Nahm Vietnamese & Thai

Address : Shop 1045, 1/F, Elements, 1 Austin Road West, Kowloon
Tel：2810 7575

Located in the new Elements mall, Nahm is a contemporary Vietnamese and Thai fusion restaurant. In other parts of the world, eating at a mall is normally not the best bet for a good meal, but in Hong Kong some of the best restaurants are located in malls.

Nahm's design is modern, but many of the details, such as an art piece of exotic bells, are traditional. The menu, created by Executive Chef Saksit Prajane, matches the restaurant's décor - contemporary dishes are combined with exotic ingredients in a unique style that is both casual and high quality.

Every dish at Nahm is considerably different. The deep fried soft shell crab in rice paper rolls combined the tastes of deliciously fresh avocado, sweet mango and healthy spinach, balanced with an orange caramel dipping sauce. Next came a beautifully colourful dish of grilled squid, spiralling off the plate. The squid, grilled in soy sauce with black sesame, was fresh and plump, complemented by a homemade spicy Thai dressing.

The first main, lamb shank braised for an hour in a tamarind mixture, was an unexpected surprise. Served with tamarind curry, the soft meat was set atop poached nachi pears, giving the dish that delectable juxtaposition of savoury and sweet. The Tiger king prawn in green curry with beans and baby spinach was a more typical Vietnamese and Thai dish, with such a sweet aroma that it was even appetizing before the first bite. Dessert did not fail to please either. The baked banana toffee pudding with homemade honeycomb ice cream was equally rich, creamy, crunchy, warm and soft.

Now is the time to visit Nahm before the rest of the Elements complex opens in the coming years. Reservations recommended on weekends.

Hutong Address : 28/F, One Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui Tel：3428 8342 In Beijing, hutongs are traditional courtyard houses set along narrow streets and alleys that are quickly disappearing due to rapid economic development. However, here in Hong Kong, you can have a taste of the hutongs and northern Chinese cuisine at the appropriately named Hutong restaurant.

Chura

Address : Unit A, B/F, The Toy House, 100 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel：3105 8950

Japanese cuisine has taken the world by storm and Hong Kong is no exception. Outside of Asia, most restaurants clump together the various regional cuisines of Japan on their menus, but in Hong Kong you can find specialised Japanese restaurants.

Chura, located in Tsim Sha Tsui, serves up genuine Okinawan food and drinks, complete with an authentic ambience. The restaurant feels very intimate with private tatami rooms and booths that are reached by walking over a pebble path. Every detail is Okinawan, from the glasses on the table to the stone on the wall. The restaurant even imports Uminokuwi, liquor from Okinawa that is aged ten years and served at very specific degrees according to its type.

With an array of sake and Uminokuwi we started our meal on a high note with the chef's selection deluxe assorted sashimi platter and were impressed by the freshness of the fish, as well as the size of the portions. Selected according to the day's catch, all of the sashimi, which included shrimp, chu toro, hamachi, scallops, snapper, salmon, sea urchin and octopus, was original cut. The rainbow roll, a sushi roll with cucumber and crab meat, was topped with - you guessed it - a rainbow of shimmering fish that was almost too big to fit in our mouths. But that didn't stop us from finishing it in a hurry.

Chura also does two very different takes on tofu. The first is a homemade peanut flavoured tofu that looks like a perfectly round snowball. Its texture is sticky and it tastes like peanut throughout. We couldn't get enough of it. The second tofu incarnation is Japanese fermented bean curd. At first we didn't know what to do with the small thick pink square of tofu, so the chef explained that you use a toothpick to taste it bit by bit while you drink or take a break between courses. Despite its unpleasant name, the dish was quite good and had an easy aftertaste.

Go with a group and ask for a tatami room for a true Okinawan experience.