Chow

Overview

With bare concrete walls, plush leather seats and hanging Victorian lamps, Chow does not fall neatly into any specific genre of eatery or watering hole. The closest one might come to a definition is to call Chow is a modern, but still quite traditional, Asian fusion, vegetarian/vegan-friendly bar/restaurant - a generous description which doesn't do much to differentiate the place. So I'll set aside definitions for a while.

We nipped in for a tipple, and ended loitering around long enough for me to tip back a delicious Hazelnut Sour ($16) made with hazelnut liquor, fresh lime, lemon juice and a sugar rim; and a Geisha Girl's Grog ($14) made up of gin, strawberry syrup, fresh lime, lavender bitters and ginger beer. The menu wasn't going to let us ignore it either, and so about halfway through drinking the Sour a Beggars Purse ($11) with chinese greens, bamboo, peanuts and shiitake mushrooms, as well as a leek and ginger gyoza ($8) with sweet garlic soy arrived to keep it company. No complaints about any of these nibbles, or tipples. Although I was particularly a big fan of the Beggars Purse, I could easily chow my way through the gyoza or sip away at the Grog or Sour again on a regular basis.

Eating and drinking at Chow is a flawless experience - mind the waiting list though, tables at Chow are in high demand.