Thai food in Hong Kong is not all spice, sour, and salt. The people behind Asura Thai’s three locations spread across Hong Kong are dispelling the stereotypes of the fiery cuisine at their new, more innovative concept Phaya Asura.
The restaurant is semi-hidden at the foot of the Kai Tak Stadium inside the Dining Cove, a new space with a lot of promise but not much action just yet. It is envisioned as a West Kowloon version for East Kowloon: dining by the sea in a quiet neighbourhood.
For those expecting a mouth on fire and the classics, including pad thai, green pork curry, and som tum, you’ll be out of luck here. Phaya Asura is all about bringing Thailand’s more delicate flavours to Hong Kong, courtesy of a Hong Kong co-founder who grew up in Bangkok.
Their tasting menu for two (HKD768) is an apt format for dipping your toes in the water here. We start with an amuse bouche, the tomato symphony, which brings a warm and slightly-sweet tomato and chilli puree with pomelo on top of fried tofu skin. Absent of spice and salt, here is an introduction for the warm side of Thailand.
What came next was one of my favourite dishes of the meal, the banana blossom salad, paired up with lychee and chicken too. Using the flower petals borne out of the banana fruit, this salad excels with a texture more rare in Hong Kong. Each bite is floral with hints of jasmine. The chicken brings a contrasting meaty bite to the scene.
For the grilled & fried section on the menu, we chose the zesty & crispy larb corn. Whilst the tasting menu is designed to elicit warm and umami tones of the cuisine, this dish didn’t perform as well as the others. I wanted a strong larb (salt and pepper) hit on the corn bites, but the flavours didn’t strike as hard.
Up next came the coconut shoot and the Phaya Asura curry, both paired up with fluffy jasmine rice. The coconut was a nice palate cleanser to prepare us for the masaman chicken curry, cooked with unripened durian for additional fragrance and funk.
Do not expect a heavy salty hit with the curry, but a soothing sip that warms the heart and ups the romance in the restaurant.
For a final show, we were elated to find dessert coming to the table, including both the organic sago soup and the pandan balls delight. The sago itself was imported from southern Thailand and is far from the factory-made sago found locally. It is bouncy but does not resist when bitten hard. The salty coconut milk helps to amp up the herbal slightly tea-strong flavours of the soup.
As for the pandan balls, you’ll find stronger sweetness here with a sweet peanut crunch clashing with the pandan balls and coconut milk and meat.
Our verdict of Phaya Asura
Visit Phaya Asura for a) a visit to Kai Tak Stadium’s developing food scene in and around the main action of the new neighbourhood, and b) to understand how Thai cuisine can exist beyond the stereotypes dominant in Hong Kong.
Phaya Asura, Shop DC-005, G/F, Dining Cove, Kai Tak Sports Park, 38-39 Shing Kai Road, Kai Tak, Kowloon City, 3628 3616
| Order this: tomato symphony, banana blossom salad, Phaya Asura curry, organic sago soup Menu: tasting menu for two Price for two: HKD738 | Atmosphere: calming and quiet Perfect for: exploring the cuisine of Thailand before the basics or familiar |
This review is intended to offer an individual perspective on the dining experience and should not be considered as a definitive judgement of the restaurant’s overall quality or reputation. The views expressed in this review are solely the author’s and do not reflect the opinions of Foodie.
