The latest Nobu restaurant is a surprisingly modest affair - not too big, dim lighting and contemporary music. It seems to follow the Nobu Berkeley formula in London where a decent size bar greets diners and no doubt will attract pre- and post- dinner drinkers.
The food? You get most of the Nobu classic dishes - Rock Shrimp Tempura with Ponzu (comparable to New York and London), scallop cerviche (refreshing as ever), and the usual Toban-Yaki and sushi menu. Fortunately there is a few dishes only available at the Hong Kong outfit - we tried the Eggplant Special (why have they not given it a more fancy name) which consists of a juicy roasted eggplant with a minced fish and prawn paste topped with a concoction of chili, garlic and roe (I think).
What was enjoyable? New dishes alongside the tried and tested classics. The eagerness of the staff - no doubt influenced by the newness of the restaurant (three week old) and the presence of the name sake proprietor.
What was not enjoyable? The hype and an overwhelmingly "foreign" clientale - which can easily turn it into a Disney-esque attraction in Hong Kong.
Those of us London-centric folks easily forget there are great concert halls in other parts of the world. I remember as a young kid buying DG LPs with von Karajan on the front cover conducting the Berlin Philharmonic. So as my first visit to the city, a visit to the Philharmonie to listen to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra was a must. Ivan Fisher started the evening's concert with Haydn Symphony 88. A light and delightful work. As I'd expected, the acoustic of the hall was amazing - probably a good 2.5 second of reverberation - and much more generous than the Royal Festival Hall in London. The strings sounded sweet and the timpani came through clearly with definition. The audience was then treated to Béla Bartók's Seven Pieces for Choir and Chamber Orchestra: the Berlin Phil reduced in size occupying only half of the stage while the Netherlands Youth Choir took the other half. These young performers (all female) sang in Hungarian from memory - not easy at all - and rea...
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