WHISK

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Now Closed

321 Reviews

Taste

Decor

Service

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Value

12423

Tsim Sha Tsui

Above $801

Western Wine Hotel Restaurant

214

Flaky Apple tart

3 Recommended

ahgrey

Level3

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Aug 27 2014
Happy Birthday to me! =) A year ago I just came back to Hong Kong and spent my birthday @ Macau with my family. Can't believe it's been a year since I am back to Hong Kong for good. A lot of things happened in life and it's almost too hard to remember all the details anymore. Time to wrap up all the good and bad things and be ready to move on to the second half my 20s.
This year I wasn't a loner. Not because I have any massive break-through in life / status (ya, as always.. sorry to disappoint guys) but I have an awesome friend who came to visit Hong Kong during my birthday! =)
Very very excited to meet my old flatmate and I spent my birthday lunch with this gentleman from Sydney @ Whisk, The Mira.
I definitely have this restaurant at the top of my to-go list for ages but going lunch in Kowloon side on a weekday arvo doesnt seem to be all possible for me as an office lady, only if you take a day off work.

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I made my reservation 3 days in advance and the lady offered to send me the menu of the day through e-mail (I also asked if she could send me the long list of dress code she told me over the phone but she missed out on that haha).

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The theme of this dining experience is to bring you around the world so instead of having a 2 / 3 / 4 course lunch of one PARTICULAR cuisine, they have a good mix dishes that represents different parts of the world.
Getting slightly disappointed of what's served on the menu on my birthday day, I almost decided to opt out for various reasons.
1) I hate the smell and taste of fresh celery
2) who likes liquorice really?
3) I do not enjoy sashimi / raw food
4) definitely not spending my money on veggie
All these make it a big NO NO to dine @ Whisk. Jesus I saw the other 2 menus that they have on rotation and this menu is the one that I like the least. Mehhhhh =\
Click >>> http://www.themirahotel.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/140724_WHISK_Lunch_getaway_menu.pdf

Despite with great disappointment, I couldn't find a proper substitute that I am equally keen to visit so I just decided to play by ear.

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Kept hoping that when I got to the place the menu would be a completely different one but this little birthday wish didn't quite come true. (God knows I am stupid haha)

Can't complain more. Juices @ hotel is expected to be good. Mixed Berry Juice VS Orange Juice

Free bread basket with sour dough and some savory twistie with cheese and bacon
Nice and fresh off the oven and it is served with white shea butter. I am no expert of butter but by common sense, 99% of the butter I consumed in life is yellow. So what is this white butter really? *Time to google* It seems that white shea butter is usually refined and filtered, so presumably they are better? haha honestly I still don't know after reading 5 posts about yellow v white butter. We were eating the bread from finish to end, and we only got to taste my sour dough just before our dessert came (before the waiter took it away from us haha). Despite my loving for Chinese bread, e.g. raisin bun, pineapple bun, these are definitely good stuff (Just that I generally wouldn't spend money on them except having them at buffet or at a restaurant).
So you would wonder, out of elimination, what did I end up picking for entree. It was a tough decision to make.
At first, I was thinking the soup coz from my experience, once celery is well cooked and turned soft, they no longer have that fresh grass smell.
My friend said he would for sure order the soup so I decided to pick between the rest of the 2.
Quite determine to go for the duck foie gras, but just as I made my order, this little question just popped out of my mind. "Is it a terrine or is it pan seared?" Didn't quite getting the luck a birthday girl should have, it happened to go against my desire. Mehhhh...I don't like terrine, i could totally imagine it would taste cold and soft like pastes.
So I end up with the scallop tar tar, which I did not cast much hope on it but hmmm....whatever really.

The JAPAN - My whole dish is like a green garden with leaves and no flowers. There is one particularly interesting veg there. It has a snowy look and a very crunchy texture. I really would rather it to be seared scallops (entirely personal preference), but the tar tar is still good. with very very mild hint of wasabi only.

The GERMANY - This celery soup is way better and more interesting and delicate from the presentation to the way how it was served. When the soup arrives the table, the "plate" only have a little bit of soup together with the sticks and puffy white thing in there. The waiter then pour the soup from a jar it into the "plate". The white thingy then start puffing up higher and higher like a little dome/island. And as I expected, it taste nothing like fresh celery. Darn.....SHOULD HAVE PICKED THIS ONE INSTEAD!

The ''little sahara'' Duck leg

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The FRANCE - Main for me is the highlight of the whole meal! My little france, is not so romantic! It's more like a little sahara to me instead. This dish has so much going on. Every single bite is a little surprise. The cute little colored potato that looks so much like rock. The dots of mandarin jam. The very thin carrot (is that carrot?) that is in a nice chewy texture as if you are eating some kind of plum. And of course the chicken leg is awesomely tender and flavourful!

