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2007-01-02
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My fiancée and I went to Aspasia for dinner on 30 Dec 06 to celebrate my birthday. I read a few articles about this place before hand to manage my expectations but the fact that Roland Schuller used to work in a Michelin Starred restaurant in France has my hope highly set.My fiancée arrived first and was being seated in a table not far from the entrance. The location of the table was fine apart from the fact that it comes with large comfy sofas which are not ideal for fine dining.
My fiancée arrived first and was being seated in a table not far from the entrance. The location of the table was fine apart from the fact that it comes with large comfy sofas which are not ideal for fine dining. We made a subtle comment to the waiter and we were swiftly relocated to another dinning table.
Once we have settled down and ordered our food, I was surprised to have to ask for the wine list. The waiter did not seem to know too much about the menu either as it would surely help being the first time there by recommending a few signature dishes by Roland.
We were then brought a complimentary appetizer which tasted like pizza dough with fresh tomato sauce, Parma ham and mozzarella cheese, which we found very pleasant. Bread was then served, even though they weren't anything spectacular, the bread tasted fresh from the oven and the olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar made up for it.
For starters, my fiancee ordered a "Tomato Water" which was tomato consommé served in a tea cup, accompanied with rock lobsters and clams in creamy foam. The waiter urged us not to mix them up in order to fully appreciate the segregated flavours. The outcome was surprisingly good - the tomato consommé was really refreshing, and the seafoods were cooked to perfection.
Since I love cooking and eating pasta, I ordered a Cacio e pepe linguine served with crispy artichokes - it is simple pasta in a cheese and black pepper sauce. As I have always thought the simple recipes often are the hardest to handle and once again my expectations was fully met. Not only the sauce was amazingly full of flavour, the texture of the homemade pasta was perfectly timed.
Moving on to the main course, we ordered a stuffed roasted wild pigeon and mine was a char grilled beef cheek served with a braised escargot and artichokes in a reduced balsamic vinegar sauce. The pigeon has a nice gamey, smoked flavour to it, while the beef was out of this world, this dish I strongly recommend.
Since we have no idea about what to have for dessert, we have asked the kind captain to do us an assorted sweet plate. We were once again pleasantly surprised by the 4 selections as they ranged from a jelly/ sorbet texture in vanilla sauce to a most wonderful chocolate cake.
The minor points for improvements did not come from the food, but we found the service to be rather "rushed", together with the constant movements by the waiters, the mood was slightly affected.
Overall, we really enjoyed the dining experience and as a person who can be very particular about Italian cuisine, this was one of the best meals I've had in HK.
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