It's been a while since I last visited La Patisserie des Idees, a neighbourhood French patisserie in Lai Chi Kok (and a very good one!) that has quietly become one of my favorites in town. Since I got off work a little early today, I thought I should venture over to see what new creations they have in store for me.
Obviously, I couldn't wait to check out their new cakes so I decided to visit their official website while I was on my way there. It turned out they've recently rolled out a number of new pastries, including a new Mont Blanc, a matcha cake and an interesting melon themed cake called Melon Rouge with Japanese melon mousse and melon cremeux. I can't wait to get my hands on this one.
Sakura - Sakura mousse, strawberry compote, Hokkaido red beans and matcha sponge cake. I had this when I was here last time and I just love the Japanese connection. But I'm giving it to mom since she's never had cherry blossom before.
It's very delicate according to mom. And the level of sweetness and acidity were pretty well balanced. I'm glad she likes it.
Matcha Infinite - Matcha mousse, matcha ganache, matcha sponge cake and chocolate crunch.
I didn't get my Melon Rouge so this was my second choice. It's a matcha lover's dream with various textures of matcha (mousse, ganache and sponge) meshing together beautifully.
My only complaint was that the chocolate crunch didn't really stand out the way it should. I'm sure with the additional crunchiness, this would've been nearly perfect.
Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop 224, 2/F, D2 Place One, 9 Cheung Yee Street, Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Lai Chi Kok
Tel: +852 9282-6827
Website: www.lapatisseriedesidees.com
Like the case with the Rosewood Hotel restaurants, I have been patiently waiting for the news on the openings of St Regis Hong Kong's Big Two. We knew their names are L'Envol (French) and Rùn (Chinese) respectively, and who's behind each kitchen but we just didn't know the soft opening dates yet. Not until the very last minute. But thanks to some insider information, I was able to secure a table before I took off for a short vacation in Singapore.
Executive Chef Olivier Elzer needs no introduction to anyone familiar with the local dining scene. He was on the opening team of our beloved Joël Robuchon Hong Kong and helped them achieve three Michelin stars. After a cup of coffee at Seasons, he went on a hiatus the last couple of years (though I heard he did a brief stint as consultant at W Hotel) before landing this job at St Regis Hong Kong. So I bet he's well rested and ready for this new challenge. I think anything less than a Michelin star won't be acceptable by his fans and certainly not by the management folks here.
If there's such a thing as first impression, we started off with a very good one here thanks to the elegant setting and modern vibe. It's going to be the perfect match with Chef Olivier's contemporary French cuisine.
L'Envol is open for lunch and dinner daily. At lunch time, you can choose between the 3-course ($588), 4-course ($698) and 5-course ($798) set menu, very similar to what Seasons used to offer (but $200 more which is very acceptable for a hotel restaurant these days).
We were first greeted with some canapés to kick things off. The artichoke topped with crispy bacon and artichoke was a nice playful take on our Chinese turnip cake (A miniature one!). It was followed by a mini foie gras ginger cracker and a Spanish-style bikini sandwich (truffled sandwich).
Jelloman couldn't wait to get a photo uploaded to her Instagram.
Grilled tuna with five spices - For me, I will start things off with the house specialty (according to my inexperienced server). It's done like a tuna tataki with the thinly sliced tuna crusted with sesame and spices, and finished with avocado purée, crispy shallots and a sherry vinegar sauce. What a refreshing start that was.
Marinated obsiblue prawns with Tamarillo ice-cream - But frankly, I would trade my starter with this one on any given day. I love Obsiblue prawns and they were beautifully presented on a bed of crustacean jelly with different shapes of pink radish, topped with a Tamarillo ice-cream. Very nice contrasting flavors, textures and temperatures all combined together in one dish.
Green asparagus cream, onion custard - A very simple dish but you can tell they have put a lot of thoughts into it. On top of the cream made with green asparagus, green pea and mint (that was according to my server but no sign of mint in there) were poached green asparagus, white asparagus foam and a "Menton" lemon emulsion. It was really rich, creamy and not surprisingly pretty herby.
