Hong Kong Restaurant Recommendations

[FrenchFoodieinHK]

Do any of you have recommandations for good serious night restaurants?

My favorite used to be San Do Kei in Jordan, where Cantonese opera people and film crews used to have dinner at 2 am. They had many great dishes of salty duck, pissing prawns, etc... They have reopened recently but I didn't check there yet.

[aprilmei]

Oh, I loved Sun Dau Kee. I haven't been there for ages. They have amazing pigeon with soy, fish with sweet corn and sweet and sour pork. Yeah, I know the latter two dishes are cliches - but the versions there were really well done.

Here's the new address:

G/F, 14-18 Cheong Lok Street, Jordan

Tel: 2388 6020

I haven't tried it since they moved. It's been re-opened by the staff from the old place.

[Bu Pun Su]

This past winter holiday, I went to Macau and stopped by at Robuchon a Galera. Here are my 2 cents

Food (89/100)

I choose to try the tasting menu that happens to be the black truffle tasting one. I suppose it's bit too early since they don't seem to be fully matured yet. Overally, I find the that the food is not very consistent. The memorable dishes are {caviar with cauliflower cream very soft, enjoyable layer by layer with generous serving of caviar), ravioli containing quail egg yolk & creamy spinach (the dish is simply sublime and chewy in a nice way), and milk-fed veal with pak-choy (the meat is tender, with great truffle combination)}. The worst dishes are deep fried fish (very oily) and pan-fried bread stuffed with foie gras (the bread's quality is not so good) - a bit unbelievable they serve them in this kind of place. The desserts are rather weak and mediocre.

Wine (95/100)

This place probably has the best wine collection in Asia. The list is very thick, whatever you want, it is very likely to be there. The other good things the marked-up price is not too high, comparing to Hong Kong and Singapore for similar level of restaurants. I ordered wine by the glasses. The sommelier Bertrand Despinoy (used to work for Alain Llorca's Moulin de Mougins) gave me very good selections and filled more than 2/3 of each glass. Please see the pictures below for more details about the wine. The value of money is very good. I only spent about HKD 500 (USD 65) for Billecart-Salmon, 96 Corton-Charlemagne, 97 Volnay 1er Cru Les Chevrets and 56 Riversaltes VDN. The best thing about this restaurant!

Service (78/100)

This is the weakest link of the overall experience here. When I ate, the napkin was already quite dirty even I on purposefully went to the bathroom left it to be seen by the waiters/waitresses yet they did not change it until I asked for a new one. Moreover, they often late to refill the water. In the middle of the meal, the gap between the 7th and 8th dish is very long, 20-30 min ... sigh. The worst part, at the end when I was the only diner left, the waiter named Jack who just came fomr the other room rushed the service. While I still ate one dish, he already put another dish in my table saying this is the sequence. This went until the desserts, you know how it feels when somebody rushed you for food. He even forgot to bring the macarons I requested from the sweet trolley without saying any apology. They should work very hard to improve on this part.

Ambiance (84/100)

The owner seems to try to put many expensive stuffs for the decoration, but many are actually out of place. The lighting is very deemed, the overall dining room is very gloomy. This restaurant's maintainance is not quite good, many of the decors looked a bit rusty. About 9-10 pm, they put a singer around the waiting area. What the ... ? This part is very irrelevant and make the overall experience worse, especially the song sometimes a bit too loud. When I ate there only 1/4 of the tables are filled, obviously the restaurant is losing money - maybe making money is not their main concerned since the casino is quite packed.

Overally, I would give this place a score of 86/100 - a slightly below my experience at Mix Las Vegas. The food needs to be more consistent, this is the 1st time for me to eat Joel Robuchon's food - for the time being I would say that Alain Ducasse and Alain Passard provided me with a much better food and experieces. However, I'm willing to give it another try sometimes in the future since they cooked a few good dishes. The value for money is also quite good, these 16-course tasting menu (with black truffles) costs HKD 1600 compared to Hong Kong's L'aterlier (HKD 1450 about 10 courses if I'm not mistaken) or Pierre (HKD 1350 for 8 courses, no truffle). Unfortunately, the good food and wine is not followed by a good service (sometimes it's casual like when you eat in regular Hong Kong restaurants) and convenient dining room. I heard that the Ho's family is opening a new hotel (the Grand Lisboa). I think they should consider to move the restaurant to the new hotel for a better dining room and re-invent themselves.

