SPOON by Alain Ducasse  

The foyer was quite dark, but the harbour view is beautiful. Nice ambiance. A couple can sit facing the harbour all night, sharing good food in harmonious silence. I am just describing the scene at the adjacent table .

Service:
Great! An attendant explained the entire menu. Le French May menu available @ $1388 - for the whole table, but accommodations can be made for special food preferences. I don't eat lamb and they offered something else.

Food:
Website: http://hongkong-ic.intercontinental.com/dining/spoon.php
Bread basketI am a huge fan of carbs, bread in particular. I have this craving for bread and I must have at least 2 helpings even if it means another 45 minutes on the treadmill. Many brownie points earned if a restaurant serves great bread. Whole wheat was chewy, slightly crusty surface but will not hurt palate. I hate scratching my palate. Much yummier than a restaurant by the initials a.b. and felt like a rather healthy option. Tomato with black pepper yum! NIce soft brioche-like texture. Large pieces of sun-dried tomato generously laden on the inside. Baugette was ok. No faults. Croissant- Cute! very soft, buttery, some people just love the taste of butter so much. but it wasn't dripping with oil. Butter (salted + unsalted) was quite hard though, D and I put a slab on our knives and held it over the flame. D removed his in time. I did not and blackened the black of the knife. Fail.

Hors d'oeuvresSpinach pastry croquette was cold, light and not crisp enough. Broccoli and scallop with caviar + broccoli puree had a crisp base with embedded scallops. It was chilled and honestly couldn't tell it was broccoli! Mild, delicate flavour. Cheese puff was light and airy. Average. Not the stars of the night obviously.

Appetizers
Green asparagus veloute and crayfish $290I tried a small mouthful of soup and it had a slightly iron, metallic taste. I didn't really like it because it was very light - I actually would have preferred it to be slightly creamier. No complaints about the crayfish which I did not taste.

Organic egg, girolles and spinach $320A delicate and impressive dish! Great presentation and execution. The eggy foam was smooth and perfectly in form. It was very light. Beautiful outlook, souffled. Taste? Egg white. Not much taste as you can expect. The waiter poured a thick, intense gravy-like liquid down the center of the egg. It was chicken jus. It swirled and infused with the runny egg yolk which some people love. Complemented the bland egg white well. Gotta balance out the flavours yea. The gigantic foamy structure was surrounded by mini fragrant mushrooms - so good. More please. Pearl onions cooked till soft and spinach and more shrooms formed the bedding on which the gigantic foam rested. I just wanted to keep on looking at it. Heh.

Tender green vegetable salad, truffled dressing $370Ok as delicously fresh and crisp as this salad looks, I am clueless why they charged a hefty $370. Is this worth more than the two reviewed dishes...? Okay. Whatevs. Note that truffled dressing is NOT truffle dressing. I was imprudently mistaken. The veg was all cold, and crisp, very fresh. Broccoli, french beans, zucchini, asparagus. beautiful plump peas in pod - sweet juicy and crunchy. Truffled dressing was grainy, perhaps there was a bit of pistachio in there.

Steamed duck foie gras 'les landes' spicy cherry marmalade, toasted brioche $390Now this is the kind of stuff that is worth the quid. I'm always the most unscrupulous spender who orders vegetarian dishes at a michelin restaurant. Fail me. And I don't try the expensive dishes either if it's got duck liver or goose liver or chicken liver or any kind of internal organ in them. Therefore as good as steamed duck foie gras sounds you will not get a review from me because I abstained, as usual. The brioche was lovely though. So the fat isn't rendered out and is preserved inside the organ. But would't pan-searing it give it more crunch and flavour? I always like caramelized and almost cargonigenic food stuffs. I don't mind. Burnt food is worth dying earlier for.

Mains
Coquillettes pasta with black truffle and parisian ham $330Flocking good. Lost for words. I have little regard for macaroni but once you give people minature versions of things people start seeing them in a different light yea. Somehow the daintier things look the more you're willing to pay, like micro SD cards. (heh). So this coquillette pasta was cooked al dente, and the ham was very intense. Great texture. Cheese on the side to add separately: quite tasty. Not sure what kind of cheese it is but who cares as long as they go well together. And the mac isn't so thick - it's not like mac n' cheese consistency. You get a bit of gooey-ness but you won't feel sickly after finishing the last scrap.

Steamed atlantic brill, violet asparagus $590Guess who ordered this. To be honest it was a risk. I usually order oily fish, like cod. Turned out that brill is a very lean kind of fish, not oily and buttery like cod. The meat was very firm. STEAMED fish is usually quite bland. Without the jus, the fish tastes...rather devoid of taste actually. But I guess everything on the plate complements each other because the jus was delicious, and the asparagus was saltier than the ones in my salad. But now I know that atlantic brill is, sorry, not my cuppa.

Tender shoulder of “POITOU” RABBIT, baby carrots $490Whaddya know. Someone orders rabbit. How brave. I was extremely cautious about the forkful R offered but after being told it actually tastes like chicken I decided to shove it into my mouth and see how things go. Chew chew. Mm. Hello chicken imposter. Good flavour. Chew chew. Quite soft because it's been cooked to something like stew. So my aversion towards rabbit is actually a psychological thing. There is no excuse for eating chicken but not rabbit as far as flavour is concerned. Perhaps my tastebuds are numb.

Beef tournedos, girolles, confit tomatoes, shallots, cooking jus $750 I have completely forgotten about this dish. No comment. Not that it was bad or anything...I suspect I didn't even have a bite because it was consumed too quickly.

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