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2016-04-01
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Molecular gastronomy is nothing new. It's a fascinating aspect of cooking that is based on science where the pioneers of this are all scientists. Heston Blumenthal, himself, calls his kitchen a lab where he researches and develops everything he makes. As foodie who works in a very science based profession, this mixture of food and chemistry enthralls me. The pioneerse and the chefs that follow who create new techinques blow my mind.As I live near the Causeway Bay area and always there munching o
As I live near the Causeway Bay area and always there munching on a snack after work, I noticed this new restaurant setting up. After walking by it a few times after it opened, I realized it was a molecular gastronomy restaurant with a tasting set menu that costs $200. That night, I saw them mentioned on a TVB program. Excited, I made a booking for boyfriend and I.
You must make a booking ahead of time. There are no walk ins as they have to prepare the amount of food ahead of time. They have three sessions. 6 - 7 pm, 7 - 8:30 pm and 8:30 - 10 pm. The 6 - 7 pm session is only $150 and I was informed that it didn't include the dessert. As I didn't want to miss out on the dessert, I booked the 7 - 8:30 pm session. They request you come on time so they can start and end on a timely basis. You pay when you enter the restaurant. The place has no seats. Yes. No seats. It's all standing and is set up more like a drinking bar. The chef said they could probably fit a maximum of 10 people and they only have three staff working. Yes, it's small. But they do catering and actually have a serious kitchen in the Kwun Tong area where they develop their meals. How very Heston!
In a very labortory like feel, the staff place eating an interesting set of eating utensils. The staff inform you which utensil to use with each dish.
We started the session with a drink. There are two to choose from. I chose this, a butterfly pea tea. Made from the flower, clitoria ternatea (aka butterfly pea), it is a naturally blue colored flower.
But after the addition of a little acidity (in this case, a lemon was used), it will change it's pH and change to a purple color.
Pretty cool, huh? Yeah, I thought so. Tastewise, it was just a pretty regular tasting flower tea but yeah ... SUPER COOL bit of magic!
The other drink was a blood orange bitter. It was a bubbly and sweet. They mixed it with a lighter soda water to give it an aqueous effect. Making it feel like I was in chemistry class. If only this was served in a test tube.
CO2 Injection: We started off with Japanese tomato and yuzu vinegar CO2 injection. The yuzu vinegar was placed in a canistor and injected with CO2 to give it a soda water like texture.
The cherry tomatoes were sweet but my tongue was shocked with the stark acidity from the vinegar and bubbles.
Spherification: The next dish was an example of spherification. A fairly popular techinque used in molecular gastronomy. Pieces of Iberico ham was placed on a spoon.
But this is where the magic starts. Two bowls were placed in front of us. On the right was a bowl of hami melon juice that has been premixed with sodium alginate. On the left is calcium chloride.
Taking a spoonful of the hami melon juice mixture, it is placed inside the bowl of calcium chloride.
The reaction between the two chemicals will cause the liquid to form a ball. It is then removed and placed in water to remove excess calcium chloride before serving to us.
What we got was a bit of salty ham underneath a ball of sweet hami melon juice. The juice was trapped inside the ball and burst open in my mouth when I bit into it. This gave it a wonderful salty sweet sensation.
Liquid Nitrogen: This is another popular technique and was introduced to the Hong Kong public via the making of ice cream. Liquid nitrogen is fun to wave your hands over like a cackling witch as I tend to do sometime at work when someone tosses a bit of liquid nitrogen in the sink to play with. The chef started with pouring some liquid nitrogen into a bowl.
A ladle of sour cream is placed inside the liquid nitrogen to freeze quickly.
Smoked salmon, potato and chives are then placed inside the frozen dome and covered again with more sour cream. The whole thing is dunked in and presto!
A white hard dome of sour cream is placed in front of me. Some dill oil is squirted on top and you take your knife to break it apart.
What you got was some smoked salmon mixed with a frosty tasting sour cream. A fun dish where you got smoke and your own chance to break things.
Emulsification: The next technique is emulsification. Or the mixing of two things that shouldn't be compatible to make it not fall apart. The chef started off by placing some cauliflower in the bottom of a cup.
A canister of liquified lobster is shot out using CO2. This impact causes it to become a mousse.
A bit of caviar is placed on top and we were informed to just plunge our spoon to the bottom for ultimate impact. And yes, chef was right. The cauliflower was crunchy, mixed with the soft texture of the mousse, it made for quite an experience. The mousse was light yet rich in taste. The salty cavier gave it an extra dimension.
A new set of utensils were placed in front of us.
Smoke at Table, Sous Vide: The next course involved two techniques: introducing infused smoke and sous vide which is the process of slow cooking food in a vacuum state under a waterbath at a low set temperature. The smoke used was rosemary infused.
Lifting it up, smoke disperses away.
Inside is chicken breast cooked in sous vide method, rosemary and some porcini crisps sprinkled on top.
We were informed to use the forceps to eat the chicken breast. The chicken breast was so soft and moist. It had the texture of a marshmallow and tasted more like pork than chicken. It was flavored with a strong rosemary taste.
Air and Foams: This dish involved a very interesting fusion dish called bo jai paella where paella rice was cooked in a typical Chinese claypot. The rice was cooked in abalone sauce and melt in your mouth kobe beef cheeks were placed on top.
What about the air and foam part? A container of garlic cream was placed in front of us. Then a tube was stuck inside that pumped oxygen in, creating yes ... foam.
You scoop some of the garlic foam on top of your rice to add a bit of garlic taste to the dish. It was fun and the dish was very rich in flavor. Adding the garlic just made it more fun.
The evening ended with dessert. Again liquid nitrogen was added to a bowl for that witch cackling cauldren effect.
Meringue is added and rolled around.
You then take a deep breath, pop a meringue in your mouth and attempt to blow the smoke out of from your nose. I, unfortunately, not a smoker, did this unsuccessfully. But it was a lot of laughs and a great end to the evening.
While we were chatting with the chef, I noticed they sold Pastoret yogurt desserts. I love this brand's yogurt as I love thick creamy yogurt. I was thrilled that they sold the dessert variety. Boyfriend and I tried two. These are $45 each.
Baked apple is my favorite. It was like eating apple pie. I love apple pie.
Chocolate banana was ok. Not as interesting as the baked apple one.
It's a great experience as it not only is reasonably priced, but it gives a great intro to this area of cooking as it goes through each popular technique. It was more like a session than actual dining. The chef is open to questions at any time. I asked why the concept of standing and he gave the business background of Ore-No Kappou, the Tokyo restaurant that serves high end Japanese food for a low price for it's all standing. People who stand will eat quicker, thus turn around is faster, and thus prices decrease. It's something I found in Italy when I was there. Everyone stood for their cup of coffee. No one sat down and it was cheap. The chef theorized that if given a choice, good food or good atmosphere, people would rather choose good food. I agree with his concept and understand completely. When I told my friends and coworkers about this concept, they all said the same thing "but there are no seats?" This is a hard thing to grasp for much of the Hong Kong public and why Ore-No Kappou in Hong Kong have tables and chairs. If the chef can convince the public that standing is just as enjoyable as sitting, then this is little shop is going to go far. I wish him well for this and I will keep a tab on it and try again when he changes the menu. And if you are still thinking "but we have to stand?", think this: it's only an hour and a half. How long did it take you to queue up for the other popular restaurants in Hong Kong, like Coffee Alley? Dazzling? Bake Tarts? Calibee Plus? Wear comfortable shoes. It's definitely an experience you don't want to miss out on.
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