Having always wanted to try Amber, I got my chance when my brother wanted to take my sister-in-law for a nice lunch during her time here in HK. We invited Mr. C along for lunch too which he kindly accepted, so Sunday saw the four of us settling down for a leisurely lunch at the renowned Amber, holder of two Michelin stars.
Located on the 7th floor of the Landmark Mandarin Oriental, the decor of Amber is one of elegance. Decorated with warm walnut tones, the ambiance is bright and inviting, made even more so from the natural lighting from the floor to ceiling windows spilling into the dining room. Tables are spaced out generously allowing for more comfortable seating as well as privacy between tables and guests certainly can not miss the eye-catching chandelier made from numerous bronze rods hanging down from the center of the ceiling.
On the weekends Amber offers a weekend wine lunch menu which includes six courses, three of them savoury where under each you have a selection of three choices and three desserts which are set. It includes a wine pairing for each savoury course, but for those that choose not to indulge in alcohol they do offer an alternate mocktail and fruit juice pairing. Both my brother and sister-in-law picked the wine pairing, I opted for the mocktails and since Mr. C was special, he got to try both. However, since I was not really paying full attention when the wines were poured, I will only comment on the mocktails, but according to Mr. C the wines were quite well selected.
While we were perusing the menu, we asked the manager for his recommendations. For starters he suggested the globe artichoke, middle course was the Tasmanian salmon and mains was the Iberian pork 'pluma'. After we had placed our order with him, a waiter came around with a selection of breads and a choice of salted/unsalted butter or olive oil. I picked the baguette and olive roll and really loved the baguette. Very crunchy crust with soft insides which was perfect for soaking up the olive oil.
We were then served three amuse bouches. First was a tiny vol au vent filled with dungeress crab and cumin.
This was very good, the pastry case was light and crunchy and the crab meat mixed with a creamy dressing was heady with cumin. Next was the signature beetroot and fois gras lollipop. I was really looking forward to this, as there have been many reviews exclaiming how good it was. Glazed a beautiful cherry red from beetroot juice, it was surprisingly jelly like when I bit into it rather than a hard toffee shell as I was expecting. The fois gras inside was super smooth and yes it really lived up to its fame~ The last amuse bouche was a fried pork croquette cradled in a small egg cup. I admit, I knocked the cup over (it was lighter than I thought) and my croquette rolled across the table. I could not stop laughing at myself, which shows that I am still capable of doing embarrassing things no matter the situation... We were instructed to eat it in one go and the fried shell gave way to a warm gush of rich creamy liquid (yes I said that). I could not really taste the pork flavour, but I could taste something akin to dijonnaise. Also very good.
Our starters arrived soon after. My sister-in-law and I both chose the yellow spring chicken, while my brother and Mr. C had the globe artichokes. The chicken was served as a ballotine with fois gras inside with country ham, wild mushrooms all on a thin layer of 'vin jaune' jell-o. The chicken was tender and tasted a little like 'drunken chicken' when eaten with the jell-o. It was a lot milder in flavour with the fois gras adding a slight richness to the dish. The accompanying toasted hazelnut bread was pleasantly nutty and tasted fine on its own.
The globe artichoke was arranged with cep mushrooms, hazelnuts, sapporo bacon and summer greens. I had a bite of artichoke from my brothers dish and always thinking that artichokes tend to be quite stringy, I was surprised at how soft the artichoke heart was. Not bad, but I preferred my starter more.
This was paired with a pineapple, mango and ginger mocktail. Not very sweet, it tasted very summery and I could feel the slight after burn from the ginger after each sip.
As we were waiting for our middle course, one of the servers came around to set down mother-of-pearl spoons. I looked quite puzzled since these spoons are used for caviar generally and I knew that there was no caviar involved in any of our next dishes. It all made sense when their signature Hokkaido sea urchin appetiser was brought out, compliments from the kitchen for Mr. C's presence. Fresh tongues of sea urchin gelled together with lobster jell-o lay on a bed of smooth cauliflower cream topped with caviar. This was stunning! The sea urchin filled the palate with its natural sweetness while the cauliflower cream though light on the tongue enhanced the richness of the texture while toning down the brininess of each delicate spoonful. Crisp seaweed waffles gave a contrasting crunch to the smoothness of the sea urchin and helped refresh the palate at the same time. I think it was safe to say that we all enjoyed this.
