#2 whole abalone with braised oxtail sauce
wife booked 3pax weekend wine brunch at amber at landmark mandarin oriental on 4.4.2015.^^
this 1 of the places you have to leave credit card details and will be charged in full if you cancel within 48hrs. i am not sure if it is a new practice but we booked 2pax degustation dinner at joel robuchon maybe 4yrs ago & did not have to do that. & we had been to caprice at four seasons, and pierre at the other mandarin oriental and did not have to do that.
anyway we were happy to try out this place, and our faith were more than rewarded. this was simply the best meal we had in hong kong, not comparing joel robuchon’s degus dinner which cost more than twice this lunch.
baguette, olive & onion bread
we started with a nice champagne.
the baguette and olive & onion bread from the bread basket were warm & very good, with both salted & unsalted butter.
6-course weekend wine brunch with 4 paragons of wine (champagne, 2 whites, 1 red)
weekend wine brunch was a 6-course (though that included cheese & 2 desserts) with selection of 4 wines at hk$888.
we found out that it was really an excellent deal even c/w weekday set lunches w/o the wine. so it was an excellent decision & wonderful lunch.
foie gras lollipop
squidink pita
squidink pita
we had 2 amuse bouche. both were good.
the foie gras lollipop in raspberry jelly had beetroot on one side & some crackers? on the other.
the squid ink pita was better, can’t remember maybe it was some cheese, anyway just remembered it was savoury & nice.^^
#1 foie gras terrine with suckling pig – very good
#1 foie gras terrine with suckling pig – very good
1st course was served with a riesling which i liked best of the 2 whites & champagne. all were nice anyway.
my son & i picked the foie gras terrine with suckling pig (interleaved) as our first course. it was very good, very flavourful & substantial.
#1 hokkaido sea urchin with caviar
wife picked the hokkaido sea urchin in lobster jelly with caviar topped with a gold leaf (which came with a hk$260 supplement). uni was sublime of course but the S$46+ supplement made no sense to us.
#1 hokkaido sea urchin with caviar
we all love uni of course, but we are not short of taking them, and we had whole tub of uni in japan for 1500yen (fukuoka recently) & lots of them at kuriya dining for the S$62 chirashi lunch with big serving of uni.
uni is uni. no culinary skill involved, is there?
#2 whole abalone with braised oxtail sauce
#2 whole abalone with braised oxtail sauce
second course was served with another white chardonnay.
for the second course, wife & i had the whole abalone that came with braised oxtail sauce & oxtail!
it was really well done. the abalone was so well braised or sous vide it was pure tender & the oxtail sauce was an excellent match. the 2 pieces of oxtail were also very tender & tasty & robust. wife loved this though for me, i still prefer the chinese or japanese braised abalone in brown sauce, and the chinese dry abalone over the japanese fresh ones.
son decided to venture a bit & took the battered frog legs. i tried a bit. I must say it was very good, enough for me to say that fie the choice of the whole abalone & the frog leg (it was a no brainer before), i am not sure i will automatically pick abalone every time. 🙂
#3 sole with mussels & razor clams
the mains were served with a selection of red. we picked the spanish wine which was very good.
for the 3rd course, wife had the sole with mussels & razor clams. i think it was excellent, the best you could do with a fish. the sole was very tasty, tender and also firm in texture.
#3 pyrennes lamb
#3 pyrennes lamb
son & i had the pyrenes lamb shoulder. it was braised to perfection & smoked, very tender & smooth consistency w/o strong gamey taste. it was exquisite for a lamb shoulder.^^
#4 cheese platter – reblochon, comte & camembert
(all 3 cheese were good, i like comte best, very tasty)
we had 2 plates of the cheese platter above for 3pax. it was lots of cheese. i liked all 3 cheese = reblochon, comte & camembert. i liked comte best, very flavourful almost like blue.
chestnut mousse on meringue with pear+blackcurrent sorbet
we didn’t think much of the chestnut mousse on meringue, kind of sweet not accustomed to the taste! any sorbet, blackcurrent or otherwise, was good. 🙂
#6 raspberry sorbet & chocolate mousse
i liked the raspberry sorbet & chocolate mousse much better.^^
flat white
we were served coffee & petite four to round of the lunch.
this was the best meal i had in hk, a very memorable one, and i will definitely come back again with my wife.^^
c.h.e.f andy
c.h.e.f 