Chouchou (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

The last time I sat down for a proper meal on a weekday was… well, I couldn’t remember exactly when. It’s been a busy few weeks in both my personal life and work schedule, so I was relieved to finally get a chance for a decent outing.

Located at J Residence in Wanchai, Chouchou is an upscale French brasserie brought to us by the team behind Babette. Since this was going to be a rare proper meal for me, I decided not to sit at the bar and instead headed for a seat in the main dining room.

The bread wasn't bad but it was the homemade tarragon butter that shone through.

Cured striped jack, calamansi, pickles — I expected a fair bit of acidity from the calamansi and pickles here and not surprisingly, it was front and center.

The cured striped jack came with some lovely crunch. It was nicely complemented by the dill cream, salmon roes, and the sharp acidity from the calamansi dressing. Pretty nice, refreshing dish.

Grilled black cod, potato, salmon roe, fennel, dill, sansho pepper — The thick, buttery fennel velouté came together well with the confit potato cubes, salmon roe, dill oil, and sansho pepper, adding another layer of texture and flavor to the cod fish.

Service and food were both reasonably good, but the selection on the lunch menu was pretty limited (unless you go à la carte). And with all the supplements (for me, both dishes required supplements), $400 felt like a heavier price tag than I expected to pay for lunch in Wanchai.

Food Rating: 6.8/10

Price: $$$$

Address: Shop 8, 1/F, J Residence, 60 Johnston Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Wanchai

Tel: +852 8432-6216

Website: http://www.chouchou-hk.com/

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm (Mon - Fri), 11:30am - 4:00pm (Sat - Sun), 6:00pm - 11:00pm (Sun - Thu), 6:00pm - 12:00am (Fri - Sat)