Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Zafran

This Spanish restaurant is located on the basement of a commercial building on Wyndham Street, just on top of LKF. Being part of the Aqua Group, this tapas bar provides a rather quiet and private setting, having bar seats in where you can chat with the bartender, or seeing how the chefs prepare the dishes, or at the spacious dining area. Our table is a round table with circular sofa, which is comfortable and cozy.

On the day we started with Jamón Ibérico de Bellota, which is 48-month aged Iberico ham carved to order. The ham is very good with the savory fragrance, thinly carved and soft, plus not salty at all. Eaten together with the hard toast provides an enjoying contrast in texture, A really nice starter for your dinner.

Next comes the Tartar de lubina, which is seabass tartare with Kalamata olives, basil and cherry tomatoes. The seabass is tender and fresh, which is also complemented well by the olives. The tomatoes gives some acidity which is further enhanced by some yuzu sauce. I suggest you can have this before the ham if possible, because of its delicate flavors it could be masked by the much more intense savory aftertaste of the ham.

We then have the Ensaladilla de Atún, which is seared tuna salad with potato, carrot, green peas and egg. The tuna is seared perfectly on the outside, with the inside soft and raw still to offer the good contrast. The salad is also good with tuna and the other vegetable, seasoned appropriately, and is quite filling and for those on diet would be a good choice.

Gambas rojas al ajillo is my favorite on the night. The traditional Spanish red prawns are prepared with chives and fresh red chilies. The sauce is a lobster bisque reduction which enhances the overall flavors of the prawns and the chives and chili gives the extra kick to make it highly flavorsome. This is another very nice traditional tapas which Zafran took to another level.

We also ordered a Paella d’Arroz Negro con Allioli de Azafrán, which is Bomba squid-ink rice with baby squid and Catalan saffron and aioli. As requested by Ivy the saffron and aioli were served on the side, and I am not sure whether that was the reason, but the paella was overall very salty. It is a bit disappointing particularly given that the taste was in fact quite nice.

For me I had also ordered a dessert, Fresones marinados con regaliz y helado de yogurt, or marinated strawberries with liquorice and yogurt ice-cream. The strawberries are chopped to small pieces and marinated well with liquorice, with the right sweetness and combined with the yogurt ice-cream it is not heavy and is a good wrap up on the night.

The service is decent though there is not much interactions with the staff which probably would be normal given this is a tapas bar and not a true restaurant. And the bill on the night was $1,260 which is not cheap but not overly charged.

My overall rating is 63/100.