My Birthday Lunch at Seasons by Olivier Elzer, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Initially, I wanted to go for their afternoon tea (thanks to seeing 1,093,947 pictures of it on instagram), but they were booked all the way to end of the year.
Gahhh... never mind, lunch it is then.

Judging from this R5-D4 (or R15-D10???) poking out of our bread basket, yep, we were checking if this place is naughty-kid friendly.


Bread's not bad.


Starters.

I wouldn't have ordered this. I generally don't order anything "chicken breast", but SC made a wise decision that a basic salad is necessary to feed our naughty monster. This salad might look unfancy (I know, it is not a word), but it's absolutely delicious! Tangy, tasty, crisp fresh veggies, tender juicy chicken, etc etc etc. YUM.


I had the foie-gras pate (yes, I can't not order anything foie). Lovely. It's a little on the sweet side but the crispy toast that came with it gave it the savory balance.


Nyammmmm.


Lobster jelly. Creamy, tasty, sweet-seafoody, delicious!


Chestnut veloute. Rich, creamy... I love.


French onion soup. Not bad la...

The mains..

I ordered this prawn with venere rice (I called it udang with ketan hitam heheheh) - thanks for the recommendation, Dan! It's TASTY!


Chicken breast stuffed with foie. Whoa... I don't order chicken breast and must order foie... what to do when faced with a dish like this? Hmm... get others to order it so I could have a (lotsa) taste(s). Heheheheh. It's good!


Most of us favorited the "special main of the day", the beef cheek. So tender but not mushy, and very flavorful. Perfect.


SC had the camembert. Hmm... I prefer the dessert.


Chocolate ganache and raspberry marmalade. I love anything dark chocolate.


I had the white chocolate fruity dessert. Fruity and refreshing, and OB stole most of it.

In case you were wondering why there was no "happy birthday" anything, well... it's not that I said "oh, no need, no need" because I was shy (are you kidding? I love birthday commotions in restaurants and for photo purposes - I am shallow and childish like that), but thanks to SC who forgot to say it's a birthday celebration, we didn't have one.

Never mind. SC paid for the meal - that is more important than anything else hehehheee.
Thanks, SC!

A special mention to service - it's slow and clumsy, servers don't explain much of anything (but to be fair, we didn't ask also ), servers don't know who ordered what, we had to follow up for the cheese platter- which then came much later than the desserts, and the server (and manager?) looked a bit too annoyed by naughty OB (but why not have no-kid policy then?).

Anyway, I love the food, and I'd go back for it - and I won't bring OB ^_^'
Lunch prices: 288 for 3 course, 368 for 4 course, 448 for 5 course.

Seasons by Olivier Elzer
They have online reservation (yay!), simply click here.
Or phone +85225056228.

Shop 308, 3/F, Lee Gardens Two.
28 Yun Ping Road, Causeway Bay.
Hong Kong.
Near Causeway Bay MTR Exit F.

Easy French Onion Soup Recipe

I am not a big fan of French Onion Soup. The ones that I've tried were all too sweet for my taste. But when my friend suggested that we make our own version together, we instantly agreed. I figured that if we are making it ourselves, we could definitely adjust the flavors to suit my savoury taste ;) and we did just that.

We adapted a recipe posted on Jamie Oliver's website by a member, and we love how easy it is.

Here's the recipe.
Our adaptation:
- we omitted the egg yolks
- we used red wine
- we used gruyere and cheddar
- we seasoned with salt and white pepper until we achieved the perfect balance of sweet and savory, but bearing in mind that cheese will be added
- we added grated cheese, then croutons, then grated cheese again on top
- we'd consider adding mozzarella into the cheese mix next to add that "stringy melty" quality to it


The recipe mentioned that using croutons isn't convenient, but we did it and it was easy and yummy. We'd use croutons again.


Grilling in the oven.


Perfectly golden brown.


Out of this world.

Bouchon Bistro Francaise - Overheard Something Annoying

Last weekend, SC and I brought baby Marcus to have lunch with a group of pretty ladies in this lovely place. We arrived early. We were seated at the gorgeous charming little patio at the back of the restaurant. There were two ladies lunching at the only table next to us. As we waited for the others to arrived, I took pictures of the menu to tweet and tease my other lunching companions. The next thing that happened annoyed me.

One of the ladies, after shooting some unfriendly glances our way, started making comments on how she was not impressed by people who take pictures during meals, she wondered, audibly, why "some people" can't just enjoy their meals without taking pictures. And by "some people" she probably meant me? She continued to make unpleasant remarks about food blogs and how food bloggers have no credibility, and she said, rather smugly, that she doesn't follow any food blog. Her words of "wisdom", loud and clear, most probably for our benefit?


