Liberty Private Works (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★★

Liberty Private Works first opened its door in June 2009 following a new wave of private kitchens in Hong Kong and it has never looked back. Situated in the quiet side of the busy Central district, this 16-seater restaurant is now one of the hardest table to book in town.

The restaurant serves an eight to ten course surprise menu on a nightly basis. Its kitchen is in charge by Vicky Cheng, who formerly worked for various high-end eateries in the world including Daniel of New York City.

Known for his innovative flair, Chef Vicky likes to put his fusion twist on his modern French cooking. I particularly enjoyed his match-and-mix of seasonal ingredients making each dish a unique culinary journey of its own.



The open kitchen is in a theatrical setting with Chef Vicky seen working diligently with his team at center stage.



Amuse, 6/10
Our amuse bouche was a melon themed dish that was simply an amazing display of visual arts. Small pieces of blue crab meat, goat cheese, Japanese radish and melon cubes all scattered around a small plate creating a rather stunning visual display of color and pattern.

Two different sauces, olive oil and Thai chilli yogurt, helped to tie everything together nicely.



Tuna, Sea urchin, espelette, rice, 9/10
Next came their signature dish, a tuna tartare tower topped with fresh sea urchin and caviar. This was an extremely well-balanced dish that was wonderfully complemented with cucumber, Japanese radish, crispy rice, a little bit of espelette and a special wasabi soy sauce.

To get the best out of this dish, we were supposed to start with biting the juices out of a chilled grape on the left. Then moved onto the tuna tartare, sea urchin and caviar in the middle and finally finished with the longan on the right.

This was nothing short of superb.



Scallop, Iberico ham, dashi, egg white, 4/10
Our second starter was a scallop prepared in two ways. In the middle was a scallop pan seared with honey while on the upper right corner, we had a scallop tartare that was wrapped around by cabbages like a sushi.

Iberian ham jelly and braised Chinese radish rounded out this relatively average dish.  



Market fish, chanterelle, peas, vanilla, 7.5/10
Our fish course was a pan seared amadei fish served on a bed of pea puree. 

The skin of the amadei fish was perfectly seared to a lovely golden color providing a crispy texture that combined well with the fish, peas and chanterelle mushrooms.

Egg, truffle, parmesan, caviar, 9/10
Following our fish course was another signature dish of LPW, ravioli with egg yolk, truffle, parmesan and caviar ready to be served.

Our server told us to first break the egg yolk and then stir it well with the sauce in order to give it more volume. We followed exactly what was told and it was heaven!

At first, the taste of the parmesan cream, egg yolk and caviar combining together was a little too rich and intense but as my palates started to adjust, I thought it worked extremely well with the ravioli giving it another exciting dimension.



Duck, pancetta, morel, edamame, 6/10

Moving onto our meat courses, first up was a duck done two different ways. 

The first part of the dish included a well executed piece of roasted duck served with pancetta and morel mushrooms while the latter came in the form of a spring roll stuffed with duck meat. It was an above-above dish but not exceptional.



Pork, cauliflower, rhubarb, macadamia nut, 6.5/10

Perhaps a little more successful was our second meat course, a roasted pork belly with cauliflower and surprising addition of rhubarb and macadamia nut.

I liked the fact that they have added rhubarb to balance out the rich flavor of the pork belly and the crushed macadamia nut did well to add contrasting textures to the mix. 



Pineapple, coconut, olive oil, black pepper, 8.5/10
Dessert again provided yet another highlight for our dinner. As the picture indicated here, we had the front row seats to the preparation of this dessert. 

A lot of ingredients have been squeezed into this creation including piña colada foam, candied pineapple, coconut mousse, coconut bits, a mochi and an olive-oil flavored ice-cream. I particularly enjoyed the coconut mousse wrapped with a thin slice of roasted pineapple. It was soft and sweet like a marshmallow. 

That was light and super refreshing.




Hazelnut, chili, earl grey, white chocolate, 7/10
Our final dish of the night was a Hazelnut, chili, earl grey, white chocolate that included an
Earl Grey Ice Cream on top of a bed of dark chocolate powder as well as a spongy pudding. Chilli seeds and hazelnut provided something different in terms of flavor and texture. 

What a perfect way to end this wonderful degustation menu!



It was a stunning display of skills and creativity by Chef Vicky and his team from start to finish. Why this restaurant has not garnered at least one Michelin star is beyond me.



Food Rating: 7.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: 26/F Stanley 11, 11 Stanley Street, Central, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Central
Tel: +852 5186-3282
Website: www.libertypw.com/2011/

View Larger Map

View 62 by Paco Roncero (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

It's official. View 62 is finally here following yesterday's soft opening taking over the revolving restaurant on the 62th floor of the legendary Hopewell Centre.

The man behind View 62 is Paco Roncero, one of the brightest protégés of world renowned chef Ferran Adria, formerly of El Bulli. In 2000, Chef Roncero left his mentor to move to La Terraza del Casino de Madrid where he made a name for himself winning his second Michelin star in 2009.

At View 62, Chef Roncero is bringing his nouvelle Spanish cuisine that combines avante garde style cooking, artistic presentation and innovative scientific approach all together. 



We took a special elevator from the lobby directly up to View 62 and found the transformation of this once-iconic revolving restaurant to be simply amazing. Apart from the stunning 360-degree panoramic view of Hong Kong Island and Victoria Harbour, the atmosphere was totally afresh and different.



