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2010-04-18
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The wife was running a little late so I settled down at the table with a not-quite-chilled-enough vodka martini. A waiter offered me a couple of magazines to read while I waited, which I thought was a nice touch. Having already scoped out the menu online, we decided on the degustation tasting menu (HK$800) – and I opted for the wine pairing too (for an additional HK$600). Another nice touch was that our waiter offered to split the wine pairing in two (i.e. give us both small glasses with each co
First thing to arrive was an amuse bouche consisting of a cherry tomato with a somewhat ordinary aubergine puree, a clichéd shot of pumpkin soup that would have benefited from a lot more seasoning, and a quite tasty (though tiny) amount of foie gras sandwiched between crispy melba toast. Now, my understanding of an amuse bouche is that it’s supposed to excite and awaken the taste buds for the feast to come - these looked stunning but failed to deliver on flavour. Frankly, at this point I didn’t have high hopes for the rest of the meal. However, I’m very pleased to report that things got significantly better from here!
The first real course of meal was the Blue fin tuna tartar. It was exactly as it should be – simple, clean-tasting, and super fresh. It was matched with a fine crisp Sauvignon Blanc that had a fantastic ‘appley’ finish. Next up was a seared scallop on green cabbage with black truffle sauce. Sweet scallop with earthy truffle was a perfect combination. I wish there had been more. This was matched with a decent sweet Riesling – although I’d have preferred dry wine with the sweetness of the scallop. It’s worth noting that the courses were served at a fair clip – despite the fact that the restaurant wasn’t very busy. Perhaps a little slower would have been better. The last of the entrees was polenta with cep mushrooms and parsley butter. This was insanely rich but absolutely yummy and the wine pairing (a pinot noir bursting with berries) was by far the best of the night. On to the main course of Wagyu beef cheek with carrot confit. Meltingly soft meat with sweet, sweet carrots – it was absolutely scrumptious. The Bordeaux that came with it was big and bold – another solid match.
Next up: dessert. Now I’m not a big pudding fan so I was rather chuffed that I was able to swap mine for cheese. My wife enjoyed the selection of elegant little sweets while I tucked into a choice of three great cheeses with buttered toast. The dessert wine didn’t really work for me though – perhaps if I’d stuck to the original menu it would have been a better match. We finished up with coffee and Petites fours – a lovely way to round off the meal.
The verdict: the food, on the whole, was very good – tasty and visually stunning. Portions are small but there was, without doubt, sufficient volume (we both left the restaurant full but not bursting). The service was truly outstanding – the best I’ve had in Hong Kong. Value for money? That’s relative, I guess. The bill weighed in at an eye-watering HK$2676 for two with only one person drinking! Would I go back? For a special occasion, I think I probably would. I need to let my wallet recover a bit first though.
张贴