The building that we live in is interesting. The first floor houses four restaurants. Three very high end Japanese restaurants (Kaiseki Den by Sataome, Sushi Masataka, Takumi by Daisuke Mori), and then tucked in the back on the alley side of the street, a hidden Chinese restaurant called Old Bazaar Kitchen.
One day, out of curiosity, we decided to stop in and give it a try. We were pleasantly surprised at how good everything was. The level of execution is very high, though with prices to match.
Old Bazaar Kitchen has been around for many years in Tin Hau and Wan Chai and has a strong following of regulars. More recently, after closing for some time, it re-opened in its current location as part of the Lai Sun Group.
The Lai Sun Dining Group focuses on high-end dining and owns other well-known restaurants such as 8 ½ Otto e Mezzo, Ciak in the Kitchen, China Tang, along with the other three Japanese restaurants in the building (listed above).
At Old Bazaar Kitchen, Chef Billy Chung provides a taste of modern Hong Kong with strong influences from Malaysian and Singaporean cuisine (as well as some French, Thai, and Japanese) on the menu.
Most of the dishes we ordered this time were traditional Cantonese (because we happened to feel like Chinese food that day). However, the menu has its fair share of interesting Southeast Asian cuisine that I might be interested in trying some day.
The Double-boiled Yunnan Ham Soup [HKD188] with shiitake mushrooms and baby cabbage was excellent, with deep rich flavors from the Yunnan ham and sweetness from the cabbage.
A twist on a classic dish, these Scrambled Eggs with Prawn [HKD300] incorporate both black truffle paste and foie gras. Bryan loved the additional of the foie gras.
The Steamed Chicken in Scallion and Soy Sauce [HKD350 (half) HKD600 (whole)] is another classic Cantonese dish that was executed flawlessly here.
Stir fried seasonal vegetables with garlic [HKD120] was classic but done well.
Yunnan Ham and Chinese broccoli fried rice was also very good [HKD160].
Initial Thoughts - Old Bazaar Kitchen
I feel like we have barely scratched the surface of this restaurant. Everything we had was very, very good, so I don't doubt that the rest of the food is also very good. I would love to come back and try some of their more southeast Asian dishes. At that point, then I think I can write a complete review of the place.
For now, I can certainly say that the Chef certainly knows what he's doing, and all in all the food here is very good. Having said that, the prices are quite high compared to other equally excellent Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong.
Old Bazaar Kitchen
4 Cross Street
Wan Chai, HONG KONG
