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2014-08-07
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Franck Muller has always reminded me of its lovely collection 'Color Dreams', playful and lively. That was my first impression towards the restaurant when the lift door opened. Francesco was housed in Franck Muller's concept store on the 2nd floor. While I was waiting to be seated (well that took a few minutes before I was noticed by any servers, perhaps I was too tiny...), the vibrantly colored chairs caught my eyes right away and finally I was led to a table next to the window.Franceso endeavo
Franceso endeavored to offer Italian cuisine with a Japanese twist, thus most of the Italian dishes were cooked either with Japanese ingredients (i.e. Daikon, Seagrapes...) or seasoned with Japanese flavors (i.e. Miso, Teriyaki sauce...). We decided to share 2 appetizers, 1 main and the dessert platter. Slow Cooked Abalone & Daikon was first to arrive. They were topped with a home-made sauce of Bonito, Seaweed Soy and a Dash of Sake. It looked rather simple, but I definitely needed to give credits to the sauce and how the Daikon had perfectly absorbed the best bits and did not taste simple at all. Loved the sweetness of the Daikon itself that it was not overpowered by the sauce. The abalone tasted similar, but was a little too chewy.
Another 'Favorite Appetizer' of the restaurant came next - Roasted Okinawa Miso Pork. It was sliced into thin pieces with thinly sliced cucumber, onion and bonito on the side. Well, the pork slices were tender and again very flavorful. They were quite fat though, that only 1/3 of the slice was meat and the rest was evil-looking fat. The side was refreshing and neutralized a bit of the guilt developed from consuming each and every slice of the pork.
We shared one main to leave more room for desserts. My friend and I opt for Black Cod Saikyo Yaki without any debate. It was white miso marinated cod served with Cherry Tomatoes, Grilled Zucchini and Bonito stuffed O-nigiri. It was a decent dish, as I have always liked Black Cod for its fatty and buttery texture. The o-nigiri was toasted for a little and the bonito flakes delicately gave off a faint savory taste. But ok, apart from the zucchini, I could not tell where its Italian soul had hidden.
Sticking to our original plan, we ordered Dessert Sampler, which we could pick 3 dessert choices from the menu. We picked Mixed Berries Napoleon, Home-made Tiramisu and Chocolate Mousse with Almond Cream.
We worked on the Napoleon first. Mille Feuille (its French name) means thousand layers literally that the layers should crack into bits and pieces when you cut them up or take a bite. But this was not the case for this Napoleon. The layers of pastry could be thinner and crispier. They were more like one big thick piece of pastry with 2 layers of raspberry and custard cream in between.
The Tiramisu was not bad. Could be better if the mascarpone cheese was made softer and more creamy.
This Chocolate mousse was rich and there were tiny bites of chocolate that were sprinkled here and there in the mousse. The almond flavor was not very distinct. This was quite heavy that my friend and I just had a few spoonfuls and surrendered.
Even though the restaurant was marketed to serve Italian with Japanese influence. Dinner tonight should be illustrated as having Japanese and Italian dishes separately. (But I admitted I hadn't tried the pasta or risotto) My friend and I reckoned we had Japanese for appetizer and main, while we switched to Italian for dessert. The Japanese courses were not bad, while the desserts revealed more room for improvement. Maybe it would turn out better if the servers could take the initiative in introducing its signature dishes.Color Dreams was chosen as the main theme of the restaurant, which I thought it aimed to bring diners on a dreamy and magical foodie journey. In reality, there was quite a bit to finetune before it could achieve this goal.
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