Chinese
cuisine, due to the size of the country, varies in tastes and ingredients
amongst the regions. Putien showcases dishes from Putian (yes, there’s a vowel
difference in the name), a coastal town part of the Fujian province. With its proximity
to water, there’s of course a choice of seafood dishes, the menu also
incorporates a variety of meat (mainly pork), tofu, and grain offerings as well.
From the
picture, I thought the steamed Putien clams with garlic ($99) were razor clams,
but they’re actually Duo Tou clams, named after the village they’re raised. The
clams are bred in coastal soil that’s rich in nutrients (adding to its flavours)
without the gritty sand. Smaller than razor clams (about a third of the size),
they’re also meatier and much sweeter. Very tasty. The kitchen smartly purées
the garlic so you can taste the ingredient without the harsh bite. Imagine our
luck, visiting Hong Kong in April, so we could try them – there are only
available from April to August.
Putien’s
wonton soup stands out due to the fried garlic used in the broth and a light
vinegar note in the background. The wontons were thumbnail-sized and filled
with pork and chives, decent but the flavours largely coming from the soup.
Just be careful to only order the per person amount ($28 a person). Our waiter
insisted we get a small bowl ($79), making it sound like it’s a better deal,
but it ended up being way too much for two and would only be suitable for a
table of three or four.
While
the flavours in the sesame deep fried bao with stir fried shredded pork ($52)
were tasty, we had to add a lot of the stuffing to make it taste good as the
bao was rather thick. It’s also overly greasy so is best after you blot the
wrapper with a napkin.
Aside
from the clams, the dish that impressed me the most was the homemade bean curd
($68) … yes, tofu! The centre was silky incorporating a mellow taste that’s
almost like steamed eggs. Deep fried and braised, the end product is delicate,
barely resisting a spoon, but deliciously flavourful. Overall, the vegetarian
dish was tasty, even better if the green beans were cooked a touch longer.
Thankfully,
we had the oyster sauce from the tofu as the cabbage rice ($68) was bland and
sorely needed it for flavour. While a decent portion, it is nothing like the
fragrant concoction my grandmother used to make; we would have been better off
with regular steamed rice.
Putien
certainly trains their staff to upsell, to the point that it borders on
annoying. Indeed, I understand the need to increase bill totals, but when it
happens during every step of the ordering process, it can get irritating. For
example, they don’t offer wine by the glass, so when my husband switched to
beer and me tea ($9 a person regardless of it you have it), our waiter tried to
convince me that a bottle, the standard 750ml variety, was small and wouldn’t
be too much for us to share. This is on top of a bowl of overly oily seaweed at
the table, which is automatically included on the bill ($9).
Regardless,
I can live with all the above as I know “sauce” and “tea” charges are common in
Hong Kong. Even convincing us to order more soup than necessary can be
forgiven. What I was most appalled with was the outright lying for gratuities.
At Putien, the bill only arrives in Chinese (despite us requesting English
menus). With all these miscellaneous charges, I wasn’t sure if gratuity was
already added and didn’t want to risk not including anything. Therefore, I
stopped one of the staff members to ask, and she said that their bills do not
include tips. It wasn’t until I looked back later and used Google translate to
find a 10% gratuity line item. For a restaurant who has such sweet Duo Tou
clams, all the nickeling/diming and outright lying sure had me leaving with a
bitter taste in my mouth.
How To Find Them
Location: Causeway Bay, Hong Kong,
Address: 99 Percival St (Lee Theatre Plaza, 7th floor)
Address: 99 Percival St (Lee Theatre Plaza, 7th floor)
Website: http://www.putienhk.com/
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Gastro World's Grading System
- Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
- 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
- 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
- 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
- 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
- 10 - absolute perfection!
