Today I cast all culinary pretensions aside and took my six year daughter to Hello Kitty Chinese Cuisine, a dim sum restaurant in Kowloon based on the concept of the Japanese icon. This phenomenon began in 1974 and is based on an anthropomorphic character from Britain whose culture was, and still is I guess, considered trendy by the Japanese. 40 years later, the brand is worth $7 billion and spans an airline, TV series, wine and diamond jewellery collection.
While this kind of restaurant usually fills me with fear, ingredient-wise more than theme, I was relieved to read online that the owner has in fact a passion for natural ingredients, using beetroot for the colour on Kitty's bow and squid ink for the eyes. However, having now visited the establishment, "natural" is not a word that screamed to me from the menu so personally I stuck to pot of tea and plate of choi!
My daughter chose the Hello Kitty sausage rolls and a rice dish, naturally in the form of the feline heroine, before finishing on some custard buns.
Would I go back? Er no, but it's a perhaps a box tick for a pre-adolescent daughter growing up in Asia, and interestingly, similar to Disney here, the restaurant was bizarrely bereft of children, and actually dominated by couples and ladies that lunch. Wtf?!
NB. Hello Kitty Chinese Cuisine is situated at Lee Loy Mansion, Canton Road. Telephone 8202 9203. Days previously, we had attempted to visit the Wan Chai branch described on the website but on turning up at the address, there was nothing there...
