Odyssée Creative Dining has been on my radar screen ever since its time as Le 39V but we never really got to check it out personally. However, now that they've rebranded as Odyssée with a focus on "Creative Dining", perhaps it was time to get acquainted.
I had a late start to get my Christmas celebration planned out. This was part of the reason for picking Odyssée as well. They still had tables available a couple of weeks before the BIG day.
Of course, the harbour view from a hundred floors up is one of the selling points here.
Chef Aurelie Altemaire is the chef de cuisine at Odyssée. She has previously worked in Paris, Atlanta, Los Angeles and London (under Joël Robuchon for a decade) before making the move to Hong Kong when her husband Chef Albin Gobil was appointed chef de cuisine of Gaddi’s at The Peninsula Hong Kong back in 2019. So, there's a lot of experience there.
Cold French Onion Soup – The Christmas meal started off with a small amuse bouche of cold French onion soup. We had a similar amuse at Gaddi's a couple times before but this one came with a different recipe altogether. It was a clever play on the classic onion soup with contrasting texture and temperature. Onion marmalade jelly and Parmesan cheese foam, were sprinkled with fresh chives and crispy crumbs on top.
Not a bad start.
Scottish salmon – I had salmon gravlax as my starter today. The gravlax decorated nicely with cured beetroot, slices of green apple and dill, was finished off wonderfully with chilled beetroot consommé and dill oil. A refreshing dish with a good balance of sweetness (beetroot) and acidity (green apple).
Hokkaido scallop – Everybody except me had the seared scallop from Hokkaido, served with lobster quenelle and baby spinach. It was matched with a rich lobster bisque sauce. A much heavier starter than the previous gravlax dish for sure.
Bresse quail – For main course, some of us decided to have Bresse quail, a modern twist from a Christmas turkey where the poultry was stuffed with chestnut and cabbage, before being roasted in the oven. This was OK but the shredded chestnut and coleslaw didn't exactly mesh well with the French quail.
Miyazagi A4 sirloin – I was craving for some succulent beef today so I went with the grilled A4 wagyu sirloin with salsify chips and deep-fried white asparagus. This came with some nice smokiness and charred marks from the grill and there was also the extra kick from the Malabar pepper sauce.
Suckling pig – Little nugget didn't like beef or quail so I have already asked for an off-menu main course for him when I made the booking.
The suckling pig looked pretty succulent to me and the spaghetti underneath it came with little one's favorite tomato sauce.
He was handed a chef hat for a pose in front of his dish!
Odyssée Christmas Log – This wasn't a tough choice for me as I have always enjoyed having Christmas logs around Christmas time.
The thick layer of chocolate ganache matched the interior of what I thought was hazelnut praline cream and nuts perfectly, with the mandarin sorbet providing some lovely acidity to offset the sweetness.
Mont Blanc – Mom had her favorite Mont blanc cake which came with a hidden meringue centre in the middle.
Petite fours were mini financiers and exotic tarts.
Each kid was given a gingerbread man cookie as a gift. A pretty nice gesture from the kitchen.
The three dishes I had were all fine (good but not great) but there were elements from the meal that I didn't fully enjoy. It all started with the rather-mechanical table service, which wasn't very warm and welcoming. I thought the space was a bit cramped as well and we felt like we were pinned at the corner with the neighboring group making a lot of annoying noises throughout the meal. That really put a dent in our dining experience.
Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$$
Address: Shop A, International Commerce Centre (ICC), 101/F 1 Austin Road West, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Kowloon
Tel: +852 2977-5266
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:30pm, 6:00pm - 10:00pm daily
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