Video
Read full review
2015-03-17
7295 views
Bibo the quirkiest French fine dining restaurant in Central Soho, is a truly arts-meet-food restaurant in Hong Kong. The restaurant is basically a contemporary art gallery with murals, paintings and sculptures at every corner of the restaurant. Dishes are also a piece of art with glamourous presentation. Service is topnotch and is definitely better than many of the starred Michelin restaurants in Hong Kong. Once you have been to Bibo, you will fall in love with this place.To dine at Bibo, you wi
To dine at Bibo, you will have to find its entrance first. Just like any other highly hyped restaurants in Hong Kong, the entrance is well hidden. The dining hall might be visible at the stairs on the ladder St, but the main entrance is not. Fish for the bouncer on Hollywood Road and asked him to open the secret door for you.
Once the door is opened, you will be stunned by what you see. It is a world of Art. There are murals all around you, literally floor to ceiling. After admiring all the lovely artworks around the spiral stairs, you will hit a bar, a library before you arrive the main dining room.
The interior of Bibo is quirky as hell. There is a bad ass scooter covered in the King of Kowloon's calligraphy, a massive wooden Kaws scrulpture stood at the middle of the dining room, a cool Mario Bros alike and angry lion murals which I love a lot. All these contemporary art pieces surprisingly blend well together and create a wicked trendy ambience for diners.
There was so much going on at the restaurant that I felt a bit lost at first, it took me a while to settle down before I could really understand the words on the menu. The tasting menu was quite a lovely choice which priced over a thousand. However it has to be ordered by the whole table which is not very convenient as we came in a group of 5. We opt for a la carte instead but the dishes are heftily priced which basically costs you approximately a thousand already if you order 3 courses. Still we decided to go for a la carte as we can share desserts.
The complimentary sourdough was lovely with utterly crusty rim and chewy inner. Two housemade butters were served, one was a lemon salted and the orangy one was spiced with Espelette pepper. Both were equally delicious, but I like the Espelette pepper a bit more because it is spicy!
The amuse bouche is a Foie Gras dish covered with parmesan foam. The Foie gras was silky and quite mild in taste. Reduced port wine was added but I could not taste it. The parmesan foam was nice and tangy.
I started with a cooked to perfection slow cooked egg with oozing orangy yoke that tasted naturally sweet in flavour. The Japanese mayo also elevates the sweetness of the egg. The sourdough crumbs were a surprise, it was extremely crispy and paired well with the egg. Remember to scoop off the remaining egg on the plate with the house complementary sourdough!
The deep fried sole was rather disappointing. The sole tasted rather bland in flavour and the breading was dry and dense. The lemon mayo was delicious though. I just wish the execution of the sole can be improved.
I also tried my friend's steak tartare which was very tasty. The tartare was already mixed in fine texture with ample flavour. I actually prefer my tartare to be more chunky, but this is not bad too. Well brown and crispy house fries were also served with the steak tartare.
My main was the Wagyu Beef which was scrumptious! You know instantly this is a good steak once you poked your fork into the wagyu. The texture was utterly tender and juicy with mega flavour. The gravy was nicely done, flavourful and rich that complements the steak well. The foie gras was also heavenly, it was silky smooth with ample flavour that melts in your mouth. Nothing on the plate that I dislike.
I had a bite of my friend's pork belly and lobster. The lobster was alright, pretty succulent but it's the pork belly that worths mentioning! It was perfectly cooked with superb supple meats, melting fats and crusty skin. Yummmmmm!
For dessert, first we had the chocolate souffle which was absolutely enticing. It was airy and eggy with the perfect sweetness of chocolate made with 72% dark chocolate. The inner was a molten chocolate ganache which reminds me of lava cake. The ice cream on the side was creamy and carried a lovely coconut flavour.
We also had the Le Baba which is a typical french dessert with sponge cake. The sponge cake was moist, sweet and (surprisingly) without any alcohol taste. I had the same thing in Paris but it was soaked in liquor. Depends on your liking, this could be good or bad, perhaps ask for stronger if you love liquor, but I love Bibo's version.
As to celebrate G's birthday, Bibo sent us a complimentary dessert at the end of the dinner. This dessert tasted like an apple crumble break down with ample cinnamon and apple flavour, also with lots of fresh apple bites in it.
Just as we were wondering if there will be a petite four, our waiter brought us few trays of cute looking pastries . The canele was my fav, followed by a salted chocolate pastry, a bittery fruit tart and a caramel candy. This perhaps is the best petite four that I have ever had.
It was really fun dining at Bibo. The food was mostly great, the arts are funky and the timing between courses was excellent. Some of the dishes on the a la carte menu are rather pricey and the portion seemed small. I would definitely go back for their tasting menu which I found several dishes interesting that I haven't tried.
Post
