Morton’s
* 20 Nathan Rd., Hong Kong
Predicting the future can be tricky. There’s no way I would have
ever guessed that my final meal in Asia would be at an astronomically
priced American steak house chain. We were spending our last day in Hong
Kong trolling around Kowloon, and somehow got it into our heads that for
dinner we’d check out this massive mall food court I’d read
about, a few subway stops further out at Kowloon Tong.
Well, the mall existed (complete with a university attached—odd) but this supposed fast food mecca was nowhere to be found. All we could see was a KFC, Café de Coral, Yoshinoya, a mediocre Thai place and a smoothie joint. We were starving, and by now it was too late to take advantage of another harebrained idea we’d had—to hit Morton’s during happy hour for their skyline view of Hong Kong and free mini steak sandwiches.
While I got something tiny to hold me over (four KFC Baby Wings, which are truly infantile, perhaps even premature--the point was not spoiling my appetite and they certainly didn’t) James sorted out his credit card being frozen. After a little semi-desperate hemming and hawing, we realized it was getting late, we were in the middle of nowhere and we had to be up early to catch a flight back to the U.S. We said, fuck it, let’s just go to Morton’s and get a big, fat juicy decadent American meal.
Just a few days earlier, Alvin, James’ coworker and Singapore transplant, had been telling us how he’d thrown a company Christmas party at Morton’s and that the staff seemed sort of baffled by the meal. The massive portions and meat-centric concept kind of freaked the locals out.
What freaked me out were the prices. Wow. I’ve never been to a Morton’s so I don’t know how Hong Kong compares to America. But I’m sure there’s a mark up. That afternoon I had been staring longingly at the See’s Candy display at Festival Walk. But at nearly $40 for a one pound box (which can be ordered online in the U.S. for $13.60), I just couldn’t bring myself to spring for 16 ounces of nostalgia. Morton’s has you over the same hump. Their porterhouse for two was HK1100 ($141). For comparison, Peter Luger, which many would say is America’s, if not he world’s best steakhouse, a total different league than Morton’s, version for two is $75.
We put price out of our minds and drank up Bombay Sapphire gin and tonics and Johnny Walker Black (they’re obsessed with JWB in Asia) scotches and sodas. I got the $63 double cut filet mignon. We had giant salads filled with blue cheese and anchovies, sides of hash browns and of course, creamed spinach. My side of béarnaise ensured I was getting enough cholesterol. We couldn’t even finish our steaks, but never relinquishing our thrifty cores, we got doggie bags and packed them in our luggage the next morning.
This was an atypical total high roller, power dinner, and it was really really fun. I’m sure a kick-ass shark’s fin, bird’s nest, abalone and all Chinese banquet would’ve set us back as much and been more locale appropriate, but sometimes you have to go with your meat-loving gut and make chain-hating travel purists cringe. (9/8/05)
Back in NYC: gnarly-looking nibbled-on leftover bone
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