Catch, Kennedy Town

Writing a good restaurant is a simple thing, enjoyable but simple. Allow some alliteration about the ambience, some similes about the service, a few fables around the food and round off with a repartee regarding the whole experience. See, easy. There’s nothing to it.

Writing a bad review is even easier, especially if you are sadistic bastard. Anyone can linger over the poor service, concentrate too much on a slightly overdone bit of food. Bemoan a chef for not displaying enough flair or imagination. See, even easier. Although to continuously write bad reviews would suggest the writer has a tendency for kicking puppies as well. Told you, sadistic bastards!

So I’ve decided to write about a restaurant that is so middle of the road it is nearly totally forgettable. Catch is a restaurant in Kennedy Town which I’ve set myself the task of writing about. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with Catch, the service was good, the wine menu nice, the staff friendly and helpful. But it is let down by the food.

It’s not a case of the chef trying to hard, nor that they have seriously underachieved, neither of a kitchen that reeks of laziness and boredom. It is just a restaurant that is like a shrug of the shoulders, there are good bits to be sure. But there are also bad bits. You wouldn’t bemoan having a meal there but nor would you rush back in a hurry.

I always like to end on a high note so let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first.

The menu is too varied, too full of little chefy touches. A puree too many here, an extra step of cooking too far here, too many in vogue ingredients which had me worried before we got in. Cuisines include, curries, Italian, traditional English and even Spanish. It’s too much.

Right, onto the food and let’s skim over these quickly and start with the worst. Patatas Bravas. Said it came with charred lemon, firstly why! Secondly, there wasn’t any (probably a blessing). The mayo, of little there was, tasted of nothing. No whack of garlic which patatas bravas is so wonderful for. The tomato sauce, nope, not even worth writing about. Overall, underdone potatoes, over cooked rosemary stalk (see picture) and not a great start.

Moving on to slight better things, only slight mind. Fish and Chips. Quickly put, batter was too thick so that it was undercooked in the middle, but the fish tasted nice. The chips were under seasoned, the chef had left salt on the side but what’s wrong with seasoning it yourself! Honestly, oven chips may have gone down better. I could forgive everything so far, heck, I ate most of it. But the worst was the very strange mushy peas and mayo. On the menu it says pea ketchup, they weren’t. All it tasted of was vinegar. And the mayo was meant to be malt vinegar mayo. It wasn’t. It tasted of bland mayo and cloyed to the mouth. Don’t bother.

Right, that’s the worst of it out of the way. The second best dish was the lamb tacos. This is where we are really getting into the territory of forgetfulness. Lamb, well that get’s a B-. Well cooked and tender but lacking depth of flavour. Maybe Catch had run out of seasoning on the day we arrived? Pickled onions, neither here nor there. Same could be said spicy coriander yoghurt. Coriander, yes. Spice, non existent. But the good thing was the grilled lime on the side, not ground breaking but a redeeming feature.

Finally, and let us finish on a high note. Prawn Toast! What could go wrong with prawn toast?

Turns out, thankfully not a lot! Hurray for deep fried brioche, mushed prawns and nutty sesame seeds! We started on this dish but I really wish we had finished. That why my memories might be a little fonder of Catch!

As I said not terrible but just not worth running out to dinner for.

Love,

The Galloping Ginger

Catch, 95 Catchick St, Kennedy Town

http://catch.hk/#eat-together