(Girls are) Back in Town

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An old friend is back in town for a few days and demanded asked that I have dinner with her.  I tried to think of a non-fine dining, non-Michelin star type of place for a casual meal, and for some reason Town popped into my head.  After my quick review of the restaurant for the South China Morning Post a few months ago, the Great One had eaten there and raved about Bryan Nagao's pasta.  So I figured I'd go back and check it out...

I've been putting on the pounds in the last two weeks, so I'm doing my damnedest to limit my intake this week whenever I can.  I debated between having a chowder and a salad to start, but in the end I decided that some veg couldn't hurt...

Hawaiian hearts of palm, red quinoa, endive, figs, pumpkin, black garlic - creative presentation, but on second look it was a little messy and sloppy.  Lots of different ingredients, but I struggled to see how they were supposed to work together.  There was the sweetness of the figs, the acidity of black garlic, and the lack of bitterness from endives was a little surprising.  It wasn't that the elements clashed with each other, but I guess it wasn't a case of 1+1=3...  Oh and it was also a very, very small portion..

Spaghettini, uni, pata negra, lardo - this was why we were here.  For this dish.  The Great One had raved about it so much that I came in with pretty high expectations.  Well, it was pretty good, but didn't blow me away.  I love anything with lardo, and there was enough of it to make me happy.  Strips of pata negra jamón?  I'll take that any day, and a perfect match with lardo.  But putting sea urchin on top?  Should have been a no-brainer, but I was struggling to ensure that I could get all the elements in one mouthful.  Maybe I should have just mashed up the sea urchin tongues instead of trying to keep them intact.  One final thing that detracted from full enjoyment?  There was sand or sea urchin shell in the pasta, and this is one of my pet peeves...

I was done with my two courses, but I was still hungry, so I took an extra piece of bread to try to fill up my stomach space.  I figured it was a lower-calorie alternative to having dessert.

It was good to catch up with my friend, and good to come back to Town to check out Bryan's famous pasta dish.  I guess I'll order something a little more filling next time...