Spoon by Alain Ducasse - classic and beautiful French flavours

http://www.alain-ducasse.com/en/restaurant/spoon-by-alain-ducasse-hong-kong

I'm not really sure why it took over eighteen months to finally get around to visiting legendary chef Alain Ducasse's Hong Kong restaurant.  It ticks pretty much every box that I ever look for in a restaurant, French, modern, Michelin Starred and as a bonus, a restaurant from one of the top chefs in the world.

Perplexing really.

Anyway, I finally managed to get along to Hong Kong's Intercontinental Hotel, the home of Spoon by Alain Ducasse.  I've dined at the Intercontinental before, for another legendary chef's HK outlet; Nobu, which I found to be quite outstanding (see post here); so I had an inkling of the amazing view that awaited us when we were shown to our window seat.

Hong Kong undoubtably has the world's most spectacular skyline, and the view from Spoon gave us unfettered access to the Island's many skyscrapers.  We were seated just before the sun set and were able to watch the skyline come alive as we consumed our meal.

The incredible service that you'd expect from a Michelin starred restaurant in a five star hotel commenced from the moment we were greeted by the front staff, who took us to our table and introduced us to our two waiters who would pamper us for the entire evening.  We were the first to arrive in the restaurant, ensuring that for the first part of our meal we were the complete focus of our team.

Le Reve - Japanese ingredients and French fusion cooking

http://www.lereve.com.hk

Fusion is a term that's going out of fashion if you listen to some chefs, it's a term that's reluctantly used to describe the blending of cuisines. Others wear the term with pride, looking to purposefully blend cultures, cuisines and ingredients, constantly challenging themselves to come up with something new, something indescribable, something totally delicious.

You might not hear rising Japanese chef Ryogo Ozawa specifically use the term fusion anywhere, but the technically brilliant chef has perfected the art of blending traditional Japanese ingredients with innovative French cooking, a blending that he calls French cuisine, new style.  Having worked at three Michelin starred L'Assiette Champenoise in Reims, Chef Ozawa has created a menu that is both technically brilliant, visually stunning and most importantly, wonderful to consume.

Le Reve has only been open for a few months, but the contemporary French restaurant is the culmination of five friends' vision and dreams.  The five friends were all students in the UK, traveling the continent and consuming all of the delights that Europe has to offer, when the idea of one day opening their own restaurant.

Oh how those boys must feel now that Le Reve is open.

Caprice - The return visit was perfection

http://www.fourseasons.com/hongkong/dining/restaurants/caprice/

My best mate had not been to visit for over eighteen months, so when he set out the criteria for our reunion dinner, there were two considerations.  It had to be French fine dining and there had to be a memorable fromage.

There are many high quality French fine diners here in Hong Kong, but there is only one with a cheese platter that can only be carried to your table by two wait staff.  It ended up being an easy choice, so we booked into Caprice, located at the Four Seasons.

My first and last visit to Caprice had been memorable, enjoyable, but not spectacular, so we were taking a bit of a risk by recommending it to the Big Boy.  If it didn't live up to expectations, we'd be hearing about it for many years to come.

With Two Michelin stars, Caprice is one of the best restaurants in our adopted city, and even though it lost a Michelin star in 2014, chef Fabrice Vulin has maintained an incredible standard of dining.  (For more information on Fabrice Vulin, check out my previous post).

Access to Caprice is through the beautiful Four Seasons hotel, and you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd entered ancient Greece with all of the marble leading up to the front of the restaurant.  An interesting dichotomy, there is just a simple plaque leading up to the doors that open automatically before you're granted access to a decadent and plushly decorated dining room and a magnificent and massive open style kitchen.  

Arcane - not so hidden or mysterious after all

http://www.arcane.hk/

I'm probably biased, but Australian chefs are taking over the world!

It seems that every day, a new Aussie chef is hitting Honkers to open a new restaurant or join part of an established team.

This invasion, of a sort, arguably started when Perth born chef Shane Osborne, moved from the UK to Hong Kong to establish his own take on a simple yet delicious fare.  Having achieved two Michelin Stars at well known London restaurant Pied-a-Terre, Osborne threw it all in to travel for a while, before ending up at HK restaurant St Betties.  Turning the fortunes of the under performing restaurant around, Osborne eventually developed his own restaurant in Central.

Arcane

"Understood by few" and "mysterious and secret"

An interesting name for a restaurant from a Chef that had run one of the world's top restaurants, perhaps hoping for anonymity in Hong Kong?

