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2013-02-23
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We'd recently heard enough of MC Kitchen, they newly opened, more approachable venture by Demon Chef Alvin Leung of Michelin-starred Bo Innovation, Beautifood and Bo London. This relatively understated brother (?), unlike his more, um, flamboyant siblings, is tucked away in a busy office building in Kwun Tong, an area hardly associated with haute cuisine. Without the recent wave of media coverage, I guess not many would know about MC Kitchen's lineage.Anyway, we foodies are never deterred and wi
Anyway, we foodies are never deterred and will go wherever food brings us. So one weekday lunchtime 4 gastronomic adventurers went all the way to MC Kitchen to check it out.
As expected, at this time of the day and place most of the patrons were business diners. We were first seated at a table near the window (but with blinds drawn), it was sort of dark so we asked for a change and, ahem, we got to sit at the chef's table! (clap clap clap)If you have been to any of Demon Chef's outlets you sort of know what to expect, but he'll always surprise you. Sorry you won't see any molecular xiaolongbao's here, be rest assured that your meal would be a delightful "奶黃包": a western appearance with a Chinese heart .
We were first greeted with the bread basket. Okay the bread was completely western style: baguette, raisin & walnut bread and herb focaccia but that wasn't the point. Want some tomato foam or fermented tofu aka 腐乳 kaffir lime mousse to go with it instead? Nom nom nom...
The Lunch Set menu was quite appealing; the mains were excerpted from the a la carte menu at a fraction of the price, complete with a fascinating started platter and a dessert. Good bargain isn't it?
From here we went...Starter
Green pea and bacon soup
Parma Ham, Morel, Vermicelli and Gazpacho
Spring roll, chicken, pesto
Green pea and bacon soup:Not much bacon taste so to speak, more like you usual pea soup...
Otherwise it was smooth and creamy.
Parma Ham, Morel, Vermicelli and Gazpacho:
Interesting reinvention of 金菇牛肉卷? I actually loved the morel-infused vermicelli.
The gazpacho is in the foam. The taste wasn't that prominent, but it added beauty to this innovative appetizer.
Spring roll, chicken, pesto:
Pesto a bit too strong for my liking, luckily the spring roll was still crispy.
Fresh chicken was used but I couldn't taste the difference.
Mains
IBERICO PORKhawthorn, plum sauce
Westernized version of your good old sweet n sour pork but it had more to that; the Iberico pork roll was succulent and substantial but not too heavy thanks to the tangy plum sauce (with hawthorn in it too boost your appetite!).
CARABINERO RED PRAWN
“har mi” oil, handmade pasta, mushrooms
A signature dish here; those who have been to Beautifood should be familiar with the "har mi" (dried shrimp) oil or the "har mi" powder sprinkled lightly on the pasta made on the house. A burst of "umami" coming through! The red prawn was nicely done and I had the head full of 蝦膏！Yay! Needless to say, I could have had the whole plate myself!
I think there was some Chinese influence on this dish as well? The texture of the egg noodles was somewhat like braised Chinese noodles sans the mushy sauce.
COD
black bean, honey, fennel, mandarin salad
Another twist of a household favorite - 豆豉鯪魚 of course much tastier. The cod was marinated with salted black beans and honey overnight. It was more on the sweet than the savory side and resembled more of Japanese Saikyo Yaki 西京燒 and the flesh was full of natural oils but was not too greasy. Fennel is not something that pleases every Asian's taste buds but I liked the fennel salad sitting under the fish quite well.
LOBSTER
butter poached, roasted corn puree, peas
There was a little hiccup when this was served (the restaurant promptly got us a replacement and waived the charge on this dish, and let us have extra desserts on them, hohoho).
But it was with the wait.
I got a claw (thanks), it was juicy and tender. The sauce was buttery and gave a lingering impression.
Side dishes
French Fries, Truffled Mayo $50This was one of the sides we ordered. The French fries were crispy on the outside yet soft and potato-y on the inside. Dunno if they did this on purpose, but the fries were salted generously such that the flavors of the mayo didn't come through that much while the black truffle taste was still there.
MC Classic Chicken Rice $80
Another side dish we had was this chicken rice. Served in a traditional Chinese clay bowl was Aborio rice (one of the usual risotto rice varieties) aged for 1 year cooked in chicken broth and topped with mushroom. Mmmm...
Green Salad
The head chef asked us to try this out. Ordinary looking it may be, the secret lies in the refreshing sour plum 話梅 dressing!
Daily dessert
The dessert that came with the lunch set was a black sesame donut with ginger ice cream. Trust me, if you like ginger you'd just love the ginger ice cream. One of us who specified he didn't eat ginger got a taste of it and found it very intense indeed! And he got a replacement with lotus seed ice cream and hey, that was good! Exactly like eating the lotus seed filling in mooncakes!The black sesame donut was filled with shredded coconut and I felt like I was eating 糖不甩. The berry sauce was quite sour and didn't quite match the rest of the dessert.
And we had 2 more desserts from the a la carte menu.
COCONUT $78
coconut sugar ice-cream, coconut milk, coconut water snow, rhubarb coulis,
chocolate crumble
The recommended sequence of eating this critically acclaimed dessert is to go from the light to intense flavors, like eating sushi. First eat the coconut water snow (jelly), then the coconut milk (ball) and finally move in to the coconut [palm] sugar ice-cream. As I am crazy about just anything coconut, this is THE dessert for me wow!
No part of the coconut was wasted here. The flavor of the crystal clear jelly made from coconut water was light and served to clear your palate for the rich coconut milk ball which tickled every taste bud as it popped open in the mouth. And finally, the coconut sugar (or more precisely, coconut palm sugar) ice-cream was said to be a reminiscence of a childhood favorite of coconut caramels. Indeed, very much so I can say, as I'd done a whole packet of those color paper-wrapped coconut candies over the Chinese New Year holiday! (If you're old enough you'll know which I'm referring to.)
TIRAMISU $78
baileys coffee and mascarpone
Pop open the Baileys-infused coffee sphere, drizzle the content onto the creamy mascarpone and get your deconstructed tiramisu. Garnished with pistachios and freeze dried raspberries for extra colors and 'layers' in textures and taste.
Delish!
At the end of the meal, we each got a secret little edible gift too!
By now I don't need to say more about how much we enjoyed the afternoon.
Thumbs up to head chef Macy & everyone on the MC Kitchen team for such a fascinating meal! I'll be back for more!
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