吉地士 (尖沙咀)

I knew it was only a matter of time that I would be visiting Gaddi's. The grandpapa of French cuisine in Hong Kong serving patrons for over 60 years and possibly the most traditional in terms of dress code, gentlemen do not even think of stepping inside without a suit on, while for ladies please leave your denim and sporty footwear at home.

Simply elegant would be the words I would use to describe the dining room. White walls contrasting against the royal blue carpet with a gold Chinese symbol printed all over it, a little East meets West style I suppose.I have never been impressed by the bread served at The Peninsula, but the baguettes at Gaddi's were decent. An adequate vehicle for the lovely butter, salted, unsalted and one with spices tasting like curry.Ocean trout terrine with caviar was the amuse bouche. A little bland.His starter of poached egg with I think prawns. I had a bite of the egg white which was cooked quite solid, but at least the yolk was still gorgeously runny.I am quite fond of duck liver terrine. I remember The Verandah used to serve it during their Sunday only lunch buffets a couple of years ago and it was dreamy. Seeing it on the menu at Gaddi's meant I had to order it. Beautifully presented and a large portion too, it was not entirely smooth with noticeable chunks of goose liver inside. The layer of port jelly was not too sweet yet just enough to cut through the gaminess. Paired with a large slice of toasted brioche... let's just say I ate a lot of bread that evening.We shared a serving of lobster bisque. For some reason the bisque looked and tasted quite oily with a strong aftertaste of alcohol. I liked the lobster ravioli though, sweet chunks of lobster with the al dente wrapper.A serving of turbot was ordered on top of our individual mains. Perfectly cooked at the right temperature, the snow white meat was soft and flakey covered in a truffle crust. A sprinkle of salt was needed to enhance, but the smell of truffles was wonderful.He went with the lobster. An absolutely striking dish filled with chunks of well cooked crustacean. All I can say, the flesh was very sweet and he polished it off in no time.Baby lamb is in season so it seemed appropriate that I ordered the lamb saddle. Very tender and do you see that disc of lamb crackling? Well, it was just sinful~And for dessert?

He suggested that I should try the more traditional French desserts as not many restaurants serve them, but I was fixated on having something chocolatey so he took his own advice and ordered the cherry jubilee. Cooked table side, there is just something so fixating about seeing flames flare up from the saucepan.It didn't look like much, just a bed of cooked cherries with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, but it was good. SO good. I couldn't believe I was envious over some cooked fruit, but something so plain was immensely flavourful. Oh and of course the ice-cream being Movenpick didn't hurt either My chocolate tart was something I saw on the tasting menu. Disappointing. The sponge cake was very dry, but at least the chocolate ganache was moist and rich. The espresso ice-cream was nice and refreshing, but I should have ordered the crepe suzette...Petit fours~ The lemon meringue tart was too enticing, so much that I had to eat it even though I was so full. A sweet finish to quite an enjoyable meal.

L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon (中環)

'Tuber Melanosporum' or just simply black truffles. Some say they smell musky, dirty, like old socks, sex and even old American dollar bills. To me, none of those come to mind, but they do have the most intoxicating and seductive scent, one sniff and everything just tingles...~

So I could say I was quite looking forward to the Gala dinner this year especially when the feature of the menu was black truffle and of course since Monsier Robuchon and his team would be there working their magic. *happy dance*A new addition to the bread basket, a petite truffle scroll all buttery and flaky, but unfortunately for that evening only.To start, a truffled crumbed ball rolled in puffed rice hiding a layer of gorgonzola cheese, cow's milk cheese and at the centre a small sphere of shaped black truffle. This was one of my favourites of the evening, rich and cheesy a variety of textures. Crunchy, mushy with the funny sensation of the truffle ball rolling along the tongue as you attempt to bite it. And the best thing? There were two of them.The lobster dish, delicate spoonfuls of what seemed like lobster salad tossed in truffled creamy dressing sandwiched between floppy circles of celery with a most delicate arrangement of truffle matchsticks. A cold dish, light and refreshing.A single scallop, perfectly seared sitting on a puree of truffle ringed with pumpkin. Those black circles you see were tubes of truffle pierced inside adding a little decadence to the dish. You can't really go wrong with scallops, so although good it wasn't special.The hand made gnocchi had a nice chew to it, a pleasant surprise to the stodgy stickiness I have encountered elsewhere. Accompanied by thinly sliced fried potatoes and covered in a chestnut emulsion, the flavours were savoury and comforting. And the truffles? Cut into big chunks, 'bricks' was the term used with a texture like soft cartilage while a faint alcoholic flavour filled the senses as you chewed.The next dish was quite interesting, a big ravioli hugging a cabbage wrapped bundle with a pepper infused chicken broth poured over it. The cabbage bundle was in fact a millefeuille layered with truffles, foie gras and vegetables, just the effort required in constructing it was pretty admirable. Simple flavours with the foie gras adding a hint of richness and the mild pepperiness of the savoury chicken broth was just stomach warming.The main dish of the night was pork. A combination of different parts of the pig wrapped in layers of truffle, seared and then roasted. It was almost like eating a slice of sausage, but with more of a bouncy texture. Laid on a bed of truffled lentils ringed with an onion confit, this was a hearty dish, a more luxurious version of something that wouldn't be out of place in a French bistro.After such heavy dishes, dessert inclined towards the nature of light and fruity.

