SPOON by Alain Ducasse  

Hor d'Oeuvres -
Crab Meat & Spinach Pastry,
Caprese Sandwich of Mozzarella & Tomato, Basil.

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We were also served bread (one of the highlights of any meal ). There were four types to choose from: baguettes, wholewheat roll, sea salt scroll and a red pepper type of roll. The baguttes were really good, crunchy on the outside with fluffy insides and had a fragrant wheaty taste. The wholewheat roll was cute looking in a chubby doriyaki (japanese red bean pancake) shape. This had a slight chewy texture and was a good alternative for those that don't like hard crusts. The sea salt scroll was more like a croissant, very flakey and buttery texture. The least liked was the red pepper bread, which honestly did not have much texture at all. It tasted like barely cooked pizza dough unfortunately.

We chose to go a la carte, which was more to my benefit as I was able to try more dishes since my dining companion had eaten there on numerous occasions. After ordering we were served our amuse bouche of a pan-fried frogs leg accompainied with a warm ginger soup. The frog's leg was tender and as usual tasted like chicken meat, while the ginger soup had flavours reminiscent of the Thai soup Tom Yum Gong.

We ordered two appetisers. The first was a chilled tomato gazpacho with finely diced vegetables. This was really refreshing, the tartness of the tomato really came through and helped whet the appetite.

Our second appetizer was the steamed duck fois gras accompanied with diced nectarine, fresh almonds and basil. This was something different as normally fois gras for me is pan-fried. However, this method of cooking fois gras definitely rates highly for me. The smoothness of the fois gras is uninhibited by any crisp layer associated with pan frying and it just melted in the mouth. The tartness of the diced nectarines seemingly unspectacular was acutally a necessity in refreshing the palate from the richness of the fois gras. One of my favourite dishes of the night When this dish was suggested to me, I was honestly not anticipating much. I mean I would not consider ordering macaroni at a 2 star French restaurant. As the "Coquillettes' pasta was placed in front of me, it really did not look like much, but the rich tantalising smell of truffles and cheese arising from the bowl tickled my senses making my tastebuds start to anticipate the first spoonful. And I was so glad that I was able to try this dish. The creaminess of the pasta combined with the melted parmesean cheese and the saltiness of the veal jus that was poured into the bowl prior to mixing was amazing. The aroma of truffles was heady and added that extra oomph on top of an already amazing dish. Absolutely show stopping~ Highly recommended!The first of our mains was the baked wild tiger grouper. This was supposedly a new dish to the menu. I must say it was quite average. The fish was fresh, with no fishy taste, which I really dislike, but it was overcooked resulting in the fish being too chewy and rubbery in texture.Our second main was 'Challans' duckling. This came in two parts. One was duck confit, a generous serving of duck breast sprinkled with cereal on top, giving a crunchy texture when eaten together with the meat. The other was a bowl of duck meat braised until soft and served with soft crepes. This gave a feeling reminiscent of eating peking duck as it was a hands on affair, but I must say I enjoyed this quite a bit. The meat was tender and though the sauce was a little salty, the crepes helped tone it down.Our last main was the braised milk-fed veal shank which was a dish served to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Le Louis XV restaurant in Monte Carlo. This was brought to the table as a whole shank, still on the bone and was cut and served in front of us. I was already very full from the preceding dishes, and could only manage a couple of mouthfuls, but from what I ate, the veal was very tender, but nothing amazing.

Onto dessert~ Despite being very full, we still ordered three to share Something new was the strawberry and coconut which looked like a white snow ball covered with dessicated coconut. Strawberry sauce was then poured into the dish. Cracking into it,we discovered a meringue shell which enclosed a mixture of I think vanilla/coconut mousse with strawberry puree. A few forkfuls was enough for me as I found the tartness and overly strong flavour of the strawberry puree overpowered the mousse.Second was 'our favourite cheesecake'. The texture of this cheesecake was quite dense and it had a very smooth and creamy texture with a strong flavour of vanilla. Being a cheesecake lover, I quite enjoyed this dessert. Our last dessert was the chocolate hazelnut bliss. This was a mixture of textures, crunchy from a biscuit layer, creamy from the mousse layer and the tempered chocolate on top snapped delicately when each forkful was taken. This again was nothing spectacular, but gave the requisite chocolate quota I needed to end a meal.Last but not least we were served petite fours and a selection of Jean-Paul Hevin chocolates. For petite fours there was a pistachio cake, chocolate cake and almond macaron. I favoured the pistachio cake most, as the delicate flavours of pistachio shone through quite nicely, but the chocolate cake and almond macaron were not as good. The chocolate cake was quite dense in texture, with not much sweetness or cocoa flavour, and the texture of the macaron was quite sticky although the flavour was nice.

The dinner was a combination of hits and misses, but I would definitely go back for the steamed fois gras and 'coquillettes'~.

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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This dish contains many elements. Textures, temperatures, flavour...'contemporary vacherin' refers to the two blobs of white on topping the middle and left items. Vacherin is a type of cheese; but can also mean 'cake made of meringue'. It was very brittle, not too appelaing to me. A simliar dessert option can be found on the Alain Ducasse St. Regis menu. The tart's crust contains pistachio and almond - it is very delicious. The sorbets were quite bitter, especially the raspberry one.

OUR FAVORITE CHEESECAKE, grapefruit-vanilla marmalade $160The second most impressive dish. The base was delicious - not just crushed digestive biscuits + butter. Not sure what else went in there, I just know it was delicious. The cheesecake, being a steamed cheesecake (first i've ever had!^^), was extremely smooth and dense. There were vanilla pods in the cheesecake as well. You will see some berries undernealth the sorbet. Those were rather sour.

Petit fours:Pistachoi macaron quite good. Soft center and thin shell.

Complimentary chocolates - which we packed and brought homeConclusion:
A rather enjoyable meal: nice views, one or two special dishes, and the overall high quality of food. But these expensive places cannot be visited often. It will be some time before I come back again. There are many other places to try.

A Breakfast Bread Basket, before the cooking demo...
Great bread and pastries.

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My parents ordered the saddle of lamb and the dover sole, both of which were satisfactory. Again, I would not have been so dissatisfied if we had been eating at a less reputable and expensive place, but in my books, any fine restaurant that wants to hold its own should be capable of producing adequate vegetarian courses, and indeed I have been to such establishments before. No meat is no excuse for mediocrity.

We didn't order dessert, but were brought out a petit four of strawberry macarons and pistachio cake. It's difficult to make dessert bad, but honestly I thought that the macarons fell short. I've had better ones in non-French restaurants!

Overall, it was an average dining experience. Normally I would be more tolerant, but when you're paying as much as you are at Spoon, not even the view can merit the price when the food is simply "okay".