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2013-11-10
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I hadn't had a chance to check out Chef Eddy's private kitchen in the past due to various reasons. But having known that he has just created a new baby, enshrouded in the edge of Central, I simply could not miss the chance again and decided to have a scrumptious meal on a weeknight.It took me quite some effort to walk all the way up in heels after work. The private kitchen was hidden at the very top of Glenealy. But don't be fooled by its ordinary entrance, it was actually quite spacious inside,
It took me quite some effort to walk all the way up in heels after work. The private kitchen was hidden at the very top of Glenealy. But don't be fooled by its ordinary entrance, it was actually quite spacious inside, with a private room and common dining area where you could see the open kitchen. Dinner offered a set of $780 for 6 courses. Since October marked the start of white truffle season, the chef suggested us to add a portion of white truffle to our risotto. Homemade Foccacia, topped with herbs, olive and dried tomato was served right afterwards.
The first course of appetizer was a platter of four dishes - Fresh Burrata & Semi Dried Tomato, (something that pertained to an Italian Quiche I suppose), Prosciutto ham & melon, and Seared Tuna & arugula salad. Well, I would say neither of the four was memorable enough to leave an impression on my mind, that I thought I could find them in a random restaurant at Soho. I am a cheese lover and place the most emphasis on Burrata among the 4, and what I got here was absolutely mediocre. Prefered Lana's homecooking and Giando more for this aspect.
The hot appetizer - Green Pea cappcucino with fresh crab meat was brought to us after we were done with the cold plates. This was not bad, almost every spoonful of soup came along with crab meat. The green pea cap was pretty smooth.
Ravioli with Salmon Caviar was our Primi Piatti. The whole combo was nice, but not a wow. Or perhaps I started to lose faith for the rest of the night.
When the chef first introduced the menu for the night, he told us they secured the winter truffles at an auction, at HKD 15k per KG. We only had to pay an additional of HKD 680 for a portion. As we were here already, so we opted for one and shared between the two of us. So when the Wild Mushroom Risotto was brought to us. The chef came over and sliced some pieces onto our risotto. Well, Wild Mushroom and Truffle have always been a good match. The aroma stimulated the palate and we gobbled down the risotto much happier than the previous courses.
We had a Basil Sorbet to clean the palate before our Secondi.There were two choices for main that night, I ordered the Slow Roasted Spring Chicken and my friend had Roasted USDA bone-in Prime Rib. Chicken was ok, not worth much mentioning. As for the beef, well, I agreed it was nicer to serve without the bone, but how it was presented to the customer when the plate was first placed on the table was ANOTHER story. We only got the confirm it was indeed roasted with the bone when we asked the chef at the end of the dinner. Beef was tender, but the intensity of the beef taste was not exactly impressive. If I were to pick, it was definitely incomparable to Tate's Beef Tenderloin.
Fresh Berries and Zabaione wrapped up the dinner as our dessert. It was a traditional Italian custard made with egg yolk. The custard was quite light, smooth and airy.
Good food does not equate expensive meals. However, with certain amount of money spent, you would secretly wish the quality of food is well delivered. For HKD 1000 a meal, I am sure there are a lot of options in Hong Kong that would give me a more enjoyable meal. Apart from food quality, I am always an advocate of 'food journey' - which comprises of food and service. The server who took care of our table is not rude or impolite, but I sincerely think he needs more training before he can meet certain basic standards. His voice was almost undetectable when he introduced the dishes. Neither my friend nor I could catch his words clearly. Perhaps I did have a slight prejudice, that I thought I would not receive a more thorough explanation even if I had asked more questions. OK, enough ranting. If it were Chef Eddy who cooked that night, things might have turned out differently.
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