For middle course my sister-in-law and I again ordered the same dish of Tasmanian salmon served in a confit and smoked style. The salmon was covered with a clear glass bowl when it was brought to the table and within you could see a cloud of smoke shrouding the salmon confit. When the bowl was lifted, I was able to catch a scent of woody aroma before the smoke drifted away. Presented simplistically, the salmon was rolled in squid ink crumbs, to its left was a puree of avocado and on its right were thin strips of granny smith apples wrapped in slices of cucumber. The salmon was very soft and required very little chewing before it melted in the mouth. It had quite a strong flavour from the smoke which I did not particularly care for and sadly I felt it was a little bland.
I liked my brother and Mr. Cs choice of duck fois gras ravioli in a puree and veloute of Hokkaido corn much more than my selection. Despite not trying the ravioli, just one spoonful of Mr. Cs veloute was enough for me to keep praising it. Subtly sweet with an underlying savoury tone from what I assume was the stock used. Very good~
A earl grey and apple juice mix was the accompaniment for this course with the noted slice of Australian apple. The citrus and slight bitter tones of the earl grey went very well with the sweet apple juice. For someone who does not like to drink sweet things during meals, I really enjoyed this.
I was the only one who chose fish for the main course and it came out as a generous portion. The Atlantic cod was pre-salted prior to roasting and sat on a bed of ratatouille with a coulis of olive oil and bell pepper drizzled around it. I had no issues with this dish since I really like cod, it was just right in the salt department and the slight tartness of the ratatouille did not overpower the flavour of the fish.
Mr. C and my sister-in-law both chose the recommended char-grilled Iberian pork 'pluma'. From the bite I had, I found it quite tough with a gamey flavour which I am not fond of in pork.
My brother had the lozere lamb shoulder which was braised until tender and had him nodding his head in approval.
This was paired with a non-alcoholic fizzy grape juice which was quite delightful to drink. There was some depth to the grape flavour and it was not overly sweet. According to the sommelier, many guests order the mocktail pairing to try this. If this is the case, I am really not surprised.
All too soon, dessert beckoned. First to come was a small glass bowl of mixed berry salad with a quenelle of strawberry sorbet sitting prettily on top, capped with a thin caramelised butter crisp. This was a refreshing first dessert, perfect after all the savoury courses. The strawberries, blueberries and raspberries were fresh and the slight tartness from the balsamic jell-o at the bottom helped enhance the natural sweetness of the berries. The smooth strawberry sorbet had a sweet fragrance that can only come from perfectly ripe strawberries and I adored the small scoop of heavy vanilla cream, which proves that cream and berries are the perfect match~ The butter crisp snapped cleanly, but was a little too sweet for my liking.
Their version of a Mont Blanc was served next. Heavy squiggles of chestnut cream enrobed a delicate vanilla cream inside while a layer of crushed sable biscuits served as the base. This was topped with a quenelle of chestnut ice-cream with a chocolate-like crisp placed jauntily on top. I found the chestnut cream to be cloyingly sweet, but luckily the ice-cream helped tone down the sweetness somewhat.
The last dessert was something that I was anticipating most since it contained chocolate~ A 64% tainori chocolate and tea delice on a lake of meyer lemon jell-o with milk sorbet. The chocolate tone was bold and spot on for sweetness, but I found the biscuit base to be slightly too hard to cut through easily with a fork. On the other hand, the jell-o was really something. Everyone that took a spoonful instantly screwed up their faces and winced as it was unbearably sour. I do not know if that was done on purpose, but the extreme contrast in flavours spoiled this dessert for me. A curious note, the menu stated it was a milk sorbet, but I am quite certain that I was eating a lemon sorbet...
And to end on, well -made cappuccinos, skim decaf latte and Jing earl grey with a delightful assortment of petite fours~ Those passionfruit caramels were so so good!
Overall I think Amber was quite decent, some of the dishes on the set lunch were hits and misses, but after trying their signature dish I would love to come back to try their full degustation menu for dinner~
， 有window seats，但又不想咁普通，便在where they take out their creations ( wonderful food )附近take my seat. 裝修靚，份量剛好，味道不錯, 套餐包括two amuse, bread, 餐湯and ravioli，加上pre-dessert, dessert和tea，選擇actually too little，我要了菇湯及ox tail喎！ mainly i would like to stress on the service: 1. a smart hong kong lady who was quite thin, having curl...
~ 7/10
The best part of this dessert was the cacao ice cream, which they called a sorbet which would otherwise be fruit based. It was promising but ultimately it was just so-so in taste and too starchy.. ~ 7/10
