Ham & Sherry: ¡Hola! Rock that Ship!

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Favs 必食推介：
Lunch Set午市套餐
 (Except for Beetroot salad, everything else recommended)、
Salt & pepper ‘Chipirones’ with squid ink aioli炸墨魚仔配墨魚蛋黃醬、Goat’s curd and Jamon Croquettes 火腿山羊凝乳可樂餅

[Written by Gobay in Chinese, Carly in English]
7/10 plates emptied!


一直有朋友推薦這家西班牙小餐館，說是從餐廳氛圍、擺設到食物的味道都很有歐洲本土風味。餐廳的外牆和地板都是由簡單圖形的藍白色方塊瓷磚砌成，突出簡約與清新風格。有連著開放式廚房的吧台位，也有充滿慵懶感的沙發皮座。桌上裝刀叉的鐵罐圍了一層和瓷磚一樣的藍白團貼，裝橄欖油的罐子很復古，像喝威士忌的隨身酒罐。整體的色調很高冷，但昏黃的燈光又滲透出暖意，的確十分有歐洲小餐館的特色。


It’s the navy blue and white mosaic-patterned decorated tiled wall that has garnered Carly’s attention every time she passed by Wanchai Ship Street alley. Now the Gang gave this nice Spanish place a visit – it came to Carly’s sense that this was the place to stay. There's the mind blobbing ham savory scent from the open kitchen spreading to each corner of the restaurant, the cozy European authentic ambience and pace, combined with vintage yellow dim lamps, dark colored tone of wooden high stools, tables and sofas reminded Gobay of the beaming life of little towns in European countries. The Gang quickly sunk into their leather sofa corner as our photographer was delightedly busy taking snapshots around already.

我們點了四個午市套餐，四款頭盤和三款主食都試全了，還加了兩款小食：

We ordered 4 lunch sets – managed to try out all the appetizers and main dishes, also added 2 snacks which were both astoundingly good. 

【Salt & Pepper ‘Chipirones’ with Squid Ink Aioli炸墨魚仔配墨魚蛋黃醬| HKD68】

 Spotlight please! Spanish love having squids in one whole piece, galloping a piece with just one bite. Deep fried with salt & pepper, instead of a usual crunchy crispy texture, it was soft and velvety as soon as you take a bite. The squid eggs, in half pinkish half translucent color, was smooth creamy, and interestingly exciting on the palate! Complemented by the rich fresh creamy squid eggy aioli sauce, the fresh-from-water squid was soft chewy on the upper part while zippy for the tentacles. Marine savory flavors burst in your mouth, perfectly complemented by the semi-soft and creamy squid, and the mysterious scrumptious black squid ink cream sauce. Don’t think Carly ever had squids in such complex textural experience before, Ham & Sherry already woah-ed us with its contemporary Spanish tapas.    Cholesterols? Who cares!? YOLO. 



這個絕對是亮點，推薦必試！西班牙人就愛吃原隻的墨魚仔，大小剛好是一口一個。它的傑出之處不是香脆，相反它是軟軟嫩嫩的，特別是咬破墨魚筒，裡面的半橘紅半透明的墨魚籽呈半流質蟹膏狀，濃稠配上鹹鮮的墨魚汁蛋黃醬——軟韌的上半部 (墨魚筒)和清脆的下半部 (墨魚鬚)結合在一起，味道和口感昇華到一個很難形容的層次，如果實在要類比的話，愛吃韓式醬油生蟹拌白飯的朋友可能體會得到：那生鮮稠密又滑潤的甜蟹膏，半流質狀地被放置到一勺熱白飯上，再加點醃漬蟹的醬油汁——就和這種感覺一樣，層次豐富但單純無花巧地，把食材原始的味道發揮到極致。去試試吧，即使它的膽固醇含量偏高，但人生有多少個十年！

【Goat’s curd and Jamon Croquettes 火腿山羊凝乳可樂餅 | HKD60】

Goat’s curd full, rich and creamy in texture, and deep frying into croquettes is very ideal as the cheese will become smearing creamy melting good.  Cheese curds are the solid parts of soured milk. It is close to the texture and flavor of cottage cheese which has not been fully processed, and they squeak against the teeth when chewing, hence people name them “squeaky cheese”. For a poutine lover like Carly, cheese curd is the one thing that she can tolerate without the heavy cheesy flavor and it’s an amazing idea of Ham & Sherry’s chef to leverage the use of creamier and softer texture of cheese, deep frying them into semi-soft indulgent croquettes.  Mixed nicely with those bits and pieces of savory jamon, Carly felt settled in with these crispy lipsmacking croquettes already. Ham & Sherry, will you surprise me more?




