Highyl recommmended private kitchen. This place was recommended by a friend and sold partly on the "no corkage" policy. Not very salubrious location in a warehouse in Aberdeen so you have to be intending to find it but that makes it quite a "find" which is fun. Dining room large enough for about 30, a little noisy when we went as it was full, but just enough to be atmosphere without being too irritating. Eddy is the chef, on site for every meal, runs the open kitchen you can see from the dining room. Eddy came out and walked us through the menu, where the ingredients are from (he sources locally where he can and uses seasonal produce) and managed to up sell to us truffle egg starter - see below. Personal touch much appreciated. There is a set tasting menu for each evening. We had (i) scrambled egg and truffle (excellent - very very generous white truffle serving which we paid extra for); (ii) sushi scallop and sea urchin salad (very fresh ingredients, used Hokkaido sea urchin) which was finely balanced, tasty; (iii) cappuccino of seasonal vegetables which looked and tasted great; (iv) mussel and white wine broth which was long cooked and tasty (Eddy swapped one to a sous-vide cooked salmon on request due to an allergy one of us had and the salmon was beautiful, probably better than the mussels to the chagrin of the mussel-friendly crowd!); (v) beef tenderloin, foie gras, cooked to perfection, just beautiful tender meat; and a dessert which totally escapes me but was good. I suspect we had had too much wine by this point to fully appreciate it (or remember it). Overall, great food every course, no let downs. Service good all the way, and the no-corkage means it is a wine-heaven to eat out. Most other tables had bottles and bottles lined up. The card machine was down the night we were there but luckily we had cash galore on hand, probably worth taking enough just in case. Well worth the trip to Aberdeen, and take LOTS of your own wine. We budgeted a bottle a head. Venue works best for parties of 6-10. Not sure how often the menu changes so worth checking before going for a second time. Table Wait Time: 0 minute(s)
Date of Visit: Nov 30, 2012 Spending per head: Approximately HKD700(Dinner) Other Ratings: Taste 5 | Environment 4 | Service 5 | Hygiene 4 | Value for Money 4
Recommend 0 |
As Wong Chuk Hang is fast becoming the "South SoHo" of HK Island (probably not right now but hopefully in a few years when the new MTR line finally reaches here), trendy establishments like hotels, galleries and select shops have opened up in this middle-of-nowhere place which used to have nearly only industrial buildings. So now even industrial buildings are under transformation. Chef Studio is one of the pioneers in this area, nestled in an industrial building unit. It is relatively easily accesible as the building is just next to a bus stop, and fingers crossed, in time there will be an MTR station next to this building. The surroundings may be unappealing, but once you push open the doors to Chef Studio you quickly find yourself comfortable. Yes the place has maintained its industrialistic minimalism (as seen in the shiny professional open kitchen) but quite a few delightful touches such as the warm wooden tables and the bird cage decor make guests feel welcomed.
Chef Eddy at work
Before everything else, there was this absolutely delish foccacia bread made on the house.
The appetizer was a fine reflection of Chef Leung being in touch with current dining trends even he is a very experienced chef. He uses locally grown and sourced vegetables in his dishes, such as the rocket leaves here. It was not just following the trend (LOHAS, farm-to-fork, whatever), but indeed the leaves tasted much sweeter and fresher than most flown-in organic stuff. The crabmeat was briny and matched well with the avocado purée. The only minor bump was that the salmon caviar aka salmon roe was a little too salty.
Serving it in a teacup is too cliche even nowadays, but who cares as long as it tastes good? This applied to the consommé; even though it was a bit richer and tasted more intense than what people used to think of consommés, it was still relatively light on the palate. As an authentic Cantonese Chinese growing up on doubleor even triple-boiled soups, I liked this one. Just that the piece of wonton with ?quail meat and silvers of carrots was kind of a disappointment - the closing end of the "wonton skin" was too thick and hard. It would have been as fine if I had been given just the consommé, or maybe the wonton could be shaped into a 水餃 instead?
The sous-vide machine
The Wagyu cheek sat on a bed of mashed potatoes, the meat was intense in its beefiness, tender yet having a bit of gelatinous texture. What was even better was the sous vide short ribs served in its jus. The melt-in-your-mouth meat and fat was just...divine.
~ Signature Dessert: Salted Caramel Mousse Crumble from Black n White For this particular meal the dessert was supplied supplied by Black n White, a reknowned dessert joint founded by celebrity dessert chef Jeffrey Koo. This dessert was very complex in its structure and flavours, featuring Chef Koo's signature white "chocolate sphere". I particularly liked the salted caramel mousse. This was a nice ending to a wonderful meal, and a valuable collaboration between two master chefs. Finally Chef Leung invited us to visit the collection of herbs he grew on the balcony outside the unit. What an enchanted evening we had, please give a big hand to Chef Leung and his team fo giving us a great time!
Other Ratings: Taste 4 | Environment 4 | Service 4 | Hygiene 4 | Value for Money 3
Recommend |