[Andrew W Scott]

Gaia

by Andrew W Scott
21 October 2006

Our visit

Date of dining: 20 October 2006 at 19:30
Table for: two people

Before arriving…

There was no special occasion, I merely invited a lovely young lady out for dinner on the upcoming Friday night. I had noticed Gaia in a restaurant guidebook, and it looked inviting. A few days before, I called to make a reservation for 8pm on Friday. The booking was very efficient (no being put on hold or language difficulties).

Late in the afternoon on the day of our reservation, my dining partner asked if we could make it half an hour earlier. I called Gaia around 6:30pm and asked if we could change from 8pm to 7:30pm. It was no problem at all.

A little about the restaurant…

Gaia opened in 2001. It is located in Sheung Wan, a very old area of Hong Kong about a 20 minute walk or 5 minute MTR ride west of the absolute centre of Hong Kong. The ride in a cab from Central could be anywhere from 5 minutes to 20 minutes depending on traffic.

Gaia is just a short two minute stroll from exit E2 of the Sheung Wan MTR station, on the ground floor of the Grand Millennium Plaza building on Queen’s Road. It spills out westward from the building alfresco style onto an area designed to look like an Italian piazza.

The restaurant has a reputation for serving fine Italian fare and the Gaia group also own Isola restaurant, which opened in IFC in 2004.

Ok, so here we are!

Upon subsequent visits there certainly will be no problem, but on your virgin visit to Gaia a little confusion may arise on the normally trivial issue of walking into the restaurant! The best way to approach the restaurant is in fact not from Queen’s Road at all, but from the south side of Wing Lok Street. If you come from the Queen’s Road direction it is in fact easy to wander into the restaurant amongst the alfresco tables and be forced to meander around trying to locate the maitre d’.

Approximately half the restaurant is inside, and half outside in the alfresco piazza-style area. When we arrived, the temperature inside and outside appeared seemed to be the same. We dined outside. Gaia is dimly lit with a classy design. We were shown to our table efficiently and not left hanging as in some other establishments.

Let’s order…

We were offered drinks immediately upon arrival and were given food and a “wine by the glass” menu. A medium sized bottle of flat water costs HK$60. I had to specifically ask for a list of Gaia’s bottled wines. The wine list was extensive and impressive, with numerous reds, whites and even some rosé from Italy, France and other places. We selected a bottle of Moet et Chandon NV which was about HK$850.

The menu consisted of eight or so antipasti and salad options, about seven pizzas, about seven pasta choices, and about six secondi piatti (Italian for “second plate”, or main courses). You can browse the menu on Gaia’s website, although it does look a little different to the menu we selected from. Perhaps the website needs updating. About half of the secondi piatti list was seafood.

We selected a US Angus rib eye beef, and veal on the bone with truffle oil, mashed pumpkin and other vegetables. Our orders were taken efficiently with no fuss.

I didn’t notice any special vegetarian options, but may have just missed that.

Settling in for the evening…

Our Moet arrived and I was asked whether I would like to try it (presumably being sparking, it was not automatically assumed that I should try it). I said yes, and of course the wine was fine.

Next canapés emerged. Miniature bruschetta with diced tomato and some other ingredients I’ve already forgotten. My dining partner remarked that they seemed too salty and ate only one mouthful. Being canapés, that one mouthful was still about 50% of the lot. I was less inclined to agree with her about being “too” salty, but agreed the canapés were on the salty side.

Without much delay our Angus beef and veal arrived. The veal was better than the beef. The beef was good, but nothing spectacular. Properly cooked, but only average quality meat for the standard of establishment we were at. Perhaps it could be best described as “very good, but you can certainly get this good elsewhere, and cheaper”. On the other hand the veal was excellent, extremely flavorsome with a lovely sauce. The pumpkin and truffle enhanced the veal perfectly. The vegetables were fresh and cooked just the right amount. Both dishes were presented simply yet very attractively on quality crockery.

The service was understated and efficient. The waiters all spoke English well and were very pleasant and attentive. Their only fault during the evening was that my champagne flute remained empty for some five to ten minutes at one stage. With the ice bucket out of my reach this afforded me no opportunity to refill my own glass so I was somewhat stranded without a drink for a while.

The ambience was excellent. I didn’t notice any music, but there may well have been some. If there was, it was very subtle. As mentioned earlier the lighting was dim, and the piazza itself is a dimly lit area so this added to the romantic atmosphere. On a Friday evening the normal daily hubbub of Sheung Wan had dissipated so there wasn’t any excessive traffic or other urban noise. The background chatter of your fellow diners is just enough to make you feel comfortable without being excessively noisy. The tables are well spaced apart, so conversation feels private. Gossip away to your heart’s content.

On this particular evening the climate was pleasant, but during Hong Kong’s more humid months dining indoors would definitely be the preferred option. There are floor to ceiling windows so I suspect that even indoors some of the alfresco dining feel would remain.

Since we had skipped antipasto, there was room for dessert. There is a translation error on the menu, the Italian sorbetti is mistranslated as “sherbet” instead of “sorbet”. Despite this (or perhaps because of it), we ordered it! We also ordered tiramisu, naturally a perennial Italian favourite. There is a selection of about ten flavours of ice-cream and sorbet, including black cherry, mango, lemon, tiramisu, hazelnut and many more. Italian cheeses also feature on the dessert menu, with a warning of a 15 minute wait for said cheeses. Such warnings seem normally to be reserved for soufflé.