But that's not all. As soon as I started spooning from the bottom, I realized there's a thin layer of custard made with what I thought was artichoke but I later found out it was onion. That was quite a lovely match with the asparagus.
Burgundy snails au "pastis" - Anyone who has dined at Seasons, should know this dish by heart. This was done like a Burgundy escargot and mushroom fricassée tossed with cherry tomatoes and chicken mushrooms in a tangy tomato sauce. The only difference is that, they finished this one with an open ravioli on top.
Wagyu flank steak, "pommes gaufrette" - After four excellent dishes, it's about time we found out about our main courses and how they fare. For me, I am going with their Wagyu flank steak. I asked for medium instead of the recommended medium rare, which luckily didn't make the meat any less tender and juicy. Not bad but definitely didn't blow me away.
The steak was served with their homemade "pommes gaufrettes".
Abalone "choucroute", horseradish emulsion - As always, Jelloman is the more adventurous one between the two of us. She went with the abalone dish which has been done two distinctly different ways.
They first had it sliced into ribbons before blending them with kale, pickled vegetables and horseradish cream. I really thought the horseradish was a little too overpowering for the abalone (not to mention the pickled vegetables).
With the second serving, they had it braised but too bad the seasoning was again a bit heavy handed. This reminded me why I've never ordered abalone in a French restaurant (unless it's a Japanese-French hyrid). I think Asians have the best way of cooking abalones. Enough said.
Hazelnut parfait with praline, mandarin coulis - Luckily, the wheels didn't fall off and with the two desserts, it's back on the right track.
I thought both desserts were excellent today but I like mine a little bit better. They had the hazelnut parfait and praline hidden inside the chocolate dome with the cold mandarin coulis providing the finishing touch.
Very refreshing, well-balanced dessert which was perfect on a hot summer day like this.
Poire Belle Hélène, pear confit and chocolate sauce - This wasn't bad either.
A contemporary Poire Belle Hélène served with pear confit, pear sorbet and a dark chocolate sauce.
Petite fours were nice too. A light and airy lemon meringue tart, Earl Grey chocolate bon bon with kumquat compote and I forgot what the last one was. It was a very nice wrap for our relaxing lunch.
St Regis Hong Kong is going to be very popular around here because Wanchai has not seen a new luxury hotel for decades.
Chef Olivier is an old friend so I'll go easy on him with my food rating this time around. Especially since his kitchen is just warming up.
Food Rating: 7/10
Price: $$$$
Address: 3/F, The St. Regis Hong Kong,1 Harbour Drive, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Wanchai
Tel: +852 2138-6818
Website: www.marriott.com/hotels/fact-sheet/travel/hkgxr-the-st-regis-hong-kong/
Summer has finally arrived in Hong Kong and with the temperature steadily rising everyday, I just knew we would be coming here very often in the coming months.
Jelloman has never been very high on I-Cremeria so she's never been here before. Not surprisingly, she didn't know about their signature dessert, ice-cream on a juicy Japanese honeydew melon.
This she does know about, after walking past the sign a couple of times today. And for the first time, she's interested in checking out this beloved ice-cream parlour.
Pineapple Coconut - This wasn't bad. A twist cone with I-Cremeria's signature milk ice-cream and a new pineapple flavored ice-cream. Obviously, the pineapple ice-cream was made with pineapple from Okinawa and we all know how much we Hongkongers are so crazy about produce from Japan. Very delicate and the pineapple compote was the perfect icing on the cake.
Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop OT-G03A, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, 3-27 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2386-6266
Website: www.facebook.com/iCremeria/
It's been a frustrating summer with so much rain and dark clouds everyday that even a restaurant with a nice view won't bring us much joy.
