Ippoh - tempura perfection from a 5th generation chef

http://www.ippoh.com/en/hongkong.html

You really do need to stop and look  at what's behind the curtain.

For over twelve months I walked down Aberdeen Street in SoHo, wandering by a little yellow restaurant that had it's door partially obscured by a heavy curtain.  Sure, I knew that it was a Japanese restaurant, the name gave it away.  A little research may have piqued my interest much sooner, but the name of that little restaurant really meant nothing to me.

Ippoh!

Boy has that changed!

It wasn't until a workmate, lets call her Zoe, wanted to help me celebrate my recent birthday with a special lunch time treat.  She'd been telling me for a long time that her favourite Japanese restaurant in Hong Kong was Ippoh, and wanted to see if I agreed; so we made our way through Central to SoHo and our midday booking.

It was a lightbulb moment for me.

Finally the curtain was pulled back and we entered the tiny little tempura style restaurant, and seated at one of the eight spots available at the bar style dining room.  All eight seats put diners right in the action where the Ippoh head chef (I never did get his name!) was busy preparing the tasty morsels that would be lightly tempura and fried right before out eyes.

There were a couple of options for lunch, the YUKI course which consisted of eight pieces of tempura or the OMAKASE lunch, which was a much more comprehensive journey.  No prizes for guessing which we chose.

Carbone - A taste of American Italian in Honkers

http://carbone.com.hk

I have to say, I'm not a fan of the huge portion sizes renowned by US style restaurants.  I remember tooling around New York hoping that we wouldn't get massive sized meals that we'd feel guilty about not eating.  Thankfully, restaurants in Manhattan seem to be immune from the oversized meals, with the exception of one restaurant (that we visited).  

That restaurant was Carbone and we simply could not eat all the food that was placed in front of us.

It's possibly one of the reasons why we'd not been to Carbone in Hong Kong, even though it had a reputation for first rate American Italian cookery.  

But, as these things go, we had a real hankering for some Italian and after trying to book at a couple of other HK hotspots, managed to secure a last minute booking.  

The Honkers outlet of Carbone is a collaboration of New York's Michael Carbone and the ubiquitous food group, Black Sheep.  I'd heard and read that the experience at Carbone was over the top and very 'New York' and it only took a few minutes at our table to realise that the stories were true.

The Yuu Wanchai - very tasty casual Japanese fare

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Yuu-Wan-Chai

I'm sorry to say, but sometimes I'm really, really lazy and can't be bothered looking for new restaurants to try.  I know, shock horror, I'm a food blogger and it's my job to inform you of the latest and greatest; blah blah blah.

I'm also at heart a creature of habit and love going to a familiar place and having comfort food that is simple and I don't have to think about it.  Lately, that place has been le Relais de l'entrecôte (see post here) and we've been eating there a lot!  Unfortunately, the girl gets a fed up by going to the same spot a little easier than me, so I've been forced to find a new local spot that we can frequent when feeling lazy.

SC had visited The Yuu Japanese restaurant while I'd been away travelling and had been pestering me suggesting that we visit together, so I finally bit the bullet and agreed to walk across the street to check the place out.

ALTO Bar and Grill by Dining Concepts - wow, what a view

http://www.diningconcepts.com/Alto

Dining Concepts is one of the leading restaurant groups in Hong Kong, running a heap of restaurants from some of the world's leading chefs.  Names like Gordon Ramsey and Mario Batali are associated with the group, which gives Dining Concepts star power.  So much so that the group launched on the Hong Kong stock exchange this week with shares rising an amazing 1900% at one point.

Amazing really.

One of the key things about Dining Concepts is that they sure do know how to open a restaurant, often with much fanfare, sometimes low key.  ALTO in Causeway bay was the most recent restaurants to join the stable and after reading some of the press about the joint, we decided to get along and check it out.

Located in the very new V Point building, which it must be said was still not fully occupied at the time of our visit, the very modern space resides on the 31st floor of the building and had simply stunning views of Hong Kong.  You're instantly assaulted by the stunning array of lights that dangle from the ceiling, very much looking like floating orbs or golden suns at first, but as you get closer, more like bright amoeba - all different shapes and glowing.  The rest of the restaurant is a mix of comfortable modern chairs and tables that seemed like a cross between picnic and traditional restaurant tables.  

