The Pawn (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

The Pawn is a restaurant I constantly keep tabs on since its opening a decade ago. It's a place I have a lot of admiration for due to its historical background (former pawn house) and having the contemporary cuisine by Tom Aikens on top of that is just the icing on the cake. But things have been noticeably trending in the wrong direction during my recent visits and I was hoping to see some improvement at lunch today.



Last time when I was here, the kitchen was really young and that got me worried. Turned out my worries were substantiated as the food delivered was nowhere near what it used to be. But I'm giving them a second chance today. Let's hope things are already back in order.



Duck rillette, piccalilli, pickled shallots -  The duck rillette was fairly decent but...



.....there's a little too much acidity in the piccalilli and pickled shallots. I was hoping they have something spicy or savory in there to balance things out but too bad, that didn't happen.



Pan seared cod fish, herb crust, mushroom ragout, pearl onions - This really exceeded my expectation especially after pretty so-so starter. They did a great job on the cod fish with that crispy crust and I thought the mushroom ragout and cream sauce worked really well with the fish. Very nice.



Unfortunately, I was running out of time before the start of my afternoon meeting so I reluctantly passed up dessert and went for the bill instead. 

Some thoughts on the dishes here this afternoon. I thought it's a step in the right direction and I definitely look forward to coming back again sometime soon.

Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: 62 Johnston Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Wanchai
Tel: +852 2866-3444
Website: www.thepawn.com.hk