Where To Eat

Bread Street Kitchen and Bar is located in a section of the Central Business District of Hongkong Island, the commercial centre of the Hongkong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), that TARGET (泰達財經) has described, in the past, as a human ashtray.

This is because, among other things, within about six blocks of Number 33, Wyndham Street, the entire area is infested with prostitutes, males and females, pimps of all colours, races and religions, drunks of all types and gender, and the entire streets are festooned with cigarette butts and spittle.

It is one of the most-disgusting areas of Hongkong Island.

In addition, it must be the most, smoke-polluted area of the 416 square miles that constitute this festering pimple on the bottom of the Middle Kingdom.

This medium visited Bread Street Kitchen and Bar, last Monday night, on the presumption that it is another of the family of restaurants of the famous Mr Gordon Ramsay.

(Mr Gordon Ramsay became somewhat internationally famous for the number of expletives that he could mouth within one hour, during his television programme, called, Hell’s Kitchen, the reality television cooking competition.) 

TARGET is not certain whether Mr Gordon Ramsay has an equity interest in Bread Street Kitchen and Bar, but, if he is a material shareholder, then, it appears, very clearly, that he needs to shove a red-hot poker up somebody’s arse, while yelling at the person in his well-known, stentorian voice: ‘You stupid bastard!’

Because the food in this restaurant is utterly hopeless.

Due to the fact that the food is disastrous, for the most part, this medium assumes that Mr Gordon Ramsay has permitted his name to be used in connection with Bread Street Kitchen and Bar without the need of him to obtain an equity stake.

If this is so, then he must be obtaining a royalty or some such payment for the use of his name.

Which brings one to the question: What is the value of Mr Gordon Ramsay’s name in connection with a rubbish restaurant?

Would it be fair to say that this gentleman’s name is a depreciating asset, as far as Bread Street Kitchen and Bar is concerned, if he is, directly or indirectly, involved in the cooking process?

When this medium visited Bread Street Kitchen and Bar at about 6:10 pm, last Monday, the following dishes were selected from the relatively small menu: 

Starters 

Warm Tomato Salad, Burrata, Pesto Served Piadina
$HK138 

Seared Scallops with Carrot Puree, Treacle Bacon, Celery Cress
$HK158 

Honey Glazed Beef Short Ribs with
Pomelos, Scallions, Sesame Seeds
$HK198 

Main 

Fish and Chips, Crusted Peas
$HK208 

Rib-Eye Steak 12oz
$HK348 

Hand Cut Chips
$HK68 

Traditional Shepherd’s Pie, Braised Lamb,
Onions, Carrots, Celery, Potato Puree, Parmesan,
Brioche Garlic Crumbs
$HK198

With the meal, TARGET ordered a glass of Shiraz from Australia and a glass of Merlot from Bordeaux, France.

Within minutes, two glasses of red wine appeared on the table, one looking almost identical to the other.

The taste of the wines in the two glasses, however, were slightly different.

The point of this mention is that the two glasses of wine, costing $HK255, could have contained anything, from the cheapest, Chilean plonk to the dregs of some native, Fijian moonshine.

One would have expected, on ordering the wine, that somebody would bring over two bottles of red wine, the labels, being very visible, and, then, pouring the wine into the glasses – at the table.

It was not to be.

And this is supposed to be a restaurant that associates itself with good name of Mr Gordon Ramsay? 

The Food

The Starters

Of the three starters, the only one that had any merit, at all, was the Warm Tomato Salad.

The only demerit about this dish was that the salad was ‘swimming’ in about three millimeters of oil!

As for the Seared Scallops, the ethnic Indian waiter – who appeared to be in charge of the Chinese serving staff – assured TARGET that the scallops were fresh.

‘Nothing is frozen, here,’ he said with a smile.

As far as this reviewer is concerned, the scallops had been fresh, at one time, but those served on that fateful night were completely insipid, very suggestive of the poor, marine bivalve mollusks in the taxonomic family, Pectinidae, having been frozen.

