Mui Wo restaurants up their game

Lately, there have been quite a number of new eateries popping up. And that is great news for diners because it means that the existing ones have had to upgrade their offerings to keep the clientele coming. 

The Kitchen seems to have gotten over their patchy hump with a new chef. Pedro looks like he knows what he's doing... although service is still a bit hit and miss. That's Pedro's special: beef cubes in wine. Quite yummy but I'm not sure it's value for money at HK$78,

China Bear has added a whole new juice menu. You can have freshly squeezed juice with your breakfast too.

Other changes:

• Gordon's has a new TV screen showing what he has to offer (the lamb briyani's always good). 
• Deerhorn has included more stuff in their menu. The prawn curry (HK$95) is to die for!
• Village Bakery is now serving coffee, along with deli stuff such as olives, prosciutto, feta-stuffed peppers (Buffalo Wilbur's favourite) and sundried tomatoes.

Restaurant updates

A visiting friend once noted" "Mui Wo does have many restaurants!"

As far as we're concerned, the more the merrier. If it begins to resemble Stanley (which is what the official plans for the town was inspired by) then so much the better.

And it looks like we're getting more.

The Italian restaurant below Scenic Crest has already applied for a liquor licence, so hopefully that means it's on target for opening soon. And the gossip in town is that the place beside BEA is going to be a barbecue restaurant (yums!).

The existing restaurateurs are not resting on their laurels.

The newest kid on the block, Deer Horn, has tweaked its menu so it has interesting new stuff like the Nepali Khana Set (HK$95 I think) – which is a little like an Indian thali (curry, rice, dhal, veg) but with a totally different taste. The sharpish and salty mango pickle really perks up this dish.

Can't wait to see what the new places will be offering.

Comfort food

I realise I am always writing about the new eating places that I haven't posted any of my old favourites. There are some places we go to so frequently (ordering the same dishes all the time) that it didn't even cross my mind to blog about them.

How remiss of me. To make up for it, here are our regular haunts:

The China Bear (Tel: 2984 9720) along the waterfront, which has a casual feel and sweet waitresses like Evelyn, who greets me every morning when I'm on the way to the ferry. I always order the fish and chips (battered, not breaded) and it never disappoints.

Caffe Paradiso, also known as Tom's Cafe (Tel: 2984-0498), is always packed with harried mums dropping off their kids and grabbing a cuppa in the morning and languid freelancers getting a pick-me-up in the afternoon. Buffalo Wilbur says its serves the best and cheapest double espresso in Hong Kong.

Bombay Cafe (Tel: 2984-1847) is an Indian takeaway joint with a couple of small tables outside. If Tom's has the best coffee in Hong Kong, then Gordon's cooking is the best Indian food in the SAR. His lamb briyani and chicken tikka are so good we rarely order anything else.

And who doesn't know Bahce (Tel: 2984-0222), with its Turkish chef? Again, the food and service are consistently good. I always go for the hot mezze platter because those fried chillies are really to die for.

High on Himalayan fare

Sorry about the quality of the photos. Buffalo Wilbur insisted we try Deer Horn (Tel: 3484-3095) out for dinner, despite my protests that my crappy camera phone won't do the food justice. But hey, tummy ruleth all, as Buffalo Wilbur's dad loves to say, so we went anyway.

The restaurant still looks a bit bare (a few photos won't come amiss) but the welcome was warm. Pushpa, who owns it, is Nepalese and has lived in Lantau for more than a decade. Her chef worked in an Italian restaurant for quite some time, hence the slightly schizophrenic pairing of Nepalese/Italian food on the menu.

We took a table by the window, which was a mistake as it was also partially on the uneven wooden boards. So every time someone walked on the boards, the table would tip on one side and threaten to topple our curry. But that's probably just teething problems.

I am sure the Italian bit was good but we zeroed in on the Himalayan specialties.

The food was yummy. We tried the chicken momo (HK$55). The dumplings came with a home-made tomato-soybean chutney. They tasted almost like Shanghainese xiao long baos but the skin was a lot chewier.

Buffalo Wilbur loved the Nepalese lamb curry (HK$75). It was more watery than Indian curries but spicier than the local ones.

Halfway through our meal, Terry from The Bookshop walked in with a friend. He offered to let us try some of the yak's milk cheese that they'd ordered. I thought it would be strong tasting but it was actually a bit like a smoother cheddar. Must try the fried yak's cheese fritters next time.