Tasmanian Salmon with seaweed, cucumber and mustard seed

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The TASMANIA - I really do not quite agree with the stations they named. This is JAPAN, isnt it? I have only tried one bite f the salmon in it's just sooooo soft. As I about to bite into it, there is first a little bit of oil coming out and then the flake of salmon starts sliding off on your tongue. unbelievably good! Can I have sushi roll with grilled salmon but no rice instead next time when I go to a sushi train? haha

Compare to the classy and rather complicated main we had, the dessert is comparably...hm... not disappointing but "simple" I guess. I thought it would also come with a twist but it's looks so ordinary that I almost thought I could make it too. It's a puff pastry base with thin sliced apple and almond flakes on top with icing sugar. It tastes fairly good but I doesnt like how the edge is a bit burnt. I also do not understand why they cannot make a one man portion instead of forcing that we have to order the same dessert if we were to order apple tart. Weird....Vanilla bean ice cream is good tho!
I guess the birthday girl is very happy for the lunch treat : ) and she's hoping to come back again when they switch their menu! Looking forward to it!!

(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)

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DETAILED RATING

Taste

Decor

Service

Hygiene

Value

Date of Visit

2014-08-27

Dining Method

Dine In

Spending Per Head

$300 (Lunch)

Celebration

Birthday

Recommended Dishes

EdEats

Level3

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We were led to our seats by the window at Whisk, where our view were the crystal balls hanging over the dining area of Cuisine Cuisine one level below. I suppose it's a decent enough idea since the streets of this side of TST aren't that appealing and if you focus on your fellow diners and only watch the dizzying balls once in a while. Cute way to start the meal and will certainly form a part of the opening conversation for first-timers.

There was some high anticipation since this was Justin's Quek's (of Singapore's Les Amis fame) first foray into Hong Kong. I always like to order the chef's specialties since if the chef cannot get those right, then it's almost safe to assume that the rest of the menu are write offs anyway.

I generally don't waste time on salads since they take up space and I can do a better salad at home - it's really about the produce. But the gourmet salad here was marked with a chef's star and so I succumbed. The combination of artichokes, sweet cherry tomatoes and mangoes with garden greens, topped with aged parmesan and drizzled truffle oil was a fresh start to the meal and was able to entice and excite the palate.

The Chef's selection of appetisers was decent enough but wasn't a wow for me. My favourite was the beef carpaccio for the quality of the beef - lean and beefy but you can savour it without any effort chewing. Of the other 3, the foie gras chawanmushi was good but offered no surprise, the artichoke soup was better than expected (probably gifted an extra dimension by the use of mushrooms), and the crab couscous was a weird disappointment. For those who cannot decide, the selection is still a worthwhile order.

The lobster bisque souffle was unique in its presentation. Most have had the puff pastry top but the souffle top made for a uniquely fragrant delivery. The whiff of farm fresh eggs from the souffle was very inviting and I could not wait to sink my spoon into it. But there was a little bit of an anti-climax since the aroma was the winner. The bisque was fair but because of the delivery, you would just expect that much more out of the dish. At the risk of making it overly heavy, a more robust bisque would have been a more worthy match to the souffle top.

The special of the roast sucking pig was as good as I thought it should be. The crackling was crisp and matched the tenderness of the cut we were given, and a bonus for me was the presence of a little cartilage, to add to the bite. Pleasantly surprising was none of the piggy gaminess which one might expect from pigs in this region - I forget to ask where the baby pig was from. Well executed and the balsamic based sauce is a nice way to cut through the otherwise heaviness of the dish.

The highlight of dinner was dessert. The ultra thin flaky pastry with apples and toasted almonds, topped with custard and delivered in a copper pan, almost pizza style was excellent.

Cut into pizza style wedges and served on a plate with ice cream, it is a delightful way to finish the meal. Thin and crisp with the moist apple slices in between the pastry and the toasted almonds, drizzled with a custard sauce, a nice contrast of flavours and textures. 2 complaints - the sides were a tad too burnt and the ice cream had the consistency of whipped cream (which I don't fancy) and as a result melted by the time it made it to our table. Too light, and lent nothing to the almost perfect pastry. And instead of tasting light, it just tasted a tad oily for me. While we were assured that the recipe is home-made and natural, my only comment is that each home is different. In mine, we like our ice cream the traditional creamier way.

Not whisked away, but a floatingly happy experience overall. Might go back if I'm looking for options in the TST neighbourhood. It is a nice place to entertain though - quiet enough and the service professional.

For the original post and photos, please visit www.edeats.blogspot.com