This restaurant is in LKF Tower, Central, owned and operated by Chef Peter Find. He is a well-traveled chef, spending years working in Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe before coming to Asia, serving in different renown hotels. He became executive chef at Ritz-Carlton HK when the hotel opened in 2010. In Mar this year, he started his next chapter by opening Heimat, which means ‘homeland’ in German.
Seated in the comfortable booth, the restaurant has a contemporary, relaxing ambience. The navy-blue walls with patterns, contrasting to the wooden floor and ceiling panel, is neat and chic. There are two private rooms in case one prefers more intimacy with a bigger group. Just outside the kitchen there was a section which offers a chef-table experience too.
The staff was very helpful and friendly, explaining to us the 6-course Tasting Menu ($1,280) that takes diners to the hometown of Chef Peter and his memories, as well as introduced the seasonal white asparagus special menu. Decided to go for the former, we added another dish to share in order to sample the white asparagus as well. We also opted for the juice pairing ($480).
As starter, the staff served us the freshly baked Sourdough that was still steaming hot, together with Cheese and Poppy Seed Pretzels, paired with a sour cream cheese to go along. I found the cream cheese was a better condiment than butter, having the acidity to increase the appetite and not as heavy.
The first course was Frankfurter Grüne Sauce. The famous green sauce was made from seven types of herbs together with cream cheese. The chef had included a 58 degrees slow cooked egg, potato salad, Brittany Lobster, with some seven-herb oil as well. I loved the herbal and tangy taste of the sauce adding flavours to the silky egg. The lobster was sweet and tasty, and the potato slices and vegetable were also fantastic. The juice paired was Van Nahmen Riesling, a juice of the wine grape, biodynamic grown in Pfalz. It was light, with a nice acidity and sweetness balance. A great start indeed.
The second course was Frühlings Erbsensuppe. To the chef, the green peas signified spring, as it was the first ingredient appearing in his garden with the coming of the season. With lemon zest and mint to supplement a refreshing note, the soup highlighted the natural taste of the green peas. I was also impressed how smooth the soup was, despite no butter or cream was added. The smoked ocean trout provided nice savoury and umami to complement the overall enjoyment. The Mindful Sparks Sparkling Yuzu Genmaicha was served to pair, with its yuzu note matching well with the lemon zest and the bubbles a good contrast of texture with the soup.
The third course was Koenigsberger Klopse. It was a signature German meatball dish, made with pork, adding some gherkins to give a contrast in bite. The creamy white sauce was prepared with capers, smartly leveraging its acidity to lighten the sensation. The beetroot reduction on the side, when mixed with the white sauce, provided a pinkish touch. The juice paired was Kohl Gourmet Mountain Apple Juice, made with the Pinova varietal. Having a bit of tropical pineapple flavours, it got good concentration and acidity from the high altitude of the orchard.
The fourth course was Seebarsch. A Hungarian-inspired dish, the seabass was beautifully seared, with a crispy skin while keeping the flesh moist. The special Goulash jus reduction was prepared from a meat stew, seasoned with the fragrant paprika and some other herbs, to go with the fish. Together with a cabbage roll with the fillings from the stew, it had intense flavours but everything was complementary to each other. The juice paired was Van Nahmen Dornfelder, from Rheinhessen. If it was a red wine perhaps would not be the best match with the seabass, surprisingly this juice had spot-on harmony with the sauce, driven from the slight spiciness from the wine grape.
We have also chosen Traditional Cooked White Asparagus, Hollandaise Sauce Potatoes, Nut Butter, Veal Schnitzel ($420) to supplement the tasting menu. The chef had helpfully split the dish to two portions for us, with the white asparagus thick but not fibrous. The veal schnitzel was a thin slice of the beef, breaded and deep-fried, but a bit under-seasoned for me unfortunately. The Hollandaise sauce helped to rescue some marks, with creamy and smooth texture, rich and having a nice citrus flavour to balance with the heavy deep-fried schnitzel. Another highlight was the very soft potato.
The fifth and main course of the menu was Zwiebelrostbraten. My favourite in the evening, it was the prime beef sirloin, cooked to perfect medium rare, poured with a really wonderful jus reduction. To go with the meat was onions 3 ways, white onion puree, caramelized onion puree, and dehydrated onion. The beef was very juicy and flavourful, with the onion having a nice sweetness. To allow every single last drop to be savoured, the chef provided his hand-shredded spaetzle, a type of pasta from flour, egg, nutmeg, salt and pepper. I ended up finishing all the pasta which was a surprise to the staff as generally people would be too full by now. A testimony to my appetite, as well as how good the food had been. The juice paired was Obsthof Retter, a wild kirsche juice that had gone through some ageing, producing in 2019. A special one created by sommelier to match with food, it did have some characters similar to wine, reminding me in particular of a Pinot Noir.
The last course was Riesling Weinschaum. The pear compote had been cooked in a syrup seasoned with vanilla, but not overly sweet. On top was a vanilla ice-cream. The staff then poured in a warm Riesling sabayon, the sweet sauce prepared with German wine and egg yolk. The juice paired was Van Nahmen Weiber Pfirsich, a white peach nectar. As it was quite thick, the staff added some sparkling water to dilute it and having a bit of bubbles to bring refreshing sensation to the dessert. A nice wrap up for the meal.
The staff then pulled a cart to our table. The teddy bear was very cute, and we were also attracted to the numerous glass jars, containing different gummy bear and sweets from the confectioner Baren-Treff. With so many choices, we tried quite a number and they were all very good, with the chili gummy particularly memorable.
Service was great, not only the staff was attentive and eager to explain the dishes and juices, how they paired and stories behind, Chef Peter also came repeatedly to check in with us, despite having some VIP he had to take care in the private rooms. The bill on the night was $4,422 which in my opinion was reasonable. While the juice pairing was not cheap, it was definitely worth trying. Look forward to coming again as I heard Chef Peter would be changing his menu soon. And thanks to him, I also have a completely different perspective of German cuisine and how good it can be.
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