Designer Tom Dixon of internationally renowned Design Research Studio had done a superb job of building a contemporary looking restaurant that has moved away from the semi industrial feel that seems to be so prevalent nowadays!

Rhoda - Nose to Tail cooking with bags of flavour

http://www.rhoda.hk

You can tell a lot about a chef by the way he sets up his kitchen.  Walking into Rhoda for the first time, I could tell that head chef and culinary director Nate Green was a confident man.  

The internationally renowned Joyce Wang designed restaurant has the kitchen as the centrepiece of the restaurant, with the highlight being an open fire grill.  My eye was drawn to the back of the room, where Chef Nate was overseeing the open flame and charcoal grill that was slowly cooking one the restaurant's signature dishes.

You might recognise the name Nate Green, having worked with the likes of Gordon Ramsey and Jason Atherton, Nate was most recently in charge of Wanchai's 22 Ships as well as Ham & Sherry.  Nate was also recently on local TV for the locally produced Hungry Foodies lifestyle program, a shared experience with Nate appearing on episode three, while I was a little later on episode eight.

The concept behind Rhoda is very much nose to tail dining, with very little of the 'beast' going to waste.  With a menu that changes daily, depending on which beast Nate can secure, the best local ingredients are used to create simple but delicious modern comfort food.  Comfort food is the heart of Nate's current style, drawing on memories of great conversations over a good meal.  Taking the vision one step further, there is a large communal table at the centre of the restaurant, aiming to mimic that homely feel.

The Drawing Room - was replacing Vasco a good idea?

http://www.tdr.com.hk/

Vasco Fine dining was one of my very favourite restaurants in Hong Kong (see post here and here).

When I found out that it was closing, I was devastated. Why hadn't I gone and supported it more!  I still remember so fondly the olive oil sommelier and the incredibly inventive and tasty Spanish cuisine.  

Sigh, that's Hong Kong for you!

Then, I found out that the space that Vasco occupied at historic PMQ was to be taken over by by The Drawing Room, a restaurant that held the hearts of Hong Kongers so well before closing down a few years back.  Not to mention having held a Michelin Star for many years also.

My excitement grew, when I found that, Drawing Room Concepts, the team behind Vasco were driving the new iteration of the Drawing Room.  In fact, the chef that had provided the taste sensations that delighted me at Vasco, Chef Gabriele Milani, would continue to be the driving force in the kitchen.

My acceptance was complete.  Spanish would make way for Italian.  Bring on The Drawing Room.

Like many new (or reborn) restaurants in Hong Kong, it was difficult to make a booking for TDR, so much so that Saturday nights were booked out more than a month in advance, so I had to make do with a Friday night spot - after work.

There was a very familiar feeling as we made our way from pre drinks at Aberdeen Street Social (see post here), up through PMQ to the very top floor.  It was almost a case of deja vu as we were met at the level six reception and were escorted upstairs.  As we were given our seats, it would be easy to forget that Vasco had demised and a new restaurant had taken it's place. In fact, the only real difference that I could see was the change of name; everything else remained the same.

It would be so easy for me to reflect and comment about the differences between Vasco and The Drawing Room, so I will try to refrain!

Gin Sai - tempura does not get better

http://www.ginsai.com.hk/en

What's with the obsession with Japanese food in Hong Kong?

With a plethora of amazing Japanese restaurants opening across Hong Kong, you could be forgiven for thinking that it was the predominant Asian cuisine.

One of my all time favourite meals in Hong Kong comes from Wagyu Takumi (see post here), the two Michelin Starred restaurant located on the fringes of Wan Chai.  So when the girl suggested we do a double date with some mates at Gin Sai, it was easy to say yes.  After all Gin Sai is the sister restaurant to Wagyu Takumi and is located right next door.

A late bout of food poisoning (not related) to one of our dining companions meant that instead of a double date, it was just the two of us for our Gin Sai experience.  Which was amusing since we'd been booked into a private dining room by the girl's mate, whom just happened to be cousins with one of the head chefs, Chef Eric!

So we arrived for our dinner and were taken to an amazing looking private dining area that could easily have taken twelve.  It was one of the more spacious table settings we'd had!

