This fine dining restaurant is located on 4/F of China Underwriters Centre in Wanchai, with a concept of using the cuisine to awaken familiar memories and creates new ones from the innovative dishes. Chef Edward Voon utilizes his French cooking techniques, combining with his taste experiences in Asia, to create an interesting tasting menu called Six Rounds.
We sit at a table by the window, but I believe it is looking out at the pedestrian flyover, so the windows are in fact sandblasted, not able to see through. With dim lighting, the décor is contemporary, having neat and simplistic designs on the wall panels, curved ceiling, and comfortable leather seats offering diners a chic and relaxed ambience, with a touch of premium.
The Tasting Menu Six Rounds ($1,480 each) also comes with a wine pairing ($880 for six glasses). The first wine that gets everything started is Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut from M. Hostomme, under the restaurant’s own label. It has fresh citrus, good acidity, and fine bubbles.
The Canapes includes three bite-sized appetizers. The first is Belacan Water Spinach Tart, with some deep-fried small fish added, topped with a pineapple turmeric mousse and fish sauce gel. The second is Shrimp Paste Chicken Mousse Spring Roll, with leek mayonnaise and caviar on top. The third is India street food Vadai, made from ground white beans with a bit of cucumber yogurt in the middle. Complex in taste and creative in both the idea and presentation. A wonderful start.
The first course features Oscietra Caviar and Sicilian Red Prawn ‘Fujian’. The red prawn tartare is mixed with a bit of Fujian mee sauce, delicious with also impeccable presentation, having the flowery cracker on top, with the prized caviar adding savoury taste when everything is mixed together. It is so good I have scooped up every single caviar from the bowl upon finish.
The Citrus Brioche comes next, paired with a homemade Chili Crab Dipping Sauce. The bread has a wonderful texture, seasoned with a bit of lime zest to give freshness and fragrance. But the highlight is in fact the sauce, made with the same ingredients used to prepare chili crab, including garlic, ginger, lemongrass, tomato, shallot, and different types of chilis. Cannot stop eating.
The second wine is Tomi no Oka Koshu 2018 from Yamanashi Prefecture in Japan. The winery is owned by the beverage giant Suntory, using the local grape Koshu to produce a refreshing wine, with an interesting spicy note which goes well with the sauce of the pomfret.
The second course is Wild Pomfret with Mui Choy and Beurre Blanc. The seared pomfret fillet has crisp skin while the flesh is moist and tender. The traditional French butter sauce has a twist, made together with preserved mustard greens and brown rice, to give a rich buttery note with a sweet and savoury undertone, also adding a bit of spiciness. My favourite dish in the evening.
The third wine is Domaine Bouchard Pere & Fils Meursault 2017, with a nutty aroma on top of the citrus lemon, floral notes, as well as creamy vanilla. The richer body goes well with the next course, though the wine is a bit too cold for serving in my opinion.
The third course is Mud Crab au Gratin, with Sakura Ebi and Tellicherry Pepper. Taking the meat from the Australia mud crab, the chef has add the 24-month Comte cheese, which has melted and adding a rich and savoury taste to the sweet and delicate crab meat, with the crunchy Sakura shrimp and chives on top, seasoned with the fragrant Tellicherry black pepper.
The fourth wine is Loimer Loiserberg Riesling 2016. This Austrian Riesling has a delicate floral nose with some delicious citrus and peach, plus good minerality. The palate has demonstrated more profound characters, lively and versatile to match with seafood and shellfish.
The fourth course is Britanny Lobster on Granny Smith Apple Laksa. The French blue lobster is grilled perfectly, very sweet and tasty. With the flavourful laksa sauce, there is also the green apple puree underneath, with some pickled apple pieces on top, providing the acidity to balance the palate, making everything integrated wonderfully. Another of my pick in the menu.
The fifth wine is Au Pied du Mont Chauve Beaune Montee Rouge 2020. Belongs to the Picard family, the producer practices biodynamic and the wine has an earthy tone on top of red fruit of cherries and raspberry. But I do not think it is a good match with the abalone.
The fifth course, Abalone on Koshihikari Rice with Tuna Bottarga ($288), is an additional dish we order. A risotto-like dish, the Japanese rice has cooked to an al dente texture with a good bite, adding a bit of the salted cured tuna roes to give an appetizing umami taste as well as to season. The South Africa abalone is meaty but not rubbery, brushed with a mouth-watering sauce.
The sixth wine is Chateau Lassegue 2008. The St-Emilion wine has a nice finesse, sufficiently aged to allow the tannin to nicely integrate and rounded, with good black fruit notes, spicy, as well as demonstrating development with some savoury characters which go well with the pigeon.
The sixth course features Pigeon, which has been aged for four days, then smoked with herbs like cinnamon and star anise. Deep in flavours, the meat is tender and juicy, complementing with a Shaoxing wine sauce and a black garlic puree. A croquette with cream cheese on the side, with the pickled radish to give acidity to balance the palate, completes this main course with flying colours.
The pre-dessert is not on the menu. A creative combination, the chef has prepared a Chili Yogurt Ice-Cream, which has an interesting spiciness combined with sweetness, on top of some diced cucumber and cucumber sauce, giving a refreshing palate and balance to the ice-cream. With some lime zest on top, a pleasant palate cleanser.
The dessert is a feast of flavours and texture. The Peanut Ice-Cream is rich and appropriate in sweetness, with a Glutinous Rice Mochi underneath, plus a sauce made with Vitagen. Pouring some caramelized Soy Sauce on top, it is a nice evolution of salted caramel, with the soy sauce having an extra layer of savoury, surprisingly harmonious with other ingredients in the dessert.
The Petits Fours include Crunchy Apricot Kernels Cookie with Apricot Sauce, with some white chocolate pieces. The second one is Banana Cheesecake with Black Sesame Crisps, having rich flavours but not overly sweet. The last piece is Peach Sake Jelly, wrapped in edible rice paper, to finish the dinner.
The bill on the night is $4,321. Service is reasonable, though in general I would expect more from a fine-dining restaurant. The biggest shortfall is that the food and ingredients have not been introduced sufficiently during service, as well as how the courses relate back to the concept of Six Rounds, which has significantly diminished the appreciation in my opinion. A missed opportunity.
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