Twenty Six by Liberty (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

My dining partner was suddenly sick today so I found myself arriving at the 'crime scene' all by myself (many female friends keep telling me that fine dining is a crime.). But if there's a restaurant that suits solo diners in Hong Kong, this is going to be the one - Liberty Private Works. No, I meant Twenty Six by Liberty. I better start getting used to their new name.

Like most things in life, all good things must come to an end. It was brutally sad to see Chef Vicky go but there's a new chapter written here starting this month as the new sheriff in town, Chef Björn Alexander has taken over the reign.

For those familiar with Whisk, they should be no stranger to Chef Björn Alexander's modern European cuisine. So from now on, no more contemporary French crossing over with Japanese, folks. This will be a place serving innovative European fare. Personally, I am really looking forward to this. Let's see if Chef Alexander can achieve what Chef Vicky failed to do in 4 years - get a precious Michelin star.

They are keeping the same format here, so just a surprise menu every night (HK$900) and nothing more.

Dinner started off slowly as the kitchen tried to wait for different diners to arrive. While I was patiently waiting, they began serving me their amuse bouche - a mini pizza with Iberian ham which was dried for 36 months, and 2 types of cheese (parmesan and mozzarella cheese) with a hint of lime.

After a long anticipated wait, they were finally ready and here's the first dish of the night - manioc with mushroom and chili. This was a "funny" dish. 

Manioc, also commonly known as cassava or arrowroot, is a plant usually found in Brazil or other South American countries. With this dish, Chef Alexander was trying to do it like a nacho. Manioc stripes were deep fried and after being sprinkled with mushroom dust, it was served with something along the line of a carrot purée (I was too busy with my phone and missed part of the explanation!). 

It was a lot of fun dipping the manioc in the purée. Interesting start (4.5/10).

Fresh oyster from France was next. They didn't do too much with it apart from a bit of pink pepper on top and then a couple of special seaweed on the side. But this type of seaweed was very different though, according to Chef Alexander. It has this natural sea water flavor that is rather unique. So eating it together with the oyster gave us an extra kick of sea water flavor. Pretty sweet and creamy (5.5/10).

Spanish octopus was served with patches of organic egg yolk sauce, seaweed jelly and some cauliflower juice. I first thought those were deep fried octopus legs there but no, they were made with sago and were there more for decorative purposes only. Too bad this was a little bland as none of the flavors really stood out (4.5/10).

I am down to my last starter and here's a trio of German dough based on a German recipe.

These deep fried potato balls with dill reminded me a lot of the Spanish tapas patatas bravas. They gave the dish a little contemporary twist by putting some Russian Beluga caviar on top and some horseradish cream on the bottom. This was reasonably good (5/10).

Up to this point, a bit of a slow start with the four starters in my opinion. They were playful and unusual (some of them) but I was expecting more. Luckily, they were able to turn it up a notch with the main courses.

Our first main course was barbecued avocado served with Japanese salmon roes, curry powder, edible viola and rice cracker. Look at that adorable presentation!



I've always loved avocado. Just throw me some any day. But this was a little pleasant surprise for me. I knew salmon roes would work well with the creamy avocado but viola too!? That was a simple yet amazing dish to kick off our main courses. Outstanding job (8/10)!

Now that my taste buds have finally been awake, I am looking forward to be blown away by the next few dishes here and Chef Alexander definitely didn't disappoint.

The next dish was langoustine served on a rosemary stick. The way Chef Alexander skillfully worked his blowtorch, I knew I was in for a real treat.



This piece of langoustine from Mozambique was really huge in size! And that rich flavor was perfectly complemented by some tomatoes, pickled fennel and anise on top (7.5/10).

Onto our meat courses now, I first had the crispy Iberian pork served with 3 types of black garlic (poached, powder and sponge), kale and mushroom. That was a lot like the suckling pig from the Chinese cuisine but with less fat in the middle. Just love that irresistibly strong flavor from the Iberian pork and the black garlic was a welcome addition for some much needed spiciness (8/10).

And in case it's still not enough black garlic for you, how about some black garlic soda complimentary of the chef? This was pretty interesting stuff. I thought it tasted a lot like some kind of berry. Very refreshing and perfect way to offset the richness of the suckling pig.

My countdown was almost over when the last savory dish was ready to be served and it was a very good one again - Kobe beef cheek with beetroot and vinegar.

Chef Alexander came up and explained that the beetroot had already been cooked 2 days with a special sauce, and combining with a special dehydrated seaweed "wrapper", it would give me this "funny" texture.



And the texture was indeed a little funny. And chewy too I might add. Apart from the beetroot with a funny texture, let's not forget about the Kobe cheek. It was slow braised to perfection with a wonderfully tender and silky texture. Thought the sauce was slightly on the acidic side, otherwise it would have been perfect (7.5/10).

The dessert portion of this meal started off brilliantly with a green apple themed creation. The green apple was poached 2 days into this soft and moist purée-like texture before being decorated with a bunch of stuff including vanilla cream, meringue, caramel sauce, 3 types of powder (Chocolate, ginger and almond), homemade marshmallows and dried raspberry bits.

This was a very special dish. Again lots of stuff in there and it tasted a little like the poached pear in the French cuisine but with a mix of more complex flavors. I love this one (7.5/10).

Last but not least, a German Krapfen, which is a German-style doughnut (沙翁) sprinkled with sugar and served with a homemade rum raisin sauce closed the books on this remarkably interesting (see I've used this word many times already) dinner.

I thought things started off slowly with the 4 starters but gained momentum throughout the main courses and carried over to dessert. An absolutely fun and exciting journey for the palates without any question. My only complaint, a very minor one, was the fact that it took a whopping four hours to complete this meal, which I considered a little slow with its pacing. But like I say more times before, I do anything for good food and I consider this time well spent.

Food Rating: 7/10
Price: $$$$
Address: 26/F, 11 Stanley Street, Central, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Central / Hong Kong Station
Tel: +852 5186-3282
Website: www.twentysix.hk