Here is the link of the pictures

Robuchon galera

[Bu Pun Su]

This would be another review (and the last) from my last winter trip to Hong Kong. I have never tried any of Pierre Gagnaire's food, so I was surprised ... a nice one It's just so different than the regular French food I've tasted. Gagnaire is more like a "magician" or "wizard", unlike Passard (the minimalist), Gagnaire seems to put a lot of unusual ingredients into his dishes. Well, most of them are good, but few of them simply do not really work for me. Ok, let me share my experience ...

Food and Wine (92/100)

Prawn with rasberry ice cream and jelly? Salmon with avocado mayonnaise? Venison with jam and red currant? Sweetbread with ruby red grapefruit? These are some of the combinations that come as a surprise to me. But most of them are really good. The salmon is very fresh and soft, like top quality of Japanese salmon where it's simply melt in my mouth, a tasty venison with wonderful combination of side dishes - harmonious, yet I can still distinguish the sweetness of the currant & the jam, saltiness of bacon and sausages. The desserts are quite interesting where I ate the bitterest chocolate I've ever tried. As of now, I would say I like Pierre's dishes, but not yet love them - I need a few more try. The wine? I only had 2 glasses, but really like the red one - 2004 Gevrey-Chambertin domaine Rossignol Trepet. An elegant red Burgundy with intensely focused taste while the finishing is supported by a layer of tannic acids

Service and Decoration (88/100)

The greetings is good, they even know my name (I guess since I'm the only solo diner there). The manager - trained for several months in Gagnaire's Paris before returning to HK - gave me some magazines to read just incase I get bored. Guests were also asked if they have allergy to some food. The negative side is that some staffs are good, some are a bit inexperienced (I would say the service is a bit uneven, but still much better than Robuchon Galera) - often I've a hard time to understand their English. The decoration is quite nice with some unique chandelier, but is not too spacious. In general, it's still very comfortable - as usual, most of HK restaurants have a great view (this one is at the top of the hotel).

Overall (90/100)

I'm happy with my dishes, better than the Robuchon Macau. The overall experience is in the level of my meal at Jean Georges New York (but slightly below Le Bristol). Both the chef and the sommelier formerly worked at Sketch London. The worst part of this place is the price, this 8-course degustation menu costs HKD 1350 (USD 170) - wow (the 6-course black truffle menu is HKD 2000)!, I thought I was in US or Europe. The mark-up for the wine is ridiculous as well, similar to most of Parisian's 3* restaurants. When I asked about the new year's eve menu, it would costs HKD 3888 (USD 500) for 8 courses per head ... I mean, c'mon it's like more expensive than ADNY's last meal before closing. Then I see the menu - only 1 white truffle dish and 1 black truffle dish, no Bresse chicken or Brittany lobster or other luxurious ingredients - really ripped off!

Anyway, if you want to see the pictures of the dishes, here they are

Pierre Hong Kong

[insomniac]

Hey, that's HK all over. Xmas, NY, CNY, Valentine's Day etc etc menus in the supposedly fine dining places cater to the high rollers and all end in the ubiquitous 888 and are normally some thousand per person....

lucky there are some thousand other choices of places to go

save places like Gagnaire for their home cities unless you have an expense account or are a guest

Edited January 20, 2007 by insomniac (log)

[PCL]

Was in HK for three nights, and braved the Atelier. To continue from previous posts, it came to a total of around $4500 for two. I had the tasting menu, and my partner went a'la carte...

The Uni Jelly disappeared too quickly before I could get a taste, but then managed to get a good quarter of the truffle tart... Truffle tart was good... the onion confit rocked... and the foie gras burger... very cool.

The tasting menu kind of blazed by, and while it held my attention, there was this one guy in a suit, so I take it he's a manager, behind the counter speaking endlessly with the couple next to us about each and every dish, deconstructing it down to like, how the fish is stored and how much it costs, and how the truffles are sliced, and how much it costs and so on... This is a little rant on its own, but I was amazed by how some people would rate their meal by the cost of each item. The couple left after leaving business cards and instructions to the manager to ring if expensive menu items show up...

[insomniac]

Was in HK for three nights, and braved the Atelier. To continue from previous posts, it came to a total of around $4500 for two. I had the tasting menu, and my partner went a'la carte...