That doesn't mean we will stay away from restaurants with a harbour view though. It's our third visit to Ana Ten (天穴), an upscale Japanese restaurant at Harbour City's OTE.
As always, it's a full house.
Some complimentary appetizers to start off the meal, including this Japanese steamed egg. There's a bit of conpoy and what looks like crab meat on top. Very nice.
Our steamed egg was accompanied by a small green salad with tomato and beans, finished off with a Japanese sesame and mustard dressing.
Jelloman loves her sashimi dice donburi (角切魚生飯). It's pretty much considered a "lock" here for her. This came with lots of seafood sashimi, even some smoked eels but not nearly enough salmon roes.
My meatless diet continues today with pan-fried sea bass fillet which came in a pot with green peppers, caramelized onion and clams. I thought the sea bass was just so-so but the sauce (with a few drops of sake) was pretty good. Perfect to go with the steamed rice.
My little nugget is having his grilled chicken fillet again. The crispy skin looks seriously appealing but too bad none of us are allowed to touch them.
More freebies, this time for dessert. It's a small matcha mochi.
I'm hoping the sun would come out at some point this weekend coz I honestly couldn't take this kind of weather anymore.
Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop OTE 304, Level 3, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2701-9881
Website: www.lubuds.com/portfolio-view/ana-ten/
After finishing up my birthday trip in Singapore last week, it was time to start the celebration with my friends who happened to remember that very special day right here in Hong Kong. Tonight, I'm meeting up with my buddy V who told me I didn't have to worry about our dinner venue. He's got everything lined up. That was exactly what I wanted to hear.
He ended up picking a new shabu shabu place on Hollywood Road called Kuro Shabu. It's situated on the ground floor right underneath Blue Butcher, which by the way will be closing soon.
Judging by the luxurious decor, I would imagine it's an upscale shabu shabu they've got here. But since V is picking up the tab, that's the least I was going to worry about.
And thank goodness I wasn't paying tonight because the set menu certainly didn't look cheap. They range from $438 all the way to $788. The Kuro Omasake set ($788) was the one V picked tonight for the both of us.
Some welcoming sake to kick things off.
I was really looking forward to this since I haven't had shabu shabu for a while. I'm also curious in how those homemade sauce made with yuzu and mustard fare with their premium meat.
We didn't have to wait very long before they presented us with a bowl of seasonal vegetables. At the same time, they started setting us up with our broth. It's a clear broth and I've heard something about water with seaweed and kombu (Our server was Taiwanese so I didn't get everything he said).
We started off with some thin sliced wagyu beef first.
These belonged to different cuts of wagyu, from shoulder clod, tenderloin to what they called "Outside" which is the shank region.
Honestly, I couldn't tell the difference.
All I knew was that it worked rather well with the homemade mustard sauce and soy.
Next up from our omasake menu was pork. Again different cuts with various degree of fattiness. The beef was obviously the crown jewel here but I thought the Kurobata pork fillets weren't bad either.
I started mixing things up with some vegetables and noodles. That's when I began feeling a little full.
The noodles were really tasty thanks to the flavors absorbed from the beef and pork.
Lastly, some black chicken (kurodori). V was still hungry so he got himself some more beef but I told him I'm done like cookies!
Finally, a scoop of green tea ice-cream to finish off a pretty impressive shabu shabu dinner. I was hoping I could get some black sesame ice-cream tonight but obviously no such luck.
Many thanks to V for the nice treat. It was good to meet my buddy again to chat about some silly things in life. He gave me a late congratulation on my work to win our 8-team hockey pool this year (winning 3 out of the past 4 years sure feels great!) and we briefly talked about a trip to Taipei or Bangkok later this year. All in all, it was a nice catch-up and like I've said earlier, I'm happy not to be the one paying because I think it ain't going to be cheap.
Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$$
Address: Shop C, G/F Centrestage, 108 Hollywood Road, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Sheung Wan
Tel: +852 2832-2028
Website: www.kuroshabu.com
