Navigating the streets of Hong Kong, and trying to find where a restaurant is, always challenges me—let’s say that! Yep, I got lost again. Uncle Quek is the new kid on the block. I hadn’t been here before, I wasn’t familiar with the building, and it wasn’t exactly the easiest to find. I did get here eventually, after going around in circles, but it was OK—I was sat down now. Time to eat!
Chef Barry Quek comes from Restaurant Whey; this place is overseen by him, so I was thinking it had to be good, right? Truth be told, I haven’t visited Whey yet because the strict formalities of a set lunch and dinner menu turned me off. For lunch, this is not what I want. They bridged the gap by offering a more so‑called relaxed concept, which is what drew me in.
They did try to rope me into the set lunch, saying the à la carte was now finished, but I wasn’t having any of it. Don’t call something a “casual eatery” if it isn’t going to be just that—casual! Please scrap your set menus entirely here and bring on the king that is à la carte. If you must charge more, so be it. Luckily, I got my way, but boy, it’s an effort. I was given a QR code; it seems to be the new normal, but that doesn’t mean I like it. I want to pay at the end using normal methods, not right at this very second, as soon as I have sat down! Thank you very much.
The room was extremely quiet, with just me and two others who looked as though they were finishing up, so I largely had it to myself. There was an unexpected distraction during lunch which, in such a calm and nearly empty space, became more noticeable than it might otherwise have been. I did find this slightly disrupted the experience, particularly given how quiet the room was. Would it be the same with a full restaurant? Possibly not. Perhaps there was a perfectly good reason, but it wasn’t something I had anticipated during what was meant to be a relaxed lunch. Casual, here, felt a little more casual than expected.
Right, the food and drink. I had real coconut water from an actual coconut, sweet and refreshing—excellent after such a long walk. My first small plate was bite‑sized cereal‑fried chicken, and as expected, it was crispy on the outside and crunchy from the cereal leaf mix, with a hint of honey dressing for sweetness. The chicken was tender in the middle—very good.
The laksa was what I really came here to try. It was specified as lobster laksa, but with such a powerful broth, I did wonder if it was a good idea to use this shellfish from Maine—or any lobster at all—as it got a bit lost in there. You couldn’t appreciate its taste; it had dissipated. You have coconut cream, chicken stock, sambal, lemongrass, fish sauce (this is only some of the dominating Asian elements). I couldn’t fault the prawn broth and everything else. My only criticism is change the protein.
For a quick lunch, playing by your own rules and not someone else’s, I would come back to see what they are doing next.
