Catalunya’s seafood paella is available only for lunch. Photo: Catalunya
Catalunya is a Spanish hit in Singapore. A year ago the restaurant expanded to Hong Kong and proved to be just as popular. Some of it is hype, but part of it is a well earned rep.
For the anniversary, group executive chef Alain Devahive Tolosa has created several new dishes on top of the standard menu. Although working at the legendary El Bulli is his calling card, Tolosa relies as much on traditional Catalan cooking as Ferran Adria’s molecular modernism. The new dishes show some concession to more refined ideas but at heart they remain Spanish in their rustic, rich essence.
Lunch remains the biggest challenge for the business. Our weekday media tasting occurred in a near empty restaurant at 1pm. It seems people are willing to cab here for drinks and dinner, but not necessarily lunch to their nondescript area at the back of Causeway Bay.
As we waited for the last guests to arrive, some heavenly slices of jamon Iberico ‘Gran Reserva’ Bellota (HK$330), Catabrian anchovies (HK$110 for three slices in oilive oil) and artisanal breads (HK$35) with a smidge of tomato paste were offered to start, along with a cold flute of Cava. It’s very tempting to eat too many slices of the thin, glistening ham and not leave room for the actual lunch. They literally melt to the touch, with the fat rendering onto warm fingers.
More waist-bulging tapas followed. Mollete with Bone Marrow and Caviar (HK$120 for two pieces) is the most unctuous. A mollete is supposed to be a bread but here it is more like a thick pastry – think Chinese egg tart – topped with cubes of marrow, caviar and a little ricotta gravy to make it more decadent.
The classic bacalao – salt dried cod fish – is brought back to life in a pretty dish called Bacalao al Pil-Pil (HK$180), which refers to the accompanying garlic and olive oil emulsion. It’s a Basque classic dressed up in frilly fashion. The delicate fish is now not longer salty at all and food porn artists will love the colourful plating.
Another new cod dish marries the bacalao with green peas cooked with bits of pork belly and chorizo (HK$190). The young peas are very sweet balancing very nicely with the pork, which oddly makes the cod almost irrelevant.
The Mushrooms ‘Pasta’ with Scallops and Ikura (HK$150) slices up thin strips of oyster mushrooms to resemble noodles for a carb-free conduit with the fish roe and seared scallops.
The Seafood Paella (HK$850) followed. For whatever reason, Catalunya only makes the Spanish rice entree available for lunch but the portion is so large you need at least three more people to join you to make sense of ordering it. Topped with scampi, clams, mussels and Spanish red prawns, the rice is also cooked with bits of octopus and obviously a very rich stock to turn it a deep brown colour. Maybe there’s a Catalan soy and oyster sauce I don’t know about? As if it wasn’t rich enough, the scampi are cooked on their back with a layer of what appears to be bone marrow on the belly. The rice we are encouraged to scrape from the middle (which is still slightly watery) inward to make sure we get a variety of the texture, although to be honest there isn’t much of a crispy dege to chew on.
A plate of pan fried very mild Padron peppers (HK$95) allowed everyone to delude themselves that this wasn’t just an afternoon of gluttony but we had some healthy greens too. Not.
FIND IT:
Catalunya
Guardian House Morrison Hill
32 Oi Kwan Road, Wan Chai
Tel: 2866-7900
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