Go for the view

Out-of-towners often don't realise it, but the best views of my beloved Honkie are actually enjoyed from the Dark Side, not Hong Kong Island side... Tsim Sha Tsui has quite a few fine dining venues with a view, and having the excuse of an overseas guest in town, I could not resist dragging him to Aqua (29-30/F One Peking, 1 Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui) for dinner. I always wanted to try this place, despite the fact that it clearly is nowhere on the foodie map. The menu is split in 2 sections, boasting extensive selections of Italian and Japanese dishes. Just that seems rather odd and smells like a tourist trap... Turns out, I could spot only very few locals that night - the place caters mostly to tourists and gweilos indeed (surpriiiise!!). The main dining room definitely is very fancy and quite stylish, and even if the overpriced food is nothing to twitter home about, the view is magnificent. We were given a window-side table and enjoyed sweeping views over Victoria Harbour with our Tasmanian pinot noir - what's there not to like?? If the sheer beauty of the view doesn't draw a tear from you, the bill most certainly will...

The bread basket came with a pretty yummy pesto dip - not bad...

Barbecued mushrooms with sudachi citrus

This sounded like a very tempting offer - I was hoping for some smokey flavours from the robatayaki on my shrooms with a tangy citrussy lift... my shrooms turned up wrapped in a papillote (!?), so kiss the smoke goodbye... The so-called sudachi was actually an ordinary Thai green lime - should I say a wedge, nt even a whole lime - and some asparagus turned up unannounced and escorted by zucchini (re-!?) in the middle of this mess... (someone in the kitchen possibly got fired over that plating, right ??). The taste was ok, but not what you would come to expect from the premium price charged, and definitely something you can cook at home!

Slow-cooked Kobe beef cheek on braised Japanese turnip and sweet miso sauce

Just how slow-cooked was that cheek I couldn't tell, it was pretty tender, tasty and full of collagen for all I could taste, but somehow this dish just didn't work - the ingredients had obviously been all thrown together at the last minute, and the bland turnip definitely wasn't braised with the meat. The aubergine wedges were pretty greasy and undercooked, and the strange white sauce didn't taste at all like miso, more like a East-meets-West version of a veal blanquette sauce. Puzzling.

Ice creams: green tea, yuzu and coconut/lemongrass

The coconut/lemongrass was the best of the 3. The green tea was plain tasteless, and the yuzu tasted like it had been blended with some other (cheaper?) citrus.

My guests's tiramisu

I took a bite (just out of foodie duty...) - tasted ok but nothing like the ethereal angel foodstuff it should be... Too much sugar, both in the cream and in the biscuit. The sponge finger biscuits (definitely not baked on site) had been doused with what tasted like Kahlua, and I could not really taste the mascarpone in the cream, which was unnaturally stiff (gelatine?). And the plating... o_O