Wooloomooloo Steakhouse Wanchai - the steaks were a little bland

http://www.wooloo-mooloo.com/hk/wan-chai.aspx

As an Aussie living in a foreign city, there is a natural propensity to gravitate to what you know, to what is familiar and what make you comfortable.  I'm sure that's true of most expats living in a place like Hong Kong, you only have to wander past a 'British Pub' to see plenty of pasty white guys spilling onto the sidewalk, beers in hand, taking about the latest premier league game (football for the uninitiated).

Anyway, this post isn't about pasty white guys in pubs, it's about an Aussie in Honkers finally getting around to visiting an Aussie steakhouse.

Wooloomooloo is one of Sydney's most iconic inner city suburbs, the home of the rich and famous and just happens to be the name of a chain of steakhouses here in Hong Kong.

With a number of outlets across HK, Wooloomooloo caters to a range of diners, from their very cheap and cheerful Chop House (see post here), all the way to their fine dining establishment Wooloomooloo Prime.  Our visit was to their mid range steakhouse, conveniently located just down the street from our new place in Wanchai.

Located on the 31st floor of the Hennessy, the Wooloomooloo Steakhouse at Wanchai has pretty much unrivalled views of Hong Kong.  Exiting the lift and making our way to our table reconfirmed our view that we were living in one of the most spectacular cities on earth and our table had a jaw dropping vista of the many skyscrapers that make up Wanchai and Causeway Bay.  Floor to ceiling windows helped provide a sense of space in the modern looking dining room that screamed Aussie Steakhouse.

Burger Joys - great burgers but a little too cheesy?

http://www.burgerjoys.com

I'm always on the lookout for a new burger joint and moving to Wanchai has certainly opened up a few more options.

I'd been noticing posters all over the place advertising a place called Burger Joys, so set about tracking it down for a spot of lunch.

Wanchai is an interesting location, it's got a wide variety of dining options that range from three Michelin Starred fine dining restaurants, hip and happening 'now' spots, as well as down and dirty grungy bar cum restaurants.  

We'd moved away from the glamorous end of Wanchai to the much seedier side, where the nightlife runs from seedy bars to strip clubs.  Burger Joys finds itself right in the middle of the Wanchai red light district, which is pretty benign during the day and pretty darn racy in the evening.

I was pretty surprised by how small Burger Joys actually was, expecting something a little bigger than the 'almost' hole in the wall diner on Lockhart Road.  Small as it was, there was still room for a half dozen or so tables to be crammed around the serving area, which looked very much as if it doubled as a bar once the sun went down.  We'd arrived for a Saturday lunch and the place was pretty empty, so we had no trouble finding a table which surprisingly was managed by table service.

Fishsteria - hip and happening fish joint

https://www.facebook.com/fishsteria/?fref=ts

The district of Wanchai has been abuzz lately with the opening of a restaurant that's been causing quite a bit of good vibes.

Fishsteria is the latest restaurant from Executive Chef Gianni Caprioli, a name you might recognise from critically-acclaimed and FoodMeUpScotty recommended restaurant, Giando (see post here), as well as GIA and Eat.it.

Opened in September 2015, Fishsteria quickly acquired a loyal fan base and became everyone's favourite fish restaurant.  Conveniently located on Queens Road East, I'd walked past Fishsteria dozens of times where I'd peered through the front door and looked at the menu board; pondering going in for a meal.

We finally stopped pondering and made a decision to go one Friday night after work, making our way into the hip and happening joint.  We'd not made a reservation and were really there on a speculative visit and thankfully we were't turned away and were advised a table would be free shortly.  It gave us a moment to sit and soak up the vibe of the downstairs bar area.  

Vibrant painting adorned the walls and I couldn't help thinking that some of the works would look fabulous on our apartment walls.  Interestingly, the seat that we were waiting on was a faithful cement replica of a comfy looking couch.  There was a moment where we didn't quite believe our eyes, but the couch was indeed rock hard while at the same time looking inviting and soft.  Funky music played through the sound system, and I immediately felt like Fishsteria was my kind of place.

Va Bene - from LKF to Sai Ying Pun

Va Bene: website 

I never managed to get to Va Bene when it was in its Lang Kwai Fung home, although it had very much been on my radar.  

Recognised as the original Italian trattoria in Hong Kong, the famous restaurant was one of the few places in the notorious LKF where you could escape the madness at any time of the night for a more-than-decent-meal.

