There's a constant carousal of restaurants opening and closing in Lan Kwai Fong's California Tower - just a fact of life in this highly competitive area in terms of F&B business. But this time it's a case of new wine in an old bottle, with the steakhouse Porterhouse recently got a new owner with the new makeover. I haven't been to the old Porterhouse before so I can't tell how dramatic was the change when I went for dinner recently, but I was assured those are changes for the good, replacing everything from the chef to the concept to the menu and to the tableware ("basically everything except the interior", I was told)
The setting was like any typical steakhouse with perhaps a notch less of uptightness (so, no leather upholstery and wooden furniture) Same goes with their menu - there's the typical steakhouse fares like the lobster bisque or Caesar Salad or seafood platter (and steaks, that goes without saying), but there were also some vegetarian options - I am happy to see Beyond Burger listed on the menu and I would be curious to taste their version of meatless burger next time.
This time the four of us went through a number of dishes with the focus on those that are new on the menu. I am not a particular fan of beetroots but I did like the salt-baked beetroot served with cheddar and toasted sunflower seeds. It's less of that grassy taste that I don't like but with enhanced sweetness from the salt added.
The restaurant has now put more emphasis on their namesake cut with a wide selection from butchers all over the world. This evening we had two - first the Australian Ranger Valley Black Market M5 and then the US Linz Heritage Black Angus Prime. So we got to try four different types of steak! My favorite part was the strip section of the Ranger Valley with good marbling of fat cooked to the perfect medium-rare but overall I did prefer the Linz Heritage one for a more balanced texture on both sides. A handful of side dishes were served and they were decent, as what you expected from a high-end steakhouse. I was addicted to the triple-cooked fat fries and the cheddar mac n cheese.
I couldn't believe we still got rooms for desserts, but we did wiped clean the two that were served (molten chocolate cake and salted caramel icecream sundae) between the four of us. So overall it does look like they are changing in the right direction.
(Dinner was by invitation and courtesy of the restaurant's PR team)
When? November 1 2017
Where? Porterhouse, 7/F California Tower, 30-36 D'Aguilar Street, Hong Kong
Menu Highlights? US Linz Heritage Black Angus Prime Porterhouse
Drinks? 2014 Argento Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina
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