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2012-08-14
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... The story of Alain Ducasse and his School of Thought, & the never endingly evolving philosophy to cooking French food is not something a normal walking-in customer will easily catch at first glance, I would say! I have already been to here 5 times for dinners or teaching classes, so I guess Spoon by Alain Ducasse expected me to understand their point of view, and invited me over for a dinner recently? I have already visited here 3 times this year afterall and paid for myself. I
Even within Hong Kong, influence from Ducasse's school and tutelage is profound and found at other Michelin Starred or Recognized kitchens such as Chef Jeremy Biasol's 1 Star Mirror, or Chef David Lai's kitchens at both On Lot 10 and Bistronomique. Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester UK, still remains one of only 4 UK restaurants out of thousands to be recognized as a true 3 Stars quality restaurant in 2012. SPOON by Alain Ducasse in Hong Kong is also awarded for being 2 Michelin Stars quality. The very unfortunate thing is that, many Asian customers expect only what they expect to find but without knowing what Ducasse really stands for in cooking philosophy. Never mind that Ducasse has 19 Stars and that is testament to his achievement in the culinary world. Afterall, there are actually people comparing a traditional French Restaurant to the Japanese-French Restaurants in Japan. The cuisines and cooking approach aren't even totally the same thing duh.
Trivial Questions:
- Did you know that under the Ducasse school of thought, each dish is mostly limited to using maximum of 4 core ingredients? The main flavours of each ingredients are said to be maximized this way, and not disturbingly too complex for the human palate to detect and enjoy. A lot of international chefs are preachers of this Ducasse bible guideline.
- Accuracy in Cooking methods and the final taste, is always given priority over Presentation and Creativity. Keep it simple. Less is More. Architect Le Corbusier would approve of this too. I think this bit is what a lot of customers won't really know about Ducasse. Perhaps the restaurant could also write more and advertise about this philosophy to show the customers?
- Ducasse restaurants might serve more traditional & seasonal dishes by default, but did you know he is equally adept at the Modern Molecular methods in cooking? In fact, Ducasse wrote books on it and is one of the earliest pioneers to use Molecular methods and machineries to cook his food! He equips himself with all the latest gadgets and explore around to think of the next best available alternatives, in order to strike the perfect balance and cooking precision in his recipes. Those who have followed his school of thought or read his recipes will have known this for a long time, and is exactly why he is internationally admired and acclaimed and recognized. Unfortunately, not many Hong Kong customers would have heard about this. As I keep saying, blame it on the poor Food Channels being shown locally! Ducasse is like a God Father when it comes to redefining french gastronomy without losing the original spirit and still remains so!
- Ducasse restaurants only use imported ingredients only when they can't perform as well as the French or European ones. May be that sounds ironic for a Fine Dining restaurant, but that is exactly his mentality. For example, you are as likely to find local vegetables or seafoods on the menu as much as some exotic ingredients flown in from Provence, Italy or Japan. This is his way of being responsible to the environment and as a chef. Reduce carbon footprint whenever possible without affecting the taste too much. It is all about being balanced rather than compromised. I totally buy this concept as a foodie and you can find the same approach being in practice at local Mirror and On Lot 10 restaurants, where local ingredients are used if they are already good enough for it'ss cause.
- Lately, the Ducasse camp has also evolved a little with how they make their sauces. Traditional mother sauces as used in Classical French Cooking since the 19th Century and as classified by Auguste Escoffier, have been given a re-definition along the way, if not also an improvement in taste. Sauces at the Ducasse restaurants are now much lighter in feel, with less usage of unhealthy butters and sugars as utilised in traditional French cuisines carrying over from the Middle Age recipes. These traditional formulas are leased a new life with less fatty thickeners, but replaced with as much natural ingredient reductions and taste as possible whilst aiming to be loyal to the ingredients flavours being used.
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Hor d'Oeuvres -Crab Meat & Spinach Pastry,
Caprese Sandwich of Mozzarella & Tomato, Basil.
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Some Warm Spinach & Cheese Puffs -.
House Baked Breads -Baguette and Black Olive Bread with Bordier Butters from Brittany.
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Amuse Bouche - Deep-fried Frog Leg with Lemongrass, Ginger flavoured Frog Leg Consomme.With Watercress puree, Lemon condiment and mayonnaise.
This was quite a nice starter and sensible. The frog leg is from local, but there is no difference between this and the French imported ones, if not better in texture.
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Rock Lobster "Summery Version" -Comes with 3 Types of poached French beans, imported Girolle Mushrooms with Purslane Leaves, small Onion Rings marinated in Sherry Vinegar & Almond sticks. The Crustacean Jus is the highlight, as it is reduced from crustacean stock and also vinegar & olive oil, giving this a refreshing acidity to compensate for the heavier jus for Summer. Finished with a dotting of Lobster Coral Powder which were firstly cooked, dried, then grinded into powder finally. A very sophisticatedly cooked dish, and really beats the hot weather.
