Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Cafe Bord de Mer

This restaurant is located in Auberge Discovery Bay, the hotel on the side of Lantau Island away from the busy and touristy areas, where private vehicles are not allowed into this residential retreat. Surrounded by a picturesque landscape overlooking the South China Sea, the place offers a peaceful atmosphere which is rather unique for this metropolitan renown for its hassle.

On a Wednesday evening we arrived here and the restaurant is rather quiet, with only six or seven tables of customers. The setting of the restaurant is decent, with everything neat and tidy, creating a warm family-hotel ambiance. We ordered the semi-buffet ($268) which included appetizer and dessert buffet with our choice of a main course.

There is a surprisingly wide range of salad choices, the vegetables looking fresh and appealing, along with a nice assortment of cold cuts and smoked salmon. The restaurant also has the condiments like anchovy, black olives and sun-dried tomatoes, giving many options and one can even mix your own Caesar Salad with the salad bowl. A nice salad bar.

There are also two choices of soup, one Chinese and one Western. I opted for the Western soup which is a creamy asparagus soup. This one comparatively is more mediocre, not particularly flavorful and the texture also not particularly creamy. My wife had the Chinese soup which she said was quite good on the other hand.

There is also prawns and mussels too. And trying both I would say the mussels are decent though a bit salty, while the prawns did not have much taste. I probably should eat them in the opposite sequence. However, compared with the buffet in other restaurants offered by hotel in the same level this one is not bad at all.

For the main course I have chosen Pan Seared Fillet of Cod and Chicken Steak, with Mashed Potato, Sauteed Vegetable and Onion Port Reduction. This one unfortunately is rather disappointing, the chicken having a bit of the 'frozen' note on the bite, and while the sauce can provide some 'masking effect' to the meat, it also having a gap pairing with the fish.

My wife ordered the Wok Fried Pork Tenderloin with Jade Cucumber, Black Fungus and Lily Bulbs with Steamed Rice. The portion of this dish is really big, enough for two persons, and I tasted the pork tenderloin which is far better in taste than my main course of chicken and fish. Interestingly the Chinese dishes (including soup) seem to taste better.

The dessert buffet is rather limited in choice, with some fresh fruit, cake, jelly and mango sago. There are also Movenpick ice-cream. Customers can also have a cup of tea or coffee to wrap up the meal. Overall the desserts was normal and are not particularly interesting.

The service was decent and maybe given there is not that many customers I would expect they come to interact more often. But overall it was still fairly good. The bill was $589 and considering the food, ambiance and experience I would say it is good in value.