Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - An Nam (Festival Walk)

This Vietnamese restaurant is located in Festival Walk, Kowloon Tong, with another outlet in Causeway Bay. Many years ago I had been to the HK Island branch and the food and experience was a nice one, so it is with the same expectation that I came to this one on the Kowloon side. But frankly it was a bit disappointing from my prior experience.

Seated at a table overlooking the ice skate rink, the decor is similar, but with brighter lightings. It did not have the same premium feel but having a more family feel, which is not bad and maybe more suitable for the clientele for the shopping mall. 

We ordering a Fresh Young Coconut ($58) and Lychee Pineapple Smoothie ($58) for drinks, and while waiting for my drink, the appetizer is served. The Indochine Appetizer Platter ($258) has two pieces each of steamed rice roll, deep-fried spring roll, Vietnamese shrimp cake, soft shell crab rice paper roll, and prawn on prawn cracker. All of them are decent, and personally I like the spring roll the most, with crisp skin and tasty fillings. Not bad overall. 

Next we had Lemongrass Clams in Clay Pot ($198). The jumbo clams are big in size, but also having the common issue for clams of this size, they are a bit rubbery on texture. Still exhibiting good umami flavors and the young coconut juice used as broth provided a nice delicate note and sweetness to infuse the clams. I guess if some smaller or different types of clam is used the dish would be much more well-received.

The another main dish was Lemongrass Pork Chop ($148). Two pieces of pork chop has been char-grilled with lemongrass and spring onion. The taste of the pork chop is good, seasoned well and with a nice lemongrass fragrance on the meat but not overpowering. But I guess the pork chop was grilled in advance and only re-heated on order, so when serve they are not exactly hot in temperature. While it might not be an issue if I am having vermicelli tossed with fish sauce, as a main dish I would expect it to be grilled on demand and steaming. 

Wrapping up we also had Frog Leg Rice in Clay Pot ($148). Comparing with the last dish, this clay pot rice is certainly delivered at the right temperature, sizzling hot, with the frog legs meaty and flavorful with the lemongrass marinade. Served together with some cooked soy sauce, the rice is quite tasty and if tired of other more traditional Vietnam rice or noodle cuisine this can be an alternative to consider.

Service is decent, with no issue or hiccup but also not particularly impressive. The bill was $867, after a 10% discount with booking through Openrice. Still if you ask me, I would probably go to the CWB branch instead.