Located just off Queens Road West in Sai Ying Pun, the new Va Bene seems just a little out of the way, and while not too far from PoHo, it required a little bit of an effort to find the place. Veering off QRW and down Wilmer Street, I was surprised by the size of the very sleek and modern looking facade.  There was no missing the place, bright neon pulled us in like a beacon!

Our penchant for arriving early saw us as the first diners to be seated, and we were placed strategically at one of the tables that were visible from the huge plate glass window that ran the length of the street frontage.  Our theory for many restaurants, is that the better dressed diners are always placed within sight of the street, with scruffy diners hidden out back.  This seemed to be on the money, over the course of our meal, we continually paid attention to where diners were being seated.

The Crafty Cow - do I use the term hipsters too much?

http://www.craftycow.hk/

There's a little pocket of shops around Sheung Wan (a.k.a PoHo) that could quite comfortably be called hipster central in Hong Kong.  Cute little shops with arcane and weird offerings, more than one spot selling micro brewery ales and more beards per capita than I've seen anywhere else.  Who could forget the #HKWalls exhibition where you could walk down the many laneways and alleys and watch hip young things strut their stuff on the many brick walls canvases.

That little strip around Upper Station Street even held a little food festival last year, where masses of dressed-just-so-right locals and expats congregated to enjoy the many food options available.  I'm not gonna lie, I love that little strip and am guilty of tripping out to many of the aforementioned activities.....  I may even have a beard.

We'd been eying off the Crafty Cow ever since we first spotted it, the tiny little space looking like an awesome spot to enjoy a Sunday afternoon sippin' on a beer (if that's your thing) or enjoying a good little feed (which is my thing).  I'd had plenty of opportunities to get along before we did, we'd even grabbed a Lemmy from the Craft Cow one sunny and super crowded afternoon.  A Lemmy for those of you that have never heard of such a thing is a Kiwi lemonade, and they're pretty awesome.  It was a Lemmy that also won me a free feed at the Craft Cow based on an #Instagram competition - sadly, a feed I never collected.

So, it was finally time to check out the Cow, one Sunday evening for a quick bite of dinner. Making our way down the hill from our Mid Levels apartment, we reflected that we'd miss wandering around Sheung Wan once our move to Wan Chai finally eventuated.  We'd made a booking, which probably wasn't necessary as we were guided to one of the many available seats in the tiny corner restaurant slash bar (or bar slash restaurant, you choose).

Prego Italian - simple ingredients but full flavour

http://www.diningconcepts.com/Prego

Sometimes you just want something simple to eat.  I've been feasting on a lot of French fine dining recently, including stints at two and three Michelin starred establishments with incredibly rich food.  Fun for a while, but boy, you can get over that pretty quickly!

When you want nice simple food that tastes great, then you really can't go past great Italian food, where the whole philosophy is to use as few ingredients as possible to extract maximum flavour.  We've only recently started to find some great little Italian restaurants in Hong Kong, after finding a few shockers initially.

One of the better Italian diners we'd loved was Dining Concepts Cecconi's, which was really conveniently located in Soho, a place that we walked past most nights on the way home from work.  It would have been a perfect foil for the rich French food we'd been consuming in the last month, but it had moved out it's Elgin Street home to Wyndham Street - just a little too far out of our way.  

Luckily, the team at Dining Concepts had done the old 'switcharoo', replacing one great Italian restaurant with another.  I'm not really sure why, but Cecconi's was replaced with Prego Italian, a more relaxed style of Italian more closely resembling 'Mama's home-style cooking, from kitchen to table'.  

It sounded perfect!

Ivy - Is it Italian or French? The French Riviera

http://ivyhongkong.com/

One of the things I still find a little strange, even after residing in Hong Kong for over twelve months, is the placement of restaurants in shopping centres. Throughout Australia, Europe and the Americas, shopping centres have designated areas for restaurants and food outlets. They're often quite fancy places with a range of restaurants from renowned chefs and up-and-coming dining establishments.  Harrods in London and KaDaWe in Berlin are great examples of major shopping outlets that have specific locations for restaurants.

Hong Kong is quite different, with restaurants dotted through out major shopping centres, often spread around shopping centres in unusual locations.  Ivy is the latest restaurant from the Gaia Group and is one of those restaurants that's tucked away on it's own in the IFC, so you stumble across it almost by accident!

