New bar & lounge: G Room by Gaia Group

You know those times when you want to have an intimate chat — where do you go?

Bars can be too loud, restaurants can feel too buzzy. I usually go to the same two spots (The Envoy or Bar de Luxe). After trying G Room, a new spot by Gaia Group, I might have another spot to add to my list.

When I first walked into G Room, I found it hard to pinpoint exactly what it was. It’s called a bar and lounge, but I think it looks very much like a restaurant with its placemats and lighting. That said, I’ve never been to a restaurant with a glass ceiling and 360 degree immersive screens showcasing a variety of looping vistas from ethereal snowy forests to dynamic city skylines!

Maybe trying the drinks and food would help me decide.

There is a good selection of drinks from sophisticated cocktails and premium wines, to frozen fruit drinks and slow-pressed juices. We decided to try a jar of G Room Red Wine Sangria ($428) which was lovely and light. In addition to the red and white wine sangrias, there’s one with a moscato base and elderflower and ginger. I’d like to go back and try this.

G Room describes itself as a Western-Asian tapas bar and indeed there are a lot of appetizers / sophisticated bar snacks on the menu.

We tried four dishes from the small bites section.

The roasted padron peppers ($78) and grilled smoked scarmorza cheese ($168) were as expected. Both solid choices.

The crystal bread with hamachi, 36-month Iberico ham, tomato and Spanish anchovy ($158) had a bit too much topping for the airy texture of the bread (though some may not find this to be problematic...). The flavour of the hamachi was a bit lost in the smorgasbord of flavours.

For those who enjoy broken eggs, the 63 degree poached Japanese egg with shaved truffle and Iberico ham ($128) is a gooey, savoury delight. One of the best, and lightest, renditions in town.

From the medium bites section, we tried the white wine baked fresh clams with chili ($118, pictured above) which were cooked well and came in the most heavenly roasted garlicky broth. We refused to let the waitress take the empty dish - we wanted to mop up as much of the sauce as possible!

Who can resist a sophisticated plate of fried food? The G Room Seafood Platter ($298) came with a selection of calamari, jack mackerel, Thai-style fish cakes, ham and potato croquettes, zucchini and deep fried red prawns. This was gone in no time, though it did seem a bit of a shame to deep fry those gorgeous red prawns.

We tried three out of the six noodle / pasta dishes.

Of these, the table favourite was the fresh squid black garlic mushroom spaghetti ($228) — very fragrant and addictive.

The other two were fine options though — I’d recommend the abalone shiso sea urchin pasta ($318) if you enjoy more delicate flavours.

And the Italian red prawn spaghetti ($288) if you, well, love the sweet, robust flavour of red prawns.

The only real let down of the night was the whole lobster paella with Spanish ham ($598) which managed to be both oily (the rice) and dry (the lobster). Perhaps we just had it on an off night.

With regard to portion sizes, our table of four women polished off the above with relative ease. I suppose we were really hungry as the portions didn’t seem small?

Verdict

So does G Room feel like more of a bar or a restaurant? I suppose it depends on what time of day you go. If you go during the day, note G Room offers a six course lunch menu for $268. There’s also afternoon tea for $398 per person (my friend’s four year old saw my photos from G Room and is keen to see the swimming turtles on the screen — would be great to bring her for tea). If you go at night and are looking to have the day’s worries melt away, there’s plenty of food and drink to help you with this. Forget about how it’s branded, just know that there are interesting and sophisticated takes on comfort food calling your name in a cozy corner of K11 MUSEA.

Shop 504, 5/F, K11 MUSEA, Victoria Dockside, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, 2332 6662

*For Foodie