Bibo

I’ve walked past the front entrance of Bibo numerous times. Each time I glance at the dark teal tiled walls, flashy gold and bronze door and awkwardly smile at the intimidating bouncer that is always standing at the doorway. Finally, I got to try out Bibo for myself. The space is big- lined with murals, graffiti and really cool art displayed all along and around the restaurant.The artwork inside this French restaurant is pretty damn awesome- one of the most famous art pieces being the giant Kaws sculpture that’s lurking in the middle of the dining space.The menu had a ton of variation on classic French dishes but be warned it is expensive.Sourdough bread was immediately placed in front of us.The amuse bouche was terrific. What a great start to the evening. This take on onion soup with fresh crab meat was superb. I licked the entire shot glass clean and it was the best decision I made. It was freaking fantastic! (Bibo, can you please make this one of their items on the menu!)Fun cocktails were also a highlight! Strong, fruity and delicious!This take on G&T was my favorite cocktail blended with 5 different citrus juice to make it super refreshing and delicious. Can you see that giant pink ice cube in the glass….it’s shaped like a skull!We ordered their signature starter- Le Pate En Croute HK$360 which is homemade terrine, foie gras from Les Landes with pistachio and pork belly. The portion was surprisingly big which actually made this dish TOO much. The pate was so much that it became a bit overbearing and too powerful.We also ordered a bowl of their pan fried crayfish, mixed vegetables and lobster bisque for HK$340. I was a bit disappointed by how small the portion was and also the lobster bisque was way too salty. The broth was very rich but think it definitely had too much salt in it.This main dish was done really nicely though. The staff was nice enough to let us have the pigeon from the tasting menu. The Pigeon was perfectly pink in the middle with a nice glaze and sear! Only problem was I wanted more. The portion was a bit small but absolutely delicious.I picked the pan- fried sea bass with cherry tomatoes, white asparagus, and jerusalem artichoke puree at HK$480 which came recommended by the staff and I have to say it was underwhelming. The sea bass was super under seasoned :/ and for HK$480 was quite disappointing.The cheese selection HK$150 was really good! Fragrant, appetizing and rich. Last but not least was the petit fours! I have to say I think I had way too high expectations for Bibo…so it was a bit underwhelming. Overall, Bibo definitely had a mix of hits and misses for me. The price was also quite high. I did love the vibe, company and cocktails though!…Read More

I have learnt my lesson the hard way about newly opened restros - don't ever endeavour to be the first flock which guarantees disappointment 9.5 times out of 10. I have heard so many bad reviews and comments about BIBO last year that I have lost count, so I had no courage to pay dearly for just but a disappointing meal until quite recently when we finally heard some good comments among other friends. We went at last, and liked it.Setting - like everyone else, we missed the entrance on Hollywood road not once but twice. There is no signage suggesting BIBO, so what we could do best at the time was to google photos of the doorway which mostly came back, including the profile photo here on openrice, with their big glass window on Cat Street, so we mistakenly thought the fire escaping doorway was indeed the entrance. A server saw our puzzling looks from inside and gestured us to go back up to Hollywood road. We approached the golden door which we thought was the closest guess where two bouncers stood guarding. They must have been so customed to people running in circles like a lunatic that just one look at them with a nod to their question "BIBO?" would yield open sesame. With the 30’s French tramway company La Compagnie Générale Française de Tramway as the core design inspiration in everything, the mastermind behind the conceptual restro invented a story that its head office had occupied the very location previously, and therefore all you get from signage to decor to menus is the name of the tram company in lieu of BIBO thus the intended confusion created. In spite of the fuss, we were totally wowed as we descended the staircase. Every nook and cranny is covered with artwork and apparently most pieces are genuine work of the artists involved who flown in to do the work on site. Contrasting the graffiti and street art gallery setting, the table setting otherwise resembles that of a fine dining restaurant.Food - the menus follow the same line of thought (in creating confusion) and are printed on preprinted stationary of the imaginary tram company, and therefore are super hard to read. So hard that we decided to give up and asked for recommendations before our heads started to spin. To save the trouble, we each asked for the full tasting menu designed for the Art Basel season. It's a 8-course meal plus coffee/tea. In the order of what we had:~Housemade sourdough with french AOP butter: tasty, we liked it~Mushroom base amuse bouche: ok~Figs and vege salad with truffle vinaigrette: good truffle aroma on the nose otherwise ok~Lobster salad with blood orange vinaigrette: lobster tender vege crunchy but couldn't taste much blood orange flavour~Asparagus soup: average~Seared duck foie gras: ok~64 degree egg with sourdough crust and housemade mayo: tasty orchestration, we liked it~Lobster ink risotto: taste good but we found the risotto much softer than al dente~Sea bass: skin fried crispy meat juicy, ok~Pigeon: tender meat and taste good, we liked it~Cheeses: of reasonable good quality ~Lemon soufflé with rosemary sorbet: we didn't like it. We found viscous residue left in the mouth after each biteDrinks - for the above stated reason, we couldn't really bring ourselves to read the drinks menu in detail and took the server's recommendations to have two of their signature cocktails:~B24 Martini: way way way too sweet. I put it aside after the first few sips, but it went well in the end with the dessert cheeses~D1&T: basically gin and housemade tonic served in a light bulb, cool presentationService - you get the service of a top notch restaurant, and for the price they fetch, it'd better be!Price - pricey, pricey and pricey that makes you think you are actually paying a premium to gain entry to force appreciate the artwork rather than for the food. Our bill came to $1700 per person withOUT any wine! They charge a whooping $1400 for a chicken despite its exquisite source, which as I overheard was being suggested to every table including ours, is daring and totally mind blowing.…Read More