With regard to the so-called, Honey Glazed Beef Short Ribs, this dish turned out to be six, one-inch cubes of beef, deep fried to the extent that they tasted more like charcoal than meat.

What was extremely horrible about this dish was that three of the beef cubes were pure fat! 

The Main Courses

The best dish of the Main Courses was, without question, the Fish and Chips.

There was nothing wrong with this dish and TARGET is happy to report that the fish was reasonably fresh.

The Ribeye Steak, said to have been US beef, tasted like nothing, the meat, being almost completely tasteless. 

If the meat had been a USDA (the United States Department of Agriculture) beef grade, then, it was quite likely that it had been graded ‘US Commercial’.  

Which would make admirable sense for Bread Street Kitchen and Bar. 

US Commercial is a relatively low quality of beef, lacking in tenderness and taste, and produced from older animals. 

On a positive note about this dish, the beef had been prepared in a manner that was quite appealing and, most likely, it weighed all of about six ounces before it was fried.

And, at the very reasonable price of $HK348 for the six ounces.

The Shepherd’s Pie!

 Does Management of Bread Street Kitchen and Bar think everybody is stupid?

Or, is the cook stupid?

The vegetable ingredients that one would expect to find in such a dish – onions, carrots and celery –were, for the most part, absent.

If the vegetables had been hiding under the dark sauce, then, they were doing a very good job of keeping out of sight.

The ethnic Indian waiter placed a bottle of Worcestershire Sauce on the table with the statement: ‘Just in case, the Shepherd’s Pie doesn’t have a strong taste.’ 

He, obviously, knew a great deal more about the food at this restaurant than TARGET’s team of three reviewers.

The waiter meant well, of that TARGET was quite sure, but one ponders whether or not the cook, who prepared this dish, would have been happy and proud to hear that this waiter was of the opinion that the cook did not know his onions (forgive the pun).

A Shepherd’s Pie is supposed to have a one-inch to two-inch layer of mashed potatoes on top, and each pie is supposed to been baked so that the mashed potatoes are slightly browned, along with a thin layer of Parmesan Cheese atop the mashed potatoes.

Well, there was some white-coloured, gooey stuff atop the Shepherd’s Pie, but this reviewer is of the opinion that the white-coloured, gooey stuff was potato powder, mixed with too much water.

The very soft consistency of this stuff could not have been the result of a mashed potato that had been baked too long – because the pie had not been baked, at all!

There was an absence, also, of the grated Parmesan Cheese! 

TARGET did not order any dessert, but a young, European man came over to try to ascertain as to the reason that none of the dishes that had been ordered had been eaten – other than very small amounts, having been sampled, that is.

With no explanation forthcoming, he sent over a couple of sample dishes of two desserts – probably as compensation for the poor showing of the six dishes that had been ordered and not eaten.

In conclusion, if Bread Street Kitchen and Bar is a typical example of the culinary excellence of Mr Gordon Ramsay, then, perhaps, he should return to his cooking school in order to refresh his memory of the basics of good European cuisine.  

About the Décor

Bread Street Kitchen and Bar, as the name implies, is not a fine-dining restaurant.

The décor of the restaurant makes that only too plain.

The furniture is about as cheap as it comes and, with no soft furnishings, sound bounces round the room – which can accommodate about 100 people – making it difficult to hold a conversation with one’s guests.

The ceiling is decorated with electrical wires in certain areas, none of wires, having been ducted, and in strategic areas of the room, rising to the ceiling, one discovers the elegant, tubular shape of pipes of a diameter of about six inches, nicely painted to match the creamy white colour of the walls, the pipes, no doubt, conveying waste liquids to their final resting place.

The toilet facilities for men are designed to be used by one, not too rotund person, at one time.

First impressions are often the truest, as we find (not infrequently) to our cost when we have been wheedled out of them by plausible professions or studied actions.