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2010-01-10
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..... For the Full Collection and Larger Versions of Food Photos as Reference, feel free to visit my Supplementary Photos Blog: babedolphin@blogspot.comAs of 2009 July, I was finally chastened by PIERRE GAGNIERRE HK for a quick 4 Course Lunch, him being one of my long term idols. Before long, a sequel of a follow up Dinner was accomplished, but it might well be 2015 before I submit that review going by the snail pace I'm churning out reviews lately! Note: During this critical phrase,
As of 2009 July, I was finally chastened by PIERRE GAGNIERRE HK for a quick 4 Course Lunch, him being one of my long term idols. Before long, a sequel of a follow up Dinner was accomplished, but it might well be 2015 before I submit that review going by the snail pace I'm churning out reviews lately! Note: During this critical phrase, there has already been transitions of Head Chefs, but no significant changes on the menu - its still quintessentially Pierre!. LUNCH ITSELF IS $380-390 FOR 2 COURSES, ADDITIONAL COURSES ARE CALCULATED AT $80 PER DISH, A BARGAIN IN MY OPINION CONSIDERING DINNER COST TRIPLE & THAT $80 WILL WHAT, LAND YOU A SINGLE "BIG DEAL OF A TINY PIECE" NIGIRI SUSHI IN OVER-PRICED BUT UNDER-ACHIEVING JAP RESTAURANTS?
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"BREAD BASKET -"
Onion sourdough, soft butter roll & mini bagutte were paired with a salted-version of the same butter served in Caprice. Bread remains the same for night offerings, but the butter-style changes.
"LAGNIAPPE -"
A cling-wrapped bowl sees suspended-in-mid-air some bread crisps, melba, parmesan shortbread as well as an inevitable showing of thin sweetish croquants, a precursor of more molecular food to come? Arriving with puy lentil & blue cheese spread, as well as Pierre's special spread made of chopped roots and vegetables , it reminded me of finely diced uncooked mirepoix.
"SPINACH SALAD - with MUSHROOM BISCOTTI, SMOKED DUCK ROLL WITH BLACK RICE, APPLE ON CRISPBREAD -"
The Spinach leaves were thick and dark greenish, its almost unlike any raw spinach I've devoured before, it resembling more of thai bettel in texture. It even managed to make my lips swell due to acute allergic reactions, possibly due to high iron contents? My upper lip wasn't very comfortable throughout the whole meal after this, BUT, it was really nice and the smoked duck ham with black rice should be a regular item! This was side with a toast with green apples.
"PAN-FRIED FOIE GRAS - CHERRY, LIN CHI MUSHROOMS AND CELERY -"
Duck Foie Gras was cooked to medium-rare, this accompanied by glazed cherries, as well as celery and what really isn't lin chi such as ganoderma lucidum, it was just lin zhi enoki mushrooms, a bit misleading I think...? Sided with a toast that's topped with a mixture of dehydrated mushroom chips as used on mushroom soups, also surprisingly some aromatic, freshly shaved summer truffles! All on the house and not even written on the menu!
"BOUILLABAISE JELLY - SOUBROSSADE ICE CREAM, NICOISE TOAST -"
This became the first dish which really foretold of Pierre's global restaurants carrying that slight hint of Molecular Gastronomy for the sake of fun only, but without overdoing it! The bouillabaise of prawny essence and slight alcoholic/bitter influence was first turned into cold jelly, then accompanied by dollops of cream, chopped crustacean derived seafood pieces as well as soubrossade sausages - the latter also doubly presented in the form of a non-melting savoury ice cream with too much gel glace perhaps. The nicoise toast separately made with parmesan flakes, anchovies, romaine lettuce & crisp bacon was quite fun to play with!
"FRENCH FARM CHICKEN FRICASSEE - GRENAILLE POTATO, CRISPY WHITE ONION AND SALAD -"
Dicked Farm Chicken fried with herbs and then mixed with famous grenaille potatoes and fresh salads for that crunchy textural contrast... for some reason I also tasted toasted-sesame? This dish is actually quite simple to execute, yet its also not an usually encountered dish. From a Michelin 1 Star kitchen and 2-3 Stars fame elsewhere, this main dish might seem under achieving - albeit in reality, the Pierre Gagnaire of the 2nd Renaissance after his hiatus has changed substance, just like Robuchon, becoming a true Food-Artist... And so, his kitchen and pastry chefs are allowed to break traditions and do whatever they feel will be deemded fun yet enjoyable by customers, this forms the backbone of how the Pierre kitchens operate. I found this dish refreshing.
