BCN (已結業)

sep 06, 13.............2人嚟dinner.........叫咗 :1) mineral water (hk$48)-叫咗杯水2) les crestes 2010 x 2 (@hk$98)-叫來2杯house red wine.........by glass選擇不多..........by bottle就有好多讚擇3) summer chef menu 2.0 x 2 (@hk$798)-每晚都只喺得2個dinner menu..........而且每個party都要預先order..........兼align埋同1個set...........即喺唔可以1個要menu a..........另1個要menu b-最後同友人1致揀來chef menui) iberico platter-iberico ham, mahon cheese and chorizo-iberico ham after taste不強,而chorizo味道濃郁,不錯的-芝士應喺cow milk cheese,so味很輕-伴以幾塊toastii) tuna tartar watermelon, peanut butter and crisp-吞拿魚tartar很創新混有西瓜粒,很清甜-再+入少少花生醬同少少脆脆,味道帶少少複雜-如果炎夏食呢個頭盤會很消暑........可惜我嗰個禮拜連續下雨........氣溫都很清涼.........無咁有feeliii) black truffle and iberico ham croquette-睇個樣已知道個croquette很油........亦貼實個餡..........可能個皮過份地薄咗,而餡料亦濕度高-望番之前去灣仔嘅the princixxx brunch d相..........所做出嚟嘅chicken croquette.........真喺差10碼子嘅事........人哋個皮炸得小挺身,漲大......皮同餡清晰分開-技巧佢喺差d.........不過味道喺ok的..........松露味溫和,沒過搶/濃iv) broken egg with diced red prawn-egg yolk and topped with fresh sea urchin-呢個execution喺比較簡單........生蛋黃內有點蝦肉.......同海膽-友人其實喺1年前嚟過.........佢記得broken egg喺呢度嘅signature.........而且以前底下好似有類似panna cotta嘅物體 v) crispy manchego cheese-個炸芝士表面因有杏仁碎片,所以都幾香口 -不過裡面嘅芝士比較chewy,裡面唔覺得熱-出嚟味道效果麻麻哋vi) chilean sea bass-with spicy pepper sauce, baby cabbage and raddish-sea bass份量極小巧.........油份很重..........魚肉結實且彈-伴以citrus味啫喱同d配料-presentation各自各咁...........並不優雅 vii) honeydrew gazpacho-因為個凍湯喺蜜瓜煮成,所以甜味比較重,少"杰"身........很有甜品feel-配料大致都喺蔬菜粒同麵包粒viii) ox tail with red wine reduction, califlower and carrot puree-牛脷成片正方形..........喺因為牛脷嘅肉已拆碎.........之後再press成正方形-牛味溫和-伴以紅酒,紅蘿蔔同椰菜花puree-整體味道正路但無驚喜ix) black paella with calamari and alioli sauce-個西班牙飯粒粒分明,有點挺身-只配以幾個魷魚圈同3點alioli sauce-味道正路,同樣無嘜突出x) yogurt cheese cake, crispy orange roll, stuff with hazelnut mousse, with chocolate cookies on top-好快就嚟到甜品環節-個cheesecake size好的骰,反而最多喺由棒子唧成花嘅mousse-棒子mousse很香nuts味同滑-個脆片,有點玉桂味,薄脆.........但從文字睇應該喺筒形-全晚咁多個courses,甜品反而出色過d鹹食 繼續閱讀

Perhaps it was my attempt to master Spanish as a teenager. Perhaps it was the young and fearless days that we spent in Barcelona. Perhaps it was the memorable vibes that I soaked up in the tapas bars across Andalusia. I adore Spain; and I adore Spanish food.~BCN shares its name with the "Barcelona El Prat Airport"; also a common abbreviation for BARCELONA. BCN has been under my radar for quite some time; not a simple task to secure reservation (a date to fit in my food buddies' packed schedule and in such a popular kitchen with very limited seatings) - it was a good few weeks between booking and our actual meal. A few days before the night, I got whatsapp messages for confirmation of our dinner and details of the menus on offer. Two to choose from; both super inviting. "Trip to Spain" at $595 or "Winter Chef Menu" at $720. We opted for the "Trip to Spain" one.There are two dining slots for BCN - be the first guests and start at around 6:30pm-7pm, you get to stay till 9pm. They start welcoming the second batch from around 9pm, and we booked for this latter slot (you see, I never know how hectic work can be until the day...). At the end, on the day, it was rather peaceful at work and so I rang up requesting to be informed if seats became available earlier (I would be happy-houring around Soho anyways and certainly up for an earlier dinner). At the end, we were seated by 8:15pm - perfect timing! A sleek and warm little space with up to 12 high stools surrounding an open kitchen; but with 3 staff serving (excluding chefs), attentive and courteous service guaranteed. Manchego Cheese. Iberico Ham. Chorizo. Toast Started off with a platter of manchego cheese semi curado i.e. semi hard (creamy and buttery, coated all over my tongue), Iberico ham and chorizo (both with a delightful balance of fat and intense flavours); all flown directly from Spain, with small bits of toasts blessed with olive oil lined up on the side. Something comfortingly simple, and something admittedly not testing of chef's skills; but as you indulge in the thin elegant sheets, each with packed flavours, you know you are promised with a night of quality and tasteful food. 3 Small pintxos set To get us started... From right to left: Cod fish coquet - the amber crust was done perfectly crispy