Jimmy’s Kitchen……..never once imagine food at this Hong Kong culinary institution, which used to define the standard for nostalgic, British Colonial fare, could be THAT BAD!!
After a full week of feasting on Japanese centric meals, it is only natural for me to venture outside the box and eat something totally different? Recalling how great and tasty some of Jimmy Kitchen’s past house specials were… .eg.,Hong Kong style Russian Borscht, King Prawn Madras, Dutch Steak, Chicken Kiev and English Trifle … .etc. I therefore decided to make the ‘long cross-harbour trek‘ from Sha-Tin to Central and give this old stalwart a long overdue re-visit!
Lo and behold! With no idea how convenient and quick the new cross harbor MTR line from Sha-Tin to The Admiralty managed to shorten the total transit time. My initial estimates for this trip were totally out-of-whack! I was almost half an hour early for my reservation! What took over half an hour in the past to cross the harbor from Sha-Tin, now takes less than 18 minutes! Wow!!
OK, let’s talk some food!
In the hope of re-capturing some fond and sentimental chow-memory of the past, I proceeded to order three dishes that had once given me enormous enjoyment and fulfillment:
First, their self proclaimed top-notch and flavourful red beets and vegetable Russian Borscht from ‘ Shanghai days ‘!
Second, a rare offering of authentic Chicken Kiev stuffed with garlic and parsley butter and….
Third, their famous English Strawberry Trifle that was the talk of the town all the way back to when QE2 was still the monarch!
Well, sadly, this is where the MISERY and DISASTER begin!
One taste of the Borscht and the alarm bell inside me started to ring and I quietly said to myself ‘ Oh! Oh! ‘. The insipid, bland and one dimensional taste of the soup did not do justice to the attractive appearance. What’s supposed to be a vibrant, complex, mildly spicy, sweet, tangy and savory creation was tasteless and dull! Instead of table salt, they should have provided me with some Knorr Chicken essence powder instead!
The Chicken Kiev was in the form of a log shaped cocoon. The overcooked and slightly burnt crunchy shell, encasing the meat and buttery sauce was as hard to ply open as trying to puncture the Kevlar armour of an Abrams battle tank! Per expectation, an abundance of appealing looking butter sauce oozes out…. But?!..Where’s the garlic taste and aroma component? Looks like we have another bland product on our hands! Worse still, this abundance of clarified butter spilled onto a pool of pedestrian, oily green parsley sauce which forms a circle around a mound of greasy, Robuchon’s replica, creamed potato! …..the end result…tasteless grease on tasteless grease on tasteless grease!! Guess Crestor cholesterol pills for afternoon tea?!
To complete the aforementioned list of fiasco was the English Trifle. What prompted the chef to put a thick, unappealing coarse layer of dry, saw dust like crumble on top of the dessert really beats me?! A total failure in attempting to create some attractive textural interface. The experience makes me imagine what it is like to eat scoops of dry oat meal with baby milk powder?! 
Overall the entire meal was a journey of continuing cooking missteps by the kitchen. The composition and taste profile of the dishes were a clear reflection of the chef and kitchen’s skill level and knowledge in creating harmonious and balanced dishes both in flavour and texture. Still, miraculously, the restaurant was packed during lunch hour!..amazing! Considering there are so many great eating places in the Central district!
However, for me, I shall NOT return!
