Our lunch at Caprice originally scheduled for early December got pushed back til mid-January due to unforeseen circumstances, and that also meant our party of 6 need to be seated across 3 separate tables with the prevalent dining rule. But what didn’t change was the top-notch food and service that the restaurant team consistently delivered.
It’s been a few months since I last visited, and I left the menu decision to Chef Guillaume with 4 new courses. Before that, we started with the amuse-bouche of vegetable mousse with duck jelly, black truffles and white radish. The mousse was like a savory panna cotta with mild cauliflower and leek flavor (my guess), and it worked nicely with the shaved Perinold black truffles which came into season. Next was the creamiest potato mash served with a gigantic quenelle of caviar that chef spoiled us with, plus a champagne sauce on the side. I remembered chef paired a similar sauce with seafood before but this time, I felt he held back on the acidity and that worked better with the equally buttery soft potatoes.
“Catch of the Day” was what’s described to us for our next course, which turned out to be sea bass coming from the southern coast of France. The piece of skin-on fillet was slow-cooked on stove top with the soft and delicate texture and garnished with black truffles on top and mushroom duzelles underneath. On the side was a slightly sweet raspberry beurre blanc sauce – an unusual combination but worked well altogether with impressive presentation too. Main course was another beauty – with the Australian wagyu tenderloin done medium-rare with shaved black truffles on top, plus a caramelized onion “roll” on the side and jus-soy sauce reduction. The textures were excellent and the flavor was rich but well-balanced.
Finished with two desserts this time – first the souffle with the rich hazelnut custard and vanilla ice-cream on the side. Magnifique with plenty of my favorite hazelnuts taste. And the pastry team blew our mind off with the second dessert of a “makeshift” mille-feuille cake. It’s our friend J’s birthday the next day, and when I casually told the chef about this, expecting they would just write the word “Happy Birthday” on the dessert she ordered, they instead made a cake for us with such short notice.
We had an enjoyable flight of wine too, starting with a blanc de noirs champagne, rich and dry, nice brioche and jammy apple on the palate. Then rolling back 10 more years with a Burgundy red clearly at its prime with hint of earthy nose and opened up to explosive ripe red cherries and sweet spices. Went further back with the third bottle, a 1985 Pichon Lalande, still going strong after 30 odd years. Nice light ruby color to the rim, medium body, some plums, black fruits, tobaccos, cedar and smooth tannins – the bottle was well-kept and paired beautifully well with our beef main course.
More pictures in my Flickr album: www.flickr.com/photos/g4gary/albums/72157717908919263
When? January 15 2021
Where? Caprice, Level 6, Four Seasons Hong Kong, 8 Finance Street, Central, Hong Kong
Menu Highlights? Wild Caught Sea Bass, Black Truffles, Mushroom Duxelles, Raspberry Sauce
Drinks?
Champagne Vouette et Sorbee Fidele Extra Brut (R17, Disgorged 2019)
2006 Domaine Joseph Roty Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru “Tres Vieilles Vignes”
1985 Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
Web: www.fourseasons.com/hongkong/dining/restaurants/caprice
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