Situated five stories above the hustle and bustle of Knutsford Terrace, T2 has ambitions as lofty as its location. The two Ts refer to tapas and teppanyaki – and it claims to be the first eatery in Hong Kong to focus on Spanish and Japanese cuisines in one. So you expect high-end fusion food. Which is not exactly what you get…
We arrive at T2’s sleekly designed interior intrigued as to how these two traditions are brought together, only to discover, disappointingly, that they’re not. They’re kept apart in the menu. And the layout of the restaurant also supports a ‘one or the other’ approach, with two teppanyaki rooms at one end and the rest of the tables at the other.
So we order a selection of dishes from both sides of the menu. Our tapas arrives first as a starter. The calamari ($78) is excellent – tender, juicy and lightly battered, and the cold cut platter ($78) and soft shell crab ($68) also live up to expectations. The highlight, though, is the monkfish liver terrine ($88), densely flavoured on crisp bread with a tempting tang of gherkin.
Then our three teppanyaki dishes arrive. The grouper filet and clam with onion sauce ($128) is cooked perfectly and served in a so-so broth. But the Iberico pork chop with boletus sauce ($128) fares better – it’s sweet with fat which dissolves satisfyingly on the tongue. And the chestnut mushrooms ($88) look rather flat but are bursting with strong earthy juices.
The food justifies the higher-than-usual prices at T2 and the (often overly) attentive staff are helpful. But that doesn’t take away the confusion over what this place is attempting. And that might explain the lack of customers present on our Friday evening chow-down. Be daring and start fusing the two cuisines together, we say, and then maybe this restaurant can turn from a slight T2 breeze into a full-on T10. Rob Passmore
5/F, One Knutsford Tce, TST, 2721 9898. Sun-Fri 11.30am-2am, Sat 11.30am-3am. Dinner for two: around $600.