and contrasted well with the smooth potato and fish mash within. Foie gras and iberico ham on a toast - not the normal pan fried caramelised foie gras here, a blader take but the iberico ham gave the mouthful an awesome kick. Boiled octopus - prinkled with paprika and served on a bed of boiled potato; very authentic. Nice. Classic "Gazpacho" Now - this. was. lovely. Gazpacho is a tomato-based soup, served cold, originating in the southern Spanish region of Andalucía. I was not a fan of cold soup. But this was lovely (yes I have to repeat it again). Very flavourful, each spoonful reminded of freshly picked tomatoes, well-balanced natural sweetness with a hint of zestiness; extremely refreshing (perfect for the humid Hong Kong weather); exceedingly appetising. Loved the twist of the watermelon skewer. Perfection. I love open kitchens. To admire the dedication of the chefs. To learn a trick or two. Here, Chef Edgar was preparing our next dish "Rossekat de fideos con alioli"!! Look at how he was carefully blotting the garlic sauce on the cool black plates! Fried Short Noddles ... I confess - I was skeptical; I did not really look forward to this course. The photo of this dish I saw on openrice reminded me of the tacky Chinese take-away noodles I had back when I was still at boarding school in England.. but man, I was so wrong. Just before I had my first taste, Chef Edgar explained that he made this dish in the traditional paella way, except that rice was substituted by noodles . The noodle was very very well-done, each little strip was cooked in seafood soup and completely soaked up the complex seafood flavours. The olive oil, garlic sauce and fresh tomato brought further dimensions to the dish. Enjoyed it to bits; very nice! Suckling Pig - "slow cooked with vapor" (this I quote from the menu) I was told by the Chef that it was steamed for over 8 hours before being fried to crisp up the skin. End result? What a heavenly dish. The pork belly had the most tender and juicy meat, the skin was crackingly crispy. Smooth, creamy sweet potato mash (loved that it is SWEET potato mash) and served with beef sauce. hmmm I would love another piece. Ohh and i find the little leaves really very cute. ;) Chocolate Truffles with orange skin We were offered up chocolate truffles topped with tiny bit of orange skin to end. By then, I was super satisfied and full; but I always have room for desserts and would have loved something else - something more substantial. Delicious truffles though!As I drank up my glass of Rioja, for a second, I thought I was in BCN. Maybe it is time to plan another Spanish trip. 繼續閱讀

My first experience of having Tapas was in Barcelona in my college years. It was such a wonderful trip back then and I remembered the vibe and liveliness in a Tapas place where everyone happily enjoyed small dishes of mouth-watering snack dishes. I have been waiting for this dining day for long, left work early and walked up Peel Street, excited for the dinner! There were only 12 seats at the restaurant, and we were all sitting at the bar table, that overlooked the whole preparation and cooking process. We picked the 'Winter Chef Menu' that consisted of more courses than the 'Trip to Spain menu'. The first appetizer already looked very appealing - Mediterranean Flowerpot. The 'Soil' was made of pine nuts, there were also diced tomatoes, basil foam and black olives beneath the soil. A very special combination of all the ingredients, and it was definitely a nice twist on the presentation!While I was relishing the last bit of the taste of the previous course, our Iberico Platter arrived! Loved the Iberico Ham as always, and the milky light orange foam was a surprise, it was actually made from tomatoes which their skin and seeds were all removed. It was very smooth and appealing that served as a perfect complement for the toast.Surprises came one after another. The last appetizer dish was the night was "Escabeche" mussels on Pumpkin and Herbs Cream. The pumpkins and mussels were both cooked with white wine, which was actually a traditional way of how the Spaniards preserved seafood 100 - 200 years ago. Mussels were fresh and it was the first