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2018-03-26
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"What exactly is there inside the California tower" and I would say it's a fair enough question, labelling is "Proudly home to the city's finest restaurant", although I am sure that JinJuu should be excluded on the list, I guess I should not stereotype the whole tower based on only one restaurant. But in terms of restaurant, what else is exactly there? This time, it is the Mercato on the eighth floor. Mercato, the Italian word for market, makes things a little clearer for what type of cuisine we
"What exactly is there inside the California tower" and I would say it's a fair enough question, labelling is "Proudly home to the city's finest restaurant", although I am sure that JinJuu should be excluded on the list, I guess I should not stereotype the whole tower based on only one restaurant. But in terms of restaurant, what else is exactly there? This time, it is the Mercato on the eighth floor.
Mercato, the Italian word for market, makes things a little clearer for what type of cuisine we are trying today. Also, the restaurant did not choose a glamorous or exotic names for it and gave a feeling it is a casual Italian restaurant. Direct facing the Mercato bar when you get off the lift, my first thought was just wondering if there are any Italian cocktails.
Interesting red brick wall with a three way open bar near the entrance and open kitchen on the other end.
Today is actually 14th March, also the "white valentine" and it is also the restaurant week and we are trying the three course Dining City Menu. The next surprise is actually the person behind this restaurant, "Mercato by Jean-Georges" the menu wrote. Jean-Georges? The three Michelin star chef Jean-Georges ? Apparently It is!! This just make the night more interesting since JG really has a long history in Hong Kong.
For the 3 course menu, each of us will receive a complementary signature Prosecco infusion. So Mercato does serve Italian Cocktail!, Well, technically not "Italian cocktail", but using Italian Prosecco infuse with difference flavours and we choose one lychee raspberry and one passion fruit for it.
Passion fruit Prosecco infusion
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Lychee Prosecco infusion
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Prosecco as an infusion is actually very versitile, basically you can add any fruit flavours and can become one of the signatures. Prosecco and fruit infusion, by definition, is not a cocktail, and Mercato knows it very well too. Therefore, it is not under the cocktail section and avoid picky people like me pointing out these potential minor mistakes. Prosecco is an off-dry sparkling, or even described as demi-sweet or sweet depends on the producer. Due to this characteristics, the infusion will usually be well-liked by female customers. This Prosecco has a good amount of acidity from both the sparkling and fruit making it not a bad apertif to start off the night.
Complementary Bread
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Getting rid of traditional oil and vinegar, the complementary bread was dished with just olive oil and sea salt. At this point, I felt like table space is actually a problem. Don't get me wrong, this table is already bigger than most other restaurants, with visual approximation of 70cm x 70cm. However, the table is actually slightly too busy with glasses, candles, decorations, sea salts container and olive oil plates etc. The table liner actually further set the limit of the shared space. The staff assumed that we shared the dishes, or may be our gesture hinted, but this shared space was on the edge taking account that we have two glasses of water and two glasses of Prosecco infusion.
For starters, we choose the Burrata cheese and Char grilled octopus. Burrata cheese is basically mozzarella cheese that is more buttery, in fact, translating into english, "burrata" literally means "buttered". It is more a creamy version, more silky and milky compare to normal mozzarella.
Burrata cheese with lemon jam
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Sliced Burrata cheese
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The beauty of it is when burrata is sliced open, like an egg yolk, the essence and aroma spreads. Might not be the best picture that I can capture, but you get the idea. For starters, burrata is always better than mozzarella in terms of its ability to spread on bread, in terms of aromas and in terms of milky and creamy flavour as well. However, if you were to melt the cheese for like pizza for example, mozzarella would be better option as melted burrata just lost its signature texture and flavour, and more importantly, would be cheaper as well. My requirement for starters are low, as long as it can increase your appetite, it is a good appetiser. A good degree of acidity like balsamic sauce or salad dressing would be good enough and for here, it is the lemon jam. This lemon jam is tangy and zesty, a bit of lemon fragments that is not too sour, but providing a good degree of acidity and well balanced with a good lingering fragrance that is beyond my taste bud. Good combination with the creamy and silky burrata and of course, some heavy carbohydrate chain to fulfil and at the same time suppressing your hunger desire.
Char grilled octopus
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For next starter, we choose the char grilled octopus and it was a great success and the key is that the octopus flavours was delivered up by both green olive and funnel, a good punch of caper with a good base of garlic that is not too overwhelming, nor too shy to hide themselves among the crowd. Have you ever tried a fully cooked octopus that is not chewy? well, I found one here and it was good.
For the mains, we enjoyed the porcini crusted salmon more with a hint of JG influence. For the other main, Veal milanese was slightly over cooked and slightly dried out inside making this slightly disappointing compare to other fabulous dishes. Topped with parmesan cheese, I barely taste any of them purely due to the fact that the veal is too chewy, where I focus too much energy on using my masseters dealing with it.
Veal milanese
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Credit where credit's due, the salmon was excellent. The warm leek vinaigrette and herbs really does link to JG's work in terms of using herbs and vegetable juice as one of the important ingredients in his dishes. Like slicing butter with hot knifes, the salmon has zero resistance to any cut.
porcini crusted salmon
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Even it looks like a well done salmon, the texture is somewhat you cannot imagine. Believing using the slow cook method, the salmon melted on your tongue with good vinaigrette and herbal flavour, of course with a background of porcini taste. Surprise on taste and surprise on texture and this reminded me so much of a dish that I tried in Connaught hotel, of course which it is also under JG.
porcini crusted salmon after slice
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After trying more desserts at different restaurants, the dessert tonight didn't work for me very well. The tiramisu, with their own twist, using a whipped version foam instead of mascarpone cheese, lost its signature. The foam was a bit too sugary, too much air intergraded making the texture too thin. The flavour, on first bite, retained the "tiramisu" impression, but the base was too hard to fully enjoy. Although the texture dynamics was increased, but in a way that they were too separated to enjoy.
Tiramisu
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The passion fruit chocolate tart is more or less the same. The chocolate seemed texturally gummy, bit not the gooey texture that I am looking for. Trying to mimic the synergetic effect of orange and chocolate combination, this one, I would say, just lost the war. If they were served seperately, this might have enhanced the game, but sitting next to the sweet chocolate, the sauce was just too sour in comparison. Chocolate tart has strong chocolate intensity and the sesame tuile was greatly enjoyed. Dessert, still, is not at its best and if taking this factor out, I would say I super enjoyed the meal.
passion fruit chocolate tart
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The restaurant offers a good variety of interesting italian dishes, same as the wine list. Mercato seems to deliver Jean-Georges spirit through some dishes, and they deliver on the promise. Even though some of the dishes was a disappointment but this restaurant defo exhibit some JG vibes. Nougtine and Mercer kitchen might have the star, but I don't think that this make Mercato a poor connection. Mercato provides a very fairly priced compare with other restaurant of the same ilk. For those who wants to try the shadow of JG, the mains at Mercato will offer with promise for sure. For missing his version of "light as air" pizza and the mercato bar, these will be my goals on my next visit.
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