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2013-03-22
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Missed out on this year's Restaurant Week? Worry not, they're making a 1-week comeback from now till 24 March featuring 6 of the winners from the Restaurant Week in February. (One of them was already fully booked at the time of writing.)This time I picked Whisk of The Mira Hong Kong, winner of the Best Hotel Restaurant category. I wasn't particularly interested at first, before I saw Restaurant Week menu at Whisk in which there were several vegetarian options. I, having become (half) vegetarian
This time I picked Whisk of The Mira Hong Kong, winner of the Best Hotel Restaurant category. I wasn't particularly interested at first, before I saw Restaurant Week menu at Whisk in which there were several vegetarian options. I, having become (half) vegetarian these days, could not be happier and reserved my spot for lunch.
(However the special dinner menu for the week has no veggie option unfortunately.)
Going up in the lift specially serving Whisk (and the bar Vibes next door), I was greeted by the slick modern decor at the door.
As I was led by the reception staff into the restaurant, the purple color scheme immediately caught my eye. The ambience was sophisticated yet without a great deal of formality. That said, Whisk seems to be a favorite business lunching spot as the floor was slowly filled up as lunch hour approached.
I'd already made up my mind (as the menu was available online) but I looked at the menu again just to make sure there weren't any last minute changes. (There were, but I was equally happy.)
First came the bread basket, served with cream cheese & chives, smoked butter and chili butter. Of course I didn't manage to finish all the bread of good variety (although I'd love to!), as it was all very nice and warm - particularly the chili butter - not that I'd not warned you, was really - hot! And the black triangular thing on the top was squid ink crispy bread, not veggie but well, never mind...
My choice of appetizer was Artichoke Salad with Green Olives, Tomato & Lemon Basil.The salad looked like a garden in itself, decorated with all these beautiful edible spring flowers. The flavors were in general delicate, especially the artichoke heart at the bottom was lightly seasoned and was fleshy. The lemon basil dressing brought a slight zing to the veggies too.
The main dish was Broccoli Fregola Sarda with Mozzarella Cream & Black Pepper.Fregola is a kind of pasta which comes from Sardinia, Italy. It is made from semolina rolled into tiny ballsvand then toasted. It is likened to the Middle Easten couscous, but in fact Fregola is larger in size and more chewy, so the chefs at Whisk decided to cook the pasta risotto style in a mozzarella cream sauce (with some foamed to put on top of the dish). The fact that Fregola was toasted gave it different colors, and also its characteristic nutty flavor which was so delightful. And you don't get the mushiness of (badly done) risotto with Fregola. How clever. The mozzarella cream was rich and tangy and so complimented the pasta very well. The broccoli (stems, thinly sliced) and some kind of spring leaves again brought a breeze of spring to the otherwise hearty dish.
I had Brownie Sand with Ganache of Dark Chocolate, Crispy and Frozen Cacao for dessert. Chocolate lovers should not miss this; although it was chocolate (ice cream), chocolate (brownie sand and ganache) and more chocolate (cacao crisp), there were different textures and the bittersweet chocolate was contrasted by a cream base incorporated with, you guess, goat cheese! I didn't ask but the taste was so familiar. I doubt if everyone would like this dessert, but I did.For carnivores out there, you still have plenty of choices on both the Restaurant Week and regular menus.
Service was on the spot, attentive and friendly but not overzealous. I loved their attention to detail: they offered me an extra little cake to go with my half-cup-drunk coffee soon after I finished the one which came with it. I may not have gone to enough fine dining restaurants, but Whisk was the first one which offered me some magazines to read while waiting for my food (okay even if that was just the group's in-house publication) but all these were nice little gestures that make an impression. I think dinner will be an even nicer experience, for the time being I'd recommend you to try out the Restaurant Week menu at $248 or the regular lunch menu at just $40 more. For dinner, I've reserve it for a special occasion.
张贴
