Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Theo Mistral by Theo Randall

This Italian restaurant is located on the basement of InterContinental Grand Sanford Hotel in TST East. But I heard that it will soon move to another floor, and will no longer be under Theo Randall, the famous chef from UK.

The restaurant is quite spacious, with good distance between tables. The partitions and the decorations on the columns are of dark brown wood, with the furniture of the same colour providing a dimmer, more traditional fanfare and ambience.

The breads were quite nice, and I in particular liked the bread sticks with its aromatic sesame flavours.

I ordered a glass of Rivetto Langhe Nascetta Vigna Lirano 2020 ($230) to pair with the first couple of dishes. A medium-bodied wine with nice minerality and a waxy undertone.

Starting with soup, I picked Zuppa Cremosa al Crostacei ($198). The rich, creamy shellfish soup is very delicious, full of the umami of the essences from seafood, with a piece of lobster medallion and crab ravioli added. Each scoop was a pure joy of flavour. Very good.

My wife ordered Minestrone Genovese ($148), with the soup having plenty of vegetables, including borlotti beans, onions, carrots, celery, San Marzano tomatoes, Swiss chard and basil pesto. Tasty and warming to the stomach. Very good.

We had Tagliatelle Aragosta e Caviale ($498) to share. The chef had already helpfully split into two portions to serve, with the homemade tagliatelle having a wonderful texture, truly al dente. Served with Boston lobster, San Marzano and Datterini tomatoes, parsley, fresh red chili and Italian Oscietraia sturgeon caviar, the complex and well-balanced flavours were truly amazing. Excellent.

Next, I had a glass of Bottega Il Vino Degli Dei Amarone della Valpolicella 2018 ($220), showing plenty of mature red and black fruit, with also nice chocolate and nutmeg characters.

For the main course, I picked Costata di Agnello ($448), with the roasted Australian lamb rack coated in herbed bread crumbs with baby leek, broccoli, black truffle mashed potato, multicolour carrots and jus sauce. The lamb was cooked medium rare, very tender and juicy. The puree on the side was also delicious with the vegetables Very good.

My wife had Zuppa di Pesce ($428), with the slow cooked seafood stew made from a seafood creamy bisque, with tiger prawns, garoupa, clams, mussels, scallops, Datterini tomatoes and potatoes. All the seafood were very fresh and tasty, with the stew absorbing the essences of the seafood. Very good.

For dessert I had Affogato al Caffe e Baileys ($108), with the homemade vanilla ice-cream served with Kimbo coffee, baileys liqueur and cacao powder. Pouring in the coffee and baileys to the ice-cream, mixing well with the chocolate chips, the dessert was in fact not too sweet, but I found the coffee flavours were lacking. Decent.

My wife had Tiramisu ($118) which was the signature of the restaurant, made of mascarpone cheese cream, Kimbo coffee and finger biscuits served with crumble coffee and cacao powder. While the appearance might not be the most tempting, the flavours could cover that drawback. Very good.

Service was decent, with the staff friendly and nice, but they did not introduce the dishes at all. The bill on the night was $2,441 after a 10% credit card discount. Not sure how big a change this restaurant would have after the transition, but certainly there would be a better view in future.