It is a rarity to find a restaurant in Hong Kong cooking food that, in a three-piece, places substance over style, responds to the wishes of diners seeking novelty, and promotes a culture unknown to Hong Kong within its four walls.
Yurt, Hong Kong’s first Central Asian restaurant, has assumed this challenge and opened with grand fanfare. As Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan have finally found a home of eating in the city, diners have had their palates roused with this SoHo restaurant. Cue the Instagram shots.
The restaurant is co-founded by two Kazakhs, namely Xeniya Tregubenko who leads the front of house. She is the restaurant’s storyteller who has jointly designed the menu with the head chef to serve dishes central to her youth in her homeland and those pertinent for representing the larger Central Asian community.
The à-la-carte menu has the baursak (HKD55) standing at the top of the page, featuring a handful of plump homemade fried dough pockets served with a tangy white truffle sauce. Immediately, the theme of Yurt reveals itself: carby with love, plus hearty meat to come later. This dish is popular throughout the region.
The second starter I tried was the acichuk (HKD98) which features a bed of sweetened quinoa with red grapes and juice and cherry tomatoes placed on top. Described as a popular salad in Uzbekistan, the salad acts as a palate cleanser to prepare for heavy meats coming later. Simple and basic, yes, but pleasant to enjoy with the fruity tomatoes.
I tried three main course dishes available on the menu currently (as of early January) upon my visit to Yurt. The first was the pilaf (HKD140). Plated in a cute fashion with the fatty beef cuts placed atop the rice to soak up any juice, each bite is heartier than your traditional Middle Eastern pilaf. The rice comes with a discernable bite with slightly-hardened chickpeas coming in for a balanced texture. I wish there were more raisins to bring more sweetness to a buttery dish.
A recipe traditional to cultures stretching from Latin America to the Middle East to Eastern Europe, this is how Central Asians largely prepare the dish.
For the bashbarmak (HKD140), already a viral dish at Yurt, homemade square raviolo-like noodles and shredded potato and carrot meet in a simmering beef soup. It is the perfect recipe to cure sickness, marks Xeniya, or warm one’s soul. Beef cuts stand alongside the horse meat sausage (+HKD90) at the top of the soupy bowl.
Imagine if you bring beef jerky together with lightly salted margarine and a low-grade meaty Wagyu cut and you have the taste of horse meat sausage. It is stringy, falls apart on the palate, and hits hard with a salty beef-like flavour. You can now tell your parents you’ve tried horse meat now and enjoyed it!
The dolma (HKD125), a vegetarian main course option, brings much needed veggie balance to the meat-heavy menu with eggplant, zucchini, and carrot paste all meshing together.
For dessert, I enjoyed the aport (HKD108) which may elude the not-too-sweet-loving dessert crowd of Hong Kong. I liked it, alot. A not-too-sweet cheesecake is plated in the centre of a curving bowl with additions of green apple puree, caramel, and rock sugar layered on top leaving you dazed but done with the meal in style.
Our verdict of Yurt
I ended the meal with a large belly protruding with five plates of food packed inside, yet I was not stuffed. Yurt’s special ingredient is a teaspoon of homely and indulgent Central Asian know-how. The recipes are not bastardised to fit within the Hong Kong palate, but shown in their full strength. Ryackhmet!
Yurt, G/F, 32 Elgin Street, Soho, Central, 6845 7149, book here
| Order this: baursak, pilaf, beshbarmak, dolma, aport Menu: à-la-carte and tasting menus Price for two: HKD500 – HKD750 | Atmosphere: calming and simple, with all the attention on the table Perfect for: a meal to try a new cuisine and experience a novel culture |
This review is intended to offer an individual perspective on the dining experience and should not be considered as a definitive judgement of the restaurant’s overall quality or reputation. The views expressed in this review are solely the author’s and do not reflect the opinions of Foodie.
