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2008-06-01
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My gf booked Gaia for my birthday dinner and it turned out to be a great choice.We started off with the bread basket. I expected it to blow me away, but it obviously didn’t. The bread was cold and hard, certainly didn’t feel home baked. The crisps and grissini were good but the rest were disappointing. But we ate all of it mainly because the aged olive oil and balsamic vinegar were excellent. The vinegar, in particular, was dark and thick with very complex flavors.An amuse bouche of zucchini. We
We started off with the bread basket. I expected it to blow me away, but it obviously didn’t. The bread was cold and hard, certainly didn’t feel home baked. The crisps and grissini were good but the rest were disappointing. But we ate all of it mainly because the aged olive oil and balsamic vinegar were excellent. The vinegar, in particular, was dark and thick with very complex flavors.
An amuse bouche of zucchini. We didn’t wait long for our appetizer of grilled assorted vegetables with melted casatella cheese and aged balsamic vinegar to come.
The dish came together perfectly. There were several varieties on the plate, but what stood out for me were the tomatoes and pumpkin. The cheese was slightly melted on the grill, with clear char marks, which made it chewy and imbued just the right amount of smokiness. A very well composed dish with very complementary flavors.
Our mains came together after about 15 minutes. We ordered the homemade pappardelle tossed in sangiovese marinated rabbit stew-style ragout and lamb chops with assorted peppercorns and mint caramel. The homemade pasta was al dente, which was excellent. There weren’t globs of sauce that detracted from the pasta. The rabbit, however, was tough and so slightly disappointing.
We asked for the lamb chops to be medium rare and that's exactly what we got. Charred beautifully on the outside, it was still pink on the inside. It was clearly high quality lamb, with none of the “lamby” (for lack of a better word) flavor. I took my first bite; it was juicy and meaty, with a little crunch from char and just the right proportion of fat. If one criticism, it was that the chop was too salty, especially when paired with the heavy sauce.
That was solved when dipping into the mint caramel. It had just the right balance of sweet and savory. I suspect, on its own, either would have been overpowering.
For dessert, we settled for something light: reinette apple tartellete, crispy pastry and mascarpone gelato. It wasn’t what I had expected, apples slices soaked in liqueur, but it came off well when paired with the crispy pastry. The mascorpone gelato was good, though a little too sweet for me.
The total bill came to about HK$900 for two, which was expensive but definitely worth it. This isn’t a weekend pick but I won’t hesitate to come back again on a special occasion.
http://bittenbug.wordpress.com/2008/05/29/gaia-ristorante/
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