也許是內裡的質地特別地像奶油般滑，所以顯得外皮很脆。羊乳和火腿各自都保留了自身味道的特色，羊奶凝乳和羊奶芝士不同，類似未完全熟成的白色軟芝士(cottage cheese)。它微酸且口感像，火腿微鹹，很有風格的味道，挺好吃的。

《Lunch Set午市套餐 | HKD128 (配蒜香脆薯條另加HKD20) 》
Lunch sets being priced at HKD128 includes own choice of one appetizer, one main dish.

Apperitivo /Appetizers 頭盤 (四選一)

【Sopa de Ajo, caramelized onion roast 大蒜濃湯配燒洋蔥多士】
Sopa de Ajo – the Soup of Garlic, consider as an authentic Spanish dish from Madrid, is usually cooked in chicken broth with fresh tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and bread crumbs. Ham & Sherry went really heavy on the olive flavoring by adding a mix of both black and green olives. Interestingly, garlic fragrance was too subtle and Gobay suggested that this should have been named as “Soup of Olives”. If you are an olive lover, this is one of the places around Hong Kong where you rarely get to indulge in your favorite pickled snacks. Plus that little crunchy piece of toast on the side, drooled over by a spoonful of sweet caramelized onions.


大蒜濃湯 (Sopa de Ajo)，馬德里傳統名菜，通常由新鮮番茄，大蒜，橄欖油和麵包碎等製作而成。湯的味道簡直就是酒吧裡的黑、綠橄欖綜合體，愛吃橄欖和喝Martini的人肯定覺得不錯——小小的橄欖味道濃烈得能讓你舌頭長出一棵橄欖樹來！其實味道還是可以的，口感能嘗得到加了類似麵包碎的東西使其稠密。多喝幾口你也許會問大蒜在哪兒，因為這個湯的大蒜味道是一點不濃，很微弱——結論是它應該改名叫「醃橄欖濃湯」。其實我們沒有人喝過正宗的西班牙大蒜濃湯，所以請有喝過的食友留言解畫，為吉碟幫眾開開眼界。 洋蔥很軟很甜配多士感覺挺新鮮的。



【 Beetroot, red onion, rocket and goat cheese 紅菜頭沙律】

大家一致的反應是：很油膩，橄欖油放太多，而且有點過鹹。除了火箭菜 (又稱 “Arugula”)，紅洋蔥和山羊奶芝士之外，還有紅黃兩色的紅菜頭——沒錯，黃色的紅菜頭比深紫色的稀有得多，其實還有綠色的也能吃，還有一種很特別的切開是一圈白一圈紫紅像樹的年輪一樣，叫做 “Chioggia Beetroot”。蔬菜其實蠻新鮮的，被「油光」摧毀了。




Chioggia Beetroot are striped candy looking beetroots, milder in sweetness and rare in sight. Unfortunately, the fresh zesty beetroots flavors were drowned in overflooding olive oil. Overall the other veggies like red onions and rocket tasted like they were fresh from the market. Too bad the overdose of olive oil destroyed this refreshing salad.


【Caesar salad, crispy ham, parmesan 凱撒沙律】

這個大家都知道，沒什麼特別的，只是要稍微提一下它的脆火腿粒，和普通凱撒沙律中的煙肉脆粒不同，這裡用的是火腿脆粒，味道是鹹鮮的火腿味，不喜歡煙熏味的食友可能會挺推崇，可惜量非常的少又很細碎，近視度深一些都看不見吃不著。





Ceasar salads – it’s hard to impress with an ordinary salad, Gobay noticed their crispy bits of ham were different from the regular bacon bits you get anywhere else. Jamon crunches were added to evaluate the aromatic ham savory flavor, if only they were more generous on the crispy bits, Gobay and Carly nearly had to put on spectacles just to take a closer look.




【Pan con anchovies, tomato & parsley鳀魚番茄多士】

足料大片的油漬鹽醃鳀魚置於切碎的新鮮番茄肉上，我們拍完照多士已經半軟狀態了，推薦這個一上桌就吃，味道很爽口而且能充滿整個口腔。

Full size of anchovy – very common salt-water forage fish found in the Pacific Oceans. It was marinated in oil and served on the crispy toast, topped off with some freshly diced and seasoned tomatoes. The oceanic reviving breezy flavors freshened up the meal already. 

《Platos Principales – Mains 主食 (三選一) 》


【Pringa, confit pork, pickle, tetilla 油封豬肉脆焗三文治】
推薦不怕鹹的食友必食——口感堪稱完美！豬肉絲在豬油裡慢煮至軟化但仍有一些咬勁時和Tetilla芝士「糾纏」在一起，酸瓜的鹹味過濃使得整個三明治都偏鹹，但麵包烤得非常鬆脆，口感很上乘。Tetilla芝士口味比較清淡，是普通奶牛的牛奶做的，口感柔軟，外形異常性感，所以命名為 “Tetilla”，西班牙語裡是 「女性胸部」的意思，完全源於芝士的外形，和味道無關。

Carly loved this to its death – okay, point taken that this is considered salty for most folks but there is a reason why this was so good! Texture-wise – perfection! Confit pork being cooked in its own fat till it turns tender and soft, condensing the meat flavor. Pringá is a Spanish dish popular in rural Andalusia, rather homey style of cooking as the pork is cooked till it turns into crumbling bits, being tangled with the chewy tetilla cheese, the buttery and meat oil fragrance burst in your mouth, making this heavenly scrumptious. Even though the pickles were a bit salty, the golden crunchy bread was too good to complain about as you hear the crispy sounds when you take bites into that sandwich. Tetilla is the most characteristic cheese made in Galicia, often used in desserts, relatively soft and less strong in taste; it also refers to woman’s breast in Spanish for the cheese shape, sexy much? Ya. 


