Rating: ★★★☆☆

Address: 5/F, Grand Progress Building, 15-16 Lan Kwai Fong, Central 中環蘭桂坊協興大廈5樓

Telephone: 2521 8638

When you see the words “strip house”, what comes to your mind? For me, juicy slabs of steak, but that’s just because I am a massive foodie, and I won’t judge if you now have other interesting images in your head…

Strip House is actually a pun on the yummy New York strip steak or strip loin. The interior of the restaurant is in a suggestive red-and-black tone, and cocktails with saucy names can be found on the drinks menu (you can click here and see for yourself).

Brought to us by Harlan Goldstein, a talented chef and restaurateur (also aptly nicknamed “chef to the tycoons”), we were expecting prime steaks and pristine seafood at this American-style steakhouse. Just to clarify, Harlan doesn’t personally cook at this restaurant, but even with this fact in mind, I found the food at Strip House slightly disappointing.   

(1) The Appetizers, Salads and Seafood Bar From The Buffet Table ($168 on its own) is included in the set lunch or Saturday brunch. The selection was really similar to the one at Gold by Harlan Goldstein – there were some salads, cheeses and seafood.

My favourite items at both Gold and Strip House were the cheeses – brie and Parmesan, with walnuts, grapes and crackers, which were wholesome and delectable.

There were also some smoked salmon, mussels and whelks. The seafoods were fine, but not incredibly delicious.

(2) The 8oz Wagyu Hanger Steak ($388 for Buffet and Steak Set Lunch) was the best part of the meal. Strip House prizes its hormone-free beef (even though I am not the healthiest person when it comes to eating, the fact that the beef was hormone-free just seemed so reassuring and comforting), and the restaurant has a multi-temperature grill that can seal the steaks with very high temperatures. The Australian Wagyu Hanger Steak was beautifully seared on the outside, and was tender, flavoursome and gorgeously fat marbled on the inside. However, I still preferred the steaks at Bistecca, just 3 floors down in the same building!

(3) I am currently in search for the best burger in Hong Kong (dear friends/readers, please let me know if you have any recommendations!), so I also tried the Big and Juicy Prime Beef Burger ($228 for Buffet and Set Lunch). My heart sank a little when I saw that my burger steak was sandwiched between ciabatta. I personally really dislike ciabatta in burgers – its texture is too hard and it is not fluffy enough, which means that you have to open your mouth really wide and take a huge bite if you want to eat the burger and the bread at the same time. Brioche, on the hand, is perfect for me even though some people find it a bit too sweet and buttery to go with the patty. While the meat patty in this burger was fresh and tasty, it was not sufficiently seared and so was a tad too moist. I could perhaps have gotten a better burger at Classified for $99.

(4) For dessert, I tried the Lemon Tart with Glazed Sweet Pineapple. The tart was refreshing and good to eat, and was small enough not to make me overly full after my steak and burger.

(5) Next, I tried one scoop of their Home-Made Ice Cream. The available flavours were: Chocolate/Peanut Butter & Jelly/Strawberry/HK Milk Tea/Black Cherry/Nutella/Vanilla. Peanut Butter & Jelly and HK Milk Tea seemed tempting, but the waiter recommended Nutella so I ordered that instead. I liked the alluring hazelnut and chocolate taste of it,  but the texture was a bit sticky, and the melon which lined the bowl did not match the taste of the ice cream at all.

(6) Lastly, we finished our meal with a cup of Graffeo’s Famous Coffee. My latte was nice, and the exact same coffee is available at Gold by Harlan Goldstein.

Conclusion: Strip House, as a steakhouse, didn’t seem to be able to offer the best food or value for money. However, I might come and try their cocktails sometime, just to see what a “Red Hot Stripteaser” (Grey Goose Vodka, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, Lemon Juice, Cane Sugar Syrup, Lychees and Chili) or “Dirty Mofo Martini” (Grey Goose Vodka, Olive Water, Blue Cheese Green Olive) would taste like…