Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Aulis

This Simon Rogan’s restaurant is just on the side of Roganic, the Michelin 1-star, and is serving as the development kitchen and chef’s table for customers to enjoy an intimate and interactive dining experience with the chefs, showcasing local ingredients in the cuisine.

Arriving early, we are seated at the lounge outside to enjoy a cocktail while the chefs are in preparation. And sharp at 7pm all the guests are taken into the 12-seat chef’s table where the chef is busy getting ready with his sous chef.

The tasting menu is priced at $1,380 and the premier wine pairing at $1,180. To start, I order an extra glass of Champagne Lombard Brut Nature Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs ($240). Made with Chardonnay grapes from the grand cru villages and aged for 48 months in bottle, it has a crisp vibrancy highlighting a chalky mineral tone. Good for getting the palate energized for the foods to come.

The first three servings are bite-size snacks, starting with Boltardy Beetroot Tart, with the chef using the beetroot to make a puree to add to diced raw Spanish mackerel that has been aged for two days, then drizzle with some coal oil. Rich in umami, on the top is pickled beetroots with young shoots and flowers. The pickles have a nice acidity to stimulate the appetite and matches well with the taste of the mackerel.

The second is Roasted Three Yellow Chicken Skin, with the skin of the local chicken baked to wonderful crispness and holding some whipped chicken livers, offering a creamy texture and rich taste. The chef also added some preserved lingonberry, a type of small berries reminiscent of cranberry, but with slightly more bitterness and less tartness. Good enjoyment with contrast on the bite, and the lingonberry cleverly used to balance the rich liver pate.  

The third one is Truffle Pudding, with the homemade bread pudding is made using croissant to provide a more buttery note, with the surface caramelized in birch sap syrup. Inside are some black garlic emulsion and stout vinegar to give a sweet and savoury taste, plus plenty of shaved aged Westcombe cheddar cheese on top. Another example of the chef’s ability to integrate the different flavours into a complex but highly appealing snack.

After the snacks the first appetizer is Yuniu Young Tomatoes with Set Sea Urchin Cream. The presentation reminds me of Japanese chawanmushi, with a layer of tasty custard infused with sea urchin and lobster meat at the bottom. On top are locally grown small tomatoes, including both dried and fresh ones, which has been marinated with lemon sugar and tomato ponzu. In the middle is the special blend of caviar to add an extra dimension of umami and savoury.

To pair with the sea urchin cream, the sommelier prepares the sake 木陰の魚 from 嘉美心酒造 in Okayama. Unlike the typical sake, this one is more reminiscent of a white wine, with nice lactic acidity and exhibiting fruity notes of melon, peach, and summer fruit. Good match with the custard and sea urchin.

The second course is Grilled Brassicas. The baby lettuce has been seared with brine to highlight its original delicate taste, and supplemented with some pickled shimeji, with the chef only using the top part of the mushroom. Together with a winter truffle puree to provide a bit of earthy tone, as well as the creamy fermented horseradish puree on top, this veggie dish demonstrates how the vegetables can combine to provide amazing texture and intense flavours in the hands of a good chef.

The wine paired is Chateau Brown 2021 from Pessac-Leognan. This Bordeaux white wine has beautiful aromas of pomelo and lemon peel, with floral notes of honeysuckle. Fresh and round, the crisp grapefruit and green apple flavours are good match with the horseradish puree and shimeji mushroom.

The third course features Scallops from Hokkaido. The large circular shape of the scallop is formed by stacking the scallops before cutting into slices. On top there are smoked pike perch roe, with the poppy fish roe giving an interesting contrast in the bite. Scattered with some chamomile powder, the creamy buttermilk sauce has been supplemented with mustard to good effect.

The wine paired is Domaine des Marnes Blanches Savagnin Les Molates 2021, from the Cotes du Jura appellation. The wine is aged in old foudres for 11 months, with a classic lemon and saffron flavours, as well as some bitterness on the aftertaste. The Savagnin is a nice pairing with the scallop, matching well the heavier body of the buttermilk sauce.

The fourth course is Poached Grouper from Aberdeen market. With some tapioca and cabbages cooked in whey at the bottom, the fish is seasoned appropriately to enable its delicate taste to shine through. At the same time the chef has grilled some king oyster mushroom, fermented for two days, brushed with XO sauce before slicing them up and put on top of the fish medallion, before pouring a Kuruma shrimp foam blended on the spot, to provide a rich, intensely flavour.

Interestingly, the wine paired is a red wine from Tuscany, Le Chiuse Sferracavalli Rosso 2022, served slightly more chilled than usual. The Sangiovese has a sweet raspberry note and its earthy characters match well with the king oyster mushroom. A perfect complement with the shrimp sauce too. I am surprised it does not mask the taste of the grouper or making it unnecessarily fishy.

The fifth course features Three Yellow Chicken. The chicken breast is poached to retain its tenderness, then browning the skin to give a bit of caramelization, while the thigh has been cooked in confit method using the chicken fat. Mix and match with the local grown Sweet Jean corn, the puree is rich in taste and sweet, with a piece of the corn roasted to go along. Together with the preserved nasturtium, some garlic oil, and a rich and super delicious roasted bone and fats sauce, it is a amazing.

The wine paired is Abrigo Giovanni Barolo Ravera 2016. With rich red fruit notes of cherries, plum, and raspberry, plus nice floral perfume characters, this Barolo is drinking well at this ‘young’ age. It is great to see the sommelier using the red wine to pair with the famous local chicken because of its richer and more intense taste.

While I have been wondering all night why there is no bread, we are provided the Homemade Bread together with the chicken. Made with brown sugar with plenty of oats on top, the bread has a bit of crunchy bite. On the side is a brown butter which is creamy and smooth.

The sixth course is the pre-dessert featuring Frozen Tunworth Cheese, which is known as British Camembert, with a similar taste profile as its French cousin. On top of the cheese ice-cream is a lemon thyme gel to give a nice citrus note to lighten the stronger flavours, with buckwheat crumb underneath offering a good bite, along with the fig compote from the local ‘Zen Farm’ on the side.

The wine paired is Domaine Belargus Layon Moelleux 2018. This biodynamic wine is from Coteaux du Layon of Loire Valley, with good fresh citrus and apricot aromas, as well as nice mineral waxy notes. The sweetness is beautifully balanced with its acidity, and this is a versatile, not overly-cloying sweet wine, making it a perfect match for different desserts.

The seventh course features local Strawberries, with the diced fresh fruit sandwiched between the local bee pollen chamomile cake and a dome-shaped set cream, with buttermilk ice-cream inside, offering different texture across the different layers. Scattered with some chamomile powder on top, the dessert has a sauce made from the trimmings of the strawberry added with some chamomile oil, making full use of the ingredient.

The eighth course is ‘Aulis’, a mysterious dessert encased in wafer showing the name of the restaurant. An interesting concept to use vegetables in the dessert through caramelizing Fuseau artichoke with molasses to make a set parfait, together with some diced pear which has been cooked in brandy, finished with some clarified pear juice and jasmine tea to give refreshing yet complex flavours.

The last course is Cherry Cake, serving as petits fours, with the top having some whipped earl grey chocolate. A rich bite-sized treat to finish the meal on a satisfying and sweet note, and a perfect complement with coffee to wrap up the dinner.

Service is good, with the staff attentive and friendly, the chef also happy to share with us the ingredients and the details of the dishes. The food is delicious and creative, successfully showcasing the concept of farm to table. The bill on the night is $4,763. Knowing Roganic is going to relocate soon, I hope Aulis will be part of the move and this development kitchen can continue to showcase the HK ingredients.