Tropical fruits were the theme. Cubes of malibu simmered pineapple, piped almond cream and a lovely pistachio ice-cream. I was quite smitten with the striking leopard printed chocolate as not only was it pretty, the dark chocolate belayed a very subtle peppermint flavour a play on the traditional mint and pineapple combination.I was a little disappointed that La Mangue was served as although it was presented differently, the combination of ingredients were very similar to the original dessert served on the normal menu. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, sweet juicy mango layered with salted caramel, passionfruit mousse and topped with a tuile, it just wasn't 'wow' enough for a gala dinner.And a special petit four of coffee sabayon to end, almost like inhaling an intense mocha in a breath.I think I have had enough truffles to last me till the end of this year 

Caprice (中環)

When the Michelin guide this year announced that Caprice had lost a star it was a little startling to see one of the greats take a stumble. Ever since previous Chef de Cuisine Vincent Thierry decided to move on to new ventures everyone was wondering who would be taking over the reins at Caprice. Now with new chef Fabrice Vuilin ex-executive chef of the two star La Chèvre d’Orat the helm, will his new menu regain the much coveted third star for Caprice in 2015?

Let's see.

Some welcome appetisers to begin with. Sardine milifeuille with squid ink jelly, puff with foie gras mousse and fried shrimp patties. The pastry at Caprice is always nicely done crisp buttery layers with the smooth sardine mousse. Not fishy to taste, but it lingered on the fingers afterwards so remember to ask for wet towels. The puff was nice too, choux pastry with a sweet crunchy crust holding a savoury foie gras mousse.Pull apart white crusty bread. Pillowy soft, but not special accompanied with olive oil.Amuse bouche of artichoke cream. Two layered, a chilled thick and full bodied cream at the top, while a more translucent soft jelly-like layer on the bottom. Refreshing to start with.This was the bread I was waiting for~ Olive scroll and baguette. Never fails to please, especially when consumed with a healthy spread of creamy butter.His choice of appetiser, Brittany lobster soup with ravioli of lemon confit. The soup although creamy was not quite thick enough, but the raviolis were plump with a zesty tang. Nice temperature.My poached egg was beautifully presented crowned with a savoury sable cracker adorned with greens, diced pork, foie gras and mushrooms. The egg felt like it was hard-boiled, but slicing into it revealed a runny yolk centre adding its richness to the sauce. The flavours worked well, the plain egg giving a neutral counterbalance to the intense savoury flavours of the accompaniments, if the egg white had been poached more softly and the dish served hotter than lukewarm I would have liked it even more.The escargot was served with compliments (thank you) and the somewhat forest-like presentation matched the use of ingredients. Unlike what most restaurants in Hong Kong would serve- garlic butter soaked snails where we have to pry them out of their shells, here they were de-shelled and scattered among mushrooms, Iberico ham and mossy mounds of herb brioche. Not drowning them in garlic butter allowed us to fully appreciate the natural sweet flavour of these molluscs before following up with the brioche which had a garlicky oil seeped into it. Again, if only this was served warmer...For mains, his dish of poached scallops and shrimps on a bed of cauliflower mousseline was lovely. It looked so simple yet the scallops were velvety and sweet, the shrimps nice and bouncy with the fried shrimp head adding a textural crunch. Perfect if you are looking for something lighter.I chose the braised oxtail cannelloni recommended by the Maitre' D and this was an extremely hearty dish. Three tubes of al dente pasta curled around a tender filling of pulled oxtail decorated with bits of bone marrow and strips of pancetta. The texture was quite sticky, requiring some effort to eat, but I guess that just meant it was full of collagen *pinches cheek*.A little surprising to see chocolate fondant on the menu as it is now such a common dessert, but it came recommended so he chose this. A solid looking fondant with hints of its warm liquid center starting to leak out from the cracks. Intensely rich, the chocolate used was dark enough to leave enticing bittersweet tones on the tongue and when you are about to fall into a chocolate coma, turn to the sweet poached pears and cool Tahitian vanilla ice-cream to refresh yourself. I ate most of his Feeling like something pastry for dessert I was a little disappointed that they did not serve a milefeuille anymore so I picked the substitute of strawberry tart. It was so pink! A trail of berry sorbet, dobs of cream and flavoured sugar crisps where the tart sat at the centre with a mane of strawberry slices fanning out. It looked better than it tasted. The tart base did not seem fresh, a little soft with no snap and the almond filling made the whole texture quite gummy. At least the strawberries were relatively sweet, but otherwise quite disappointed.Finishing with coffee and petit four. I loved the mini carrot cake so much he surrendered his one to me too~This was definitely not the best experience at Caprice and you can tell Chef Fabrice still needs time to assimilate with his new surroundings as well as tweaking his dishes to conform with the palate of the locals. Some of the dishes were served barely warm which was not ideal so hopefully they can improve on that, but otherwise service was welcoming and attentive as usual and the environment beautiful as always.

