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2016-03-27
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Wonderfully creative menu.Floating fish a la Damien Hirst.Professional service.Worth a try.8/10 White day:Here comes the “White Day”. White Day could be considered as judgment day for guys in Japan. A male who received a gift on Valentine’s Day is supposed to reciprocate three times the favour received on White Day. Fortunately, White Day is not popular in Hong Kong, so roses, chocolates & Western restaurants aren't in demand and you don’t see boring “Valentine’s Day” set dinners everywhere. W
Floating fish a la Damien Hirst.
Professional service.
Worth a try.
8/10
White day:
Here comes the “White Day”. White Day could be considered as judgment day for guys in Japan. A male who received a gift on Valentine’s Day is supposed to reciprocate three times the favour received on White Day.
Fortunately, White Day is not popular in Hong Kong, so roses, chocolates & Western restaurants aren't in demand and you don’t see boring “Valentine’s Day” set dinners everywhere.
While I have finally decided on Mandarin Grill + Bar because of its safe and solid reputation and user-friendly, if a tad uninspiring, menu (what could go wrong with a slab of steak, right?), on our arrival, we were told that a special menu was available. Uninspiring is definitely one word I would not use to describe that:
After much deliberation (mainly on my part), we decided to give it a go. It was about HK$1,500 per head with a minimum order for two.
First, we were served with some twigs in a flowerpot filled with soil. The twigs were in fact crunchy bread sticks with sweet and sour sauce and bits of petals stuck on to it. The "soil" was actually black sesame. We really enjoyed the twigs.The two broken eggs were in fact mushroom soup/foam with bits of mushroom. It was very rich and tasty. The texture was wonderful.
Under the olive plant were two "olives" made in the vein of particle gastronomy. Essentially two soft, colorful blobs filled with essence of olive. Very interesting indeed.
Since I was aware there is a famous appetizer called "flower pot" served here, I did ask, out of prudence, whether the plant and the soil was edible. I was duly informed that it was a real plant...
The brioche was wonderful. Perfect texture with a slight buttery taste. Very good with the different types of olive oil on offer. We choose a Spanish one infused with garlic and another Spanish one infused with artichoke. We also tried a French one. We found that too light.
Chinese calligraphy :
In case you are wondering, the paint brush for Chinese calligraphy was not edible, but the tip was. The tip of the brush was made of crab meat wrapped in puffed pastry. Unleash your creativity and create your own "palate" with different types of paint, namely, garlic mint, tangerine sauce, wasabi mayonnaise and orange sauce.
The crab meat with puff pastry was not bad but not exceptional. Mine kept falling off. The different types of sauces were interesting though.
Street art:
Then came a vegetarian dish entitled "Street Art". It came with a pair of severed hands with charcoal over it. The pair of hand was holding plenty of what seemed to be different colored chalks. Those chalks were in fact lovely grilled vegetables like carrots, potatoes, broccoli and others.
Floating Illusion:
The climax, or anti-climax of the dinner (it depends on how you appreciate the piece of art work), was definitely the "Floating Illusion", which constitute a dismembered fish floating in gelatin. This was inspired by Damien Hirst's controversial art work of a dismembered shark. I also remember Damien Hirst's dismembered cow at the Tate Modern. While it may not be visually pleasing for everyone, I have to admit that technically, this was very well done. I saw some clotted blood outside the fish. The gelatin must be at just the right consistency in order to achieve this effect.
Much to my wife's relief, that was for display purpose only. This was still a bit too much for my wife so I asked the waitress to take it away. It was then displayed at the next table who also ordered the same set dinner. "Bon appetite" to them.
Then came the edible version:
My wife did not have the stomach for it (no pun intended)so I had hers too. The herring was engulfed by cucumber jelly. The cucumber jelly was very refreshing and neutralized the fishy taste of the herring. I though it was fine but some may find it too fishy.Paint box:
This was far less shocking than the dismembered fish but an equally interesting display of creativity. But this time, you be the artist! Unleash your newfound artistic talent by dipping your beef or lamb shank into the edible paint made of (as best as I could identify them) mustard, paprika, dates, mashed potato and mashed potato with truffles.By this time we were really stuffed with creativities and didn't really complete the painting exercise. My lamb shank was flavourful but I'd prefer it to be softer. My wife enjoyed her slice of beef but would probably have preferred a normal piece of steak.
Art excavation:
Finally, it's artistic excavation time!
As with previous dishes, it took me a while to figure out which were the edible parts. Put your digging skills to the test with the spade and brush provided and uncover the amazing chocolate treasures hidden beneath the "sand"! The pieces of "gold" were really nicely designed with traditional Chinese motifs.
After all the excitement, a cold pint of draught Guinness to calm my nerves was very much appreciated.
The bill came down to about HK$2,000 per person, which included a bottle of Valpolicella , a craft beer from Spain, a pint of Guinness, and a very colorful and memorable dining experience.Finally, a surprise piece of cheese cake and a White Day card for my wife:
Happy White Day!
題外話/補充資料：
When you make a reservation, the staff would ask whether it was for a special occasion or not. They would sort out the rest. Very thoughtful service.
(以上食評乃用戶個人意見 , 並不代表OpenRice之觀點。)
張貼
