pepperoni's (soho)

The first two things on my food-search agenda are good pho and good burgers. I got lucky someday last week, I'm not sure which day it was since we went out more than half the nights, but anyways, it was at a mediocre pizza place.

A couple of my friends had been here before, probably because it's super convenient, not because it's good. It's right on the corner of Staunton and Escalator (if that's not the street's name, it should be) so its people watching is first-rate; which is good because the pizza isn't really. The first bad sign was that the pizzas came out mere minutes after the appetizers and about 20 before the burger. Ok, I worked at a pizza joint once, it should take longer to bake a pizza than to put a piece of beef between two buns. When I looked over at the pizza makers, I saw that this was happening because the crusts were pre-baked and pre-sauced! Disgusting. The crust and the sauce tasted like it too; it reminded me of the Lunchables I ate when I was 10. I guess I'd say the burger was a nice surprise after that.

We asked the server if she'd forgotten my friend's order, and she reassured us that it was on its way. Since this burger cost only $120 ($20 more than the regular burger here) we didn't expect to be the size of a volleyball. At first we challenged our friend who ordered it to eat it all, and he tried, but there was no way it was happening. So we cut it up. I was really surprised--the sesame bun wasn't too airy, and it came with all the toppings, including Thousand Island dressing! It was the closest thing to In-N-Out that I'd had in months. It tasted like a good ol' American burger.

In between bites I'd just sit back and check out the people riding the escalator. We joked about it being like a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant, where instead of fish, you get to choose which person you'd like to eat raw, mmm...

Impossible to rate this place, some things are great, some are crap, umm: 3.25.

pepperoni's soho

8 staunton st

2525 1439

the flying pan (soho)

This is as New York as HK gets; a diner serving breakfast, burgers and shakes 24 hours a day, the kind of place that is best during waning drunkeness or recovering mornings. It doesn't make sense to go to a place like this under any other circumstances. However, in NY there'd be so many places like this that each one would have to specialize in some character-defining drink or plate. But since it's the only diner in town, it sadly can afford serving mediocre food and and LKF-priced drinks. Even with its so-so food and 75HKD eggs, it still has more character than any LKF bar. If you catch it when it's popping it's more fun than any LKF bar too.

Like I said, the food is fine. It's not as spectacular as a real diner, and it's not nearly greasy enough. The eggs are completely customizable and the steak is pretty cheap beef, which sounds about right to me. The juice glasses for some reason are twice the size of a shot glass, but at least they serve regular ice water as well. The burger is pretty cheap here, and is not too shabby for HK--it's actually better than some that I've had in SoHo.

I miss brunch and late-night breakfasts in the US because it's the best way to recap an evening or recover from a hangover with new friends. During peak times it's fun to listen to drunken neighbors and to imagine stories about the people sitting just out of earshot.

The Flying Pan doesn't drive traffic like Tsui Wah, but it's the same kind of crowd, only they're primarily English speaking. Tsui Wah is great too on late nights, of course it's definitely more Hong Kong, but at 3am eggs and toast sound so much better than yellow chicken curry and pork chops. But that's just me.

4.5 of 5, the decor is right on, the food is almost.

the flying pan

g/f 9 old bailey street

central

2140 6333