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2013-07-06
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Not only is food a necessity in life, but it is also a way to relieve stress. So my buddy and I ventured all the way from Central to Kowloon after a long work day, to explore into Kowloon for Bo Innovation's new baby - MC Kitchen. Having tried the legendary molecular xiaolongbao (小籠包), we eagerly looked forward to how the restaurant would present the art of gastronomy. However, we understood in the first place that MC Kitchen was more down to earth but remained its fusion elements.MC Kitchen is
MC Kitchen is shrouded among the commercial buildings, if we had not sought help from the security guards, we might not be able to locate it. Seated at the far end corner, we were all ready for the night! There were 2 dinner sets - Chef Menu & Tasting Menu, since there were some tiny variations for the courses, we decided to try both.
The bread basket was offered when we were done with ordering. Bread was nothing special, but the dressing did leave a great impression. It was prepared with Pat Chun Sweetened Vinegar (八珍甜醋)! I have always loved this vinegar when it was used to cook pork knuckles. Seemed the sourness was reduced and it was a good match with the bread that we almost finished the basket before dinner actually started!
Our first starters came - Oyster (Tom Yum Kun, Guava) & Hamachi (Wasabi & Apple Ice with Cucumber, Yuzu Foam). The oyster was a little too spicy for my liking, the oyster was fresh nonetheless. The apple chip slice from the Hamachi was very nice, and blended well with the frosty apple ice while there was still a slight hint of hotness from the wasabi! The mix was perfect to bring out Hamachi's freshness!
Iberico Ham (Porcini Braised Vermicelli, Aromatic Tomato Foam) was the second appetizer. The most impressive ingredient was the vermicelli, it tasted like it had been dipped under the sauce for a long time that it absorbed completely the best of porcini's. The tomato foam was light and well balanced out the strong flavors from the ham.
Our third starter was a Chef's Special Selection - an attempt to surface the memories of typical Chinese dish - fish with Chinese parsley (芫茜). The ingredients were broken down into different presentation, ginger as the powder and we were advised to mix it all and taste everything in one bite. Perhaps the fish piece was too tiny, I reckoned the expected effect was not really observable.
Our next dish arrived - Foie Gras ("Lo Shui Duck", Chili Pineapple). The foie gras was not very rich which suited our palate better, and the pineapple was indeed a good balance to make the dish less heavy. The spring roll at the back with lo shui duck as the filling was just so-so, not a very outstanding twist I had to say.
Then another dish came - Aromatic Beef Broth (Truffled Tendon, Wagyu Wonton, Daikon Pearl). It was a play on Taiwanese beef broth. Perhaps too much effort in selecting ingredients, that I did not find truffle particilarly a good match with the tendon. The wagyu wonton was decent, but I reckoned it could be replaced by beef shank that could also be very tender.
We were slightly disappointed with the previous dishes, but this one definitely lifted our mood again. Squid (Bottarga Cream, Smoked Herring Roe). I usually did not prefer deep fried food, but the squid here was very well prepared, not oily at all, and it was crispy on the inside rather than too chewy. Herring roe was not very strong scented but was a good complement to the squid.
The appetizer courses end and our first main arrived - Carabinero Red Prawn ("Har Mi Oil", Handmade Pasta, Mushroom). I had a similar award-winning dish at Bo Innovation that the noodles was cooked with shrimp roe and crab roe and served with shrimp oil. The noodles here was a little soft when compared to what I had in the past, but it still spread the aroma from both shrimp and crab. The Red Prawn was pan-fried slightly with little seasoning that it was still very juicy and maintained its freshness!
The other main was Chicken Risotto ("Long Jing" Chicken & Wood Fungus). The chicken was cooked with 'sous vide' and bones were removed. It was of course tender and juicy. Risotto was cooked with chicken oil while it was still pretty creamy. I personally liked the dish.
Below were our final mains before dessert - Saga Gyu Beef (Black Truffle Cheung Fun) & Cod (Black Bean, Honey, Fennel & Mandarin). Perhaps it was not long ago before I had a perfectly prepared beef from Tate, the beef here was rather mediocre. Though I had to give credits to the cheung fun. I was a huge fan of cheung fun and it went well along with black truffle! Cod was prepared in Chinese style with black bean, and I reckoned I prefered the Japanese / Western style. It was a little dry to my liking.
For dessert, we had Purple Glutinous Rice Marshmallow，Mango Coconut Ice Cream. The marshmallow was quite special and was less sweet when compared to its traditional form of Chinese sweet soup. It was better when ice-cream and marshmallow were gobbled down together.
It had been a long night as we have tasted so much with our palate. Perhaps we expected a lot of Bo Innovation's influence and forgot MC Kitchen actually aimed to provide more comfy food than Bo. Still we expected to be surprised more. Also, it would be better if the server had elaborated and explained CLEARLY and more in DETAIL. We agreed at the end of the dinner that he might have a hard time to memorize all the dish descriptions, that when he came over to introduce the dishes, he literally spit out the words quickly by ROTE MEMORY. Gastronomy is never only about the quality of the food, that service and environment do make a difference.
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