La Saison by Jacques Barnachon (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Jacques Barnachon was the second French chef following fellow Michelin-starred chef Akrame Benallal (Restaurant Akrame) to open a new restaurant in Hong Kong this month. Chef Barnachon is the owner of the renowned L’Etang du Moulin near the Swiss-France border and his lakeside hotel restaurant first appeared on the Michelin guide back in 1996. La Saison is his first venture in Asia and we were looking forward to it making a great first impression on us.

La Saison is located on the second floor of a newly renovated commercial building, The Cameron, in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui. There's a special elevator located in the main floor lobby that takes us right to the restaurant.

Felt like a VIP~



The entrance was a bit small but elegantly designed.



There's a small terrace area outside but it's mostly surrounded by the neighboring buildings.



The dining room was smaller than expected. Space was a bit tight and sometimes we were kind of forced to listen in our neighbor's conversations. But I did like the semi-open kitchen allowing us to get a peek every now and then.



We went for their 3-course set lunch ($368) and first up was our amuse bouche - a crab salad tartlet, salmon tartare and cheese puff (left to right). Not bad (6/10).



Starter for me, was a lovely shrimp tartare marinated in yuzu jus with a consomme of vegetable jelly on top. That was a brilliantly designed dish. The shrimp tartare was sweet and refreshing with the vegetable jelly backing it up nicely (8/10).



But the rest of the dishes failed to match the performance of the starter. This was a salmon ravioli with spinach and mariniere jus that was just average (4/10).



I had quite a few beef cheeks this past few weeks with the one from Upper Modern Bistro being the best. This one was braised and served with the usual glazed carrot, mashed potatoes and red wine sauce (4.5/10).



Dessert was slightly disappointing as well starting with this Sand Brittany mascarpone cream and chocolate heart tender (5/10).



This was not the tiramisu I was expecting - Tiramisu and apple ginger and almond, coconut red crumble (3.5/10).

Finally a little coffee before we said our good-byes.

Chef Jacques Barnachon will come back to La Saison a few times per year to check things out while Florian Muller will serve as the executive chef in his absence.


Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$$
Address: 2/F, The Cameron, 33 Cameron Road, Tsim Sha Shui, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2789-8000
Website: www.lasaisonbyjb.com