Reviews

• 

  Fancy Ambiance, Great With Intimate Friends

  Food Craver | Apr 15 2012

  After reading Jason's review on The Press Room, it had been on my to try list for quite sometime but its only today that I went. The drive was originally for the frites, but I forgot to order it until I became full lol. Even so, I pretty much enjoyed my visit there and perhaps next time I could try it.
  
  The Press Room is under the Press Room Group who also owns restaurants like The Pawn and The Classified. The Press Room is the first restaurant that the group founded, the idea behind the restaurant and the group name was from the fact that the location was once the offices of the Overseas Chinese Daily Newspaper back in the 1920s. I generally enjoy dinning in the restaurants of the Press Room Group, the nice and chilling ambiance is probably the main reason I love spending time there. It is always nice spending time in their restaurants with intimate friends and my loved one. (Remark: Please omit SML from the list though)
  
  They have a really good deal on the two courses diner, so we each ordered one and added a salad on top.
  
  1) Rare Peppered Beef Salad $98 (8/10)
  Well balanced salad leaves (Palm Hearts & Watercress) with halved juicy cherry tomatoes and lightly spicy beef topped with shredded parmesan and truffle oil, which indeed was a lovable and appetising salad choice. Portion was generous to share between two.
  
  2) French Onion Soup (6/10)
  French Onion Soup is no doubt my favourite, I can't resist ordering one if the restaurant has it. The cheese was nicely baked with a decent aroma and tasted the best at the rim where the cheese was crusty and strong. However the soup itself was flat, so I didn't like it too much.
  
  3) Duck Confit (8/10)
  I think it's difficult to make nice duck as their meat is rougher in general. I had tried restaurants that messed up duck confit, but it's still one of my favourite dish.
  
  There were two parts of the duck on the plate, offering two different textures. The duck breast on the right was tender, juicy and savoury, where as the duck leg on the left had a slightly rougher texture but very crispy skin. The wild berry jus was surprisingly overly salty, and hence ruined the spinach which was soaked in the sauce. The whole dish would be much better without the sauce. I enjoyed my duck confit in generally.
  
  4) Slow Braised Lamb Shank ($239) (3/10)
  The lamb shank was nicely presented, I bet the big chunk would immediately make a guy smile. I am a lamb lover but this lamb's taste was very strong in an unpleasant way. The only thing nice on the plate was the buttered potato. My friend and I were hugely disappointed.
  
  Final Comments...
  The food was fine in general, it is the ambiance that I like about this restaurant. Just as I said at the beginning, I would definitely go back sometimes to try out their other dishes as well as the frites. :)
  
  DISHES RECOMMENDED:
  - Rare Peppered Beef Salad
  - Duck Confit

  • How much did you spend?
    300
  • Overall Rating
    OK

  

  

  

  
  • Food 5
  • Service 6
  • Ambiance 8
  • Price 1

• 

  New chef and menu

  Iluvbutter | Jul 24 2011

  Tried the new menu by the new chef, Jorge da Silva. Very impressed by the new dishes, still retaining the brasserie feel as well. The space is always buzzing, and it is a fun place to go.

  • How much did you spend?
    350
  • Overall Rating
    OK
  • Food 8
  • Service 7
  • Ambiance 8
  • Price 3

• 

  HK's version of Balthazar

  JOng | Sep 5 2010

  Reminds me of the hot spot in Soho New York. The French bistro fare Press Room offers is a little American, exactly like Balthazar. Unique and of a decent standard consistently. I can see why there is always a line on Friday and Saturday night, as well as on Sunday morning.

  • How much did you spend?
    550 pp for dinner
  • Overall Rating
    Good
  • Food 7
  • Service 7
  • Ambiance 7
  • Price 4

• 

  Onion soup + fries = Best Lunch ever!

  Andy | Aug 23 2010

  I go a lot for lunch, as I’m a big fan of the goats cheese tart and French onion soup. The latter is covered in melted cheese, and is super decadent and very satisfying. We usually get a side of fries to share, and they’re the best fries I’ve had in HK. I don’t normally go for dinner as it’s a touch expensive and I find the quality isn’t that great for some of the main dishes, which is why I stick to the starters, salads and soups. Burger gets full marks too.

  • How much did you spend?
    200
  • Overall Rating
    Good
  • Food 8
  • Service 8
  • Ambiance 8
  • Price 4

• 

  Consistently Good

  minestrone | Aug 4 2010

  This is just one of those restaurants you keep coming back again and again as it's consistently good. I went there a few nights ago on a week night, and it was nice a quiet, different from the sunday buzz.
  
