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2019-06-24
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Summary: Over-fried and under-flavored brunch that has variety, but not much else and comes nowhere near the asking price. Their other meal services are not terrible (not a strong recommendation either), but brunch is a total loss, avoid at all costs. I deserve this - due to human weakness and avoidance of conflict , this is somehow my 4th time to Envoy, 2x for brunch, once for lunch and once for dinner. Dinner is much of the same fried dreck, while lunch is serviceable (their Tiffin set is m
I deserve this - due to human weakness and avoidance of conflict , this is somehow my 4th time to Envoy, 2x for brunch, once for lunch and once for dinner. Dinner is much of the same fried dreck, while lunch is serviceable (their Tiffin set is miles better we ate here; and it' s still just fine), but this is a review for their particularly terrible brunch. I blame myself for being at all surprised, but i still went in with a small glimmer of hope - after all it's been around for a few years now, and HK is a famously difficult place for F&B to survive. Envoy must have improved from the last time (about a year ago) I went right? Sadly, no it has not.
Envoy is advertised as a modern take on colonial Indian-English cuisine, but ends up just being fried stuff filled with flavorless, texture-less ingredients, alongside other non-fried flavorless, texture-less stuff.
The brunch menu sounds appealing - all you can eat small bites, with an additional main course for $350. That said, 5 of the 8 non-salad dishes have deep-fried elements, and over-frying is one of the most obvious ways to mask a weak kitchen. Someone please let me know if I'm way off base and Indian food actually does have this much fried stuff, because that's not been my experience. Here's the menu:
I guess the descriptions of the dishes are a bit of a red flag aren't they - i get marketing-speak but "a rich, decadent dish that tantalizes the taste buds which leaves you coming back for more" doesn't say... anything. We tried everything except the Fresh Garden Salad (zzzz) and Netted Spring Rolls (which I didn't even bother ordering as they were a deep-fried mess that no one finished last time)
Butter Chicken Lollipops
Why are these deep fried? if they had been roasted tandoori-style, or even just oven-baked, these might have been delicious. Instead they're overly crunchy, oily, and don't absorb any of the butter chicken sauce it's soaking in. Fail.Tea Deviled Eggs and Shrimp/Avocado Filo Bites
Deviled eggs are fine but HEY! they're deviled eggs! We made these in grade school. Shrimp avocado bites were also fine (Sambal seasoning works with avocado!), but they're canapes i'd expect at a free art gallery opening, not at a $350 brunch.Pani Puri
Sad to say that this was my favorite dish even though the Chicken mix was cold and tasteless, and the Potatoes and Chickpeas mix was cold and mostly tasteless. Fortunately, the Pani Puri package is always tasty, and the provided yogurt and tamarind chutney helps to give the dish some depth. Pulled Pork Mini Burger
They managed to even mess this up (a dish which is certainly not British nor Indian) with over-buttered buns and too little of the insufficiently-sauced pork per slider. Didn't even want to finish it, though it was just four bites.Spiced Tuna Wonton Cups
Totally adequate, though again, barely reach the free-art-gallery-opening standard for canapesRisotto balls
Of all the fried dishes we had, this is the only one they might consider keeping on the menu. Nicely golden-brown without being greasy, these arancini-alikes were pretty good. Unfortunately, we ordered them last so nobody had any interest in a deep fried, butter-cooked, cheese filled riceball, but I think fundamentally the risotto was nicely cooked, and the ricotta and spinach filling was appropriately flavourful. I like they went with a more subtle filling, instead of the easy Parma ham or Parmigiano route, but I wonder if an optional marinara/tomato-based dip would enhance the dish? Obviously marinara isn’t very British/Indian, but have you seen the rest of the menu? The Salads: creating a range of salads with this little flavor or life is an accomplishment all on its own - though not one i wanted to experience
Cucumber Wood Ear Salad
Devoid of any taste whatsoever - i love wood ear for its crunch, but it needs SOME help. I actually ordered this 2x because i wanted some vegetables, and because i was wondering if if they'd just messed up the first one. Sadly, it was about the same: the dressing is essentially lemon-scented water, so i hope you like the taste of shredded carrot shreds, cucumber and unflavored wood ear. HopelessWarm Octopus Salad
If you can believe it, this is even less interesting to taste than to look at. The best way to describe the octopus is that it tastes like a topping on a piece of supermarket sushi that's been left overnight and reheated the next day. Rubbery, so "lightly-torched" that I can't imagine it's ever actually seen a flame, and surrounded by a flaccid, miserable salad. Might be the worst thing we had.Nine Vegetables Ragout
Either an indictment of the rest of the food, or a triumph of flavor over looks, I think this was actually one of the best dishes they served. Rich vegetable flavors in a curry-lite sauce with an interesting texture (thanks to water chestnut!) made for a nice topping on the included toast slices (which were over-buttered). Though no one else at the table finished theirs, i enjoyed it.Mains - mediocre rather than terrible, at least
Sunday Roast - Pork Shoulder
A bit dry and mostly tasteless, the meat is pretty decent quality and the juicy fat made this palatable. Could have used a lot more sauce or jusTruffle Spaghetti
Way too much truffle oil and butter - I get that at a 350$ brunch you're not going to get real truffles, but they overcompensated, and it's really oily. Also, the spaghetti was weirdly short (almost as if some strands were broken in half before cooking), which made it hard to twirl on a fork. No one came close to finishing their plate of thisAs you can tell, I hated this brunch. Envoy's food hasn't improved in years and while they've added some new items (i think there weren't as many salads last time), none of them are actually good. If Envoy ever reads this, I'd say
1) Congrats on surviving so long with such food
2) Reduce the number of items you offer for brunch, and work on their execution, complexity, and flavor. DON'T FRY EVERYTHING.
3) Consider actually referencing the flavor-packed Indian (or British for that matter) cuisine you're supposed to be representing: would even 1 real curry dish be too much to ask?
For everyone else though, the mess they call Envoy's Weekend Brunch has gone on long enough - please avoid.
张贴