time I realized pumpkins and mussels did go well together! The beetroot bubbles were also awesome!The Three Hot Tapas followed after our appetizer dishes were cleared. There was this Black Trumpet Croquette, Broken Egg With Spanish Red Prawn and Spring Onion Foam, and Octopus "Gallega". This was rather ordinary when compared to the creative appetizers. The Broken Egg was quite nice, though I thought the prawn would have come in one piece. The octopus slices were quite fresh.I was looking around what other people have ordered and suddenly realized the chef was pouring a couple Gazpacho! I probably looked too curious that the chef was so nice to offer us each a cup of it! OMG and I fell in love with it! I was not a fan of the different peppers, but this Gazpacho was just right! Thumbs up!Our main was Sea Bream Tartar, Boletus Edulis Cream, Egg and Foie Gras. Sea Bream was prepared with green chilli pepper from the Northern part of Spain, it was a little light in taste when compared to the other rich plates, but matched quite well with the mushroom cream. Egg and Foie Gras was a nice combination too, think I would prefer egg white with foie gras rather than along with the egg yolk, which made the dish a little heavy to my liking.The last main was a traditional Christmas dish in Spain - Traditional "Canalon de Saint Esteve". With Iberico Pork, Idiazabal Smoked Cheese and Beef Sauce. The cheese satisfied my taste buds with a pleasant aroma. A special dish it is, and Iberico Pork could not be any bad!Moving to the climax of the night, desserts were always my favorite! Sangria 2.0 was totally a very refreshing dessert! It serves Sangria in a way that all ingredients were redefined. Things can be tasted separately or all in one go. Loved how it was cold and refreshing that prepared me to leave room for the last dessert - BCN Truffle. Yay it was made with orange zest!Greater dinner, great chef and great hospitality. I love visiting private kitchens that you can really observe every tiny detail, and receive attention from servers and the chef. You get to know what you are eating and how they are prepared instead of swallowing them all up. This is probably by far the best tapas place I have been to in Hong Kong. I look forward to come back again and explore more of BCN. 繼續閱讀

BCN 是一間只有十二座位的tapas bar。雖然價錢不便宜又難訂位(晚飯分7-9pm及9.15pm後兩輪)，但食物在你面前新鮮準備，是香港數一數二最正宗的西班牙餐廳。I absolutely adore Spanish tapas, and Spanish meals often remind me of my enjoyable visits to Spain with lovely weather, friendly people and (lots of) Sangria. Inconspicuously located on Peel Street, BCN is a tapas bar that only seats 12 people. With the chef preparing your dishes right in front of you, BCN feels more like a private kitchen than a restaurant.Admittedly, my first impression of the restaurant was not great. The restaurant is not open for lunch, and due to its popularity, there are two seatings for dinner – one from 7-9pm, and the other from 9.15pm onwards. There are two menus to choose from: “Trip to Spain“, at $580, and “Chef’s Menu“, at $680. As the set dinners at BCN are not cheap, I was somewhat dismayed by the short time allowed at dinner. I went at 9.15pm and our seats were not available until 9.30pm; on the other hand, my friends who booked the 7-9pm slot said that they felt quite rushed to have to finish 6 courses by 9pm.The chef at BCN is Edgar Sanuy Barahon, who has worked at Michelin starred restaurants, Restaurante El Rincón de Diego and Restaurante “El Torreó de l’ Indià, in Spain before coming to Asia. Edgar is known to be amiable and friendly, but he wasn’t there on the day I went to BCN.We chose “Trip to Spain”, as the portions at BCN are huge and we thought there would be too much food if we ordered “Chef’s Menu”. Having said that, “Chef’s Menu” looks very attractive, and the BCN paella rice with red prawn, in particular, sounds enticing.(1) We started off with the Cheese, Spanish ham from Iberico pork with 100% natural feeding and Chorizo set. The ham was pristine, and was packed with flavours and perfectly fat-flecked. The cheese had a beautiful and fine taste.