Let's start with the ceiling which was newly re-designed with an excess of 50,000 wooden rods giving us the special visual effects that reminisce the experience of walking on top of clouds.

During the period of soft opening, there's no a la carte menu available. Instead 2 different lunch sets are being offered at $298 for 3-courses and $398 for 4-courses. There is a more sophisticated mix of dinner menus available ranging from $680 to $1,400.




Lobster Suquet with its own Carpaccio, 6/10
We took the 3-course set lunch and our first starter was a lobster suquet served with lobster carpaccio, potato balls and artichoke. Suquet is a fish and seafood casserole from the Catalan cuisine and it tasted like a typical bisque or stew.  Very thick and rich.

I had quite a few lobster bisque with artichoke in recent weeks. Didn't like this combo at first and slowly grew to enjoy it. The sourness and bitterness of the artichoke seemed to work fairly well with lobster adding another dimension to this equation.



Russian Salad with Mayo Foam, 7/10
This is a re-invented version of the classic Russian salad. It was nicely presented as a small bowl of golden colored cream. A few pieces of toasts were provided separately to go with the salad.

Like the original Russian classic, the salad was a mixture of potato, tuna and egg which could all be found undereath a thick layer of cheese cream and olive oil on the outside.

This was a very thoughtful dish. Potato, tuna and egg were nicely layered with one another to give a real balanced flavor. The crispy toasts were also perfect complements to the salad. Simply put some creamy salad on top and eat it with one bite!




Cod Bun, 4.5/10
As avante garde as these dishes might look, it's still Spanish cuisine afterall so how could we do without any tapas you might ask?

So here came a plate of croquette with minced cod fish. I thought the texture was really good but it was way too oily for my liking.



Roasted Lamb with Potatoes Purée, 5.5/10
From the way the kitchen handled this roasted lamb, we knew the philosophy behind was to preserve its natural flavors. We could tell that the seasoning was kept as minimal as possible.

Unfortunately, the result was rather disappointing.



Pigeon with Truffle Purée and Apple Jelly, 5/10
This was the most gamey pigeon breast I have ever had in my life. The truffle purée was supposed to be there to balance it out but it didn't seem to work very well.



Pineapple with Yogurt Foam, 4.5/10
There was only one dessert available on the day and it was a cup of diced pineapple atop by a yogurt foam. Refreshing? Yes. Innovative? No. Technique? Zero.

Perhaps the pastry chef was yet to report to work?



Service was fairly average as the servers were still learning their menus and the jargons from the Spanish cuisine. In terms of food, I expected a lot more from a two-star Michelin chef who has come a long way to inspire us with his naunte cuisine.

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: $$$

Address:  62/F Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen's Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Wanchai
Website: www.view62.com

AMMO (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

"AMMO", not only known as the abbreviation for ammunition, is also the latest one of the many restaurants making debut this week. Located as part of the Asia Society Hong Kong Centre, it occupies the land which used to be the explosive magazine compound back in the colonial days. That makes the restaurant's name even more fitting.

However, they have a different meaning for AMMO here and it stands for Asia, Modern, Museum and Original.

I was a bit misled to think that AMMO would just be another typical boring museum cafe.  But after seeing a few of its photos online, I started working the phone.

The 56-seat space combines the dining room and bar all in one. There is an electrifying atmosphere here which is second to none.

The kitchen is run by the same team behind "The Drawing Room" at JIA Hotel so I knew we were in good hands. So let's have a "Likechee" cocktail right before dinner started.

Slowed cooked egg, 7/10

Things got kicked off rather quickly with their signature dish - onsen egg served with toro tartare, sea urchin and a roman zucchini sauce. That was a lovely dish with great results.

Grilled scallops, 8/10

Next up was two large pieces of grilled scallops served with a little bit of ginger and chives on top. It was accompanied by a Japanese pumpkin purée.

The scallops were grilled to absolute perfection. The refreshing pumpkin purée helped to balance out the oiliness.

Burrata cheese ravioli, 5/10

We approached our next course with much anticipation now. The first main course to arrive was my burrata cheese ravioli with peking duck ragout and orange julienne.

I liked the ravioli with the orange zest but was expecting a bit more from the peking duck ragout.

Angel Hair with uni, 7/10
Another signature dish, angel hair with sea urchin, tomatoes and garlic chips, was also a winner. Too bad we took too long taking pictures and all of a sudden, the delicious sauce was almost entirely absorbed by the angel hair.

Tiramisu, 8/10
Their traditional tiramisu with ladyfingers, espresso, mascarpone cheese, kahlua and cocoa powder was rich and flavorful. It was every bite as good as advertised.

I was a bit too full to actually finish this one up but.....how could I stop when it's that good!?

 

Pan Fried Brioche with homemade vanilla ice cream, 6/10
Our server highly recommended this dessert. Said it was the best seller here.

In all honesty, my friend and I both felt that it tasted a lot like an ordinary french toast.  But the crispy texture on the outside proved to be quite tempting.



You might not be interested in history or museum but if you are interested in great food, this one is for you !

Food Rating: 6.9/10

Price: $$$

Address: 9 Justice Drive, Admiralty, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Admiralty
Tel: +852 2537-9888

Website: www.ammo.com.hk