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2014-01-01
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2013 has been a vibrant year for Hong Kong's dining scene, with lots of hot and trendy imports from overseas. Akrame is one of Paris' most chic restaurants and it sets foot on Ship Street in Wanchai around a month ago. Having trained with both Ferran Adria and Pierre Gagnaire, Chef Akrame Benallal pertains to the innovative spectrum of French gastronomy. The restaurant serves a no-menu format set, that you have to be confident in the chef that he would surprise you with his magic. Akrame places
The interior decor was simplistic with 3 color tones of black, grey and white and there was an open kitchen at the other end. A 4 course (HKD 788) or 6 course (HKD 988) set is offered for dinner, we decided to go for 6 course and waited with high anticipation.
Amuse Bouche came in 2 plates, we had Olive with Greek Yoghurt on an olive crisp to start with. The other plate consisted of Smoked Eel sitting on the bed of Squid Ink Cracker, Parmesan Cooie with Salmon Roe, & Achovies with Turnip. As expected, I liked Parmesan cookie with Salmon Roe the most, both were of rather strong flavor but went very together without stealing each other's attention.
Bread was served afterwards on a very pretty shell holder, and perhaps comments from previous reviews were taken into account, we had separate butter knives.Our first course for the set was a soup, three ingredients were placed on the plate - bits of Broccoli (the server called it broccoli flower... perhaps I was not knowledgeable enough, I have never heard of this term. Broccoli is Broccoli, be it the top part or the stem), Campari Jelly (Which had a slight better taste) & Hazelnut cream with Cauliflower soup slowly poured to have the dish finished. The soup was slightly bland while the broccoli was a little too 'raw' for my liking. Hazelnut cream was theb best ingredient among all. Perhaps further elaboration was needed for the reason of making this soup with seemingly unrelated ingredients.
The second course was Sautéed Clams with passionfruit sauce beneath & parsley foam on top. The clams were well prepared, very fresh and soft. I liked how the passionfruit sauce gave the dish a lift to the diners' appetite.
The next was Oyster of Gillardeau in Onion Consommé, with Salmon Roe and Olive Oil in a very thin capsule. I could not hear the server properly, but from his pronunciation, I made a guess it was Gillardeau. The oyster was very tender and rich in its own way, it was of slightly salinity and had a faint hint of onion consommé. I liked this way of preparing the oyster.
Originally this course was lobster meat slow cooked in lobster broth. Since my friend prefered to have everything cooked well done, the lobster meat was first pan seared and placed into the jar. The broth was poured in to slow cook the meat for a minute or two.
After that, another plate was placed in front of us. Lemon Sabayon with diced green apples and zucchini was the bed for the slow-cooked Lobster Meat. I adored this. Even though the lobster meat was pan fried first and slow cooked again, the meat did not lose its tenderness and sweetness of fruits de mer. The creamy sabayon was very nice which added slight sourness along with the green apples. Even though lobster was usually regarded as quite a heavy dish, I liked their approach to make it very interesting and original.
We had another seafood course after the lobster. It was Red Snapper with Purple Glutinous Risotto & Crispy Rice on top and cuttlefish sauce on the side. The texture was very interesting. The crispy rice subsituted the usual crispy skin to contrast with the tender fish meat. The risotto was more sticky than usual but provided a healthy option.
Before our last main, Margarita sherbet was offered as freshener. Beef Tenderloin with Onion Purée, & a Potato Bird Nest (The server addressed it as Fries...). The beef was cooked medium rare and tender. On most cases, I was used to avoid deep fried food but I just loved the cripsy bird nest, which had not given me any impression of greasiness.
We were expecting dessert when an extra Cheese course was presented to us. The server said it was Mushroom & Comté Mille Feuille infused in Mushroom Consommé. I asked him how old the Comté was and I reckoned that was a simple factual question. However, I was startled to know he was NOT SURE of the answer since it was the first time he had been asked on the age of the cheese. Seriously, recital of the menu is certainly not good enough for a branch of the one-star Michelin Akrame in Paris. Servers are expected to know the ingredients for the meal. I finally got to know it was 24 months. By the first bite, flavors of the mushroom kicked in first while the aroma of Comté emerged a little while before I swallowed. It was a very innovative and daring twist of presenting a cheese platter, perhaps to tone down Comté's taste. As a loyal fan of Comté, I prefer to have it without the soup, as the normal nutty texture was a little too soft now. I would love to really CHEW my Comté.
Dessert came in a camouflage color - black. It was Charcoal ice-cream with grilled pineapple in blackened chocolate sauce & charcoal cookies.The ice-cream was slightly salty which I believed was salted caramel ice-cream and the pineapple was very tasty and complimented well by the chocolate sauce. It did look like a nicely crafted piece of art! The black bowl was a Chocolate Mousse with a piece of biscuit & salt sprinkles on top & grapefruit segments at the bottom. It was warm on top and cold at the bottom. I dug my spoon right to the bottom so I could have both warm and cold sensation at the same time. Very creamy and smooth for the mousse, and the sourness from grapefruit was a good balance for the rich chocolate. Well executed dessert course.
Petit fours was given to us after we finished with the dessert. There was a pack of chocolate with sea salt and lemon custard on cookie. It was a decent wrap up for the meal. Given this Akrame on Ship Street was newly opened, food was quite well executed and enjoyable. However, as it was originated from one of Parisien's favorite restaurants, I expected more. There were times when I could hardly hear the server so for some of the dish descriptions, 80% of the words were provided by them and the rest was my guesstimate and imagination. For the price I paid for dinner, service quality has quite some room for improvement. I would love to come back again and recommend to others, but perhaps it was a better deal to check out their lunch first.
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