It's a little known fact (well, I didn't really know!) that the French Riviera was a part of Italy until it was handed over to France in the 1800's. Which explains why the French restaurant has more in common with an Italian eatery than your traditional French bistro.

We'd initially hoped to get along to the annual Winter Carnival recently, but changed our mind pretty quickly once we'd seen the queue to gain entry, so had an evening free and no dinner plans.  We were feeling pretty lazy, so wanted to check out something close by, and the Ivy seemed like a pretty good option.  With no reservation made, we rocked up to to the restaurant and were relieved to find plenty of tables available.  

AMMO - home made pasta, simple flavours and deliciousness

http://www.ammo.com.hk/

Tucked away behind Pacific Place shopping centre at Admiralty and a part of the HK Asia Society Centre is AMMO, an amazing little restaurant that specialises in homemade pasta.  It's a little difficult to find, but well worth the effort.

As you walk past the Banyan tree, which was stuck by lightening  during a typhoon in 2008 but continues to grow, and round the cultural court of the Asia Society, you're instantly taken aback by the shiny, shiny building that houses AMMO.  The heritage listed site, which was once home to a 19th century explosives compound, has been transformed into what has to be one of the funkiest restaurants in Honkers.  

The most striking element of the Joyce Wang designed interior was the liberal use of copper throughout, which gives off a luxurious yet industrial feel, that with imagination hints at the site's military history.  Especially the design and pattern behind the restaurant's bar.  The restaurant itself is almost entirely enclosed by floor to ceiling glass, which enhances the modern feel of the dining room. Surrounded by the lush tropical jungle you find throughout Hong Kong, it's impossible to believe that civilisation is only meters away.

Steak Frites by the Butchers Club - quality steaks at a price

http://thebutchers.club/steak-frites/

We'd only just sat down at our table when an enthusiastic chef from the kitchen was presenting huge slabs of raw meat for our perusal.  We could have had the full story about dry aged beef, but since I knew a little bit of the process of dry ageing, we skipped the lecture.

That's the way they roll at the Butchers Club, to say they are fanatical about beef products might just be underselling the team's devotion to bringing top quality meat to Hong Kong.

The Butchers Club are very well known for their burgers and for a while there, I was pretty darn addicted to their fat and juicy hamburgers (see post here).  While their burgers are arguably the best in town, I was keen to find out just how devoted to the art-of-the-cow the Butchers Club were, and visiting their Steak Frites joint on Staunton Street seemed like the best way to find out.

I'd walked past the entrance to Steak Frites countless times on the way to work each morning, so was well acquainted with the entrance actually being around the corner in Aberdeen Street. Walking up the stairs into the dining room was an interesting experience, with decor that included exposed bricks and a rustic feel that was enhanced by the slight red glow of the numerous hanging lights.  The space was a little smaller and more intimate than I was expecting, the tables quite close together.  Our table afforded us a clear view of the kitchen and fridge stocked full with the specially acquired Australian and US beef.

The Ocean and Pure Berlin Collaboration: The 4 Hands Dinner

http://www.theocean.hk/#home & http://www.pure-berlin.com/en/about.html

Service and luxury begin long before you enter the front door of The Ocean restaurant over in beachside Repulse Bay.  It's a little known secret that I'm about to expose, but there is a limousine service available from the newly opened restaurant by fine dining restaurant group Le Comptior.  With a fleet of Tesla electric motor vehicles, the group combines luxury and an environmentally friendly approach that is reflected in the group's food philosophy.

Since my first visit to The Ocean, which was a little bit of a mixed bag (see post here), we've been over to Chef Agustin Balbi's fine dining seafood restaurant a couple of times.  It's fair to say that we've come to love the inventive styling of Chef Balbi and his dedication to creating delectable and creative plates of food, centering on seafood.  

So it was great excitement that we travelled from our apartment courtesy of the limousine service to the special collaboration event planned by Chef Balbi and the way-out-crazy-dudes from Pure Berlin.

If you've never heard of Pure Berlin, then your probably not alone, but the avant garde concept group  out of the German capital are looking to establish Germany as the next international culinary trend destination.  Chief idea maker of Pure Berlin and food designer Miles Watson (actually a Kiwi) had decided to take their ideas on the road and the collaborative meal at The Ocean was a stop on the tour.