We arrived for our 7pm reservation and unsurprisingly, we were the first to arrive, seemingly the only couple in Hong Kong that think dining at this hour is normal.  Located near LKF, we had no trouble finding the restaurant and were so early, LKF was actually really, really quiet!  

AnOther Place by David Myers - great food but shame about the pacing

http://anotherplace.com.hk/

In a world filled with celebrity and Michelin awarded chefs, unsurprisingly I'd never come across US based chef, David Myers.  

That was until I'd arranged to catch up with my Singaporean based food buddy James, who'd booked us in for a dinner at Adrift at Marina Bay Sands.  James had come across David Myers on his travels and assured me that I'd have a fantastic meal at Adrift.

You can't find a more glamorous spot in all of Singapore than Marina Bay Sands, and the flashy looking and well kitted out Adrift ended up being a superb meal.  Our dinner was served to us as we sat in chairs suspended by wires from the ceiling and the ultra modern dining room felt like it would be at home in swanky parts of Los Angeles.

I really enjoyed the meal, but was pretty lazy and didn't write up the visit.

But I did remember the meal fondly and when I saw that David Myers, also known as the Gypsy Chef, was opening a restaurant in Hong Kong - knew that I'd get along and check out his interestingly named AnOther Place.

Amber - The 4Hands with Andre Chiang

http://www.amberhongkong.com/

I love the concept of 4 Hands dinners.  Two chefs working out of the same kitchen, producing a meal that highlights their best work.

I've been to a few.

But never one with the caliber of chefs from the recent dinner showcasing the skills of two of the world's top chefs.

Richard Ekkebus from Amber and Andre Chiang from Restaurant Andre, are two of the best chefs in Aisa, with their restaurants featuring in both San Pellegrino's Asia and Worlds best restaurants. It's fair to say that attending the special, two-nights only event, was high on my list of priorities.

I'd eaten at Amber before and rated the experience as one of my favourite meals of 2015 (see post here), and while I'd never dined at Restaurant Andre in Singapore, I had travelled to Taipei to visit Andre's Taiwanese outlet RAW.  Unsurprisingly, it was also one of my top meals of 2015.

Andre's visit to Amber formed part of his global tour to promote his publication of 'Octaphilosophy: The Eight Elements of Restaurant ANDRÉ' - a book that all diners would be given at the end of the 4 Hands dinner.

Le Relais de l'entrecôte - steak frites in the heart of Wanchai

http://www.relaisentrecote.hk/

Man I sure do love steak and chips!

We'd become pretty regular customers of SoHo's La Vache - mainly because by Hong Kong standards the traditional French 'steak frites' joint is incredibly great value.

La Vache is super popular too.  In the past, we've turned up just before opening, only to find a huge queue of hungry diners waiting to feast on some decent steak and all-you-can-eat frites!  The place fills up so quickly, it's pretty unbelievable.

So it's equally unbelievable that Wan Chai's own steak frites joint le Relais de l'entrecôte isn't just as popular!

I'd know about le Relais de l'entrecôte for quite some time, but it wasn't until we signed a lease on an apartment in Wan Chai that we decided to finally get along to check it out.  As much to get a feel for the dining scene in our new neighbourhood as anything else.

There are a couple of entrances to le Relais de l'entrecôte, there's an elevator that takes you upstairs to the rather grand entrance, as well as an escalator a little further along Queens Road East.  You get to the dining room through a long walkway that has bright red wood paneling, and has prints depicting cute and arty Parisian drinking scenes.

Paris - Pierre Gagnaire

http://www.pierre-gagnaire.com/en#/

When I was planning my trip to Paris, I had many possible restaurants that I could have visited.  Paris is one of those destinations that every foodie dreams about, where nouveau and haute cuisine mix willingly with the most traditional of dining.  

While my trip to the French capital was centred around my trip to Guy Savoy (see post here), I was also equally excited to be visiting fellow Three Michelin star and #16 on the La Liste (the top 1,000 restaurants globally).  I was so excited about the visit, that as soon as I'd confirmed my reservation at the well known restaurant at 6 rue Balzac, just of the Champs Elysees, I made a beeline to check out the Two Michelin starred Pierre Hong Kong (see post here).

Known as an innovator, Pierre Gagnaire has been known to 'tear at the conventions of French cooking by introducing jarring juxtapositions of flavours, tastes, textures and ingredients'.  As a food blogger, I love the concept of pushing the boundaries of flavour, I love that there are chef's that are willing to test themselves and innovate and dare to dream of a different culinary landscape.

