Monday, September 14, 2009

Salad burst - Applegreen

Last week I finally made it to Applegreen, a chain that bursted onto the Hong Kong dining scene about 6 months ago, that's been bursting at the seams ever since, and for the record, left me bursting by the end.

The fare is "American", the signature being salads, though they also have American-Italian style pastas and main courses. Sounds like TGI Friday's and Ruby Tuesday (why the names of weekdays, by the way?), without the ribs, wings and bistro/diner decor. The Causeway Bay outlet we went to (there's also one in Mongkok) looked like a page ripped out of a Japanese magazine - brightly lit, light birch-like woods everywhere, lantern-like lamps, a bit of art even and straight lines all around. It looked more like a Scandinavian cafe in Tokyo than an American restaurant in Hong Kong.

To start I had a half-portion of caesar with grilled chicken. All the salads came with a slice of poppyseed and orange cake for some reason, but no bread. Can someone explain? Where in the states do people eat salad with a slice of cake? Anyway, cake aside, the salad was very good - crisp, fresh with just the right amount of dressing, and grilled chicken already diced (not everyone's cuppa, but I like that I didn't have to do any more cutting). The half portion was basically one Hong Kong-sized portion - I was full by the end of it, and I think it only cost about HK$60.


Spaghetti amatriciana, with meatballs added. The meatballs were a bit dry and the sauce was way sweet, but at least the pasta was al dente. This was also under HK$100.

Applegreen crumble - an apple crumble. The crumble was a bit too smooth (looked like a biscuit mix piped neatly on top of the apple), but otherwise it was fine.

For the price, I can totally understand why this place is always packed. You can have decent food and be stuffed for less than HK$100 per head (if you're not greedy like us, you'd just order a salad or a pasta, not both) in a fairly 'hip' environment. I actually think I'd come back for their salads, if I can get a booking, that is.

Applegreen
2/F Plaza 2000
2-4 Russell St (opposite Times Square)
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
+852 2368 1263


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4 comments:

  1. Ha. Cake with salad! No people in the States don't eat cake with salad, and the salads that they mostly eat are gross anyway. Lettuce + ranch dressing? Yuck. Anyway, loving this blog!

    -- Ina

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  2. haha I thought so - I don't know what gave them this idea of serving dessert with your appetizer. Time saving? And thanks for reading (long time no see, hope you're well!)

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  3. Salad with cake? That is so strange. Sounds disgusting!

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  4. Luckily the cake wasn't mixed INTO the salad - in which case it would have been disgusting!! Serving salad with a slice of cake is just another bizarre Chinese interpretation of 'Western' food, I suppose!

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