ISONO Eatery and Bar - the more casual Spanish spot

http://www.isono.com.hk/

One of my top rated restaurants from 2015 was Vasco, Spanish fine dining.  You can read all about it here in my Top 10 of 2015. While Vasco is the ultimate in fine dining, there is a much more relaxed and casual feel about ISONO, the Spanish style tapas restaurant run by Drawing Room Concepts, the team behind Vasco and numerous other restaurants around Hong Kong.

Located on the sixth floor of Soho's very own arts precent, PMQ, ISONO eatery and bar shares many of the same traits as its more distinguished older brother.  The menu was created by Executive Chef Paolo Casagrande, drawn from his memories and experiences as a child in the Mediterranean.  If you're not familiar with Paolo Casagrande, his main game is at the Two Michelin starred Lasarte in Barcelona, but he lends his expertise and name to both Vasco and ISONO.

We'd been eyeing off checking out ISONO for a while, but it took one of those serendipitous moments to eventually get us in for dinner.  We were at a genuine loss one night walking home from work....  We simply had no idea about what we felt like for dinner and were getting a little frustrated trying to pin down one restaurant to visit.  It just so happened that we were walking along Hollywood Road and only a few steps away from the PMQ.  With no reservation, we hedged our bets that we'd be able to score a table as a walk in.

Frites Central - Authentic Belgian frites

http://conceptcreations.hk/frites/frites-central/

Not every meal can be had in a Michelin Starred restaurant (unfortunately) and sometimes it's just basic pub food you're looking for.  I'd just met the girl after work and we had to decide on a dinner location close to Sheung Wan, somewhere nice and casual.  I'd not had a heap of luck when deciding on casual dining spots in HK, with more than a few being quite the let down.

It just so happened that we were walking close to The Wellington, right on the border of Central and Sheung Wan and I remembered that there was a Belgium Beer House on the 1st floor. Frites sounded pretty interesting and the Belgium people are pretty well known for their frites (fries), so it seemed like an easy place to stop by on the way home.  We didn't have a booking and didn't really expect that it would be too hard to score a table.  Boy, were we wrong!  As we stepped out of the lift, the place was rocking with suits enjoying an after work beer.  Luckily, we were given a table on the promise that we'd be out of the place by 7:30pm - it was 6:15pm and an easy request to fulfil for a couple of speed eaters!

We were shown to one of the many bench style seats in the main dining room, which reminded me of an old style European bar; bench seats at one end and a traditional bar at the other.  It was quite comforting and warming inside, especially since it was a very rare cold winter's day outside. Placemat style menus were already at our table and showed off a wide range of typical pub fare, including a whole section dedicated to Mussel Pots, which were available in half or full kilo options.  A big pot of mussels sounded a tempting way to start a meal, but given we'd promised to vacate our seats in record time, we decided to forego starters and jump straight into mains.

Nobu Hong Kong - Japanese doesn't get much better

http://www.noburestaurants.com/hong-kong/experience/

I'll start off by saying I wish that I'd visited the original Nobu when we'd been in New York a few years back, it was my silly decision not to.  Instead, I'd made a visit to the Melbourne Nobu and had a  pretty mixed experience.  It's why I'd put off going to Nobu in Hong Kong for so long, that lingering doubt in my mind that renowned Japanese chef Nobuyuki (Nobu) Matsuhisa's vision didn't translate so well when the master was not overseeing the kitchen.

Known globally as the master of Japanese cuisine, Chef Nobu has a chain of restaurants that spans the globe, with accolades that include Michelin Stars and James Beard Awards.  So well recognised is Chef Nobu, he was noted as one of the eleven most influential chefs of the decade by Madrid Fusion in 2009.  Chef Nobuyuki started his dining empire with an interesting story: a collaboration with Hollywood legend Robert De Niro with whom he partnered in opening the original Nobu in New York City (1994).  I guess having a celebrity A lister as a business partner is a good way to start an empire!

Nobu Hong Kong one of the restaurants in the InterContinental, and while it doesn't have a Michelin Star it is rated as one of the 100 Top Tables in Hong Kong, usually a reliable indicator of a quality restaurant.  Continuing our recent trend of checking out lunch time menus, we'd decided to make our way over to the InterContinental on a Saturday afternoon and check out the Nobu Signature tasting lunch.  The facade of the InterContinental was quite dated, but as we walked through the lobby of the Hotel, we noted that the inside was had been completely remodelled at some point and looked pretty plush.