On the waterfront

My friend and I were once again trying to find a lunch spot in Central, not having made reservations in advance. We were counting the restaurants between IFC and ICC when I suddenly remembered Watermark, the restaurant on top of the new Star Ferry at Pier 7. I had never thought about having dinner there, but I figured I'd give it a shot for lunch. The restaurant does enjoy full views of the harbor, although there is a wrap-around public corridor between the restaurant and the water. The very high ceiling plus the view makes the whole atmopshere very relaxing indeed. The place was also only half full so the dining experience was pretty pleasant. My set lunch included the salad bar, which had a pretty decent selection. In addition to the usual suspects, there were some interesting choices like Singapore fried noodle rolls and baked onion and anchovies tart. Not bad at all. My main course of marinated Anjou pigeon, cumin dumplings and creamed spinach was a surprise. I normally like my birds "pink" so that the meat would be tender, but this was borderline "bleu"... While the meat was very tender indeed without being raw, there was a lot of blood left - especially in the breast - making this one of the most gamey pigeons I've had in recent memory. As the restaurant did not ask me about how I'd like my pigeon, I can imagine that some of the customers may find this a tad too strong. Cumin was used in making the sauce, so the taste was a little bit exotic. The dumplings were actually gnocchi, although the consistency was a lot softer and richer than what I would normally get. I enjoyed the creamed spinach but left the potatoes untouched. With no expectation whatsoever going in, this turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I guess I'll add this place to my list of "lunch spots to go in a jam"...