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2014-02-25
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When the Michelin guide this year announced that Caprice had lost a star it was a little startling to see one of the greats take a stumble. Ever since previous Chef de Cuisine Vincent Thierry decided to move on to new ventures everyone was wondering who would be taking over the reins at Caprice. Now with new chef Fabrice Vuilin ex-executive chef of the two star La Chèvre d’Orat the helm, will his new menu regain the much coveted third star for Caprice in 2015?Let's see.Some welcome appetisers to
Let's see.
Some welcome appetisers to begin with. Sardine milifeuille with squid ink jelly, puff with foie gras mousse and fried shrimp patties. The pastry at Caprice is always nicely done crisp buttery layers with the smooth sardine mousse. Not fishy to taste, but it lingered on the fingers afterwards so remember to ask for wet towels. The puff was nice too, choux pastry with a sweet crunchy crust holding a savoury foie gras mousse.
Pull apart white crusty bread. Pillowy soft, but not special accompanied with olive oil.
Amuse bouche of artichoke cream. Two layered, a chilled thick and full bodied cream at the top, while a more translucent soft jelly-like layer on the bottom. Refreshing to start with.
This was the bread I was waiting for~ Olive scroll and baguette. Never fails to please, especially when consumed with a healthy spread of creamy butter.
His choice of appetiser, Brittany lobster soup with ravioli of lemon confit. The soup although creamy was not quite thick enough, but the raviolis were plump with a zesty tang. Nice temperature.
My poached egg was beautifully presented crowned with a savoury sable cracker adorned with greens, diced pork, foie gras and mushrooms. The egg felt like it was hard-boiled, but slicing into it revealed a runny yolk centre adding its richness to the sauce. The flavours worked well, the plain egg giving a neutral counterbalance to the intense savoury flavours of the accompaniments, if the egg white had been poached more softly and the dish served hotter than lukewarm I would have liked it even more.
The escargot was served with compliments (thank you) and the somewhat forest-like presentation matched the use of ingredients. Unlike what most restaurants in Hong Kong would serve- garlic butter soaked snails where we have to pry them out of their shells, here they were de-shelled and scattered among mushrooms, Iberico ham and mossy mounds of herb brioche. Not drowning them in garlic butter allowed us to fully appreciate the natural sweet flavour of these molluscs before following up with the brioche which had a garlicky oil seeped into it. Again, if only this was served warmer...
For mains, his dish of poached scallops and shrimps on a bed of cauliflower mousseline was lovely. It looked so simple yet the scallops were velvety and sweet, the shrimps nice and bouncy with the fried shrimp head adding a textural crunch. Perfect if you are looking for something lighter.
I chose the braised oxtail cannelloni recommended by the Maitre' D and this was an extremely hearty dish. Three tubes of al dente pasta curled around a tender filling of pulled oxtail decorated with bits of bone marrow and strips of pancetta. The texture was quite sticky, requiring some effort to eat, but I guess that just meant it was full of collagen *pinches cheek*.
A little surprising to see chocolate fondant on the menu as it is now such a common dessert, but it came recommended so he chose this. A solid looking fondant with hints of its warm liquid center starting to leak out from the cracks. Intensely rich, the chocolate used was dark enough to leave enticing bittersweet tones on the tongue and when you are about to fall into a chocolate coma, turn to the sweet poached pears and cool Tahitian vanilla ice-cream to refresh yourself. I ate most of his
Feeling like something pastry for dessert I was a little disappointed that they did not serve a milefeuille anymore so I picked the substitute of strawberry tart. It was so pink! A trail of berry sorbet, dobs of cream and flavoured sugar crisps where the tart sat at the centre with a mane of strawberry slices fanning out. It looked better than it tasted. The tart base did not seem fresh, a little soft with no snap and the almond filling made the whole texture quite gummy. At least the strawberries were relatively sweet, but otherwise quite disappointed.
Finishing with coffee and petit four. I loved the mini carrot cake so much he surrendered his one to me too~
This was definitely not the best experience at Caprice and you can tell Chef Fabrice still needs time to assimilate with his new surroundings as well as tweaking his dishes to conform with the palate of the locals. Some of the dishes were served barely warm which was not ideal so hopefully they can improve on that, but otherwise service was welcoming and attentive as usual and the environment beautiful as always.
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