She knew exactly that we were within earshot and we should have been able to hear everything she said very clearly. While I respect that everybody has the right to their own opinions and free to express them, I couldn't help feeling appalled by her rudeness. Ew. 


But, oh wells, if I had a Hong Kong dollar for every annoying person I encountered, I'd be able to buy newer, bigger, and more bad ass top-of-the-line food photography gear to wave in their face by now. 


Aaaaanyway...the lunch!
The food looks absolutely gorgeous under the most perfect soft natural sunlight ever!

Decent bread, lovely soft and creamy butter. 


'
The country pate and toasted baguette with a side salad was not my favorite. The pate was not bad, but the already cold toasted baguette didn't do it for me.



The onion soup was absolutely delicious!



Sweet and hearty. Love it!


There were some other dishes that I didn't get to taste, so I won't comment, but look at this gorgeous tomato salad with goat cheese and balsamic dressing..

..I kinda regretted that I didn't order that ^_^'


The roast of the day was roast beef served with a side of fries.

The beef, despite looking beautifully cooked, was dry and chewy. The side of fries, on the other hand, was a winner! They're well seasoned, crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Delicious!


Our friends who ordered the seared salmon with spinach and lemon butter sauce both mentioned that the fish was overcooked.

Ouch. 


The creamy mushroom tagliatelle looked fantastic...



But I always pick meat over meatless, sometimes to my detriment...
I ordered steak tartar with french fries. It arrived looking amazing...


...and it has some really good flavors. There was a good balance of rich, creamy, salty, and acid, but the meatiness was kind of lost somewhere.

The fries were still fantastic though. I finished each and every single piece.


To sum up, my favorites are the fries, the onion soup, and the charming place. I'd go back for those and maybe try their dessert and pasta.

A set lunch costs HK$108, add HK$48 for the steak tartar.


Bouchon Bistro Francaise
F/F, 49 Elgin Street, Soho, Central
中環蘇豪伊利近街49號地下
Tel: +852 2525 9300

Lunch at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

I was in the mood for a splurge, and brought my visiting sis and my giant belly to L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon for lunch. We've heard so much about this place, so, we were excited and expected to be blown away.


I picked the cheese bread, bacon baguette and croissant from the bread basket. The mini size allows us to taste a few pieces without feeling too stuffed before the meal even began. The cheese bread was soft, fluffy and wonderfully savory. The croissant was buttery, flaky and delicious, but the bacon baguette was way too hard...it was closer to a cracker than a baguette.


We were impressed by the amuse bouche. So impressed, we forgot to ask what it was :D (opps)
The base was slightly sweet, soupy and custardy, and the foam on top complemented the base perfectly.


I had the Cromesqui de Riz (crispy risotto finger with chorizo and parmesan cheese, served with tomato concasse and pesto) as an appetizer. The croquette-ish risotto was crispy on the outside, I wish it was a little creamier and tastier on the inside. The tomato and salad with pesto dressing made the dish. It was ok, but we weren't too impressed.


My sis had the Le Foie Gras de Canard (duck foie gras terrine with figs marmalade and spices). The dish could use a little something more to balance the sweetness and creaminess of the terrine. Although the fresh fig slices gave the dish a nice refreshing touch, and the crackers served with the dish helped, it was still missing a little punch. Ah wells, maybe I am just not used to subtle flavors?


The La Chataigne (chestnut soup with mushrooms and chicken mousse dumplings) was one of the highlights. I absolutely love it! Smooth, sweet, and creamy with delicate little dumplings and tasty bits of mushrooms. It was perfection. Hands down, one of the best soup I've ever had!


The Le Veau (veal fillet with sage and caramelized vegetables from the South of France) disappointed us. Despite looking perfectly cooked, the veal pieces were not seasoned well, felt a bit dry and they were too chewy, up to the point where we had to ask for a different knife to cut through them. There was nothing impressive about the caramelized vegetables served with it too.


The Le Beuf (cheek of beef braised with red wine, parmesan polenta and Taggiasche black olives) was delicious. The meat was unbelievably tender and flavorful, the polenta was rich and creamy, and the black olives made the dish livelier. It was a tad too rich and creamy for the hot weather though, a few bites and you'd feel ugh.


We ordered the La Poire (chocolate caramel tart with pear sorbet), the pastry base was crispy, maybe a little too crispy? The chocolate filling was nice and smooth, the pear sorbet was pretty refreshing and the tuille was paper thin and lovely. It was quite nice.