Carnevino (中環)

Friday night with no prior dinner bookings can be a little daunting since most places would be full house. So when I called Carnevino and was able to easily secure a seating for two at 8.30 despite calling just 10 minutes beforehand I was pleasantly surprised, but little did we know...

Carnevino, one of Mario Batali's ventures and from the name already announces what it serves- carne meaning meat and vino (you guessed it!) wine with an Italian touch.

Starting with some bread. A slice of white crusty bread extra thin and because it is a steakhouse as well as being an American thing, a miniature popover. Nothing really special, just empty carbohydrates to nibble on while waiting for your appetisers, the butter was decent, but the lardo was pretty nasty. Although infused with herbs, it could not fully disguise the overwhelming stale fat odour that lingered on the tongue afterwards.I am having a 'thing' with bone marrow at the moment and seeing it on the menu meant I had to order it. One bone split into two, it was beautifully roasted and the marrow wonderfully fatty. They scattered preserved lemon over it which was to help with easing the palate from all the oiliness, but it did detract me from concentrating on the rich flavours of the marrow. The accompanying white bread was lack luster as well, more of the crusty white bread, but this time toasted.The octopus was a decent serving of tentacles, but I would debate the freshness of the octopus used as I detected a slight fishiness. Maybe that was why they had to cover the dish in a strong sweet and sour sauce which was not unlike something you could order at a cha chaan teng just with an Italian twist from the limoncello.They had two selections for their dry-aged steaks and we chose to share the 18oz New York strip. Asking it to be cooked to a medium rare, you can see that it was seared to a rare and not only that the heart of the steak was cool to the touch. We asked for it to be further cooked and in the mean time we occupied ourselves with the side of creamed corn, which if not for the slight popping of the fresh kernels I would have assumed was poured straight out of a can.Upon return it looked slightly better, at least it was warm this time. The exterior is quite charred, with the layer of carbon lending its flavour to the steak. One word to describe this steak, chewy. And not just slightly. If you are in need of a jaw muscle workout I would highly recommend you in tackling this piece of steak.No dessert as our jaws were already too tired.

Carnevino was definitely an experience. One that I happily will not repeat.

萬發海鮮菜館 (深水埗)

Sham Shui Po is renowned for their late night street eats and if you are wandering around here looking for supper, why not try 萬發?

On the same street they have three restaurants, bold red letters printed on a stark white background heralds their name. Don't go expecting too much from the decor or service as this is dai pai dong style moved indoors and besides you're here for the food.

They have quite a variety of selections either look at the menu they give you or glance around the walls to choose what you want, but if you come here you must order their signature beef and potatoes dish. Doesn't sound all that exciting does it? If I didn't type signature you probably all think I'm making a big deal out of nothing... but wait till you try it.A heap of tender diced beef pan-fried in black pepper sauce till dry tumbled amongst chunkily cut potatoes that are fried to a golden brown. The potatoes are a show stopper~ A little soft, but still crunchy on the outside with meltingly mushy insides.

Satisfaction can sometimes be so simple~