Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Apinara

This Thai restaurant is located in Pacific Place, inspired by the award-winning restaurant Nara in Thailand, bringing traditional recipes and the essence of good ingredients to diners. There is also a bar on one side of the restaurant offering many interesting cocktails and other beverages for those who would like to enjoy a drink before their meal.

The decor is contemporary, comfortable yet without any big fuss on the design. I like the roof-fan with the blades made from traditional rattan fan, a creative way to blend tradition with modern elements. The tables are a bit crowded towards each other, but not a big surprise considering the prime location the rental must be unbelievably high. The ambiance is fairly nice overall.

We ordered an appetizer and two entrees. But surprisingly an entree came first: Stir-fried Tiger Prawns with Garlic and Peppercorns ($198). With a lot of the deep-fried garlic and peppercorns scattered on top giving a nice bite with intense flavors, the prawns are cut in halves to allow easy eating, with the flesh absorbing the spicy notes from the peppercorns without masking the taste of the prawns. A nice start.

Then came the other entree: Steamed Seabass with Plum and Minced Pork Soup in Stove Tray ($268). Unlike most other Thai restaurants, Apinara uses seabass instead of grey mullet, which helped to avoid the 'mud' taste grey mullet often exhibits. The soup  is tasty, with a nice sour note from the plum and absorbing the fragrance of the celery and coriander is very appetizing. The flesh of the fish is tender and overall quite a nice dish too. There is an extra bowl of soup for you to add onto the stove as well.

Interestingly the appetizer came last: Assorted Satay Platter ($108). There are a total of 9 skewers, with 3 each of chicken, pork and prawn. A decent dish, the satay dipping sauce is not as flavorful as I would expect. I might be comparing this with the Malay style satay sauce which of course is different, but nonetheless did not impress. I would not recommend this and it would be better to choose another appetizer instead.

Wrapping up I ordered a dessert: Grilled Pineapple with Colorful Coconut Ice-cream ($68).  A nice conclusion to the meal, the pineapple is juicy, with a thin layer of caramel on top, the sweetness balancing well with the acidity from the pineapple. The coconut ice-cream is rich in flavor too. Instead of the commonly ordered mango and sticky rice, I think this is a nice alternative.

The service was a bit mediocre unfortunately. I don't feel any genuine interest for the staff to serve us. They are not ignoring us to that extreme, but from how they took our order, how they served the dishes and handled the plates, and how to handle our request, there were a lot of room to improve.

The total bill on the night was $528, after a 30% discount (I am not sure why, maybe a credit card benefit?). That is truly a surprise treat and very good price, which helped to win back quite a big score in the end.