Tomahawk Time at Grand Hyatt Steakhouse, Hong Kong

It was G's birthday and there are few things my personal anti-foodist loves to eat more than steak. The Grand Hyatt Steakhouse has been on my to-try list forever, but like the many other lists in my life, I don't often refer to them (cue self-help guru).

It's notoriously popular, but it being a Sunday night, I decided to give them a call and try my luck. After I gave them my contact phone number, it appeared that they had me on the system (freaky, but cool) and I was told that there are normally two sittings but I could get a 7.30pm booking bang in the middle of them. I guess I'm on the special pain-in-the-backside or those-idiots-they-call-bloggers list. It was awfully nice of them, and I think they have me on the system because I've been a Hyatt Gold Passport member for a while and stayed at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong recently (a junket), but to be honest I'd be just as happy either way.

Disclaimers done, let's get onto the food.

US Tomahawk, dry-aged

The main event was the Tomahawk steak, pictured above. If you imagine a lamb chop, but on a cow, then you'll have a fair idea of what it is. It's basically a bone-in rib-eye. The menu says it's for 2 to share, but we shared amongst the 3 of us and were completely stuffed. US bone-in steaks have only recently been allowed back in Hong Kong, plus, I did some copywriting about the Tomahawk a few years ago when it was first introduced into HK, but had never eaten it, so I was pretty excited. It didn't disappoint - this had been dry-aged (not sure for how long) and it was juicy, flavoursome, tender and even crispy on the edges.

I talk and think about the ethics of eating a lot, and this steak is basically a slap in the face. It's corn-fed (actually, corn-finished, so it's not that bad...???), but like a dieter facing a full-fat brownie topped with double cream, I just had to tell myself that I've been good all year... You can blast me in the comments section.

Oak smoked salmon with quails' eggs and watercress

I had smoked salmon as my starter, and it was a ridiculously generous portion, complete with sour cream, capers, hard-boiled quail's eggs (traditional, I guess, but ick!) and watercress. My dad laughed when I ordered it as they'd just come back from Scotland. It was oily in that good, firm, slick way that makes you think "Omega 3!" and feel good about yourself.

Rum Baba

Dessert consisted of canele-shaped rum babas. If you look carefully at my shoddy photo you'll see the blueish flames of the rum that was poured over the top. Probably a bit too much rum and not enough flames because each baba just ended up being a carrier for a straight shot of rum. A good/bad thing depending on which side of alcoholism you veer, I suppose.

Apple Crumble

For the birthday boy, an apple crumble. Pretty standard steakhouse dessert, but it was done well, and I adore the vanilla soft serve on the side.

To atone for my sins, my mom was vegetarian for the night and we were surprised at the number of veg options at a steakhouse. Her Vegetarian Wellington looked pretty decent, although I didn't try any.

The wine list is shockingly priced, with very few drinkable reds under HK$1000, but I guess that's just a Hong Kong reality. They had about 4-5 reds by the glass (there were whites, roses and sparkling too, but seriously, who looks at those at a steakhouse?).

Excellent service throughout - they even took a photo for us on the 'house camera' and printed it out straight away. Old-school, but the kind of thing that gets my parents giddy (and me too, a little. Maybe I'm getting old).

Grand Hyatt Steakhouse
Grand Hyatt Hong Kong
1 Harbour Road*
Wan Chai
+852 2588 1234
Mon-Sun 6-10.30pm

*Do note, however, that despite the hotel being on the waterfront, there are no harbour views from the Steakhouse.


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