart.

Pisco hears that this place compares favorably to Nha Trang (apparently the chef used to work there), but not having been there, he cannot say for sure.  Whatever your reference point, I think La Taste clearly holds its own and provides a very good experience at very reasonable prices.  They are open until 11pm most nights.

The meal totaled HKD 206 for four dishes and one drink for two people.  You could easily get away with two dishes and walk away satisfied, but you’ll probably want to order more just to try more of their fine creations.

La Taste
1/F, 34-38 Stanley St.
Central, Hong Kong [map]
+852 2815 8863