Black Ink Udon Spanish Prawn Scallop Shiso Gremolata
He burst onto the scene opening the Peninsula Hotel’s iconic Felix in the mid 90s; then he launched the critically acclaimed Kokage Japanese restaurant in Wan Chai; later, he attempted to fuse Japanese-Italian together at D Diamond; and, most recently, he freelanced at Pacific Place’s Zelo. Either chef Bryan Nagao is a restless soul who lives for new challenges, or he just can’t keep a job.
The Hawaiian-Japanese surfer/chef is back with another new concept, Town, on the 10th floor of The Cubus building – which previously was the fine dining eatery Alba that, yep, Nagao cooked at too.
Chef Bryan Nagao
Town is described as modern European, reflecting the chef’s mixed bag of influences. Nagao calls it his most personal restaurant. “The whole idea of this place is urban casual dining,” he says. “You come here and relax. The food is a combination of cultures, with flavours pairings from Asia to Europe.”
Unlike Nagao’s previous prestigious culinary efforts, Town targets a more accessible clientele. “It’s below high-end. Here, we’re trying to drop it down a bit but still use quality ingredients. There are too many high-end places already. So, I’m not doing foie gras. As a chef, I also love to use toro, but just not here.”
The chef introduced his new cuisine at a media lunch earlier this month. Like Nagao’s food sometimes, the eatery’s slightly disparate design mixes a few too many influences for my liking. It wants to be relaxed and homey, but still remain cool with the obligatory industrial chic features and a private room complete with a shelf of potted herbs emulating a greenhouse garden.
Town lunch buffet selection
Nagao says the cooking is modern European, but then his partner is talking up the organic Chinese teas on offer. Maybe instead of just Town, they should’ve called it Town & Country.
Lunch is a fresh selection of antipasti and salads with a choice of main course. It’s reasonably priced at around HKD200 (depending on your main) considering the quality buffet offered. At our lunch, the day’s choices included very nicely prepared simple risottos, pastas, salmon and tenderloin beef.
Dinner shows more of Nagao’s pan-cultural flair. A signature appetiser is a painterly-presented Sicilian red prawn carpaccio with black truffle caviar, yuzu and croutons (HKD198). The prawn is sweet and tasty, but if Nagao just made a little more use of the head or its briny juices, this would’ve been a real knockout punch.
Sicilian Red Prawn Carpaccio with Black Truffle Caviar, Yuzu and Croutons
A dish with hearts of palm (young shoots of palm trees that have the texture of young bamboo) harvested from Hawaii is modernly plated with elegance amid red quinoa, endive, figs, pumpkin and a mustard dressing (HKD128). Another popular choice is the Spanish prawn, scallop and shiso gremolata with house-made black ink udon ($368), a comforting combo usually made with squid ink pasta. The thicker udon noodles are introduced for Asian palettes, but a bit more of an al dente approach would’ve made it that much more accomplished.
Hearts of Palm with Red Quinoa, Endive, Figs and Pumpkin Mustard
A little more unexpected was the Meditteranean-inspired Colorado lamb “T-bone” with lamb tongue, Greek yoghurt, beetroot and figs (HKD238). The most interesting and unusual element was the tongue, presented at room temperature in contrast to the warm roasted lamb. It has the same firm exterior but tender interior texture as ox tongue, only with a decidedly gamier flavour.
Colorado Lamb ‘T-Bone’ with Lamb Tongue, Greek Yoghurt, Beetroot and figs
Appealing to local palates, there is a dessert with ice cream made from Yakult, a local yoghurt drink popular with parents and young children as a healthy beverage. This is paired with a less healthy strawberry-chocolate cake and compressed strawberries (HKD78).
Town is an honest attempt to appeal to a wide customer base at a relatively affordable price point, but I worry its broad mandate comes at the expense of the chef’s culinary personality. Everything we tried has something clever and interesting, but the sum of all the parts is quite broad and unfocused.
There’s no doubt Nagao’s a good chef, but the question left after the lunch was: “Who is the real Bryan Nagao?” Hopefully, he will soon evolve with a more consistent voice to stamp on the menu, because this Town is not big enough for Bryan Nagao’s diffused repertoire.
Town, 10/F, The Cubus, 1 Hoi Ping Road, Causeway Bay, Tel: (+852) 256-8708. Open Monday – Saturday, 12noon to 2:30pm for lunch and 6:30pm – 11:30pm for dinner.
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