The Uni Jelly disappeared too quickly before I could get a taste, but then managed to get a good quarter of the truffle tart... Truffle tart was good... the onion confit rocked... and the foie gras burger... very cool.

The tasting menu kind of blazed by, and while it held my attention, there was this one guy in a suit, so I take it he's a manager, behind the counter speaking endlessly with the couple next to us about each and every dish, deconstructing it down to like, how the fish is stored and how much it costs, and how the truffles are sliced, and how much it costs and so on... This is a little rant on its own, but I was amazed by how some people would rate their meal by the cost of each item. The couple left after leaving business cards and instructions to the manager to ring if expensive menu items show up...

←

well, PCL, you know HK...what's consumerism for if it isn't for being conspicuous?

[aprilmei]

Was in HK for three nights, and braved the Atelier. To continue from previous posts, it came to a total of around $4500 for two. I had the tasting menu, and my partner went a'la carte...

The Uni Jelly disappeared too quickly before I could get a taste, but then managed to get a good quarter of the truffle tart... Truffle tart was good... the onion confit rocked... and the foie gras burger... very cool.

The tasting menu kind of blazed by, and while it held my attention, there was this one guy in a suit, so I take it he's a manager, behind the counter speaking endlessly with the couple next to us about each and every dish, deconstructing it down to like, how the fish is stored and how much it costs, and how the truffles are sliced, and how much it costs and so on... This is a little rant on its own, but I was amazed by how some people would rate their meal by the cost of each item. The couple left after leaving business cards and instructions to the manager to ring if expensive menu items show up...

←

Expensive items - like what? There's already things like black truffles, white truffles and caviar on the menu - at least there were white truffles when we first went there.

It's such as shame you missed the uni. It used to be on the tasting menu. I'm glad to hear they no longer make the whole table order the tasting menu.

[PCL]

Touché...

I suppose if they ventured into territory involving fugu, or live manta ray or rare mountain goat's penis' the chap might get a call...

No white truffles this time 'round.

Will make it back for the uni...

And did I mention the burgers were tops? Sure you'd expect them to be, but hey. What a great combo, like a rossini in a bite... plenty of foie too.

Should also mention the wine pairings with the tasting menu, they gave me 4 californian wines, the most notable being an 01 Chardonnay that well... tasted like a riesling... an over ripe riesling...

[Lucil]

how much is the cheapest set at pierre gagnaire??

[aprilmei]

There's only one tasting menu at dinner and it's about HK$1,400 (or it was last time I went). It's a really good deal.

The three course tasting meal is about HK$500. It's not something to eat every day, even if you can afford it, but it's a very good deal for the quality, amount (it's not really just three courses, since with PG's food, there are several different plates for each course) and most importantly, the effort that goes into making the food.

[PCL]

I was in Hong Kong over the weekend, and dropped in to try the Iganiku Japanese Restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel, IFC.

I'd heard good things about the sushi bar, so that's where we planted ourselves. First impressions of the dining room?? A little confusing. There were open stations, like Teppanyaki, Tempura, and Sushi, and the main dining area with a great view of the harbour, but it was noisy!! Too much glass and stone, and nothing to soften things down.

Sushi wise? I asked for Omakase and they obliged, although after 10 pieces or so, they stopped to ask if I was 'pau-pau' (whether I was full, in Cantonese). Heck no!! BArely touched the sides! So it went on till I'd swallowed around 24 pieces, before moving on to Wagyu and Tempura.

The damage came to HKD2100.00 or so for two, including a 300ml bottle of yummy sake. Not bad, considering they charged me the price of a deluxe sushi plate for the Omakase experience. They kind of whispered each description of the sushi so I never really caught what around 30% of what I was served was, but there was ample quantities of tuna, first class toro, uni and whitefish, which I'm really sure was sea bream.

