Cooking demo plus lunch

I fondly remembered my dinner at the “new” Theo Mistral a few months ago with excellent casual Italian dishes – the type of food I don’t mind having more often – with the restaurant was first open (after a makeover) and their namesake chef Theo Randall was in town to oversee its opening. And I was happy to be back again, this time for lunch on a Saturday at the kind invitation of the hotel with Chef Theo making a return from UK and was there to show us a few tricks in a cooking demo before we got to sit down and eat.

It is early even in my standard to make our way to the restaurant on the other side of the harbor at 10am, but the kitchen team was already well into their daily preparation work when I got there, readying for the lunch service with Chef Theo moving things around for the cooking demo he prepared especially for us. I made pasta fairly regularly at home, thinking it’s rather therapeutic to roll the dough on the counter with bare hands and press it into fresh noodles, and there’s always new things to learn every time I watched professional chefs doing it, especially this time Theo was doing a class on making ravioli, something I never managed to do well.

Not only did he show us how to prepare the dough and work it through the machine, we also got a chance to get our hands dirty in the later stage of the ravioli making – that is to pipe the filling into the rolled dough sheet and pressed them into the right shape, before they were cooked and mixed with a simple sage-butter sauce for our tasting (with some to take home with too). He then went on to show us a second dish, which is the lobster risotto, the same dish he recently introduced to the menu at the restaurant. It’s one dish with simple ingredients so one could easily try to do at home, and Theo did pass us good practical tips on how to perfect the dish – well, perfect is perhaps too strong a word, but rather try our best to get as close to restaurant quality as possible.

After our quick class on Italian cooking, we moved back to the main dining area with a few courses awaits, just as the restaurant opens for their lunch service. We began with another lobster dish – this time a simple salad served with chopped rocket underneath and pickled fennels and grated bottarga on top, followed by the ravioli with the sage butter and pine nuts, similar to what Theo has showed us previously at the demo. I love the main course of veal chop served with tomatoes, porcini mushrooms, salsa verde and the sauce made with meat jus – just very straight-forward cooking done the way it should, and it was a absolute delight. The veal has good tender texture with a bite, and worked well with the sauce and a strong hint of herbs – again, the type of food I don’t mind having more often day in and day out.

I keep reminding myself to save room for the dessert especially I knew a few would be coming our way at the end of our lunch. Similar to the ones I had the last time, with the Amalfi lemon tart still my favorite with that tangy lemon curd and the thin, flaky butter crust. I also liked the panna cotta with wild strawberry compote with good aroma and sweetness from the seasonal berries. All of which were worth getting up early for for sure.

Thanks Chef Theo for the special treat – you bet you have inspired me to do more Italian cooking at home (and to eat at your restaurant more often too)

When? July 21 2018
Where? Theo Mistral at Intercontinental Grand Stanford, 70 Mody Road, Tsimshatsui East, Kowloon
Menu Highlights? Bistecca di Vitello Arrosto - Roasted veal chop with roasted Datterini tomatoes, porcini mushrooms and salsa verde
Web: www.hongkong.intercontinental.com/en/hotel-restaurant-and-bar/theomistral/