Fusion dinner @ Le Chef

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



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