Hugo's
European Steakhouse showcasing Classic Guéridon Service in Hong Kong
Hong Kong is a city of great cuisines. It is a melting pot of world culinary art, and it has amazing restaurants as diverse as the people that inhabit the city. Without a doubt, Hong Kong has some of the best Cantonese cooking in the world, but you can find amazing French, Japanese and Italian cuisine as well. Over the years, it has even developed its own cuisine - the original fusion of east and west to form “tea restaurant” cuisine, a quickly-prepared meal of cheap easily-preserved ingredients originally produced by Chinese restauranteurs trying to appeal to western palates.
One cuisine that I have found lacking, however, is a good steakhouse. While there are many “east meets west” steakhouses, serving sinewy overcooked beef on a sizzling plate, a good European-style steakhouse is far and few in-between.
Returning to an old favourite, I visited Hugo’s, an eclectic Bavarian steakhouse and a veritable Hong Kong institution. First opened in 1969 inside the the first Hyatt Regency in Asia, it was known for serving a range of famous clientele - a who’s who of the era from The Beetles to Bruce Lee. Hugo’s thrived inside the Hyatt until the last day of 2005, when the aging hotel was demolished to be rebuilt into yet another mall. When the new Hyatt Regency opened nearby in 2009, the restaurant relocated to its current location inside the new hotel.
Walking from the modern hotel lobby and into Hugo’s feels like stepping into a European castle in the middle ages. We passed a set of heavy wooden doors - reportedly brought over from Hugo’s original location, and a suit of armour, belonging to the fictional Bavarian host, Hugo Ludwig Wilhelm von Gluckenstein, standing eternally at guard. Thick wooden beams crisscross the tall, vaulted ceiling, and aside from several focused spotlights, the only general lighting in the room is given off by two dimly lit chandeliers or by an assortment of flickering candles scattered around the dining hall. It is so dark inside that menus are presented with a small light so we would be able to read it.
Entering the L-shaped dining room, the chefs dressed in white work busily around an open kitchen, while the servers were running around in earthy coloured heavy tweed jackets. Polished silver Christofle trolleys were carefully being wheeled around the diners, each customized for a different dish - a prime rib trolley, a cheese trolley, a dessert trolley, trolleys for salad and trolleys for flambés. Hugo’s specializes in Guéridon service, where the firing and plating of each dish is done in front of the table on a rolling trolley. All the steakhouse classics are done tableside - steak tartare, Caesar salad, lobster bisque, steak au poivre, crepe suzette, a bombe Alaska, even their signature Cafe Diablo - all prepared with a flourish in front of your watchful eyes.
The first course was a classic Caesar, prepared tableside with the chef first emulsifying the dressing, then folding in romaine leaves and thoroughly mixing before topping with crispy croutons, bacon bits and thinly shaved slices of Parmesan.
Another steakhouse classic, steak tartare made to order tableside. I was a bit surprised they didn’t pull out the actual meat grinder, but a great showmanship nonetheless. The consistency was a bit soft, akin to spread or a paste that incorporated all the ingredients homogeneously instead of the usual dry, chopped, loosely held together texture where individual ingredients and textures could still be discerned and tasted. The steak tartare was served with a generous portion of crumby melba toast. The flavour was almost sweet - definitely needed a bit more salt, maybe a bit more Worcestershire for depth, and some mustard for kick.
Next came the lobster thermidor, a dish of French origin consisting of lobster chunks cooked in an rich and velvety cognac, mustard and tarragon bechamel sauce, placed back in the shell with some button mushrooms, covered with a thick layer of gruyere cheese and broiled. Unfortunately, this dish wasn’t prepared tableside, but given that the last step involves broiling under a salamander, that is completely understandable. A rich, indulgent dish famously served on the Titanic, that harkens back to the gilded age.
My companion went with the Atlantic Cod, topped with some tiny deep-fried whitefish and a mount of Oscietra caviar in a classic Buerre Blanc sauce.
The mains were served with a classic steakhouse creamed spinach - full leaves of spinach wilted in a heavy pan dressed in a rich, cream sauce with hints of nutmeg.
To finish off the meal, a traditional dessert prepared tableside, a crepe suzette. It was prepared by a junior chef under the watchful direction of the chef de cuisine. In a feast for the senses, raw sugar was caramelized in a pan, releasing a sweet syrupy smell wafting past nearby tables. Once the sugar browned, a loud sizzle emerged from the hot pan as a pat of butter was added along with some orange slices and liquor. The alcohol from the liquor was burnt off in a dramatic fashion by tilting the pan toward the burner and letting the alcohol vapours catch the flame. The sauce was thickened until it could coat the back of the spoon before the crepes were added to the pan. Once thoroughly warmed, the crepes were plated, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a slice of dried orange, and the remaining sauce was spooned over top of the entire plate.
This was served with a small glass of one of their signature drinks, the Cafe Diablo. A sweetened citrusy hot coffee prepared tableside infusing cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and orange peel, in a brandy and orange liquor mixture before burning off the alcohol and spooning the flaming liquid over an orange peel.
They had a demijohn of Mas Amiel, a French fortified dessert wine, with the vintage from the same year the original Hugo’s opened. Naturally, we indulged. Over the years, the wine aged to a nearly opaque, viscous reddish-brown, with nose of raisins and spice, almost like a mulled wine.
The Petits Fours, two balls of frozen vanilla ice cream in a hardened chocolate coating served on top of a cloud of dry ice.
There’s a reason I keep returning to Hugo’s. It’s not the the height of fine dining, nor a place that emphasises the most expensive dry-aged cuts of meat topped with gold and caviar flown in from exotic destinations. Hugo’s is always fun, with friendly service, consistently well-executed steakhouse classics, some entertainment on the side and an experience that just oozes with nostalgia for a simpler time.
Total damage: 2.3k HKD/person.