[Bu Pun Su]

I (usually) go to HK almost once a year around December. And this time, I visited Caprice, the signature restaurant of Four Seasons HK. Some would say that Caprice is the “mini” Le Cinq since the chef de cuisine, pastry chef, maitre d’hotel as well as the sommelier used to work with Phillipe Legendre in Paris. Since I have never been to Le Cinq, I could not comment how “similar” Caprice is to Le Cinq

Food/Wine (92/92)

The bread is normal and good. I try the baguette, olives and wheat bread … but the butter is special – it’s the Bordier’s from Saint Malo, I never find Asian restaurants using this butter even though it’s slightly inferior to the one in L’Arpege (not as salty). For the main course, after the discussion with Monsieur Jeremy Evrard, we decide to change about 1/3 of the tasting menu (a taste of Caprice) to be more “French”. So, here what I have

-lobster carpaccio is light and fresh combined with the acidity from yuzu mousse and a bit saltiness from Aquitane caviar … simple and good

- black truffle ravioli served with caramelized artichoke is not too bad

- the winter vegetables consist of some potatoes and onions, the best part is the Jabugo ham, the best cured jamon ham I’ve ever had

- my fav. dish of the night is the langoustine a la plancha. The langoustine’s tastiness is intensified with the girolle fricassee and balanced by the local asparagus. Well done!

- the red mullert fillet is OK, I find that the eggplant is a bit too dominant since the fish’s meat is quite bland

- I ate the game dish for my main course: hare a la royale. The dish is prepared is it’s supposed to be (traditionally French), but it’s simply not for me. I find it too soft and too tense (a combination of red wine, foie gras and black truffle) – without the linguini pasta as a side dish, I might not even be able to finish half of it

- the cheese is from Alsace’s Bernard Antony (if not mistaken only 2 places in HK has such cheese - Petrus would be the other one). I loved my 4-year old comte and mimolette (hard but not crumbly, mild and nutty – perfectly paired with a small glass of white Belgium beer), the mont d’or is also quite good

- the 1st dessert is a mixture of baked meringue’s sweetness with chesnut puree and the bitter/sour of the “grapefruit” – very refreshing especially after the cheese and my wild rabbit

- the 2nd dessert theme is (dark) chocolate - it’s melting and bitter, the nutty flavor is good

Overally, I am satisfied with my tasting menu – I don’t regret my choice of hare since I need to try it soon or later. For me, the food here is about equal to Sant Pau Tokyo (92/100 – it’s a low 2 ½ star)

This degustation menu is accompanied by a half-bottle of white Burgundy. The sommelier recommended 2004 Puligny Montrachet 1st cru, domaine JM Boillot. It has the aromas of fresh mango and nuts with lovely intensity. In addition, it's also quite crisp and well-balanced with fine acidity. It goes well especially with my crustacean dishes

Service/Decoration (94/92)

The staffs here are friendly and courteous, honestly the maitre d did make a difference. I was lucky since I was served by him at the beginning (during the menu decision) and he did it as smooth as any 3-star manager in Europe. Even for the local staffs – they’re above average, only Pierre HK may “beat” them, but definitely above the rather poor service I had at Robuchon Galera and Gaddi’s. Here, my napkin was always replaced with a new one whenever I left my table

The restaurant, located at the 6th floor, is quite big (it should be able to sit in about 100 people at the same time). My dining table is very nice – at the “lower” lever overlooking the spectacular Kowloon Peninsula. The sofa chair with a pillow to support your back is really spacious and comfortable. Even though the dining room can be said luxurious with several giant chandeliers, but the atmosphere here is not stuffy at all. The kitchen is “open” – you can see them in action without having to worry about the smoke to “dirty” your clothes. Lastly, the price here I would say is quite reasonable. My tasting menu is almost USD 30 cheaper than Pierre or Atelier JR in HK. I would be happy to conclude that so far Caprice is the best French restaurant in Asia (exclude Japan of course). The score for the overall experience is 92.5/100 (2.5-star)

Pictures, please visit - caprice hk

[Bu Pun Su]

This will be a quick review of 2 restaurants in HK I visited last December. The first one will be the classic and legendary’s French restaurant – Gaddi’s. This restaurant is very formal, trying to follow the old French but they failed to do so. From the hardware part, maybe OK, yet the service is disaster and too pretentious. The waiters worked too hard, and things seem unnatural only the assistant manager from Switzerland that saved the day – quite good, more importantly very sincere. We were not offered the menu until 15 minutes later … only when I asked them. The thing I dislike a lot is the live music – it’s very loud (worse than the music at Robuchon galera), as if you’re in the lounge/bar – really unsuitable for fine dining. I wonder if the manager knows what the haute cuisine ambiance is supposed to be.

