Saturday, September 1, 2018

Tried and True

We pushed back our lunch reservation at Caprice by a month to early August (to make room for our another visit to the restaurant in July) and turned out it’s right on time as we kicked off a week of mini-vacation of sorts in the middle of summer. The restaurant seems to be catching a bit of a breather with a lighter crowd because half the people in town were travelling somewhere at this time of the year, and it’s the time for us to catch a breather too over a relaxing meal looking over the harbor from our window-side table on a sunny afternoon.


This is not the time we got to try a lot of new dishes but instead, some tried and true ones which we had previously and loved. We started with the amuse-bouche of beef tartare topped with slices of black truffles and a quail egg, beautifully arranged like a flower. And of course one can’t go wrong with such combination of flavors, textures and aroma. Then it’s the familiar sight of the Alaskan King Crab dish served in the special porcelain bowl, topped with caviar with crustacean jelly underneath. This time I thought the taste was richer than I remembered, with good umami flavor from the picked crab meat standing up well with that from the caviar.

More caviar followed – this time on top of the slow (and gently) cooked salmon along with a piece of Gillardeau Oyster (again, gently-cooked) with matchsticks of Granny Smith apples and pickled celery. Our next course of fish was one of the few new dishes we tried this time, with a piece of chapon fillet served with zucchini puree, potato with tomato concasse, eggplant, and bouillabaisse sauce underneath. Love the color combination of different ingredients presented in one dish, and with refreshing flavor well suited for the summer. The rich, almost creamy bouillabaisse sauce was lovely.

Our main course this time was the pigeon. Similarly to the one we had previously, it’s cooked inside a cocoa pod, then carved. This time it was served with pan-seared foie gras, onion puree, salsify and topped with shaved black truffles. The meat was a tad bit tougher I thought – and probably to do with the pigeon itself rather than it being overcooked – but other than that it’s delicious. I particularly love the onion puree adding some sweetness to the dish.

Three desserts were on the weekend lunch menu and their pastry chef Vivien kindly offered us all of them to share among the two of us, saving us the trouble to decide which one we needed to leave out. My favorite one was the peach, poached and served with verbena sorbet and vanilla panna cotta with nice, balanced combination of different flavor and textures. The other two were fine too – I found the matching of apricot (roasted and caramelized) with pistachio in a mini-tart surprisingly good, and the classic hazelnut and chocolate accented by a touch of orange zest on top made this a little more interesting as well.

Now we are ready for the quick get-away outta here. Adios Hong Kong!
When? August 4 2018
Where? Caprice, Four Seasons Hong Kong, 8 Finance Street, Central, Hong Kong
Menu Highlights? 
Drink? Champagne Fleury Blanc de Noirs Brut NV


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