Unfortunately, dining at Pierre Gagnaire in Paris turned out to be much more of a nightmare than a dream!

Let me start by saying that like the famous French chef's predilection for juxtaposition of food, our dining experience was indeed a juxtaposition, but just not in the way that the chef intended.

Le Pain Quotidien - finding a home in Wan Chai

http://www.lepainquotidien.com.hk

Man, I really love crunchy fresh baguettes. 

There's something special about lathering a heap of room temperature hand churned salted butter on a fresh baguette that captivates me.  

Sometimes, when I go to a restaurant and there's a fresh crunchy baguette on offer, I make the mistake of filling up on bread and ruining my appetite for the pending meal!

As much as I love bread, it's nowhere near as much as Alain Coumont, the mastermind behind global phenomenon Le Pain Quotidien; "the daily bread".  Coumont opened his first Le Pain Quotidien in his home of Brussels in 1990, with his fanatical approach to producing the absolute best 'daily bread' leading to a global empire that as of today stands at more than 200 outlets, including a flagship bakery on Madison Avenue in New York City.

Coumont had always been around food, his grandparents owning a restaurant near Liege in Belgium and his father was a trained chef, so it seemed natural to continue in the same vein. After training at the same hotel school that his father attended, he eventually deviated slightly to become a baker as opposed to a chef.

Seasons by Oliver E - 2nd visit better than the 1st

http://www.seasonsbyolivier.com

Seasons by Oliver E is rapidly becoming one of my favourite restaurants in Hong Kong.

One of the few Michelin Starred restaurants I've been to for lunch that actually impressed me (see post here), I decided that an excursion for dinner was required.  After all, if the food was so good with the reserve team in the kitchen, it surely would be even better with the main team, right?!

With a resume that's impressive, including time at Hong Kong's Three Michelin Starred L'Atelier de Joel Rubicon and Two Starred Pierre Hong Kong, Chef Oliver has taken the best of both to come up with his own distinctive style.  With a mission to modernise French cuisine on his own terms, Seasons by Oliver E is a restaurant serves my kind of food.

The second visit to a restaurant is really important, especially if you loved the first experience. Investing time and hard earned cash in a city with tens of thousands of restaurants is no small commitment, and with so many great restaurants to explore, you need a good reason to return. I've been disappointed with a few second visits in HK, which unfortunately means that a third visit is unlikely.  I hoped that my second at Seasons would allow me to reap the rewards of that investment.

Paris - Le Jules Verne

http://www.lejulesverne-paris.com/en

When I was planning my gastronomic tour of Paris, Le Jules Verne was not on top of my mind, in fact, it wasn't on my list at all.

It was the girl's desire to finally do more than walk around the Eiffel Tower, which was all we'd done on our previous visit to Paris.  While I only had a few precious nights available for dinner in arguably the centre of modern cuisine, I gladly aquiesced to SC's request, after all, le Jules Verne was an Alain Ducasse restaurant!

Oh, and I'd secretly been wanting to scale the Eiffel Tower myself - seriously, who wouldn't?

Our last trip to Paris had been in the heart of winter, and even though it was freezing cold, every time we'd visited the Eiffel Tower, it was a bustling and busy tourist location.  This visit was spring and while it was still cold by Hong Kong standards, one thing was missing on our visit.....  

The crowds.

Our visit had coincided with the tragic events in Belgium and understandably, there was a nervousness around Paris, which had manifested as a severe reduction in tourists.  It was a little weird seeing so few people at one of the world's most recognisable landmarks.

Paris - Guy Savoy

https://www.guysavoy.com/en/

It might sound a little indulgent but my recent short break to Paris was completely planned around visiting one restaurant - Guy Savoy.

Well, it's not unusual for a food blogger to plan their holidays around food, after all, I was chasing another Hong Kong food blogger around Paris for the week I was there (we'll meet up sometime Bianca!).  While it might seem natural for me to visit Paris, given my favourite cuisine is French, I'd actually been targeting another of the world's top restaurants, Massimo Bottura's Osteria Francescana, clearly the best Italian restaurant globally.  Boy is that place hard to get into, I couldn't even score a reservation three months out!

