The four of us were seated at the window side, and even though not directly facing the harbour we did get a good spot to enjoy the views of the Art Centre while enjoying our meal. To celebrate the festival I ordered a bottle of Smoking Gun Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 from Napa Valley ($2180). The wine is fully-bodied, with a nice black fruit note and as its name implies, also got a smoky oak and vanilla aroma. It also got a nice tannin which was a great complement to the meat and fat of the steak. A nice recommendation from the sommelier.
We decided to go for a soup before our main course, with two of us going for the Creamy Cep Mushroom Chestnut Soup ($195) and the rest for the Boston Lobster Bisque ($195). I had the mushroom soup and it was very rich and highly fragrant, and even before arriving I could smell the intense truffle note. It was very nice indeed, first it was served very hot, and that was one of the important criteria. Second I could detect some cognac added to enhance the flavors. Creamy and there was some small mushroom slides to give a bite too. A great soup!
For the main course we each had something different. My wife had the Super Jumbo King Prawns ($825), consisting of two really huge prawns. They were beautifully grilled, and you could not find the blackened shell commonly found in other steak houses. We also ordered a Creamy Corn, a Garlic Broccoli and Grilled Asparagus as our side dishes ($98 each).
My father decided to have the 12oz Rib Eye Steak ($648), while my mother going for Welsh Rack of Lamb ($820). As she could not finish all she gave a portion to me. The lamb was pink in colour, nicely grilled to perfection, and the flesh was so juicy and tender that it was one of the best quality lamb rack I tasted for a long while.
Adding some of the signature exotic rock salts further brought forward the flavors. This readily demonstrated that with a good quality meat, the right time on a grill, without fancy seasoning the meat would still be terrific.
I had the Spanish Iberico Pork Rack ($680) as I generally do not eat beef if there is choice. The pork rack was thick in size, but grilled perfectly with a whitish pink inside when cutting open, with the juice oozing profusely. Honestly the portion was just too big (16oz) that I could barely finish. And since it took a while to finish, by the time the meat was cooled down and making it less enjoyable. It might not be a bad idea if the restaurant could offer smaller sizes.
Even though we were full, we ordered some dessert for share. I had the Cheese Platter ($268) which had Brie, Comte and Roquefort. All of them were good but personally I like the Roquefort the most. Apart from the cheese there were some dried apricot, and preserved cherries and prune to pair, offering the sweetness to balance the saltiness. Maybe I am used to the large varieties offered in good French restaurants, the choice here was just a bit too few.
The services, as expected, were good with the staff attentive and offering some friendly interactions. But I noticed that they had much more attention to some customers whom I believed were regulars here. While this is not a big issue, it would not be good for your customers to notice it clearly how you serve differently.
The total bill was $6957, and if taking out the wine the price might not be too bad considering the ambiance, environment and food quality. A bit of more attention to the service and maybe right-sizing some of the meat portion would make the restaurant go even further in my opinion.
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