"IBERICO TENDERLOIN - CARAMELIZED TOMATO & STEAMED CHINESE FAN GOU -"
There were lots of that Iberian Black Pork's acquired porky taste even for a tenderloin, some might marvel at its retainment of original meat flavours, others could find it slightly disengaging. It was slightly stringy, the steamed fan gou with vegies inside was fun and daring and it worked as a side, albeit a little over-steamed. Caramelized tomatoes served in a side bowl with spinach was sweetishly-acidic, balancing the overall wild pork flavour.
"BERNARD ANTONY CHEESE PLATE: SELF SELECTED -"
This came with a lot of really thoughtful accompaniments to ensure you get the best of a Cheesy experience... For more details, refer to my Supplementary Photo Blog.
"NELSON - VANILLA MILK JELLY, LEMON WURTZ, MALABAR ICE CREAM & STRAWBERRY MARSHMALLOW -"
Dessert comprised of a central vanilla jelly which was unbelievably addictive when balanced with the lemony wurst jelly inside. The highlight of this dish however must be awarded to the quenelle of gum-flavoured Malabar ice cream, a cousin of the carambar candy. Boiled for a long period to extract all of its full bubble-gummy flavours, the final "water-based" ice cream version was surprisingly, nearly smooth enough! - it was only slightly crystalized on a few certain bites, it can be attributed to every molecular foodie's dream P-J ice cream machine, a much higher end version of the ubiquitous Taiwanese snow-flake shaver. The marshmallows went just perfect as an supporting actor to this dish. This dessert to put it short - was simply awesome, awesome, bloody awesome, I was so close to ordering seconds straight away!
" ESPRESSO & CAPPUCINO -"
Pretty good quality, unlike many other Michelin restaurants serving exactly the same Italian brand.
" WINES BY THE GLASS -"
At the time of visit - I was appalled at the poor choices of white wines by the glass, which I wanted to order to pair with my food selection. This seem fixed by another visit already. Anyway, the decent red wines are good but expensive at around $160-180 a glass, however they come as larger portions than a normal standard drink. So when u order 2 portions - the Somelier will happily split them into 2 separate glasses! Very thoughtful!
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Normally not a fondest adorer of
1): 'Molecular Cuisine' since it can often become ghastly cross-overs between Picasso's Cubism mixed with Frankenstein's Laboratorial Experiments gone astray , in reality, true
2): 'Molecular Gastronomy' intents carry a vastly different school of thought and goal. It needs to be distinguished from its predecessor, as the pivotal mentality resolves around a 'deconstruction of all matters related to food, for the purpose of understanding its separate elements', whereas others end up choosing to go down the path of more extreme molecular cuisines, treating it as a 'means to an end' and for the convenience of conjuring up new-age food just for the sake of detouring from the well established!
Bo's Innovation, Le 188 and The Krug Room falls into the former experimental 'Molecular Cuisine' category. Whereas places like Amber & even Caprice on the other hand luckily retained chefs with some sanity - who know fully well how to utilize their new found molecular knowledge and then administer them responsibly as food supporting enhancement than for pure show-boating! 分子料理 when explained in Chinese: unfortunately fails to clarify the differences between the two stylistic variations.
Pierre HK in my opinion, did not employ as much Molecular Gastronomy influences as others might expect: if anything, they were more geared towards cooking Fun but very balanced Avant Garde food, sometimes even courting with fusion ideas rather than Molecular elements, but it was all 適可而止. Unfortunately, the MICHELIN GUIDE does have its Achilles heel - it has never developed a penchant for non-serious food such as those served here, unless of course when its cooked by Mr. Pierre Gagnaire himself. In a way, its unfair to PIERRE HK as most of its underlying setup and even ingredients uses are basically identical to the 3 Starred Caprice. Relatively speaking, PIERRE duly deserves more applaud for their efforts. A HIGH '4' to LOW '5'.
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