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Home Made Herbs Pasta, Squid & Zucchini -5 types of herbs are infused into the pasta, Parsley, Chervil, Basil, Tarragon & Marjoram. This comes topped with baby squids, Japanese calamari, pan-seared with chili pepper, zucchini, lemon zest, lemon pulp, lemon juice, Taggiasca olives & basil herb, then de-glazed with crustacean sauce. The different parts of the squid and calamari were cooked spot on well tonight. The highlight for me was definitely the pasta sheets! Good stuff.
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Served with a Side of Tempura of Baby squid tentacles and Zucchini skin -Remember that the Ducasse approach is to keep the flavours clean and to use no more than 4 core ingredients on the dish? Easy to appreciate for a Ducasse fan. This is about historical French cooking.
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Sea-Bream filet "Duglere" style -Fresh tomato, Tomato confit, Baby shallots, Petit Rose mushroom and Spinach adorn the fish. The sauce to be poured on top is made out of cooked down fish bone, shallots, white mushroom and tomato. Again pan seared and cooked very well overall. I thought the sauce could be slightly stronger though with fish flavours! It seemed to be missing some oomph factor, but then again may be that's why it was balanced!
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Braised Veal Shank, with Petits Farcis and Vintage Wine Vinegar -WIth 4 types of traditional Petit Farcis stuffed vegetables and the customers will choose from 2 out of 4 presented, ranging from Onion Stuffed with onion marmalade and Veal meat, or Baby Eggplant, Zucchini or Tomato each stuffed with veal and their own marmalade. Ladies get to choose first here at Spoon. I don't mind. But I wanted that tomato served on a silver cocotte. The braised veal shank is cut table side, served with Veal jus & Vintage wine sherry vinaigrette. Very traditional dish but done as a higher end restaurant setting, very French. NOTE: This dish is only available on the 6-course SPOON Experience Menu and is created to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Michelin 3 Starred Le Louis XV restaurant in Monte-Carlo, by Alain Ducasse..
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Chocolate and Raspberry Tart, with Hand Shaved Lime Granite (Granita) -Chocolate Sable dough, Chocolate biscuit, Raspberry jelly, Raspberry garnish, Chocolate cream, Raspberry cream
On top, decorated with Raspberry, filled with a Raspberry confit and Chocolate cigars. This is a very complexly layered dessert and was absolutely gorgeous. The chocolate sable base was definitely up there in accuracy in terms of flavour and French pastry levels. I find most desserts in SPOON by Alain Ducasse to be very suitable for my palate actually. I have had many more desserts here which I liked, so will post them on another review. This comes with a hand crushed Lime juice and Milk based Granite, which was so pow-pow snow like. I was quite surprised at this and asked Pastry Chef Yannick how he made it into this lovely snow powdery texture, as it is not icy granita like nor PJ made smooth sorbet like! His response shocked me, as he actually shaves it by hand himself for each serving of this dessert!! I am going to come back for this and the lobster above soon.
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Spoon Mignardises & Chocolate Petits Fours -Served on this night to finish off together with our teas, mignardises of Hazelnut Macarons, Pistachio Sponge Cake and Raspberry Chocolates are presented. With a few selections of in-house made chocolates. Having been inside to the pastry kitchen before I do have a lot of respect for Chef Yannick to be able to make all these in the back corner kitchen, and the breads are also baked there daily. A take-away packet of Macarons is also given to customers.. I will upload photos of some missing items elsewhere as the Max photos here is restricted to 12.
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SPOON by Alain Ducasse is not for everyone. If you have dined all over the world, have seen all the fussy food being dished out these days, you will return back and come to appreciate what they preach and try hard to preserve here yet trying underlyingly to improve in the background without your notice. If you want out of this world Creative Food, go to places like Mandarin Grill instead, one of my other favourites in town. Or fly overseas for some Nouveau Haute Cuisine. Both these local Michelin starred Restaurants are at extreme ends of one another but I happen to appreciate both and I can choose at will.
If you don't know what the Ducasse Camp in the culinary world stands for and why he holds 19 Michelin Stars globally, then
1) May I say that the Tasting Menu here is only $1388 and is honestly very good value for money. I normally order A La Carte myself as I like to choose what I eat, but can say that the Tasting Menu offers more for your experience. And the food is cooked precisely. It is actually very good value for money for a complete course and right up there with local French dining experiences.
2) Alain Ducasse has also written many books which shares his philosophies about his approach to cooking French or Mediterranean food. You can take a read as a summary such as here (http://www.alain-ducasse.com/en/shop/livres/nature-simple-sain-et-bon).
3) Do subscribe to more International Food Channels on TV and learn more about food history. Alain Ducass is always in there, as a chef with a background history and philosophy, rather than a celebrity chef.
4) Eat at more Michelin Restaurants in France itself. It will broaden your experience and you might just discover that France is still kind of old school in general, and might not be the Nouveau Haute Cuisine you might have expected. But it is gradually changing..
5) Stop comparing it to Japan's Japanese-French fusionized Michelin restaurants. At least compare it properly with authentic French Restaurants with an original French mentality. Not only is part of this restaurant part of the 19 Michelin Starred restaurant creations by a French born chef and a culinar legend in the world, but here, it is headed by a well-practised and Michelin 2 Stars recognised French Executive Chef Philippe Duc and his supporting pastry chef Yannick Opperman.
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