Amelia Hong Kong by Paulo Airaudo (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I took the afternoon off to get my little one a couple of toys at Toys R Us in Harbour City. It was already 2pm when I was done and I haven't even had lunch yet. A number of restaurants (Epure, HAKU and Amelia) immediately came to mind when I was weighing up my options but at the end, I decided to check out Amelia Hong Kong cuz I have yet to pay this new joint a visit.



I came across Michelin starred Restaurant Amelia by Paulo Airaudo when I was doing my research on our San Sebastien trip last year but we went with Restaurante Kokotxa at the very end.



A second chance for me to experience Chef Airaudo's modern European here at Amelia Hong Kong which took over the space from Al Molo, a dining concept restaurant right by the harbour.



Amelia's set lunch menu, comfortably priced from $148 to $248 (depending on the main dish), comes with homemade bread, salad and soup. The arugula salad with cherry tomatoes and mushrooms was a decent start.



Creamy leek soup with potato chips was next.



While I waited for my main dish, I grabbed something from the a la carte menu - wagyu beef tongue sandwich.



I thought it was going to come with a thick slab of beef tongue but turned out it was like a mille feuille of thin-sliced beef tongue.



This was a little more bland than I thought, even with garlic butter, parsley and bell pepper aioli. I was expecting a bit more seasoning and perhaps some smoky flavors.



My main course was one of their more popular dishes, Bomba rice with clams and sea urchin.



I thought this was going to be like a paella but it's more of a cheesy risotto.



The cucumber oil provided some lovely, earthy notes to the mix and it's always nice to have sea urchin with flavored rice.



Dessert was homemade melon sorbet. Refreshing!



I could see some of the modern touches which have made Italian-Argentinian chef Airaudo so famous around Spain but the set lunch menu is likely not enough to experience his full repertoire. It's probably going to take a dinner date with Jelloman to figure this out.



After lunch, I took a walk around Harbour City which has noticeably been a lot quieter since I was last here. And I read the news about the closure of Jamie Italian too. We all knew it's just a matter of time but thinking back about my first visit, there was so much promise.



Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop OT G63, G/F Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, 3-27 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 3705-1983
Website: www.facebook.com/ameliahongkong
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 11:00pm (Mon - Thu), 12:00pm - 12:00am (Fri - Sun)