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2009-11-08
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this was the first time i officially dined here since the departure of previous chef de cuisine philippe orrico, who left several months ago to head the hotel kitchens at 1881 heritage in TST opening soon. so i thought it would be interesting to see what changes the new chef has brought to the kitchen. olivier elzer already won several notable honors under his belt before gagnaire took him under his wings. the young chef was voted amongst the best 22 young chefs in france by gaultmillau, and won
olivier elzer already won several notable honors under his belt before gagnaire took him under his wings. the young chef was voted amongst the best 22 young chefs in france by gaultmillau, and won a michelin star for abbaye de la bussière hotel restaurant in burgundy prior to his latest career move. he was previously mentored by eric briffard, who is currently head of george V le cinq in paris (sister restaurant caprice in hong kong). elzer interned at the gagnaire restaurant for 2 months before coming to hong kong, though he already started infusing asian flavors into french cuisine during his days in burgundy. so it seems like elzer’s young vibe and daring approach to fresh produce would be a good match with gagnaire’s style.
we both ordered the tasting menu in order to see the most of what the new kitchen has to offer.
amuse bouche: there were some coconut biscuits; then some fried shrimps and cabbage placed inside a dim sum basket; then a thin toast with pepper/vegetable mix; then some cheese biscuits; then some chinese tangerine jelly; then some foie gras puff pastry. the amuse bouche was very busy and went by like a breeze: overall nice presentation with innovation, and it was interesting to stimulate different parts of the tongue and awaken the taste buds, but i just found a little loose end in everything – the fried shrimp was too soggy; the puff pastry was too brittle; coconut biscuits a tad sugary…
Zezette infusion, mixed raw seafood and shellfish: it was a mix of diced tuna, shellfish, clams bathed in coriander sauce. the thin sauce was very light and gave a refreshing, minty lift to the crispy seafood. this quieted down our taste buds after having several strong/busy amuse bouche.
Royal urchin; sea urchin, seasoned mullet and salmon eggs: at the bottom was sea urchin mousseline, then a thin layer of gelatin, and on top was diced mullet and salmon roes. the french sea urchin was very fresh and delightful - it was weaker/less aromatic than the japanese sea urchin, but worked okay as a mousse. then it was gelatin as intermission before the saltiness and bursting ocean flavor of salmon roes reached my brain. yummy.
scallops 3 ways - (1) Poached; served with melted endive and celeriac root marinated in saké. (2) Mousseline; turmeric, creamy Manchego cheese risotto; pear sorbet.(3) Tartare; Hudson raw vegetable soup.
- we started with the poached one and it was absolutely amazing – poached and grilled at final touch, the scallop was juicy and flavorful.
- the mousseline one was quite amusing- tumeric gave an unexpected peppery, bitter taste to the risotto, while the scallop mousseline was fresh and delightful. but when mousseline was mixed together with the heavily cheese-y risotto, overall texture came too buttery despite the pear sorbet…
- the scallop tartar was layered with apple sauce on top, pomelo in the middle with scallop tartar, and vegetable soup at the bottom, so taste wise it was a light sweetness first, then bitterness from the pomelo, and a refreshing, slightly bitter vegetable soup at the bottom. however, this dish was too noisy and i found the bitterness offscale…
White Alba truffle emulsion with Parmesan, tomato confit and garlic sablé. Béchamel tuile: the dish smelled so, so nice that i almost did not want to eat it so that i could keep inhaling. the bechamel sauce at the bottom was nicely done and worked well with parmesan cheese layer in the middle to wrap around the lovely tomato confit. very generous portion of truffle to give off a unique aroma that i always love so much.
Foie gras pot au feu with Morteau sausage and Gillardeau oysters. Cauliflower florets with Cramone mustard: the pan-seared foie gras was wrapped inside a cabbage leaf with poached oyster at the bottom. surprisingly foie gras went very well with oysters; the foie gras was velvet smooth with a nice, thin crisp crust, and the gilladeau oysters were fat with a taste of brine. on the other hand, the sausage seemed out-of-place on the plate and just lied there lifelessly.
Abalone roasted à la diable; crispy bacon. Green Puy lentils gnocchi: (shame that i forgot to take photo) this was not your top-grade dried abalone with molten center and intense flavor, but it was still nicely roasted with a slight crunchy texture and assisted by saltiness of the pan-fried bacon. bold use of lentil because, frankly speaking, lentil has yet to find inroads into the chinese gourmand palate…
Obsiblue prawn curry, braised eggplant. Cockles, Bouchot mussels, French beans in a cone: the obsiblue prawn was absolutely, definitely, irrefutably a to-die-for and well deserved its reputation as “sea caviar”! it is one of the new favorites among parisien chefs and can only be found in some of the upscale michelin restaurants; it is grown in a small new caledonia pacific lagoon under strict conditions and can only be harvested once a year. it was *THE* most delicious prawn i have had. ever. the meat was crunchy, with tiny threads of tendons breaking between my teeth at each bite. the taste of ocean was subtle but distinct; i had the first gulp of the prawn mixed with the curry sauce, but the sauce way too distracting and wasted the good material, so i actually worked my flatware into freeing the prawn from the sauce and vinegared eggplant. the essence of mussels already melted into the thick rich curry sauce, balanced with the sourness of the vinegared eggplant. but i was not entirely convinced by the sauce yet – curry and mussels were fighting against each other.
langoustine: grilled lobster with slightly acidic vegetables at the bottom. the lobster was crunchy on the outside and still juicy and medium-rare in the inside.
Seaweed jelly, milk jelly with raifort, Etivaz Gruyère cubes, goat cheese dumplings. Pine nut powder: sorry but goat cheese is not my favorite thing.
grand dessert – apple pie with mousse filling; rhubarb with berries, grape sauce/jelly; pear sorbet; orange confit; coffee cream: apple pie topping was chewy and tasted marvellous; i never like rhubarb too much as it resembles more like a syrup shot to me, but this one was fortunately not too sweet; sorbet is always nice with tea jelly which was perfect combo; orange confit was refreshing, though the coffee cream was a bit too intense for me.
Vanilla souffle; Strawberry jelly, marshmallow and crumble. Crystal salt. Milk chocolate crunchy parfait: this was not part of the degustation menu but herve the restaurant manager always accomodates my request (love ya!) =). i am huge fan of souffle at pierre. there just isn’t any restaurant anywhere, bay area/paris/hong kong, that i can find better souffle – light as air and texture so smooth that it almost instantly melted in my mouth and glided down the esophagus. it is a magical dessert that can only come from fairy tales.
overall it was a remarkable meal; this restaurant has become much more “gagnaire” like under the hands of chef elzer, and there is notably more finesse in the cooking. the style closely resembles what i had at the pierre gagnaire restaurant in paris, although i suspect elzer eventually would have to dumb down the taste in order to cater to most hong kong foodies. also the degustation menu we had was very well composed; the dishes flowed nicely from first to last course, each of them a progressing taste, strength, and preparation style that allowed us to sample so many different kinds of sea creatures from new angles.
the negatives: some dishes worked wonderfully (sea urchins/foie gras/white truffle) while others not so well, though it is within expectation because there are always hit-or-misses in gagnaire’s furiously daring kitchen. there was also a slip in harmony; during the meal i felt the dishes sometimes were worked off an academic formula of acidity/alkalinity, bitterness/sweetness, and lost sight of the natural produce itself. sauce at times could also be too preoccupied and overpowering.
it is impressive how elzer could mold the gagnaire style in such a short period of time. i am looking forward to coming back next year to see how he develops his own style. so far it looks very promising.
full post with pictures: http://randomnomad.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/pierre/
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