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2018-12-08
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December. The time of year where so many restaurants and bakeries start offering up Christmas menus and special items. There are so many to choose from and some of them cost a lot of money. But I still love the holiday season and try as many places that offer these special meals as much as possible.So, let's begin with my first Christmas special menu. And yes ... I'll be trying quite a few as I will be scouring the internet, magazines and blogs to find them all!A.O.C. Eat & Drink is a tiny Frenc
So, let's begin with my first Christmas special menu. And yes ... I'll be trying quite a few as I will be scouring the internet, magazines and blogs to find them all!
A.O.C. Eat & Drink is a tiny French restaurant locate on a small cozy street in Wanchai. This street is lovely. Filled with all sorts of small restaurants and cafes that is near the more noisy and popular Lee Tung Avenue. The place is tiny with a few tables and a very extensive bar on one side with excellent wine selection. They have a Christmas dinner menu that costs only $468 per person. You can even pair each item with a glass of wine at an optional price. Price for the wine is a pretty good as it's priced at retail and not over marked like other places. Staff is very informative and give good wine recommendations.
They started us off with bread. A nice chewy tearable baguette. There was a generous portion as some places I've been to, they only give you a slice per person. It was even warm.
The appetizer was three oysters from Brittany. Simple fresh oysters topped with a yuzu granita was all it needed to bring out the sweet taste of the oysters. Sometimes you really don't need anything but simplicity.
The starter was a crab ravioli, scattered with mushrooms, herring roe and a lovely scampi sauce. It was beautifully presented. The ravioli was delicate and biting into it, I was surprised to find it had a bit of spicy kick to it. There was a shaving of kaffir lime to balance out the creaminess of the dish.
Main course chicken breast with foie gras. This was placed on top of a crunchy rice mixed with Comte cheese and topped with a truffle sauce. This was fairly clever as the chicken meat was moist and tender and was sandwiched between a crispy top and a crunchy rice on the bottom. I loved the rice as it had a strong cheese flavor. Never would I have thought to have crispy rice with cheese. There was also a tiny piece of chicken drum stick and a ball of duck confit wrapped in spinach with a sweet and sour sauce to compliment the duck.
For an optional $80, you can have a cheese course. Boyfriend and I shared this as it would have been too much. But I love cheese and he wanted some wine. This is Brillat-Savarin cheese with truffle layered within. I love soft cheeses and this ... this was super creamy as it was a triple cream cheese. I'm a big fan of brie, but this took it to another level. It was much more creamier but not as strong in taste. It was more subtle. Thus, the addition of truffle works as it gives it an extra bit of flavor. Crispy flat bread was the perfect item to eat it with. After this, I went to go buy some at a local store.
Dessert was a mandarin tart with chestnut and meringue. That's what is said on the menu and we were guessing perhaps slices of mandarin oranges with sliced chestnuts on top with some swirls of meringue. But what appeared was a complete surprise! Beautiful slivers of meringue were placed on top of a tart filled with creamy chestnut puree. All was topped with a mandarin sorbet. Inside the chestnut puree were bits of sweet mandarin pieces. The meringue was perfect. Light as air and not too sweet. Usually I dislike meringue as it's often too sweet or just hard. This was literally like clouds and it melted away in my mouth easily. There was some sweet mandarin puree on the side. The irich buttery shortbread crust was delicate and crumbly. It was a wonderful dessert to end the entire meal.
For $468 per person, it's quite a good deal for Christmas. The dinner set is available until December 23 which means they must be coming up with something else during the actual holiday season. Food was beautifully presented and well balanced so you do not come out too full to finish everything. But you do not come put hungry afterwards. I love how it didn't try to trick you into paying a lot of money for a couple slices of parma ham, some truffle oil and a gold leaf. After this dinner, I'll will be back again to perhaps try lunch? Or even dinner with friends as their a la carte menu changes every so often as well.
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