Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Brasserie on the Eighth

This French restaurant is located on the 8th floor of Conrad Hotel in Admiralty, with an open kitchen located on one side of the restaurant so that you could watch how the chefs prepare the dishes while you are dining. The atmosphere is cozy but not extravagant, with comfortable chairs and a coat rack beside our table, which is handy as the weather has been cold and we were all wearing some heavy jackets.

Seated at a corner beside the windows, there was not much of a view but we could see a glimpse of the Timar playground with all the lights from the rides. The night was fairly quiet and there were not many diners. We quickly decided to go for the degustation menu and I also opted for the wine pairing.

The first was an aperitif called Cannes d'Or, which was a mix of fruit juice with some passion fruit seeds. Quite a refreshing start but a bit too sweet for me, the starter for me was Alaskan crab meat salad with mango and home-made seafood sauce, while Ivy went for pan-seared foie gras with caramelized apples and blueberry sauce. I also had the 2013 Vincent de la Porte Tradition from Sancerre to pair.

Although it may look simple, the taste for the salad was really good. The crab meat was full of flavor and delicate, and the sauce and mango provided the acidity to make this such an appetizing dish that I finished in no time. Similarly Ivy's dish was also fantastic.

For the soup I had chosen homemade lobster bisque while Ivy had the veloute of onion. The lobster bisque is nice, though not particularly impressive, Even though I did not try the onion soup it seemed quite thick, and maybe too thick. A bit disappointing, but probably that was also due to the high standard from the appetizers.

My main course was roasted seabass 'Provencal style' with ratatouille, spinach and pine nuts, paired with the 2010 Chapelle de Potensac from Medoc, while Ivy got the grilled US Creekstone striploin 'chateau style' and grilled Australian king prawn with herbs butter. A strange choice for wine pairing, as I would imagine they would go for a white or something less tannic, and obviously it did not go well. But just like the appetizers, the main course was delicious. The seabass was beautifully seasoned as well as the spinach and mixed vegetable. The dish were also of good portion, so we both felt fairly full.

Dessert was Rectangle Fraicheur with passion fruit coulis and lemon sherbet. The flavors are quite good, but because the presentation was not kind of plain. The wine paired was a 2011 Petit Verdrines. Not having sufficient sweetness to pair with the dessert, though by itself the wine was quite refreshing with good acidity.

The general impressive overall was that this restaurant went for a no-frill style without too fancy decoration on the plate, but going for the flavors provided to diners. I believe this philosophy is encouraging but might be a bit disappointing if someone came with the goal to impress others. On service it was quite nice, but I would expect more introductions of the dishes and the ingredients, plus checking in with us during the meal and not in the end, especially given the restaurant was quite on the night.

Finally for the price, the bill totaled $1,853 after a 20% discount from using the specified credit card. Considering the environment and food, Brasserie on the Eighth could not give you a wow in both. If without such discount I would even rate this restaurant as too pricey.

My overall rating for the restaurant is 73/100.