Visit Hong Kong’s Kinship restaurant where vegetarian dishes wow on meat-focused menu
- Small menu may celebrate meat dishes, but the vegetarian options are what really shine at this Soho restaurant
- Grandpa’s roasted carrots were a stand-out, while the roasted cauliflower ‘Peking duck style’ was creative and delicious
When I heard about Kinship restaurant, I immediately thought it was going to be full of blonde, impossibly beautiful, yoga-toned millennials talking about mindfulness and authenticity while consuming avocado on toast and craft beers.
I realised, however, I was unfairly associating it with Kinfolk magazine.
The one-page menu – seven starters, seven mains, a few “bits & pieces” and three desserts – had lots of dishes we were interested in trying.
The only dish that disappointed was the first one served: the hamachi crudo (HK$140). It was let down primarily by the hamachi, which tasted fishy and not as fresh as it should’ve been.The other flavours served with it, especially the tonnato vinaigrette (usually associated with vitello tonnato, or veal with tuna sauce), didn’t help because they made it into a heavy dish, rather than something bright and palate-whetting.
We loved all the other main dishes.
To our surprise, two vegetarian dishes sounded the most intriguing. Grandpa’s roasted carrots (HK$128) featured different types of carrots cooked to varying degrees: some soft and sweet, others firmer. The carrots were served with rich almond butter, fresh curds and – surprisingly – dried currants, which added texture and a mild sweetness, and which tied all the other ingredients together.