MamaSan by Will Meyrick (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

After reading so much about Will Meyrick's MamaSan and its popularity in Bali, we ended up visiting this famed restaurant during our trip to Bali in March. But we certainly didn't expect to hear from the celebrity chef so soon when we come back. 

In April, there were already rumblings about Chef Meyrick opening his first MamaSan outpost outside Bali right here in Hong Kong. The plans were later confirmed as a joint venture with Dining Concepts. This is very interesting news.

Hidden in the first floor of a little commercial building in Central, MamaSan by Will Meyrick finally opened its door on 10th May and we managed to slip by for a quick review this week.

Of course, the first thing we noticed at the middle of the dining room was their patented hand-painted artwork of an Asian lady wearing a traditional Chinese dress.



Very much like their flagship restaurant in Bali, the menu here is categorized in different sections including raw bar, salads, fish, meat and poultry.

Before placing our orders, we took a self-guided tour around the restaurant and found the place to be a lot more spacious than we originally thought. The vibe, though not as good as what we have seen in Bali, was still excellent.



Dinner started with a salad called crispy salmon with green mango and sweet fish sauce. Looks like the salmon fillets have been cut into cubes and slow-cooked before a little bit of pan-frying to give them their golden color. The sweet fish sauce and chilli provided the finishing touches.



Next was a crispy whole snapper with three-flavor sauce wild ginger turmeric pineapple chilli and tamarind. This reminded me of a very delicious dish we had at daisho in Toronto but unfortunately not nearly as impressive.



Onto our meat course, we had their “Babi guling” suckling pig with sambal matah. Sambal matah is a Balinese condiment made with shallot and lemongrass, mainly targeted for fish and chicken but it seemed to find its comfort zone with the suckling pig as well.



Prices are reasonable for Central District standards (some may say cheap!). The portion is considered big in this day and age. I would say this is a place for sharing decent food among good friends but on the down side, expect sub-par and erratic service from a team of staff that looked inexperienced and sometimes out of place.

Food Rating: 4.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: 1/F, 46 Wyndham Street, Central, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Central / Hong Kong Station

Tel: +852 2881-8901
Website: www.diningconcepts.com/mama_san/index.php