Atelier Vivanda, which is labeled as a "meat and potato" restaurant by the chef himself, will certainly be a welcome addition to the city's diversified food scene. In case you are wondering, this is the fourth Atelier Vivanda in the world and first of its kind outside Paris although the chef has publicly hinted that there will be many more to come with London, Brussels and Berlin as the likely destination.
I have grown to enjoy casual dining these days and this one certainly provided a very relaxed ambiance with a butcher’s studio backdrop, bar table and more.
But first, my apologies for the poor quality of these photos. For whatever reason, I had mistakenly turned on the wrong photographic mode and as a result, these pictures did not turn out the way I wanted. Perhaps I got a little too carried away after bumping into a certain member of the Four Heavenly Kings (四大天王) who also happened to be a guest here tonight. Strangely enough, he actually smiled to us which was rarely seen from this mild mannered superstar.
Anyways, back to the food menu here for a moment. They are currently serving a 3-course set dinner ($448) where one gets to choose between four starters, six main dishes and four desserts. There's also a complimentary salad and choice of potato (what would be a meat-and-potato restaurant be without potatoes?) being served with each main course.
The restaurant manager certainly did her job going through each and every dish with us and it really didn't take very long for us to make our decisions too.
Duck leg terrine with vinegar and baby onions, 6/10
I had their duck leg terrine to kick off this dinner and it was pretty good. The duck leg meat was firm and savory. Pretty nice.
Veal carpaccio with passion fruit and coffee, 4.5/10
Less successful was the veal carpaccio which tasted a little more like normal ham, although serving it with passion fruit and coffee was kind of slick.
Duck breast, 7/10
No garnish on this one. Just a simple seared duck breast from France with great texture. The portion was more than generous to say the least. I tried to avoid the crispy skin as I often did with any poultry but this was too much to pass up. The meat was tender and flavorful. Definitely the best dish of the night.
French yellow chicken breast, 5/10
I thought the French yellow chicken was slightly disappointing. Love the incredibly tender chicken breast but the expected rich flavor was missing (apart from the hint of salt).
Before the meal, we were already informed of the 5 kinds of potatoes available here and I went with their Pommes Darphin without hesitation.
It was really as good as advertised.
And the Gratin Dauphinois tasty as always, although a little heavy.
With all those meat, of course it's wise to have a little bit of green. Yeah, just pass me the entire bowl of salad please.
Caramel profitoclaire with chocolate tonka, 7/10
I was trying to decide between their custard and caramel profitoclaire and our server helped to make that decision easy for me when he promptly told me that the profitoclaire is real heavy. That's exactly what I was looking for.
This was simply a huge cream puff with cream custard in the middle and chocolate sauce from top to bottom. Real fulfilling stuff.
Crème brûlée, 5/10
And a good old crème brûlée with a classic caramel glaze to wrap up our dinner.
It was everything one would expect from a modern French bistro although I was kind of hoping that the chef might have something special up his sleeves, which unfortunately didn't really materialize.
Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: 9A, Ship Street, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Wanchai
Tel: +852 2109-1768
Website: www.ateliervivanda.com.hk
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