The Pawn (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

I was having my monthly meeting with the big boss and as usual, I tried to have a little lighter lunch so I don't fall asleep in the middle of the meeting. Despite all the new choices in Wanchai (Cima, Giando.....just to name a few), I decided to turn to a familiar place, The Pawn, where the portions are generally just about right.



I heard Chef Tom Aikens is coming to town but evidently, it's not this week as there's no sign of him in the open kitchen.



A pretty nice loaf of bread before we officially got started with our appetizer.



While the butternut squash soup sounded fairly tempting, I opted for their home-smoked salmon with rocket leaves, dill emulsion and crème fraîche. This was a nice way to get things started. The smoked salmon had just the perfect texture with the dill emulsion and crème Fraîche both working well together. 



My main dish was braised beef cheek. Judging from the texture, the two pieces of beef cheek were prepared in 2 different ways and thus the slightly different results. I thought they were both savory and tender. Chef Aikens always likes to be playful with the matching of ingredients so I wasn't particularly surprised to see my braised cheek served with some chopped beef tongue, braised onion and black garlic purée. Interesting~



For the third straight time, I had popcorn served with one of the dishes here (last time, it was served with chicken!) and this time around, it was with my earl grey tea mousse dessert. Pretty nice finish to a quick lunch.




Food Rating: 6/10

Price: $$$

Address: 62 Johnston Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Wanchai
Tel: +852 2866-3444
Website: www.thepawn.com.hk