I must first thank the PR of the hotel for the
invitation. Opinion exchange between restaurants and diners is always crucial to the success of a restaurant. Although it is always
difficult to balance different, and sometimes conflicting, views of the customers,
a willingness to listen is already commendable.
We were first served with two glasses of fruit juice which
were pretty good. I
never
liked fruit juice, but the pear juice that
night was really refreshing. The
drinks were followed
by two appetizers, one with a long-winded title of “Arugula Salad with Roquefort
Cheese, White Wine Stew Pear, and Apple
& Lemon Balsamic Dressing”.
Another one is called, rather plainly compared to the previous one, “Oysters Temptation”.
Many people are driven off by the bitterness of arugula. This salad may change
their mind. It was a multi-layered
experience. I
was impressed by the balance of sweetness, sourness and savoury. This could be
a
good main course for a light lunch.
The
Oyster Temptation included freshly shucked
oyster, oyster Shooter with orange cocktail
sauce and baked oyster mornay. While CM liked the oyster shooter most (mainly because of the
smartly flavoured sauce because seldom does that man eat oyster), I preferred the baked oyster.
We were glad that both the cocktail and the cream sauce did not overwhelm the
oyster
flavour.
Both of us picked the Mandarin Fish & Vegetable Julienne Consommé. That was a successful example of
fusion cuisine. The consommé was sweet
and flavoursome. It reminded me of my
grandma's homemade fish soup that I missed so much.
The
main of the day was Sea
Urchin & Herb with Tomato Sauce & Akita Komachi Rice with
King Prawn in Maggie Sauce. Sea urchin is my long-time favourite. The
one I had was quite fresh, and
had a subtle sweetness. The Akita Komachi rice, originated in
Japan, is so famous nowadays that
even China started to produce it. The rice was
fully soaked with tomato sauce and a distinct and stimulating herbal scent.
However, the way it was cooked was
less desirable, giving
it
an embarrassing texture
between congee and risotto. The chef demonstrated his skills through the nice
char of the grill king prawn, though.
It was interesting to have a grill king prawn in Maggie sauce, a must-have item in any Hong Kong housewive’s kitchen.
The
Pan Fried Veal Paillard
with Lemon Sauce, Haricot Vert Salad & Mashed Red Potato was quite
nice too. The pan
fried veal
was not as oily as it seemed, and its flavour well balanced by the light lemon sauce. The
Red potato mash is a lovely addition to this above-average dish.
The
desserts were perhaps
the weakest part of the menu.
Both the banana bread and Puer tea chocolate mousse were bland and
rather lacked in character.
Their
flavour and texture left a lot to be desired.
Executing
a good fusion menu is tough. With some fine-tuning, Le Chef should be able to
become a
decent dinning place in Wan Chai.
I am looking forward to seeing its evolution.
Le Chef
M/F, Metropark Hotel Wan Chai Hong Kong, 41-49 Hennessy Road,
Wan Chai
Food: wwwww1/2w
Service:wwwwww
Environment: wwwww