  Food is still yummy, with the fries still topping the french fry charts, they are just so amazing. I had a hanger steak that night and it was cooked very well, soft and tender. Crepe Suzette was so so, a bit on the soggy side, so maybe another dessert next time.
  
  Overall, very very nice dinner choice, service has greatly improved since it's early days, good ambiance if you're looking for a nice meal with friends on a week night,and definitely very reasonably price for this quality of food!

  • How much did you spend?
    $300
  • Overall Rating
    Good
  • Food 8
  • Service 7
  • Ambiance 8
  • Price 3

• 

  The Press Room (Revisited)

  jason.bonvivant | Oct 9 2009

  I never really enjoyed having a one-day holiday in the middle of the week because the feeling is more devastating than weekends. Within 24 hours, one has to return to work, the feeling is definitely worst than a normal 48 hours weekend, which is already not enough! It was 1 Oct 2009, and the best activity to cheer myself on such a holiday was to find something comforting for brunch. I have been to the Brunch Club a bit too often lately so I opted for The Press Room for a nice and relaxing brunch with a friend.
  
  To my surprise, The Press Room looked slightly different, especially the entrance and the previous seafood bar area. After an apparent renovation, a new seafood bar has been constructed at the entrance with its old location replaced by a beverages / alcohol bar. It is obvious that they want to push their seafood items and one of their new offerings include freshly baked / prepared whole fish which can be selected from the seafood bar. Grilled Whole Red Snapper sounds good to me !! The red snapper is for another night, for brunch on this gloomy afternoon, we went for something more suited for this time of day.
  
  (1) Blueberries Pancakes
  Pancake? It should be named Fat Pancake or Over-sized Pancake because of its thickness. It was so thick but for a reason I suppose. Only with this thickness can the chunks of blueberries be able to hide inside the pancake. Also, the texture of the pancake was more like a slice of loaf cake, rather firm and dry. It really tasted like slice of loaf cake if it weren't for the syrup. A disappointing dish. (o yes, the bacon was alright, crisp and dry, not greasy as well.)
  
  (2) Corned Beef Hash with poached egg
  A highly recommended dish by my friend and it was definitely worth trying. The poached egg was prepared just right with plenty of egg yolk flooding out when the poach was punctured. It really looked like a little poach. As for the hash itself, the texture was starchy with a crisp but firm outer layer. The beef flavor was rich and the diced potatoes and minced carrots inside gave the hash an added variation of flavors on every bite. I think there were traces or slight hints of tomato (and its skin) in the hash but I wasn't certain. Overall a wonderful brunch item.
  
  chopstick(3) Press Room Fries
  How can one visit The Press Room without ordering its fries, it is a must in my opinion. I have talked about its fries over and over again in many of my reviews and I will never get tired of mentioning it again because it is one of best I tried so far in Hong Kong. The one we ordered was freshly fried and it was crispy with a relatively hollow center and it was not too greasy with a slightly chewy outer layer to it. Thumbs up again! My friend and I were literally fighting over the last piece !!
  
  Likes:
  
  * Fries, Fries and more Fries
  * Slightly renovated but maintained the relaxing atmosphere and bistro decor from before.
  * Corned Beef Hash - very starchy and rich in beef flavor, a very decent dish
  
  Dislikes:
  
  * Pancake - taste like loaf cake, too thick and dry
  * Can be quite noisy when full house
  
  Avg Spending: HKD 100 - 200 per person
  
  Original Blog with Pictures: http://jason-bonvivant.blogspot.com/2009/10/press-room-revisted.html

  • How much did you spend?
    HKD 100 - 200 per person
  • Food 6
  • Service 6
  • Ambiance 7
  • Price 1

• 

  All but the service

  Tim | Oct 6 2009

  Newly renovated, just as good as before. Big seafood platter, and very reasonably priced. Service hasn't really improved though!

  • How much did you spend?
    370
  • Food 8
  • Service 8
  • Ambiance 6
  • Price 3

• 

  French Onion Soup

  Johnny-Be-Good | Sep 3 2009

  If you're looking for an authentic french onion soup, look no further than The Press Room.
  
  Finally a place where they serve proper french onion soup with the right amount of cheese. If you're sick of onion soup with a little cheese sprinkled on a piece of toast floating in your onion soup, go to The Press Room.

  • How much did you spend?
    150
  • Food 5
  • Service 9
  • Ambiance 9
  • Price 4

• 

  The Press Room

  jason.bonvivant | Aug 12 2009

  I have been talking about this place for a long while, especially its French fries. On this Monday night, it was my day off and after watching the movie UP (what a great movie), my friend and I decided to come here for a relaxing dinner. This place brings back many memories, actually not so pleasant memories now that I think about it. It has nothing to do with food quality, it was something personal. One should look forward into the future instead of circling in the past asking why continuous. Anyhow, enough with the personal reflection here. We arrived at around 8:30pm but it was almost full, on a Monday night! I was surprised but it is a good thing I guess. (O yeah, a note worth mentioning, they are having a Free Flowing Wine Night every Monday!)
  
