Day Time Auor

I was happy to witness quite an evolution with Chef Edward Voon’s cooking at his restaurant Auor since its opening a year ago. This is my third time already (this time being an invited tasting) and seems like his menu is getting more and more elaborate, and began to develop his and this restaurant’s unique style. 

My recent visit was during day time with excellent lighting. Normally they served a shorter lunch menu during the day but Chef Ed decided to bring us the dinner menu with a couple add-on dishes. The “Six Rounds of Canapes” was beautifully presented in six different porcelain plates, all with interesting combination of flavor drawing inspirations from all over Asia. The “Hong Kong Sweet and Sour Bonbon” was the cutest, with bright red color “bonbon” prepared with white chocolate/cocoa butter dyed with red pepper juice and garnished with green pepper coulis and dots of plum gel. The tartlet of Sichuan Pepper and Century Egg (Pi Dan) offered plenty of exotic flavor in a single bite, with XO sauce, dried shrimps, ikura, vinegar gel, spicy floss also included in this small fluted tart shell. The shiitake mushroom served on a skewer looked simple but with the mushroom cooked in Malaysian Bak Kut Teh broth and served with dotted Bak Kut Tel gel on top, Chef Ed brought the familiar Southeast Asian flavor in another form that wowed. 

The six rounds of canapes gave way to “Six Rounds of Dinner” dishes with six courses presented in different theme. The toro tartare and caviar was first, with the description “Awakening” – in a small glass bowl was Japanese toro cured with lemongrass, lime leaves fish sauce, lime juice and olive oil; the sauce on the side was inspired by Thai cuisine with a touch of Japanese influence with a nice combination of sweet and acidity, with tamarind and guava juice with chilies, galangal, dried shrimp, Thai basil oil and dashi aspic. On top was caviar, with nice mineral flavor putting a touch of rich umami taste. The “Pan-Asian” theme continued with the “Rain” course, with threads of Japanese somen served with bouillion of shellfish and aromatic tomato stock then topped with slices of abalone marinated with Shaoxing wine and angelica – I admired this unusual combination of ingredients with such a nice presentation.

The freshly baked brioche was addictive, even more so with the chili dipping sauce inspired by Singaporean chili crab prepared using a combination of herbs and spices commonly used in this symbolic dish. Our first main course was lobster served with laksa sauce. The sauce was super aromatic with rich flavor of lobster stock, coconut milk and shrimp paste plus chilies, galangal, laksa leaves, garlic, shallot and ginger. On the side was chef’s rendition of Cantonese scallion pancake, more like a roti with XO coriander “pesto” tossed in. 

We were then served a second main course of lamb, with lamb loin seared and topped with mala spices, with ceps, aubegine puree, black garlic coulis and reduced jus served underneath. This is more western style but with a touch of the Sichuan pepper for the Asian kick. And there was the third main course – this time the young pigeon with the breast brined with Chinese “master soy marinate”, dried aged, then fried and grilled. At the table, kurasumi (red mullet roe from Japan) was grated on top for the umami flavor.

Just when we thought we would move onto dessert, chef re-emerged from the kitchen and brought us an extra course of WHOLE chicken (for the four of us), which was the dish from his lunch menu. The chicken was basted and roasted to perfection, presented in a wooden box with smoking herbs and spices for the flavor infusion, then carved and served with a bowl of rice (cooked with pork lard and lemongrass) on the side – think of that as a fancy version of Hainanese Chicken Rice. 

The sweet courses (with pre-dessert, dessert and three types of Mignardises) were light but with nice flavor. The coconut milk custard with bird’s nest (the pre-dessert) was garnished with drops of sweet sauternes (2010 Chateau Rieussec) for the nice hint of aroma, and the mango dessert was said to be inspired by the classic local “Yang Zhi Gan Lu” with mango ice-cream, coconut sorbet, pomelo bits, espuma of lime and mandarin puree and zest of dried plum and lime. And of the Mignardises, my favorite was the bits of lychee served in a meringue shell and stopped with thin slice of sake gelee for that summer classic taste. 

We enjoyed the selection of wines too with some unusual bottles. The small production Chardonnay from Dienheim Germany by a Hong Kong winemaker was the highlight with this cool climate white showing nice acidity, apple, citrus and honey going well with the few seafood dishes with rich sauce. We also enjoyed the interesting bottle of sake brewed with wine yeast, with characters of both sake and wine and good balance of sweetness and acidity. The perfect sort of meal on my off-day. 

When? August 25 2023 
Where? Auor, 4/F, 88 Gloucester Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Menu Highlights? Awakening: Royal Cristal caviar, toro, sea aspic, tamarind guava sauce 
Drinks? 

Domaine M. Hostomme Auor Champagne Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut NV
2021 Dimitri Mesnard Quincy Quartz Sauvignon 
Mutsu Hassen V1116, Hachinohe Shuzo, Aomori Prefecture 
2020 Dienheim Chardonnay by Jack Wu, Weingut Rappenhof, Rheinhessen, Germany

2010 Principiano Ferdinando  "Boscareto" Barolo
Guyue Longshan 30-year-old Hua Diao (古越龍山30年陳花雕酒)
Web: www.auor.com.hk