Since Excelsior closed, English food in CWB is scarce. Enter THE LEAH which offers English comfort food. It is located at Lee Gardens where you take the lift from the elevators near PRET, so you have to resist not going into Pret as well because that is English!
When you get there, you have to walk through a lovely garden before you get to the restaurant and there is a play area for kids.
I loved the huge deck chair which reminds me of the beaches but the one here is much bigger and covered with artificial foliage.
As you an imagine, everything on the menu is a must eat for me because they had pies, desserts which were all popular English items.
The bigger items like Beef Wellington and Dover sole have to be ordered in advance. Being raised in a seaside town I miss my Dover soles which look like flounder fishes but slightly different.
It was good that we came in a group so that we could order more dishes.
Here were the dishes that we had:
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[Scotch egg and Soldiers]:
This dish is the ingenious marriage of egg and Soldiers with the Scotch Egg. Egg and Soldiers is a breakfast dish where a soldier is a thin strip toast that resembles soldiers on parade. Other versions include marmite Soldiers and Vegemite Soldiers in Australia. Seemingly a simple Egg and Soldiers dish is made fancy with the Scotch Egg so this dish is the best of both worlds.
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Scallop & Black Pudding:
Black Pudding is a blood sausage served for breakfast and I liked the way it is used to compliment the scallops which gives it a richer flavour.
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For pies, there was chicken and Fish pie.
It's a bit difficult to explain, but there are two different types, the shortcrust and the ones topped with mash like Cottage and Shepherds etc.
[Chicken Pie with leek and bacon]:
Another classic, delicious creamy chicken with smokey bacon in a flaky crisp pastry.
[Fisherman's pie]:
Also another classic pie with creamy seafood beneath silky mash on top.
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Beef Short rib & bone Marrow Gnocchi:
The pieces of gnocchi were huge which made them great for accompanying the sauce and the beef was tender and soft.
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Butterbean and Aubergine Casserole:
The butterbeans were surprisingly flavourful because it tasted like a Mediterranean dish with cumin and spices as well as vegetarian chili con carne.
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Beef Wellington:
Interestingly, the Beef Wellington is quite popular in Hong Kong and no exception here with quality tenderloin beef wrapped in pastry with tasty mushrooms and parma ham.
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Dover Sole:
I love Dover Sole so we were lucky it was in stock as this fish is sooooooo hard to get in Hong Kong. The fish is similar to the flounder found in Asia. Anyway it was cooked in caper butter so the fish was moist and soft.
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Green Beans and Shallot butter:
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Moving on to dessert, we had the trifle and apple pie.
Strawberry & Sherry Trifle:
I love trifle so I am so glad that this place serves it as well as Marks and Spencers.
The base is loaded with strawberries and the cream is light and fluffy laced with vanilla seeds.
Granny Smith apple and nutmeg custard:
The apple pie had chunky pieces of apple complimented by nutmeg custard sauce which is something different to your usual custard however I would prefer to have some real thick nutmeg custard but not ice cream.
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Overall, everything was really good and just like the food in UK with a slight modernization but then if you have been dining in the UK, lots of dishes have been reinvented.
[The Leah]
Shop 308 & 311, 3/F, Lee Garden Two, 28 Yun Ping Road Causeway Bay.
Tel: 23377651