Now comes the food – the menu variety is quite good. Since the tasting menu is uninspiring, my dad and I opt for the a la carte. For the appetizer, I chose the fresh oyster with caviar. The oyster is served cold, not much preparation, similar to the raw oyster you could have in many good sea food restaurants. Caviar quality is good, but unnecessary for the dish – only shoot up the price of the dish. My father had a better one … lobster ravioli with black truffle (very tasty). The ravioli looks similar to Gordon Ramsay’s one but when I asked this to the chef – David Goodridge – he arrogantly said he did not know chef Ramsay or his cooking. Oh my … what a cocky and ignorant chef. The same thing when my dad mentioned that his loup de mer (seabass) bland and the skin was oily … what did he say? Goodridge said that it’s supposed to taste that way … again could not accept any feedbacks. No wonder many people say the restaurant is nothing compared to when chef Philip Sedgwick’s still in the kitchen. Before the main course, I ordered an interesting “palate cleanser” white truffle ice cream with sabayon – an interesting combination. My main course actually did not disappoint. I ordered poached bresse chicken – delicious, integrated with foie gras bon2, pureed pumpkin plus the pungent smell of white truffle crust. The dessert is all about the mango from the syrop, sorbet, fruit and the one shaped in egg-yolk, nothing special though. My meal’s accompanied with a glass of Chablis premier cru Les Vaillon – fresh with a right amount of acidity. I would give the food here 91/100 and the overall experience to be 88/100.

The second place I would like to comment is Toscana, Ritz Carlton’s signature restaurant. When I dined there, I learn that the restaurant would close for good by Jan ’08 due to a big renovation of the hotel. At the same time, the white truffle season lasted 1-2 more weeks. It’s been more than 2 years since I ate white truffle, so I opted for the tasting menu that included 2 dishes with the truffle. The appetizer is prosciutto of Maine lobster with olive oil dressing – simple and ok, not much to say. Then, the white truffle dishes, 1st it’s the home-made tagliolini and the 2nd is the scramble of organic egg (both the egg and truffle reveal each other flavor) – both dishes are very nice. The main course is lamb medallion with mushrooms and marsala wine sauce. The meet is tender and juicy; however the taste is very weak for lambs. The brownies’ sweetness combined with the sour and freshness of the sorbet is a good way to end my meal. The 2 glasses of Italian wine I had are 2005 chardonnay by Albino Rocca and 2003 Chianti Classico. The head chef Umberto Bombana is famous to create dish with white truffle. 2 years ago, he received the honor to prepare gala dinner when HK tycoon bit the most expensive white truffles.

The restaurant setting is classical, well in fact is quite out of date, but still nice. The distance between the tables is quite spacious. The staffs are professional, especially the maitre d’ from Italy who is very enthusiastic in doing the job. He has many experiences to lead the dining room; he’s been with Joel Robuchon for more than 5 years. I think he would open and run his own restaurant in 1-2 years time. There are not that many good Italian restaurants in HK, so the closing of Toscana can be considered as a lost for the dining community there. Does anybody know the future of chef Bombana? By the way, the food grade will be 90/100, slightly below Gaddi’s but the overall experience is better – 89/100

Here are some of the pictures (the top 2 are from Toscana, the other 4 below are from Gaddi’s)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7124357@N03/

[ulterior epicure]

It looks like I might be headed to HK in February. I know it's early yet, but it's never too early to start obsessing about restaurants and food.

Looking for high-end restaurants for dinner. Other than L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon (which I'm not interested in), what others are out there?

Are there any "haute" Chinese or Cantonese restaurants out there worth visiting?

[MikeTMD]

It looks like I might be headed to HK in February.  I know it's early yet, but it's never too early to start obsessing about restaurants and food. 

Looking for high-end restaurants for dinner.  Other than L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon (which I'm not interested in), what others are out there?

Are there any "haute" Chinese or Cantonese restaurants out there worth visiting?

←

I would suggest:

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Spring Moon @ Pennisula - high-end Chinese MUST SEE

Info/Link

Menu

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Lumiere - modern high-end Chinese ( both Cantonese and Sichuan)

http://www.lumiere.hk

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Bo Innovation - ultra modern Chinese

http://www.boinnovation.com/

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Pierre (Gagnaire) @ Mandarin Oriental - high-end French

http://pierregagnaire.com/francais/cdhongkong.htm

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[ulterior epicure]

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Spring Moon @ Pennisula - high-end Chinese  MUST SEE

Info/Link

Menu

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Reading that menu has now exhausted. I'll have to look into the others tomorrow. Thanks MikeTMD.