Fine Dining Takeaway Part 2: At Home By Ando

Continuing our series on fine-dining takeaway meal, we took up Chef Agustin’s generous offer to check out the new “at home” menu from Ando. I suppose this is extra challenging for him and his team given they were still settling at this new restaurant and kitchen, and then everything just changed at last minute with the dine-in ban and everything, but they pulled this off marvelously.

Once again, the meal pack arrived right on time and delivered by one of his staff, and extra credits for them with the use of biodegradable paper boxes. Again, it came with simple instruction on how the meal should be prepared in the home kitchen before serving, along with the menu, just like how it’s presented at the restaurant. 

It came as a 5-course menu, plus some side dishes and petit-fours. The dishes were largely done in the same style as what would be served at the restaurant, but slightly simplified and adopted for delivery – so don’t expect the same eye-opening raw seafood courses at Ando that we had just a few weeks ago which probably would have taken the troupe to prepare and serve. 

We started with the cold fregola salad with Gamba Roja. Good idea to use fregola for the pasta salad starter as they tend to hold up well after being cooked and left aside. The red prawns were of good size, slightly cured and were tasty. Finishing the dish was parsley and tomatoes, plus a light drizzle of olive oil. Didn’t take much effort to plate and serve. 

The “Tomato Collection” is a simplified version of something on his seasonal menu at the restaurant, with a few types of cherry tomatoes, pickled baby paprika pepper, some creamy burrata and the dressing made with tomato water. All those colors from the tomatoes made this an appealing dish, and I like the tiny paprika adding a slight kick with the creamy burrata on top. 

We had a nice slab of wagyu ribeye main course at Ando just the other day, but this time, it’s the extremely tender short ribs. On the sides were roasted potatoes, turnips and green beans. What I did was to put the beef onto the grill on stove, and the vegetables in the oven. It’s served with the meat jus and gremolata sauce. Reckon the sides were slightly underseasoned but worked well with the sauces that were served with the meat. 

It’s a bit tricky to reheat the cooked rice for the last savory course of abalone caldoso – I wanted it to be heated through but without turning it too soggy. At the end I think I did okay with the broth slightly less intense than the one we had at the restaurant – more like a Japanese Chasuke rather then Caldoso this time. But it’s still a comforting dish with the spicy broth mixing with the rice and slices of braised abalone on top. 

To finish, it’s the soft yuzu-white chocolate mousse cake and hojicha-infused chocolates. And the team even packed us a small bottle of house-made granola and local honey which we had with milk for breakfast the next day. Love this small gesture that touched our hearts. 

We saw the menu and thought it would work well with a bottle of champagne that was already chilled in our fridge - pale amber color, dry, wheaty, some stone fruits, nice and crisp with the intensity that went well with food. 

Thanks chef and the team for the meal – we can’t wait to coming back to the restaurant soon! 

When? July 28 2020

Where? Kitchen at 17A, featuring food from Ando

Menu Highlights? Gamba Roja, Fregola, Parsley, Lemon, Cherry Tomatoes

Drinks? 2014 Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte Blanc de Blancs Brut

Web: www.andohk.com