Came here for 2 reasons - no corkages for wines, good wine glasses and decanter for use, so I don't have to pay even more to open my favourite bottles of wines which already costed me an arm and a leg PLUS more corkage at greedy restaurants. I mean, if you don't have a great wine list, why charge me more to bring my own suitable wine? 2ndly, seemed like there were some rather good reviews of here.
I would say that for the price of a 4 course Dinner at only $388, it is really Value for Money by all measures! Everything was cooked pretty decently, with a heart put into the food, plus portions were so big for the price, it would have costed me more to buy the ingredients from City Super.
Had the following for dinner:
Entrees -
1) White Asparagus with Lobster Meat, with some type of herbed/curried butter sauce:
Slightly crunchy, flavoursome white asparagus, with more than my expected portion of lobster meat. Probably could have cooked asparagus very slightly more. 70 out of 100.
2) Pan fried Foie Gras:
Very slightly over-grilled and therefore a bit dry. Not a bad taste and slightly oily as it should be, although obviously the after-taste suggests its not top notch Foie Gras. To be fair, it was not too bad at all. 65 out of 100.
Soups -
1) Wild Mushroom soup:
Flavoursome without being overwhelming, and the right amount of cream, just the way I like it. Quite thick but smooth. Highly recommended. 90 out of 100.
2) Prawn Bisque:
WOW. Very dense flavour, very rich and perhaps a hint of alcohol in the background to give it a multi-layered finish. Possible too rich for some people, although one must give credit to the restaurant for taking the effort to compact as much flavour into a small bowl of soup as possible. Slightly bitter after-taste, but pleasantly so? 95 out of 100.
Main Course -
1) Roasted then Grilled Kurobuta Pork Rack:
As PEECH has reviewed previously, this pork dish was UNBELIEVABLY GOOD... Lucky that I followed his advice against all odds and tried this amazing dish since otherwise, I'm not entirely a pork person. Highly marbled, juicy (very difficult to achieve as pork is cooked nearer to Well Done unlike Beef and Lamb). Melts in your mouth texture, some chargrilled taste. Comes with a mushroom gravy type of sauce I think?
The highlight of the dish is the pork cutlet - which is also humongous, so unlike most restaurants in Hong Kong. The accompanying vegetables and mash however are a bit boring, a bit of apple puree would have made this dish more balanced IMO as it was so filling! 100 out of 100
2) US Angus Rib Eye:
Probably slightly too rare for what we ordered, so the fat hasn't started melting enough to give it that extra oily coating. Meat itself was quite flavoursome but the seasoning seemed a bit mediterranean in the background? Not enough chargrill taste this time around, perhaps should have ordered it just a tad more cooked.
Comes with some kind of deep fried shredded chips, but surprisingly had some kind of cheese/blue cheese in the background somewhere but barely detectable. May be just my imagination! 70 out of 100
Desserts:
1) Mango Mille Feuille:
Mango bit were probably a bit too sweet/syrupy, but generally a pleasant dessert. Not a complicated one by any measures, but presentation was good. Pastry with a creamy cheesy type of filling, made it quite filling. Not bad but not overly impressive as others have suggested. 65 out of 100.
2) Chocolate Fondant with ice cream:
Very good fondant, one of the best and most runny ones I've had the pleasure to taste. The chocolate ganache inside had a very decent chocolate taste, that isn't like the usual Cadbury cooking chocolate at other places. It was a good chocolate for using in this dessert, and not sweet at all. In fact, it was slightly savoury to my palate, which made it even more attractive in a way. Slightly crunchy, floury exterior, baked to perfection. Well done! 95 out of 100
In conclusion - I thought the food here was quite pleasant, although still very slightly Hong Kong in execution. The owner must have a bit of talent because despite some cooking execution flaws, the design of the dishes and the sourcing of good ingredients, plus attention to certain small details which are not apparent in other similar restaurants made the whole experience pleasant. The seasoning in the dishes, from soup to entrees to the meat had a layer of subtle complexity, they're not as simple as they seem on the surface, although I would have liked better accompanying vegetables to go with the meat dishes.
Very good value for money! Almost too good to be true.
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