Red Lobster (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

One Restaurant Week booking per year, that has been my commitment to support the local F&B industry for the last few years. I always think they have a pretty nice idea there (referring to Restaurant Week of course), just that the execution hasn't been great over the years. Of course I know they need commitment from the restaurants too. Some participating restaurants only wanted publicity from the event but hardly came up with a well-thought-out menu (one that showcase some of the restaurants' signature dish will be nice) to make this worthwhile.



This year's Restaurant Week Spring edition features a number of interesting options. Duck & Waffle is very high on my list but I have been there as recently as Chinese New Year when we were in London; so that left me with Red Lobster, a seafood-themed American restaurant which has recently opened in Hong Kong. 



Red Lobster has been expanding a lot over the years. It has a reported 700+ branches worldwide and if my memory serves me correctly, my last dining experience with them dated back to 2003 when I was on a business trip to Danbury CT.



I always go bargain-hunting when I pick a Restaurant Week restaurant. Red Lobster certainly checks most boxes. For $148 (the cheapest category), one gets a soup, salad and main, while dessert is just an additional $8. You can't find any better deal from any other participating restaurants this year.



Lunch started off with some complimentary cheddar biscuits which have just come out of the oven so they were still sizzling hot.



Everyone had the clam chowder while I had the pumpkin soup.



I was expecting just a small bowl of Caesar salad so this was a pleasant surprise.



Seaside Shrimp Trio ($148) - I didn't order the Restaurant Week set for my little nugget. Instead, I chose something for him from the a la carte. This came with two small starters and a pasta dish, all with his beloved prawns.



Crispy fried shrimp - The garlicky batter was pretty nice if you like garlic.



Hand-crafted garlic shrimp with olive oil and tomato - Not bad.



Shrimp pasta with lobster cream sauce - Very generous portion. I don't think my little one can finish these all by himself.



The remaining main courses all came from the Restaurant Week set. The grilled lobster tail was much bigger than I thought. 



I dropped a few extra bucks to have a sirloin steak with my lobster tail (+$88). That turned out to be a poor decision on my part. The steak was really rubbery. Better stick with their seafood dishes, that's the lesson I learned this afternoon.



Least successful was the salmon fillet. 



Dessert cost just another $8 so we all went for it. The less popular one was the Taiwanese bubble tea inspired milk tea panna cotta. I like the idea but the execution was slightly off.



Wild berry shortcake proved to be the winner here. This was a deconstructed version of a shortcake with the sponge cake, whipped cream and wild berries all layered together randomly.



Just by this look, I knew little nugget absolutely loves this.



He's licking all over his spoon to make sure nothing got away!

$148 sounds like a small price to pay for a full meal like this. Maybe just maybe, I will be back to check out their a la carte menu in the next few months' time.



Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Fashion Walk, 8 Cleveland Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Causeway Bay
Tel: +852 2261-2996
Opening Hours: 11:30am - 10:00pm (Sun - Thu), 11:30am - 11:00pm (Fri - Sat)