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2013-12-16
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There seems to be a lot of award winning chefs opening their own restaurants in Hong Kong as of late and Akrame Benallal has recently joined the party. His original restaurant in Paris was awarded one Michelin star just after a year of operations, and now he has opened Restaurant Akrame on Ship st!A modest entrance, it's name stated in neat illuminated white writing on a dark background and his somewhat mathematical looking symbol, A to the power to R, decaled on the window.We were lucky to get
A modest entrance, it's name stated in neat illuminated white writing on a dark background and his somewhat mathematical looking symbol, A to the power to R, decaled on the window.
We were lucky to get a table by walk-in since they were already fully booked for the evening, but we had to return the table to them by 8.30pm. No problems~
The restaurant was quite small with minimalistic decor, black furniture contrasting with stark white walls. It was smart to decorate like this, as anything else not so plain would make the already small feel cramped.
We were presented with the 'menu', except there is nothing much to be seen on the menu... Guests can choose either four courses or six courses and you will be served whatever the chef has prepared for the evening Surprise~. Of course they will ask if you have food allergies and if you must know they can tell you what the main ingredient of each course would be, but Akrame is focused on seafood so either clap your hands in glee or sigh your frustration pending your preference for fruits de la mer.Amuse bouche- squid ink cracker with smoked eel, Parmesan with salmon roe, anchovy with daikon (really fishy) and the one on its own olive with goats cheese.
Two types of bread, raisin and wheat, the accompanying butter infused with lemon. The first taste was interesting, but after a while it became a little too cloying. And my thoughts on the communal butter knife, well unless I'm some nervous guy on a first date who is waiting for an opportune moment to 'accidentally' grab the girls hand, I didn't love it. Plain butter and my own butter knife please.This was the first course. Cauliflower purée, Campari or cranberry jelly? I could be wrong on both accounts as I couldn't hear the server properly and vinegar sauce...
Oh and soup, squirted from a canister.
Creamy with a full cauliflower flavour, it had a hint of bitterness from either the purée or the jelly, but it really needed salt.Baby pippies are hiding underneath all that foam, bathing in a passion fruit and herb sauce. Cooked perfectly they were very soft and I loved the tartness from the passion fruit.
We requested a substitute for our fish course, and instead received lobster from the chef.In it's raw sashimi state...
Piping hot broth is poured in and left to cook in the sealed jar. Almost like waiting for two minute noodles.
After two minutes (I think), a lemon sabayon cream with green apple and zucchini pieces was placed in front of us and this was the bed for our lobster. Wow~ this was good even for someone like me who does not love lobster. Lightly cooked, so sweet and tender, but the sabayon I loved~ Fluffy, the tart flavours from the lemon and apples went hand in hand and just worked so well with the lobster. I wanted to scrape up every smear of the sabayon, but the nasty grating noise my spoon made against the plate was not the most polite.
A palate refresher of an alcoholic sherbet was served prior to our final dish.Our last savoury course was beef. A twist on your typical meat and potatoes crowned with a crispy noodle nest. The potato was made into a foam while the cut of tenderloin albeit small was a perfect medium rare, but unfortunately there was a slight amount of gristle.
Finally to dessert.We are served liquid tar covered lumps. Just kidding
Charcoal ice-cream and cooked pineapple. If you ask me, the charcoal doesn't taste much like anything, just a strong fragrance of char and slightly salty. The blackened cookies were a clever touch, acting like lumps of charcoal with a gritty texture and the juicy pineapple helped rinse the palate from the heady flavour.
A second dessert, two toned chocolate mousse~ Bottom layer cold, top layer warm, if they didn't point this out I doubt I would have noticed the temperature difference. This was really rich, easily satisfying my inner chocoholic, and digging inside I uncovered a thin caramel crisp and grapefruit segment useful in relieving the palate from the monotony of creamy mousse.
Oh and petit fours~ lemon crisp on torched meringue, big madelines and sea salt chocolate. I loved the madelines~
Akrame was good, well executed dishes nicely turned out, but nothing was great with the only exception being the lobster. For the price of $788 for four courses it veered on the expensive side with portion sizes being quite petite, but I would recommend it and coming for lunch would definitely be more value for money.
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