Almost everyone I’ve spoken to has found the fifth wave of COVID to be tough. Thankfully, we’re coming out of it now. For me, these past few months were another opportunity to choose (though it wasn’t always easy!) to be grateful for the good things and hopeful for the future.
Now that we can go out more freely, my calendar is nearly as packed as pre-pandemic days, meeting up with friends and loved ones for delicious food and drink. Maybe yours is too?
Even having lived in Hong Kong for nearly seven years, it can still be hard to choose a restaurant. It has to be delicious, obviously, but also worth the money and preferably in a “not too hard to get to” (or reserve!) location.
Recently, I went to visit Percy’s, a seafood-focused neighbourhood restaurant and bar that’s located right off the Central–Mid-Levels escalator. A group of us tried the new weekend brunch menu, which is a good mix of creative and classic dishes.
One of the most unique dishes is the dry-aged tuna merguez with ½ dozen Irish Oysri oysters, rye bread and seaweed butter ($638). Merguez is a North African mutton or beef sausage, but at Percy’s, it’s made with in-house dry-aged tuna. We raved about this – satisfying, but not greasy, and full of flavour.
We also loved the hamachi ceviche ($198) with sugar snap peas, coriander and a delectable gooseberry leche de tigre. An unusual and fresh flavour combination that’s perfect for balmy days.
When we visited, the special was a fish-head terrine ($268), which included cobia, grouper, jumbo crab, heirloom tomatoes, mustard and pickles, and it was excellent. It tasted really fresh and clean, and it’s certainly not something we see every day.
My favourite classic dish was the tuna melt ($178). When I saw it on the menu, I skipped past it as many other dishes sounded more interesting. But one bite and I was hooked! Americans and Canadians, we’ve all had tuna melts before, however, this one has great-quality ingredients (no tinned tuna here), which, of course, makes all the difference. The sandwich is made with anchovy and onion focaccia for extra flavour (the bread did get soggy a bit too quickly though).
Though it was a warm day, most of us ate up the braised short rib hash ($208). It looks delicious, does it not? And it tasted as good as it looks. Every element, from the Ratte potatoes (nutty flavour, buttery texture), to the soft-boiled Japanese egg, to the hollandaise sauce was done well.
I couldn’t stop going back for seconds and then thirds of the seafood quiche ($268). This is an interesting dish. I loved how fluffy it was, but some might find it almost too soft and fluffy, with the texture of the seafood cooked in a way that makes it almost indistinguishable from the egg.
The lobster cocktail ($298), crab cake Benedict ($248) and caviar and crème fraiche soft scramble ($228) were all as expected – good but not memorable.
Verdict
Percy’s uses great ingredients and there’s real creativity in the kitchen, which is helmed by Executive Chef Braden Reardon (formerly of Buenos Aires Polo Club and Carbone). I’d definitely go back and reorder the hamachi and fish-head terrine – unique flavours I’ve not had elsewhere in Hong Kong. The rest of the brunch menu is solid though a bit pricey. Percy’s would be be a great foodie spot to impress a date or host an elevated group dinner.
🌐 Percy’s
📍 18–18A Shelley Street, SoHo, Central, 2898 2699
This write-up is based on a complimentary media tasting provided in exchange for an honest review and no monetary compensation. The opinions expressed here represent the author’s.
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