(2) Second on our menu was a 3 Small Pintxos Set. Each pintxo was small, delicate and delicious. On the left was an octopus, bathed in olive oil, which was fresh and chewy; in the middle was a hot fried croquette, which was alluringly crunchy and light; on the right was a small piece of foie gras on toast, which was silky and tasty. Perhaps what made the food at BCN so delicious was the fact that it was all freshly prepared right before it was served.(3) The Classic cool soup “Gazpacho” from Andalucia, with tomato, watermelon and basil followed. After some tangy pintxos, this soup, which was cold and refreshing, was just what was needed. It was natural and fresh, with a strong tomato flavour. The peeled tomato and watermelon went very well with the soup, and added crisp textures to it.(4) The Fried short noodles, cooked in seafood soup, with fresh tomato and oil&garlic sauce was a job well done and was one of my two favourite dishes of the night. Each noodle was completely soaked with flavours from the seafood soup, and the noodles were soft and smooth without being mushy. The fresh tomato gave a slightly citrus note which was complementary to the dish, and the of oil&garlic sauce provided extra richness.(5) My other favourite dish was the Suckling pig slow cooked with vapour, with sweet potato cream and spanish meat sauce. It was almost half past ten when we had it, but it was worth the wait. While the the skin was wonderfully crispy and cracker-like, the meat, having been slow cooked for 10 hours, was fantastically tender and supple and was melt-in-the-mouth soft. Some sweet potato cream was thinly spread on the plate, and it was mild and indulgent – just the right thing to enhance the flavours of the pork.(6) Our last course was a Chocolate truffle with orange skin. The chocolate had an alluring, deep chocolate taste and had a smooth and creamy filling; the orange peel gave a fresh, bright note to the chocolate. However, despite already being very full, I could not help feeling a bit disappointed that we didn’t get a proper “dessert”.There were certain aspects of the meal that I was not completely happy with: firstly, the price was expensive for Spanish tapas; secondly, despite the amount they charged, dinner was divided into two seatings; and thirdly, the restaurant was very narrow and our stools were not the most comfortable. However, the food at BCN was mouthwateringly good and the dishes were all freshly prepared and meticulously executed. I guess I will just have to get over some of BCN's shortcomings, as I will be coming back here for more tapas! 繼續閱讀

Booked a surprise dinner for hubby for his big day a month ago, the restaurant is called 田舍家 Inakaya; most famous for its Robatayaki. I read a few reviews from Openrice and note that it is going to be quite an experience. But, no no no, when I personally reconfirmed the dinner reservation (yes, I called them instead of waiting for them to call me!) in the morning of my hubby's birthday, the hostess told me, I can either have a window seat with a view or I can have an authentic Robatayaki, but it has to be confirmed when I booked, and it is their policy that the one who took my call would have informed me this. Nar, not really, they didn't mention it at all when I called, as such, the start of the bday plan for my hubby was ruined. Finally I decide to try my luck and find alternative.Luckily, someone has cancelled their reservation at BCN. I heard about it for a while and never manage to go, lately in HK there is a Spanish cuisine hype, but we have been a few of them and not too impressed. I called and been told that there are only 2 types of menus and I have to decide when I book, the lady sent me via whatsapp the 2 options and I have chosen the Autumn chef's menu which costs HKD695 each. Hence all set and the surprise continues. Anyways, we walked down a small slope on Peel Street and find this lovely little place, probably less than 12 covers. All seatings are along the bar area. The service was really good, the gentleman who served us used to work in a hotel, very well trained.Edgar the chef was really friendly as well, tried his best to suggest the Spanish wine for us.All the food are amazing, you will know why when you see those photos. 繼續閱讀