  
  
  On the way to the main dinning area, one would pass by the little oyster bar at the corner. Again I was still shocked at the number of people here on a Monday night! The atmosphere is soft and mild but it was rather noisy that night; then again, this place is called the Press Room which is suppose to be noisy right? While ordering, I asked for some free flowing wine to start it off.
  
  
  
  
  (1) Oysters Selection
  With the little oyster bar hiding in the corner, I cannot help myself but to order a few to try. On the menu there was a oyster platter selection but BEWARE, the selection of oysters under the platter option was very limited. To stay away from the limited choices (which we both dislike), we ordered 2 other kinds, a la carte style. We order Angel from Scotland and Fine de Claire from France. The Angel was very salty, way more salty than our expectation especially form a Scottish oyster. Fine de Claire, on the other hand, was way better. It was salty but not in the same sense as Angel because it was rich in oyster flavor to start off with and slowly brought out the sweet and bitter aftertaste. We both liked the Fine de Claire better.
  
  
  
  (2) Baked Sea Snails
  I liked the presentation very much, simple while elegant. The snails were placed on top of a pile of sea salt. (I wonder why it is called Sea Snails because it looked like Sea Whelk to me.) The flavor was good especially with "a bit" of the sea salt. I said "a bit" because if you tip the balance and got yourself a spoonful of the sea salt in your mouth, prepare to drink a lot of water because the sea salt used was very salty that it can dehydrate soon after. However, with the right amount, it went really well with the sea snails.
  
  
  
  (3) Baby Chicken
  I am not sure if I mention it before but in my opinion, chicken is a very difficult dish to master or to prepare in a restaurant because it is very easy to overcook it. The ability to prepare a good chicken dish, be it roasted or grilled, gives you a fair idea of the skills of the chef in that restaurant. I would not give the dish being served a thumbs up review not because the chicken quality was bad, it was actually tender throughout and relatively juicy even for the breast area; but it was the flavor of the herbs and spices used that I was rather disappointed. Most of the flavors were on the skin layer so if you are not a "chicken skin eater", you would not get much of a taste out of this dish. I eat chicken skin, so by ensuring my every bite of chicken has a small piece of skin to go along with it, it was a very decent dish.
  
  
  
  (4) Daube De Boeuf (with Wagyu Beef Cheek)
  Based on my understanding, it is a very difficult French dish to prepare because it requires long cooking time and skills. (at least that is my understanding) It was because of the difficulties in preparing this dish that I insisted on ordering it. The sauce was great, very rich but tasty in my opinion. The mash potatoes were good as well with strong butter flavor. While the Waygu Beef Cheek was very tender and soft that it almost required no chewing at all. (of course not to the point of melting in your mouth like some A5 Grade Wagyu steak but very soft indeed) However, while it was soft and tender, there seemed to be no beef taste to it at all. Is that how the beef cheek tastes like or lacked of it? humm ...
  
  
  
  (5) French Fries
  We ordered two sets because one was just not enough!!! The fries at this place is so far one of the best I have tried in Hong Kong. They remained crisp even after leaving it at room temperature for 10 or 15 minutes. The texture of the fries is one of the key elements I like to mention because although individual fries were sliced up from one single potato, they were not overly filling with a relative hallow interior. Flavor wise, only traces of salt was found, letting the rich potato flavor for my taste bud to enjoy. Thumbs up!
  
  
  
  Likes:
  
  * Great decor, atmosphere and ambiance
  * French Fries
  * Baked Sea Snails
  
  Dislikes:
  
  * A bit noisy (+ slight echoing effect when full house)
  * Limited selection of oyster for the platter option
  * lack of beef taste from the Wagyu beef cheek (is it suppose to taste like this? humm)
  
  Original Blog with pics: http://jason-bonvivant.blogspot.com/2009/08/press-room.html
  
  Visit Date: 10 Aug 2009
  • Food 7
  • Service 6
  • Ambiance 7
  • Price 3

• 

  Finally, French Onion Soup with the right amount of cheese

  Johnny-Be-Good | Apr 27 2009

  I would go to Press Room just for their French Onion Soup. Unlike the other restaurants that only sprinkle a little cheese on a tiny piece of toast in your onion soup, they properly serve the right amount of cheese in theirs. Almost an inch thick that covers the entire bowl. Finally, a proper french onion soup.
  • Food 8
  • Service 10
  • Ambiance 10
  • Price 4