ATUM Restaurant and Dessert Bar (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

I had the afternoon off to get myself mentally and physically prepared for my upcoming trip to Fukuoka. Since there was something about ATUM that has been bothering me for months (more about it later), I decided to venture over to put it to rest before the trip. 



I would love to sit at the bar table to learn a thing or two from the pastry chefs but too bad these seats were not open to the public on this day.



The DIY lunch menu looks kind of promising this afternoon and I decided to do my own mix and match.



But first, some sliced bread served with salted butter to kick off the meal.



Lunch got off to a flying start thanks to a pretty nice sweet corn velouté that was served lukewarm. On a hot summer day like this, it would be perfect if it's chilled.



Some grilled broccolini, carrot and pearl onion as my side dish. Interestingly, they were served prior to the arrival of my main dish rather than together with it.



Roasted cod fish was my main dish this afternoon. It was decorated beautifully with radish, sweet peas, black olives, pearl onion and spinach. The dish was tied up neatly with lemon butter on top. Not bad but personally, I thought the lemon butter could be more buttery and lemony at the same time.



I mentioned there was something that has been bothering me for months. Now, you're looking at it - a very unique dessert named "Clay pot rice" (煲仔飯). This normally refers to a local Chinese-style rice cooked and served in a clay pot topped with a variety of ingredients such as chicken, pork, beef, Chinese sausage, vegetables and more. But a dessert? A few months ago, I saw it on their dessert menu for the first time and have been itching to try it out.



This reminded me so much of the classic "Lap Mei Fan" dessert (臘味飯) by Demon Chef Alvin Leung. Both desserts are centered around scoops of ice-cream but this was far more sophisticated in terms of textures and flavors.

Well, it came with a scoop of scallion ice-cream (never had that before!) and Chinese sausage ice-cream. And if that's not cheeky enough, try having the ice-cream together with fresh scallion, radish and rice paste (kind of like steamed rice but with more moisture).  



It was nice to finally get this one out of the way. Personally, I wasn't entirely sure if it felt like having clay pot rice. The flavors were certainly there (Chinese sausage, rice and scallion) and the variation of temperature made it interesting but everything seemed to work individually and there was nothing to bring it all together.

Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop 101B, 1/F, K11 Art Mall, 18 Hanoi Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: East Tsim Sha Tsui / Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 3586-1959
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 11:00pm daily