The name Lawry's first came to me in a TV cooking show by a lady whom I didn't appreciate much of her cooking skill since she often used a lot of sesame oil (or I can claim she "abused"). I then thought Lawry's may be just like Lee Kam kee in HK for lots of various sauce and seasoning...etc. Until I arrived at CA and read some magazines in Palm Springs about the history of Lawry's. What a legend from N. La Cienaga/Beverly Hills! There went the remarkable prime rib in Beverly Hills. At first, I didn't realise the slow roasting of a big chunk of meat like turkey or prime rib and in order to have an earlier dinner, I turned up a higher heat for roasting a turkey but then it turned out I made a big mistake - too dried out on the surface but undone inside. Mr. Lawrence Frank (that's how the name Lawry's came from) studied on this roasting and developed his own way of prime rib. In the beginning, he insisted on just serving one hot main course - prime rib on a very nice silver trolley. Nowadays, Lawry's has expanded its prime rib legend in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Taipei, Singapore besides, Las Vegas, Chicago and other cities. I heard when it was first opened in HK, you wouldn't get a seat for the first 6 months. See how they choose those cities for their landing.
In entering the restaurant, I immediately fall into the mood of a truly American restaurant. They played some very nice Big Band Jazz! Furthermore, the waiters/waitresses did dress like those in their original shop.
1. Strawberry delight - HK$55. The strawberry aroma is quite strong and thirst quenching. 2. One of my favourite drinks in Oriental BKK but somehow the best is from the Spring/Summer on soi 49/39 Suk vicinity - TC should know how good it is from Spring/Summer - Mojito - HK$75. This one is so hard to mix - the balance of rum and vodka, how fresh the mint leaves - keeping mint leaves is of a very high technique. When you pick that up from its mother root, it will die out very soon and getting rotten. If you put it in the fridge for a long time, the mint aroma will be gone easily. So Lawry's did this one so nice. The vodka/rum is in a good balance and my face was only half red so that it wont' be too overwhelming on the mint and lime taste. Another important factor is the icy chillin' taste of this drink. Too much ice would make it too strong for the first few sips, then too bland when it's done to the last few sips.
3. French bread and sourdough - my favourites! However, I kind of prefer sourdough to be a bit tough in texture. This one tended to be a bit too tender but it's good for those who can't eat tough bread. On the other way, I prefer French bread to be tender inside and crispy outside. 4. Crabmeat baked in shell with cheeze - HK$145. It's a very nice one and the crab meat is very fresh. BTW, the waitress was very professional in keeping asking us if the food is ok and advices on taking what seasoning if needed.
5/6. Another signature dish - the spinning salad, included in the main order of prime rib. The spinning bowl was placed on a bed of ice cubes. Then the waitress put the romaine lettuce and bread croutons in it. Spin... and pouring the dressing into it. It's nicely done and every piece of leaves was coated with slight dressing. Nothing left on the plate. The bread croutons is good too.
7. The silver trolley - keeping the prime rib roasted and you can ask for medium, medium to rare or medium to well done...etc. The Chef would get you a cut of the cooked portion. Very nice cutting skill. 8. I ordered a medium California cut - HK$350.
9. Yoshire Pudding - comes with the prime rib and so you can dip it in the sauce. Personally I don't like it much as I prefer the simple taste of the French bread and Sourdough. 10. the horseradish and the creamy mustard. I prefer the former one.
11. Warm dark choco cake with home made Vanilla ice cream. I got asked several times why there are some tiny black spots in the vanilla ice cream and some doesn't have those. I told them it's the freshest way of putting the real vanilla aroma in home-made vanilla ice cream. Vanilla is like the cinnamon stick, and you need to rub the stick end and there go the black tiny molecules - that is the super aroma of vanilla. 12. Decaf coffee - making decaf coffee while maintaining the original aroma of coffee is very difficult. However, this one was made with keeping the original aroma and also very strong. Good one!
13. the shop is on the 4/F of Lee Gardens in Causeway Bay. 14. Henry House on Yan Ping Road - where lots of restaurants and entertainments are - like those in Tokyo's Shinjuku/Shibuya.
15. Lee Gardens. 16. Yan Ping Road - do you remember that cotton threads company "Paris Company" - it's still there... The Queen's Cafe used to be on the corner towards us on the photo.
9 comments:
*sorry Android - just when I deleted the old post and re-order it and found out your comments. So now re-post it here*. About the history of Lee Gardens, I don't know much about it. I guess TC should know it. TC, please brief if you know. Yes, I do miss Phang Nga but now heading for another exotic trip. Stay tuned. :)
The gu looks geat, but slightly expensive by Malaysian Standards. But if the quality is good, then it should be ok.
Which suddenly jolts me, just a trivial question. Is the Lee Gardens in HK owned by the same people who run Monarch Lee Gardens at Silom, BKK? Somebody told me it is actually owned by a Malaysian known as Chin Peng, but I never got to confirm it. Are you still missing Phang Nga? :p
why ask me la, i am so young to know the 100 years of Lee history na :(
TC
Lee Gardens is the old and famous hotel at Causeway Bay. This hotel used to be often visited by many celebrities(including Alan Tam) as there is a famous facial place inside.
When I went to HK in 1990, I stayed very close to Lee Gardens and I bumped into Alan Tam and his father coming out from here.
That is all the history I know of this place.
TC, I just thought you are knowledgeable in those HK and Thailand or Asia business background... Doesn't mean you are old enough to knowe that. Just like what we study history. :)
BTW, Android, the original Lawry's in Beverly Hills is more or less the same price as the one in Hong Kong. However, when it comes to the quality, it's worth it.
right TC is only 25, always 25 :)
about Lee Gardens Hotel, a development by Hysan Development Company, the big landlord of southern Causeway Bay (founder Mr. Lee Hsiao-Wo); in early 90's Hysan entered a joint-venture with a Thai company to build Monarch Lee Gardens Hotel Bangkok on Silom Road, sold after the 1997 financial crisis and Hysan withdrew its present in Thailand, then in 2001 French Accor Group awarded the (new) management contract and re-branded the hotel to Sofitel Silom Bangkok
who owns it now? no idea!
Lawry's in Beverly Hills does not have that many varieties of food shown on this post.
Thanks Mike for the story background. I was actually guessing whether it deals with the husband of Madam Li Hsaio Wo. It does make sense that it involves Hysan Group as that street is also named as Hysan Ave. Also good to know how Sofitel Silom got evolved. Thanks.
SS, that means Lawry's Beverly Hills still sticks to the original - serving only prime ribs. The one in HK has even lobster, salmon, chicken...etc. Due to their superb services, I'll for sure go there trying more varieties.
That is what I meant. Lawry on La Cienga(Beverly Hills) still has a boring menu.
They only have prime rib for 3 different cut(weight), potatoe, the famous cream spinach, corn, and that is about it. No seafood at all. So no inccentive to go often. Besides, the wait is over 90 minutes. You can only either eat at 5:30 or 9 pm without reservation.
However, its prime rib is still the best for this price(about $35 US).
SS
I see. It's still a good selling point as long as they can concentrate on just prime ribs. US$35 is cheaper than in HK. Yes, they also count it on the 3 different cuts here.
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