Another Weekend Feast

Another Sunday, another Sunday brunch, this time at Mercedes Me in Central. We have been here before a few times in the evening before and loved the relaxed atmosphere and well-planned dishes, so I expected the same for their weekend brunch.

Dishes for the brunch menu were served semi-buffet style. I was impressed by the spread of cold appetizer dishes available by the bar from the "simple" salad to cured meat to a few tapas-style snacks. My favorite was the baby artichoke fritters with iberico ham. The artichokes were coated in a light batter and deep-fried, giving it a slight crispiness and wonderful flavor along with thick slices of ham. Equally great was the pastry and cheese section on the other side of the bar, with good selection of bread, cheeses and condiments.

At the open kitchen – which they called the Interactive Station - one can order eggs in whatever they want, and seafood ceviche with a good variety along with different dressings. I went for the 65-degree sous-vide egg with iberico ham and spinach with hollandaise sauce (my Egg Benedict plus Florentine, so to speak), and a ceviche platter with everything. Both were beautifully presented and delicious.

And that’s only half the meal. We got to pick our own main courses, to be shared family-style at the table. There’s a couple choices of sandwiches, meats and vegetable sides. With three of us we conveniently picked one of each to share. The bikini sandwich was an easy choice – served in a portion of four thin toast slices, with sobrassada and mozzarella as filling. The chicken thighs – cooked sous vide – were surprisingly moist and tender, and went well with the slightly sweet corn stew and red wine jus drizzled on top served in a deep dish. The broccolini side dish was there to make us feel healthy with some greens (and seriously tasty too). And all of them washed down well with our bloody marys - the perfect hangover cure that some of us badly needed.

The trio of desserts was served in sharing style too. Among them my favorite was the catalan cream foam – sweet, creamy, fluffy, with a hint of citrus flavor. That’s the same one I ordered last time I was here and I still loved this the most.

Sometimes we use the word "predictable" in the negative sense when we talked about restaurants, implying the food was boring and cliche, but I felt brunch here is "predictable" in the positive way. You are not going to see anything mind-blowing here, but just marvelous dishes in just the way they should be with great ingredients and solid cooking. In a perfectly chilled but lively environment. Predictably so and I felt that's exactly what I needed on a Sunday afternoon.

(The meal was by invitation courtesy of Maximal Concepts)

When? February 12 2017
Where? Mercedes Me, G/F Entertainment Building, Central, Hong Kong
Menu Highlights? 65-degree sous vide egg with Iberico ham and spinach, Sobrassada and Mozzarella bikini
Web: www.maximalconcepts.com/mercedes-me

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