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2014-09-21
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VASCO is a nice addition to Hong Kong's dining scene, especially because it offers modern Spanish cuisine in a format besides TAPAs, which seems to be a bit overdone at the moment in HK.I made a booking for VASCO about a month out when I came across ISONO, the sister restaurant, by accident went visiting PMQ. The receptionist was very helpful at the time and found me the first available Friday night. A call to reconfirm was made the night before.Before we get to the cuisine, there are good a
I made a booking for VASCO about a month out when I came across ISONO, the sister restaurant, by accident went visiting PMQ. The receptionist was very helpful at the time and found me the first available Friday night. A call to reconfirm was made the night before.
Before we get to the cuisine, there are good and bad parts of the VASCO layout. If you want a quiet meal in a private dinner room, this is definitely a great option. There have at least four private areas, one of which appeared to hold ~20 people. The flip side of this set-up is things are very quiet, and poor service can be amplified when the staff forget about you in the private room. Furthermore, the contrast with the lively area in ISONO (VASCO is on a balcony above) makes the quietness more noticeable. Again, it depends on what you want, but just an FYI.
The food.... (no pictures as I believe it is more fun to be surprised by taste and sight) The were two set menus and an A la Carte option. All options looked interesting, but in the end our group of four opted for A la Carte. One of the signatures of VASCO is the butter selection, which consists of 7 various colors. Very cool and something I have yet to see in HK.
To start, two in the party opted for the Farm Eggyolk, which was excellent. Two very soft fried eggs with quinoa on the side covered with cured Iberico ham and mozzarella foam. Not over the top, but the ham balanced nicely with eggs. I did not try the other dishes, but the Roast Foie Gras was rated as excellent, and the Balsamic Tuna looked very much as one would expect, cubes of raw tuna. There was definitely something for everyone on the starter menu.
For the main courses, two in the party opted for Turbot. The Turbot was perfectly cooked. Soft and moist on the inside with a nice crust on the outside. The braised endives and octopus/clams were nice editions to the plate. Overall, a simple and refined dish with lots of flavour. The other diners had Roast Scallop and Ox Fillet w/sweetbreads, which they both rated highly.
I am not a huge dessert person, but I definitely recommend trying one at VASCO. All of the desserts at our table were nicely portioned and light. I had the Cardamon essenced rice soup over olive bread. Sweet but not over powering. Others had the Pineapple icecream and chocolate cake. Again, everyone happy.
Overall, the food was excellent, and at ~HK$250 for an appetizer, ~HK$500 for a main, and ~HK$120 for a dessert, the prices are in line with other fine dining establishments in HK.
One nice part about VASCO is the wine list, which had many options sub-HK$800 a bottle. We had two great Californian wines around the HK$600 mark, which is almost impossible to find in most high-end places in HK. Well done to whoever put the wine list together.
As for the service... as often is the case in HK, it was unexciting and flat. On a few occassions, I had to exit the private area to find someone for more water, drinks, etc... Too bad because that would have really brought the rest of the experience together. Perhaps a visit from the chef would have been nice, given the limited number of tables in the venue.
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