Drawn by the fame of the celebrated Michelin-starred San Sebastian restaurant in Spain, we visited their overseas outlet in Hong Kong, located in Harbour City, last Saturday evening. Even though it was early at 6pm, the place was packed, but we got a good spot looking out to Star Ferry terminal.
The décor of the restaurant was frankly mediocre. There were large communal tables in the middle, with smaller 4-seaters on the sides, apparently showing customers were usually family or bigger groups. The semi-open kitchen on the other side was a bit far from our table, but we could constantly hear the chef calling for service of the food.
We had ordered the Tasting Menu ($588), and my wife had a mocktail Hakuna Matata ($98) while I opted for a bottle of Ernest Remy Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru Brut ($990). Made from 100% Pinot Noir from grands crus, the wine was refreshing with expressive notes of ripe pear and apple. A versatile wine to pair with different food in my opinion.
The first course was soup, with me picking Vichyssoise Soup with Oyster ($18 additional) while my wife had Lobster Bisque ($28 additional). The vichyssoise was made with cream, potatoes, leeks, and onions, serving at room temperature. It was unfortunately lacking in flavours and seasoning. The raw oyster was decent though, fresh, and creamy in texture. The lobster bisque was lukewarm in temperature which was not ideal. Overall, the quality of the soup was quite disappointing. The homemade Focaccia was also not impressive.
For the starter, we had Grilled Fresh Scallop ($58 additional) and Grilled Octopus ($68 additional) to share. The octopus was supposed to be a signature of the restaurant, with good flavours and nice sprinkle of paprika to season. It was a bit rubbery though on the bite.
The scallops were served on its shell, with nice buttery notes prominent. However, it was over-cooked, resulting in a chewy texture, especially the skirt of the scallop. Even though the starters were not sophisticated and complicated, they were not executed well unfortunately.
Coming to the main course, we had Iberico Pork Loin and Grilled Fresh Tiger Prawn ($98 additional), again to share. Unlike the earlier disappointment, both the main courses were good, with the pork loin cooked perfectly, seasoned well, tender and very juicy.
The tiger prawns were equally delicious. A generous portion with four large pieces, the meat was firm and adding a few drops of lemon juice helped to freshen and highlighted the taste of the prawns. Both main courses managed to rescue some marks of this restaurant.
Thinking of whether to order the optional gelato in the set or something else for dessert, we asked the manager for recommendation, and finally picking Chestnut Banana Forest ($108) as it was the only available one. The manager, however, also offered us the Homemade Gelato for free. The refreshing lime gelato had nice balance of sweetness with acidity.
The Chestnut Banana Forest was totally of different league from other dishes in terms of presentation. Beautifully arranged to look like a mushroom popping out from the chocolate dirt, with edible flowers as decoration, its taste was good as well. Frankly, this was more in line with my expectation on the fame of the restaurant.
With Coffee or Tea included the bill on the night was $2,999. Service was decent, but the staff could spend more time to introduce the courses when they were served. While the quality was far from my expectation, I could not stop wondering whether the pricing strategy forced them to compromise on the food and overall experience, and this would be a pity in my opinion.
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