Despite it's been almost 3 months since my birthday, I'm still having get-together with some of my friends for our belated celebration. Tonight, I’m meeting up with my food buddy Agent-I for my belated birthday meal. We have already postponed it a couple of times due to the pandemic and social unrest; but it looks like it's finally going to happen this time.
I got to pick tonight’s restaurant and after looking at the short list provided by Agent-I, I wound up picking Chef Olivier Elzer’s L’Envol at St Regis Hotel. It’s been a while since I last saw Chef Olivier (it was at now-shuttered Seasons) so I was hoping he’s working on a Wednesday night tonight (fat chance?).
Agent-I and I both decided against having the longer menu so the 5-course Decouverte ($1388) sounded about right.
Some amuse bouche to start off the meal. Pickled French cherry which came with a fair amount of acidity…..
Chicken with herbs and a hint of lemongrass.
Brioche topped with sardine.
A flaky cracker topped with arugula leaves and tomato.
And some nice homemade bread. The caviar butter (right) was really nice. Came with some extra heat too!
The first course of the menu was grilled Carabineros red prawns, beautifully decorated with crunchy vegetables and dabs of aioli sauce on top.
A small bowl of marinated Gamberoni prawns and Amontillado jelly served on the side, was a nice change-up to the grilled Carabineros thanks to the contrast in temperature.
I have long heard of the turbot and foie gras dish from Ecriture and of course Chef Ricardo Chaneton’s signature “monkbread”, which fuses monkfish from Brittany with French sweetbread. This was Chef Olivier’s take on the marriage between the Land and Sea, with Brittany monkfish and foie gras steamed in an aromatic broth.
The monkfish and foie gras wrapped tightly together with a slice of bacon and cabbage, was matched with a rich and creamy fish broth. An impressive dish featuring a symphony of exciting flavors. Just one complaint though, I thought the apricot should have no place in this as the acidity didn’t match with the rest of the dish.
While Agent-I decided to have the steak, I went with the chef’s roasted French pork loin, with sorrel, pickled vegetables and spicy veal ravioli. The dish was finished off with a pistachio emulsion and "sauce diable". Pretty decent.
Before our dessert, we enjoyed a small cheese dish, Pélardon goat cheese wrapped in "Colonnata" lard and sprinkled all over with roasted Languedoc spices.
It was a pretty heavy dish to have following the red prawns, monkfish and pork loin so I didn’t finish it all. I really like the fermented milk jelly there to offset the richness of the goat cheese but there wasn’t nearly enough of it to balance things out.
Just when I was least expecting it, our dessert creeped up on me. Guess who was bringing it to the table – Chef Olivier himself!
Our dessert was coffee crémeux, with caramelized pecan nuts and mascarpone ice-cream. It was almost like having a nice cup of coffee after a heavy meal. The different textures of coffee (jelly and cream) delivered varying degrees of bitterness to the dessert, matching well with the sweetness of the mascarpone ice-cream and crunch of the pecan nuts.
A perfect end to our wonderful modern French meal.
Dessert trolley's next.
This is a very impressive collection of migrandises including some mini eclairs and mango passion fruit tarts.
I handpicked a mix of sweets including chocolate and marshmallow.
Black currant lollipop. Lovely!
It was a very very good meal. Many thanks to Agent-I who organized this dinner including the special "Happy Birthday" message on my dessert. I'm already looking forward to more nice meals to come hopefully in the next little while.
Price: $$$$
Address: 3/F, The St. Regis Hong Kong, 1 Harbour Drive, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Wanchai
Tel: +852 2138-6818
Website: www.marriott.com/hotels/hotel-information/restaurant/hkgxr-the-st-regis-hong-kong/
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 6:30pm - 10:30pm (Mon - Sat)
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