Cuisine Blend

2 Photos

by Tom Lee
on Friday, February 05, 2010 12:00 AM

It would be easy to pass Louie Restaurant by as one of so many other plaza diners, decorated as it is with innocuous interiors. Owned by a group of Hong Kong natives, the restaurant recently changed its initial approach to the dishes after reviewing their market.

Hoping to attract swathes of youths to their reasonably priced restaurant, the proprietors have incorporated a mélange of foods that include western staples, quintessential Cantonese cuisine and a sprinkling of influences from Southeast Asian cultures. "A group of young people can come together and can all eat something they want," explains Caroline Au Yeung, Co-owner of Louie Restaurant. "If one wants ciao mian, another wants steak, one wants a spicy dish - it's all possible for them to eat in the same place."

The house specialty is the fragrant African Chicken (RMB42), a marinated and deboned affair that is so soft the sensation is akin to melting. A spicy blend of herbs is chucked into the mix with some chili and Tabasco sauce, surprisingly similar in taste to Shanghai's street kebabs. Another more unique dish is the Wasabi Flavored Prawns (RMB48), coated in salad cream and rounded into balls, the small addition of wasabi giving it a gentle kick.

Butterfly Ribs are full of sweet scents and barbecue aromas, conveying all-American rib joint but maintaining a Chinese essence. The Fried Noodles with Prawn Balls in Black Bean Sauce (RMB30) manages to attain a dual noodle texture, with some strands soft while others remain crispy. Avoiding the common pitfall with black bean, Louie doesn't drown its foodstuffs in the sauce, so that other ingredients can have their own culinary voice.

Adding a few international influences to the pot, Louie manages to distinguish itself from other run-of-the-mill local-style establishments, though it may be one for the domestic population rather than the expatriate crowd.

The Bottom Line: Reliable food that won't disappoint.