Sunday, July 1, 2012

Liberty Private Works (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★★

Liberty Private Works first opened its door in June 2009 following a new wave of private kitchens in Hong Kong and it has never looked back. Situated in the quiet side of the busy Central district, this 16-seater restaurant is now one of the hardest table to book in town.

The restaurant serves an eight to ten course surprise menu on a nightly basis. Its kitchen is in charge by Vicky Cheng, who formerly worked for various high-end eateries in the world including Daniel of New York City.

Known for his innovative flair, Chef Vicky likes to put his fusion twist on his modern French cooking. I particularly enjoyed his match-and-mix of seasonal ingredients making each dish a unique culinary journey of its own.



The open kitchen is in a theatrical setting with Chef Vicky seen working diligently with his team at center stage.



Amuse, 6/10
Our amuse bouche was a melon themed dish that was simply an amazing display of visual arts. Small pieces of blue crab meat, goat cheese, Japanese radish and melon cubes all scattered around a small plate creating a rather stunning visual display of color and pattern.

Two different sauces, olive oil and Thai chilli yogurt, helped to tie everything together nicely.



Tuna, Sea urchin, espelette, rice, 9/10
Next came their signature dish, a tuna tartare tower topped with fresh sea urchin and caviar. This was an extremely well-balanced dish that was wonderfully complemented with cucumber, Japanese radish, crispy rice, a little bit of espelette and a special wasabi soy sauce.

To get the best out of this dish, we were supposed to start with biting the juices out of a chilled grape on the left. Then moved onto the tuna tartare, sea urchin and caviar in the middle and finally finished with the longan on the right.

This was nothing short of superb.



Scallop, Iberico ham, dashi, egg white, 4/10
Our second starter was a scallop prepared in two ways. In the middle was a scallop pan seared with honey while on the upper right corner, we had a scallop tartare that was wrapped around by cabbages like a sushi.

Iberian ham jelly and braised Chinese radish rounded out this relatively average dish.  



Market fish, chanterelle, peas, vanilla, 7.5/10
Our fish course was a pan seared amadei fish served on a bed of pea puree. 

The skin of the amadei fish was perfectly seared to a lovely golden color providing a crispy texture that combined well with the fish, peas and chanterelle mushrooms.



Egg, truffle, parmesan, caviar, 9/10
Following our fish course was another signature dish of LPW, ravioli with egg yolk, truffle, parmesan and caviar ready to be served.

Our server told us to first break the egg yolk and then stir it well with the sauce in order to give it more volume. We followed exactly what was told and it was heaven!

At first, the taste of the parmesan cream, egg yolk and caviar combining together was a little too rich and intense but as my palates started to adjust, I thought it worked extremely well with the ravioli giving it another exciting dimension.



Duck, pancetta, morel, edamame, 6/10
Moving onto our meat courses, first up was a duck done two different ways. 

The first part of the dish included a well executed piece of roasted duck served with pancetta and morel mushrooms while the latter came in the form of a spring roll stuffed with duck meat. It was an above-above dish but not exceptional.



Pork, cauliflower, rhubarb, macadamia nut, 6.5/10
Perhaps a little more successful was our second meat course, a roasted pork belly with cauliflower and surprising addition of rhubarb and macadamia nut.

I liked the fact that they have added rhubarb to balance out the rich flavor of the pork belly and the crushed macadamia nut did well to add contrasting textures to the mix. 



Pineapple, coconut, olive oil, black pepper, 8.5/10
Dessert again provided yet another highlight for our dinner. As the picture indicated here, we had the front row seats to the preparation of this dessert. 

A lot of ingredients have been squeezed into this creation including piña colada foam, candied pineapple, coconut mousse, coconut bits, a mochi and an olive-oil flavored ice-cream. I particularly enjoyed the coconut mousse wrapped with a thin slice of roasted pineapple. It was soft and sweet like a marshmallow. 

That was light and super refreshing.




Hazelnut, chili, earl grey, white chocolate, 7/10
Our final dish of the night was a Hazelnut, chili, earl grey, white chocolate that included an
Earl Grey Ice Cream on top of a bed of dark chocolate powder as well as a spongy pudding. Chilli seeds and hazelnut provided something different in terms of flavor and texture. 

What a perfect way to end this wonderful degustation menu!



It was a stunning display of skills and creativity by Chef Vicky and his team from start to finish. Why this restaurant has not garnered at least one Michelin star is beyond me.


Food Rating: 8/10
Price: $$$
Address: 26/F Stanley 11, 11 Stanley Street, Central, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Central
Tel: +852 5186-3282
Website: www.libertypw.com/2011/



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