HKG: SML {CLOSED}
"S: Taste, M: Enjoy, L: Share"
UPDATE (23/11/2017): The restaurant has closed down.
UPDATE (23/11/2017): The restaurant has closed down.
We're back to HKG, and this will be the last stretch of reviews of the food establishments we visited during the exchange period. Again, we found ourselves back in Times Square in Causeway Bay (previous reviews include Ganpachi Ramen and Tony Roma's). SML stands for Small, Medium, Large, offering dishes from various parts of the world in three different sizes to suit everyone's appetite.
Grilled Chicken Satay with Spicy Peanut Sauce (Medium) HK$57.00 (~S$9.50)
Taste: 7/10
I started with an Indonesian / Malay dish, and it was the only medium-sized dish I ordered. The chicken meat was actually pretty tender, although it was a bit dry. The peanut sauce was adequately sweet, and only slightly spicy.
Spicy Fried Squid with Garlic Mayo (Small) HK$64.00 (~S$10.65)
Taste: 8.5/10
The word 'spicy' here doesn't mean hot. With a bit of herbs added into the batter, the calamari rings were fried till golden brown. They were enjoyably crispy on the outside, and moist on the inside. The mayonnaise was creamy and not disappointingly garlicky (that's a double negative, but whatever haha!).
Char-Grilled Portuguese Piri Piri Chicken (Small) HK$50.00 (~S$8.30)
Taste: 7.5/10
Piri piri is also known as African bird's eye chili. Apparently, "There's a lot of debate about how the piri piri pepper came to Portugal", said the author of the Chile Pepper Encyclopedia. Anyway, while I enjoyed the sweet and slighly spicy marinade, the chicken meat which sat on top of shredded carrots wan't that moist.
Spanish Paella with Chicken, Spicy Chorizo, Squid, Mussels and Shrimps (Small) HK$71.00 (~S$11.80)
Taste: 7/10
The highlight of the dish was probably the shrimps which were pretty succulent. The rice was moist and fluffy, but not very flavourful. There were way too few of the Spanish pork sausage bits (not slices), that I couldn't really savour their true taste. I believe frozen green peas were used for the dish.
Citrus Panna Cotta with Pink Grapefruit and Orange Slices (Small) HK$26.00 (~S$4.30)
Taste: 8/10
It was great that the panna cotta (lit. cooked cream) was silky smooth without being overly fragile. There was a nice hint of citrus in it, but it could be creamier.
Mango Pavlova (Small) HK$31.00 (~S$5.15)
Taste: 7.5/10
The meringue-based dessert had a crisp crust, but the inside could be softer. It was served with whipped cream and sweet mango sauce which was quite aromatic.
Melon's Rating
Taste: 7.5/10
Ambience: 8/10
Service: 8.5/10
Overall: 8/10
Although the food wasn't extraordinary, dining in a chic, casual restaurant which wasn't that noisy was a great way to end the week. Oh, I was served by a male staff who could speak perfect English.
SML
1 Matheson Street
Shop 1105, 11/F Times Square
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
(Sun-Thu: 11.30am - 10.30pm; Fri-Sat: 11.30am - 11.00pm)
*Prices quoted are subject to 10% service charge.
Have a nice meal,
Cliff(y)
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