I picked two items from the dessert trolley, which was chocolate cake and the rum cake. Both were super duper sweet, wayyyy too sweet for my taste, served with sweet-ish whipped cream. They were so sweet, I only managed to have just a couple of tiny bites from both. I was rather disappointed that our server didn't ask or say a word despite seeing how we left most of the dessert untouched.


I ordered the regular coffee to end my meal, and thank God I didn't add any sugar, as there were more sweetness coming ;)


I am not a big fan of macarons, of which I normally couldn't taste anything but sweetness, but this time I could taste the pistachio flavor. The silver chocolates were nothing I'd miss, but the fruit pate cubes were delightfully fruity.

There were a couple more of service related weirdness. Sometimes, when serving my sis' dish, instead of explaining the dish to her, our server explained the dish to me, and proceeded to say "enjoy!" again, to me, not my sis (???). When I spilled a small pile of tomato concasse on the table, the servers didn't clean the unsightly spill even when they were clearing our plates. We had to ask one of them to clean the spillage. I know the spillage was my fault, but...still. Weird.

There were a couple of hits, some misses, but we were far from being blown away.
Were our expectation too high? Is our palate not sophisticated enough? Hmm, maybe...
But I believe that if it's good food, we'd enjoy it, and for HK$650 per person price tag, we didn't enjoy this meal as much as we wish to.

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon
Shop 401, 4/F, The Landmark, 16 Des Voeux Road Central, Central
中環德輔道中12-16號置地廣場4樓401號舖
Tel: +852 2166 9000

La Parole, A Gem in Tsing Yi

We were so pleasantly surprised to find this little gem in Tsing Yi.
Fully prepare to dine in Spaghetti House, we were glad we changed our mind and went for this place instead. I didn't make a booking, so we didn't get a table by the window overlooking the waterfront, or one of those pretty little booth, which would be absolutely romantic for special occasions.

There were two kinds of set dinners, and as always, I ordered the one which offers more food ;)

The meal started with grapefruit chicken salad. I wish there was more grapefruit, but the whole flavor combo was decent, the few slices of onion and the smokiness of the sauce gave the dish a nice touch.


The bread basket was a little disappointing, the herbs were a little overpowering and the plain one was a little soft-and-soft. Some good ol' crusty bread would've been better.


The beef goulash was decent, but for Hong Kong char-chan-teng-eating market, whose palate is used to strong flavors of lo sung tong (HK local cafe's version of red beef & veggie soup), the soup needs much stronger flavors.


The wild mushroom cream soup was nice and creamy, it could use a little bit more seasoning and a tad stronger mushroom flavors. Not the best mushroom soup I've ever had, but again, decent.


The pan fried Rougie AAA foie gras with red wine pear was absolutely fantastic! The flavors were absolutely lovely. The rich and creamy foie gras, beautifully cooked pear, rich sauce with a touch of sea salt which created the perfect balance.


The grilled parma ham salmon with herb oil was again fantastic. I didn't get the parma ham part, but other than that, it was a nice dish. Perfectly cooked salmon, gentle flavors of the herb oil, tiny bits of chopped fresh tomatoes and the extra crunch from the chips. Gorgeous!

Now, the mains..

The grilled American Angus prime rib eye with Egyptian sea salt. Looks absolutely beautiful...was it good?


The meat was cooked correctly, a nice medium, flavorful, tasted fantastic with the grains of Egyptian sea salt. The bits of vegetables added the much needed refreshing touch for summer, but I wish there was some kind of sauce I could mop my fries with. Ahem ;)


The asparagus, scallops triangoloni with truffle and porcini, it was love at first bite. Succulent scallops, beautifully cooked, with delicious stuffed triangoloni...bits of of asparagus, and creamy, delicious sauce. However, I felt that this dish is way too rich for summer. It gives you a nice kick-in-the-stomach richness, but you'd feel knocked out after a few bites. A lighter version for summer would be nice.


Say hello to the perfect summer dessert. Strawberry panna cotta with sorbet. Everything's refreshing and citrusy, served with bits of sweetness here and there to create balance. A glorious ending.


I know that this is not a perfect summer drink, but we couldn't help ordering the Leonidas hot chocolate when it's offered with the set. Generous serving, deliciously chocolatey.

How much did the set cost?
HK$258 per person (+10% service charge), very good deal!
We left feeling absolutely satisfied, ready to empty our wallet in the mall :)
If you happen to be in the area, it's worth trying. Don't forget to make a reservation, it was a full house!

La Parole
Shop G02A, G/F, Maritime Square
33 Tsing King Road, Tsing Yi
青衣青敬路33號青衣城地下G02A號
Tel: +852 2436 4099