Our desserts were top notch. The tiramisu comes in a bowl, and is dominated by the cream side of things rather than the cake side of things. Light and fluffy, it was not overbearing and certainly hit the spot. Our lemon sorbet, mango ice-cream (we were expecting more sorbet), and black cherry ice-cream were delicious, albeit my dining partner found the lemon sorbet a touch sour. Being a fan of very tart lemon flavours, I had no such issue. The ice-creams and sorbet came with the unexpected bonus of a substantial amount of very fresh fruit, including some exquisitely juicy rockmelon (or cantaloupe if you prefer).

With great European espresso coffee being a relative rarity in Hong Kong, ordering coffee is mandatory in a top Italian restaurant. Both the cappuccino and café latte were no less than perfect. You will be tempted to order a second cup.

Maidan! (that’s Chinese for “check please!”)

Our total bill was HK$2,010, including the 10% service fee. Drinks were water (HK$60), the Moet (about HK$850), and the two coffees (perhaps around HK$80, I can’t really remember, but worth every cent). The rest of the bill covered two secondi piatti and two desserts.

Is it good value? Probably not. I’ve had dinners for two that were half the price and certainly better than half as good. But then again I’ve had dinners for two that were twice the price and certainly not twice as good.

The wrap-up…

Overall Gaia was a lovely experience, and especially recommended for a romantic evening. Just ensure that the weather gods are on your side if you want to get the full alfresco effect. If your hip pocket is not a factor, then you will have a great time. If price is an issue, you may be left with a slight feeling of “could have done better somewhere else”. The food is good to great, the wine list a winner, and the ambience hard to beat. Definitely a place worth visiting at least once in order to form your own opinion. Would I dine there again? Yes, I would.

Scores
Food: 6.5 out of 10
Ambience: 8 out of 10
Service: 8 out of 10
Value for money: 4 out of 10

Overall: 7 out of 10

[PDLM]

Thanks for the report - I've wondered about going to this place...

Originally Posted by Andrew W Scott

There is a translation error on the menu, the Italian sorbetti is mistranslated as “sherbet” instead of “sorbet”.

That's not a translation error - the menu is in American not English, "sherbet" being what Americans call a sorbet (cf "zucchini" = American for courgette, "egg plant" = American for "aubergine", etc.)

[fly]

That's some good information, Andrew. (I was considering Gaia earlier and ended up at Bo Innovation instead. Gaia will have to wait for next time!)

KIA: Will restaurant reviews be a new forum here??

[PDLM]

Restaurant reviews have always existed on this site, but no-one ever uses them unfortunately... The resource is here: http://www.geoexpat.com/resources/ho...d-restaurants/ but I don't get the impression that it is particualrly uptodate or well-used.

[emptystring]

wow, thanks for the detailed review. maybe i will take my girlfriend there soon =)

- bernard

[Andrew W Scott]

Originally Posted by PDLM

Thanks for the report - I've wondered about going to this place...



That's not a translation error - the menu is in American not English, "sherbet" being what Americans call a sorbet (cf "zucchini" = American for courgette, "egg plant" = American for "aubergine", etc.)

Well, well, well, you learn something new everyday. I stand corrected. In fact, I did a little research:

Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.

sherbet, sherbert, sorbet (nn.)

Now the name of a frozen dessert, the word sherbet appeared in English in the seventeenth century, meaning “a cold fruit drink,” and developed two spellings reflecting its two pronunciations, sherbet (SHUHR-bit) and sherbert (SHUHR-buhrt). Today both spellings and both pronunciations are regularly encountered in both British and American use, to the discomfort of some purists, who argue that only sherbet is acceptable. Meantime, food fanciers have reborrowed this word in its French form, sorbet, pronounced both in the French way (sor-BAI) and an anglicized (SOR-bet). Standard English now uses all three forms, although Edited English usually clings to sherbet and continues to italicize the French sorbet as foreign. Australian English now uses sherbert, both alone and in compounds, as another name for beer.

Actually, I had never heard of "sherbet" being Australian for beer (isn't that meant to be Fosters?)

I remember from my childhood in Australia "sherbet" being a specific type of lolly (that's confectionary) that tingled when put in your mouth and then fizzed from a solid into a sticky, sweet, foamy substance. It may be that some Australians used "sherbet" as a euphamism or a nickname for beer, since beer also has a "foamy" component.

Anyway, I now know that sherbet is American for sorbet, and is in fact the older term. (A bit like fall and autumn, fall is actually the older word).

[Netfiend]

Have been to Gaia a couple of times for Lunch .. all the more coz its just a stone's throw away from my office ..

Just that, I have never considered any of the places around work for dinner .. But, After reading the reviews here, will plan to go there for dinner ..

[newbigland]

Oh I went to Gaia last week. My unprofessional restaurant/food review is:

My minestrone was okay. I was half full after it.
My friend's tuna + green appertizer was really good. I loved the raw tuna.
We had the parma ham + green + cheese pizza. It was YUMMY! Probably better than that restaurant in LFK. I forgot the name. It starts with a "B".
It started raining as soon as we left the restaurant so we went back and asked if we could borrow an umbrella and we promised to bring it back. They handed us a nice huge umbrella and said "Don't worry about returning it."