Where To Eat

Unless one works or lives in the vicinity of Number 77, Wyndham Street, the likelihood is high that the name of the steakhouse that has been operating for the past three years would, probably, not be a topic of conversation at the dinner table at home. 

For Senior Management of ‘Tango’, the Argentinian steakhouse on the First Floor of Carfield Building, the restaurant’s location may well be considered more than just a bit of a problem because to reach this little eatery from the Central Business District of Hongkong Island is something of a difficult hike, up a long flight of stairs at the steep angle of about 40 degrees. 

As for hungry steak eaters of Kowloon, they are most unlikely to visit Tango – it is just too far to travel and much too difficult a walk after alighting from the transportation that brings one from Kowloon to Hongkong Island. 

For those people with strong quadriceps and a healthy set of lungs and who live on Hongkong Island, however, on the assumption that they are avid carnivores, of course, the 15-minute walk may well be worth the effort if they crave some quality cooked beef. 

TARGET (泰達財經) visited Tango on Tuesday, January 14, 2014, at about 1.00 p.m., and ordered the following dishes for a party of three people: 

Appetizers 

Red Beets Salad, Goats Cheese, Frisée, Balsamic Vinaigrette
Traditional Hand Cut Beef Sirloin Empanada 

Mains 

7oz Argentinian Beef Burger, Provolone, Ham and French Fries
Argentinian Sausage Stew, Onions, Peppers, Garlic Bread and French Fries 

2 Courses

$HK118 per person 

Steak Lunch 

Roasted Sweet Corn Soup 

12oz Argentinian Ribeye Steak
Choice of Mixed Salad  

$HK268 

Dessert From A La Carte Menu 

Leche Flan
Whipped Cream/Dulce de Leche
$HK30 

Crepes with Dulce de Leche
Vanilla Ice Cream
$HK30 

The Food 

The so-called, Roasted Sweet Corn Soup was, in a word, terrible. 

It was, if anything – and, in this medium’s opinion, it was completely nothing – a watered down type of Mulligatawny that tasted more like dishwater that the curry flavoured, Anglo-Indian soup. 

As for the Red Beets Salad, that was another nothing although it was a step up from the soup course. 

But the steak course was, just about, perfect. 

At the cost of $HK268, just eating the 12-ounce, Argentinian steak is a bargain; and, it makes the jaunt from the Central Business District of Hongkong Island to the restaurant quite worthwhile. 

The Argentines, it appears, does not age its meat, but serves it right off the hoof, so to speak. And it is delicious, melting in one’s mouth. 

This reviewer has, always, maintained that it is difficult to better Kansas, 100 day-old beef, but Argentinian beef, that has not been aged, at all, tastes very similar to its Kansas ‘cousin’. 

As for the seven-ounce, hamburger, made from the Argentinian beef, it, too, was wonderful, but it was not as succulent as the steak dish, in this reviewer’s opinion. 

The steak dish, however, was, just about, the end of the story for this restaurant because, on TARGET’s visit, everything else paled in comparison. 

The Sausage Stew, for instance, was tasteless and left a great deal to be desired. 

This medium will not waste time, writing about the desserts, because that would just tend to be boring in the extreme. Suffice it to state that all three of them were nothing to write home to mom. 

The Ambiance 

Tango is a very small restaurant that can seat about 80 people.  

Its ambiance is friendly enough, but the local serving staff, one from the Philippines and one from Nepal, acted, sadly, very stupidly, appearing not to know vey much about the food on offer – or anything else.  

Also, requests had to be made more than three times before the staff seemed to understand the gist of that which was requested or needed. 

This restaurant is part of the group of eateries that is owned and is under the control of Dining Concepts Ltd. 

This Hongkong company was founded in 2002 by Mr Sandeep Sekhri and, today, it is said to control, what the company’s bumph claims, are ‘twenty three top quality restaurants, many specializing in excellent Italian cuisine, with exciting additional projects under development.’ 

Mr Sekhri is about 48 years old and hails from New Delhi, India. 

That may explain, to some extent, the reason for the watered-down, Mulligatawny type of soup that is served at Tango.