Usually we aren't big fans of buffet meals with endless table of food and too many choices, but we dropped by Whisk at The Mira to try their Sunday brunch back before Chinese New Year. We have been to their weekend brunch before maybe a couple years back (and we love it - that's the reason we came back this time), and everything was largely the same as before. It's served semi-buffet style - most of the food items were available at the buffet table including the desserts, and for a couple dishes, you need to order and they were brought in for you.
We started with items from the cold cut station - there's a good variety of ham, sausages, duck liver mousse and pork terrine. Next to the cold cut there's also the caviar station with five different kind of fish roes which you could mix and match, the usual condiments, blini and shots of vodka for those who don't mind something strong even during the day. We thought both the cold cut and caviar were very nice, but my personal favorite was the fresh crayfish and oysters which were in abundant supply and delicious. I think I must have more than a few plateful of those. I also liked the lobster bisque which was the soup of the day - it's intensely flavorful.
On the other side of the buffet table was the hot food items, and quite a number of choices were available as well. I grabbed myself a platter of meat and vegetables from the grill station, which included some beef, prawns, zucchini and potatoes. Nothing much to write home about, but they were no doubt a notch better than the average hotel buffet offerings. And there were obviously much more choices than what we had, but I wasn't going to "stress-test" my appetite here so I only grabbed a little to taste.
As I mentioned, we got to choose two additional items from their a la carte menu - one being an egg dish, and another a main course in tasting portion. I personally like the poached foie gras egg, served in a tea glass with truffles and brioche crumbs. It has the texture of an espuma and creamy and flavorful. I definitely preferred that over the other choice which was smoked scrambled eggs with chives and caviar - it's hard to cook a scrambled egg to perfection in such setting but ours was definitely a bit overcooked. The portion looked a bit small at first, but with so many other food on offer, it's actually a blessing in disguise, allowing us to choose more food.
The main courses were fine with decent portion and neat presentation. I got a big piece of foie gras pan-seared and served with cherry coulis, and that was tasty. So was the hokkaido scallops which were also pan-seared and served with fregola (a type of pasta in the shape of rice) and buttery foam on top. It's rich but not over-filling.
The wide variety of drinks offered is what I like most about the Sunday brunch here - nowadays most of the hotel brunches included unlimited flow of champagne, and at Whisk it's the Perrier-Jouet Grand Brut that they serve, which was one of my favorite mainstream non-vintage champagnes. And in addition, there's also a choice of cocktails, wines, mocktails and juices that you could order from the bar, plus port and baileys to finish off your meal. After a few glasses of the jolly bubbly, I decided to give their signature cocktail to try. The one called "Star Ferry" was mixed with white rum, vermouth, fresh guava juice and lime juice, and served in a cute ceramic glass which resembles a bamboo stick - it's not particularly strong but very refreshing, which was the perfect kind of a laid-back drink.
Cheeses and desserts were served in a small room at the back of the restaurant. There were a great deal of choices, from macarons of different flavors, to floating island served on a martini glass, to mini rum baba, Portuguese egg tart which is considered a local delicacy, chocolate pralines, and little tubs of Movenpick icecream! (also a few types of different cheeses on the cheeseboard) You can't really ask for better options for sweets anywhere and we spent 3 hours speed strolling on the busy streets of Tsim Sha Tsui just to walk off those extra calories we partook.
Thank you The Mira for the treat to a lazy, yummy sort of Sunday afternoon.
When? January 26 2014
Where? Whisk, 5th Floor, The Mira Hong Kong, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
Web?
http://www.themirahotel.com/portfolios/whisk/
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