MC Kitchen (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

MC Kitchen was demon chef Alvin Leung's latest venture in Kwun Tong representing somewhat of a new direction for his avante-garde cuisine. It's nice to see how he still experiments with different combination of flavors especially by drawing inspirations from some of these classic Cantonese dishes.



There's obviously a different target "audience here and not surprisingly a different price point.



Hamachi, wasabi and apple ice with cucumber, yuzu foam ($138) - First, a couple of starters to share among the three of us. The first one was hamachi tartare served with a refreshing combo of wasabi and apple ice and cucumber, yuzu foam. The hamachi cubes have been marinated with a spicy soy and the kick was nicely matched with a bit of acidity from the apple ice and yuzu. Pretty good start. 



Foie gras, "lo shui" duck, chili pineapple ($178) - Chef Alvin's take on "lu shui" duck.



There were two parts to this dish. First, they had the marinated foie gras served with chili pineapple on a steamed bun. Then, the second part of the dish came in a lanky, crispy spring roll full of marinated duck meat. Not bad but not easy to see the connection with "lo shui" duck at all.


 
Carabinero red prawn, "Har Mi" oil, handmade pasta, mushroom ($288) - Chef Alvin's own prawn noodle. Even the "Har Mi" oil was made in house by the team here. 

I thought the prawn was incredibly delicious but the hand-rolled pasta was even better. Very good bite with lovely fragrance thanks to the har mi oil. The presentation could have been nicer but god, I love this dish.

 
Iberico pork, lychee jelly, hawthorn plum sauce ($238) - Chef Alvin's take on another Cantonese classic, sweet and sour pork.  The pork roulade which was cooked sous vide, was paired with a number of exciting flavors including the sweetness of lychee jelly and acidity from the hawthorn plum sauce. Another pretty successful dish that all of us enjoyed a lot. 


 
Lobster, butter poached, roasted corn purée, peas ($348) - No Cantonese connection but seriously good. The butter poached lobster was really well executed combining well with the sauce made with lobster head and coral. I like the roasted corn purée on the side to give the dish some refreshing edge. That's three dish, and three in a roll! Impressive.



Purple glutinous rice, marshmallow, mango ice-cream, coconut pearl ($78) - I love deconstruction and this one drew inspiration from a popular local dessert, purple glutinous rice soup with coconut milk (椰汁紫米露). This was pretty clever. The purple glutinous rice pudding did remind us of the sweet soup and the coconut pearls made with spherification was the icing on the cake. I thought I could do without the mango ice-cream and instead, perhaps some different textures of purple potato as a replacement would probably do the trick.



Lotus seed ice-cream, salty duck egg sauce, starfruit, strawberry ($68) - Less successful was the second dessert. I suppose the inspiration came from egg yolk and lotus seed paste puff (蓮蓉蛋黃酥) or even mooncake but it clearly paled in comparison with the previous dessert.



Food Rating: 6.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: G/F, AIA Kowloon Tower, Landmark East, 100 How Ming Street, Kwun Tong, Kowloon

Closest Metro Station: Kwun Tong
Tel: +852 3758-2239
Website: mickitchen.com.hk