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Fireside

Smoke gets in your eyes–Enthralling Open Fire Grill Dining at Fireside Grill

Lede: The recently opened Fireside elevates the standard for the city’s smokehouses，aided by its refined open fire grill concept and its variety of smoky flavours used.
Established by the group that created Cupping Room，the award-winning caféoperator of specialty coffees，the recently opened Fireside is already making an impression in the highly competitive dining landscape in the city.

Fireside is helmed by Spanish Chef Miguel Gallo；the Ex-Aqua chef is debuting an innovative grilled meat concept highlighted by several distinct elements: open-fire charcoal using a wide-range of aromatic woods for smoking；sourcing of meats，seafood，and other ingredients from all over the world accordingly to seasonality and quality；and flexible but tradition driven cooking styles as they relate to aging，curing and grilling.

Fireside’s concept sounds like a winner，so naturally we accepted the invitation to lunch there with glee.

The restaurant occupies the 5th floor of H-code，a new hip，lifestyle building overlooking Tai Kwun in Central. The décor of Fireside is relaxed and resembles a sophisticated smokehouse. The venue features an open kitchen highlighted by a Mibrasa Parilla and tailored-made brick oven. In addition to its main dining room，an alfresco dining is available，as is a private dining room. For our lunch，we sampled different dishes from its Lunch Menu（$580/person for two appetisers and main course；$480 for one appetiser and main Course；dessert is $68 extra）. Fireside also offers an extensive ala carte menu and the Chef’s Special Tasting Menu（$1,290 per person）.

We started with cold appetisers，highlighted by the Four Woods Smoked Plate: Hokkaido scallop，Hickory wood hot smoked，“aonori”seaweed，soy；local Mao Yao Threadfin，cherry wood cold smoked，“sal de gusano”agave worm salt；New Zealand Ora King Salmon. Apple wood cold smoked，fennel pollen；and Spanish Sardine，oak wood cold smoked–the meats are all tasty，each with its own distinct smoky wood infused flavour. Endives，grilled，L’Escala anchovy“bagna cauda”a light and savoury salad is excellent，as is Beet，coal roasted bottarga，salmon roe and finger lime（Oscietra caviar +$180）which is sweet，zesty，and refreshing.

The hot appetisers are yummy too. We chose the Seasonal mushrooms: white truffles，shaved mushroom fire saute，Manalica pork belly，smoked egg yolk（$198+ per person）- the meat of the Hungarian breed，furry pig is tender and flavourful. The other appetiser is Butternut squash，roasted，black truffle，and chicken jus - also good.

For the main course，we had a Butchers cut of the day，grilled，baby gem lettuce，chardonnay vinaigrette–the cut of the day is a nice steak cut from New Zealand（TBC），and Japanese Madai，age，celeriac puree，grilled okra–the meat of the grilled red sea bream is firm and tender. A fruity 2019 Venta Las Vacas，an oak-aged Spanish red wine，accompanied our food.
We wrapped up our lunch with two desserts: Seasonal fruit，fire roasted，burnt cheesecake semifreddo and Burnt milk ice cream，salted brown butter，cocoa caramel，both new for us.
The meal at Fireside was delightful. We very much enjoyed our open fire dining experience. We do believe its unique concept is destined to be much talked about and successful. If you are in a mood for a new and special dining occasion，we strongly recommend you give Fireside a try.

Address: 5/F，The Steps，H Code Building，45 Pottinger Street，Central，Hong Kong

Telephone: 6610 8689