【Paella, chicken, shiitake mushroom 香菇雞肉西班牙飯】
意料之中地吃到一些生米，但用鐵板上的所以入口都是熱騰騰的，雞肉和米飯都非常入味，連普普通通的香菇都很好吃，似乎有一點點辣，和一般黃色的西班牙飯不同，它是紅色的，也許那就是辣味的來源吧。


Served in a hot sizzling mini size of pot, chicken and the rice were a burst of flavors, even though those shiitake mushrooms were well-seasoned with a mild heat of spices. Unexpectedly, uncooked rice was found in the reddish paella and it was a bit too salty for its relatively small portion of rice compared to chicken and mushroom. 


【Burger, American beef, Cheddar, tomato, pickles and comeback sauce 
美國牛肉漢堡】
我們特意問了侍應是哪裡的牛肉，他的回答是美國安格斯。但吃起來的感覺一點都不安格斯，而且一般安格斯牛肉都會大模斯樣地躺在菜單裡，絕對不會一個 “American beef”就帶過。但就算是常見的美國Prime Beef，它的三成半熟度依然做得很好，不用擠壓就能看到泛著銀光的牛肉汁流出，讓人未吃先興奮！麵包完全是意大利「拖鞋麵包」 (Ciabatta)的口感 (麵包的形狀很像拖鞋，外鬆內軟，所以歐洲大陸戲稱其為「拖鞋麵包」)，蓬鬆柔軟，牛肉汁一咬之下就滲進了麵包內部和芝士番茄等融為一體。醬是密西西比辣醬，英語可直譯為「吃過翻層味醬」，美味程度可見一斑——通常是由蛋黃醬，辣椒醬，茄醬和芥末等等多種原料「混醬」而成。它算是香港最好吃的漢堡嗎？難說！但一定是前五名優勝，推薦必食！


The Gang has been trying out so many burger places – Burgeroom was a letdown, Butchers Club being more of a hit and miss, Beef & Liberty been sitting on the top of the list for gourmet burgers, Ham & Sherry gave us a thrilling surprise as one of the best burgers we’ve had recently! Rather flawless burger construction, clean and nice easy to hold in one’s hand and enjoy all the compositions in one bite. The waitress stated that the beef patty was made from Angus beef yet Gobay suggested that if Angus beef was used, it would be rare to not see it on the menu. Regardless of where the beef came from, the beef patty juice was already flowing after grilling. Mixed with fingerlicking comeback sauce – dipping sauce with a base of mayo and chilli sauce, originated from central Mississippi in America, hands up!



The Gang is definitely going to come back for more! Ciabatta, authentic Italian white bread made from wheat, flour, salt, yeast, water and olive oil. Being somehow elongated, broad, and flat type of bread, it certainly looked like slippers. Soft and semi-bouncy like Ciabatta, extremely juicy and well-seasoned grilled beef patty, fresh zippy veggie, refreshing and lively comeback sauce, it was one of the most enjoyable burgers the Gang has ever had in Hong Kong. 


招呼我們的侍應服務態度很奇特：先給冷漠悲催「愛吃不吃」臉色讓我們大倒胃口，而見識了DvD魅力攝影之後，再把眾人服侍得如痴如醉如在夢中，前後分別猶如地獄天堂——我們「經歷此劫」也是長見識了。但單從餐廳環境和食物質素而言，這裡絕對是值得定期造訪的香港西班牙餐館之一！


Ham & Sherry came to the Gang’s surprise have aced one amazing burger without playing too many tricks and flashy magic on the self-acclaimed “Angus” or “Dry Aged” beef. Interestingly complex and creamy squid appetizers, and that golden crusted confit pork sandwich which was equally enticing to crave for. Carly regretted to not have paid this place a visit earlier, lunch sets were considered very reasonably priced, on average of HKD140 (service charge included) per person. Compared to 22 Ships located on the same street, owned by the same boss, Ham & Sherry ‘s food was more impressive and hit some high notes with simple Spanish authentic dishes. Sometimes you don't really have to play too much around fushion or fancy ingredients, just go to the point, be classic – adding a slight twist will delight a bunch of food lovers too.

Ham & Sherry
G/F., 1-7 Ship Street, Wan Chai
灣仔船街1-7號地下
* Owned by the same boss of 22 ships