Thankfully, my second choice was available and I was able to secure a mid week sitting for Restaurant Guy Savoy, which in 2015 was voted as the number four restaurant in the world by La Liste.  If you're not aware of La Liste, it's France's alternative to the San Pellegrino top 50 restaurants and is sponsored by the French Government and takes a slightly more analytical view to ranking restaurants.  Using more than 200 food guides, review sites, gourmet blogs and major news publications on 48 countries, the list compiles a weighted aggregate score and then ranks the top 1,000 'Most Outstanding Restaurants'

Needless to say, I was pretty excited.

I won't bore you with details about how we got to Paris, but I will take a moment to reflect on how beautiful a city the heart of Paris is, simply breathtaking.  The buildings haven't changed in hundreds of years, and it's easy to imagine a time before motor vehicles, where horse and carriage were the only mode of transportation around the large and sprawling city.

Restaurant Guy Savoy is located in such a majestic building on the left bank of the River Seine, with nary a sign in sight confirming that our taxi had dropped us off at the right spot.  It wasn't until we were a little closer that we noticed the discreet sign letting us know we'd arrived at our destination.  Walking up a marble staircase, we came across a gilded door that was the entrance to culinary heaven.  

Pierre Hong Kong - Lunch at the Mandarin Oriental

http://www.mandarinoriental.com/hongkong/fine-dining/pierre/

In roughly thirty six hours I head off to Paris for a Gastronomy tour of arguably the home of modern cuisine.  To say I'm excited is an understatement.

I've been dining out at quite a few French fine dining restaurants of late, really getting myself psyched for the real deal in Paris.  I did have a cunning plan to go on a short hiatus from French food in the month leading up to our Paris trip, mainly so I didn't overdo a good thing.  It didn't work out so well though, barely a week into my self imposed ban, I found myself booked into Pierre at the Mandarin Oriental.

I like to tell myself that it was because I was having lunch with a mate from the UK that I needed to go somewhere special.  I also told myself that since I'd made a booking for Pierre Gagnaire in Paris, and surely I needed to have dined in the Hong Kong outlet before sampling the French maestro's own cooking.  In reality, I'm just a sucker for French cuisine and any reason seemed like a great idea a the time.

Located on the 25th floor of the luxurious Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Pierre is one of the dozen or so two Michelin Starred restaurants in Hong Kong.  Pierre Gagnair is a culinary genius who needs little introduction in the world of modern French cooking and his Asian outlet is fronted by Gagnaire protégé, Jean Denis Le Bras.  At just 39 years of age, Chef Jean Denis was the perfect choice to lead the Pierre team in Hong Kong, accumulating an impressive amount of experience in his native home before spending time honing his skills in London.

Robuchon au Dome - Macau's finest?

http://www.grandlisboahotel.com/dining-Robuchon_au_Dome-en

Riding up the lift to the 39th floor at the Grand Lisboa in Macau, I was able to reflect back on the journey that had us about to visit one of the world's great restaurants.

We were heading to Macau for the very specific purpose of seeing Russell Peters live in concert, perhaps one of the funniest comedians on the planet at the moment.  Our second trip to Macau in twelve months, we didn't need to do the sight seeing thing, our plan was to laugh, relax and lounge by the pool of our hotel.  Of course there was never any doubt that we'd be hitting up the best restaurant Macau had to offer.

With a string of accolades that very few restaurants can match, we chose the very refined three Michelin starred Robuchon au Dome.  Michelin stars are just the beginning for one of Robuchon's top restaurants!  Ranked number six restaurant in the world by Elite Traveller's top 100 restaurants; thirty five on the San Pellegrino's top 50 Asian restaurants and the second highest ranked Joel Robuchon restaurant in the La Liste top 1000 restaurants, the French fine diner's a must on any serious foodies list of restaurants to visit.

The trip to Macau hadn't started off as I'd have planned.  Meeting the girl at the Macau ferry, her first question me was 'where's your camera?'.  D'oh, I'd forgotten my camera for what I'd hoped would be a meal for the ages.  What would I do?  Well, I seriously contemplated buying a new camera, just for the meal.  I mean seriously contemplated it.  That was, until I saw that the camera I had my eye on was twice the listed price in HK.  

Luckily the iPhone 6+ camera has improved significantly - while not ideal, it would have to do.

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon Hong Kong - the tasting menu

http://www.robuchon.hk/about_us

Right, just about everyone who loves French cuisine knows who Joel Robuchon is, so I'm not going to bore you with too much detail, suffice to say....  He's good.

If you want the full low down, you can check out more detail at some of my other posts - here.

I've been on a bit of a Joel fixation of late, mainly because of his incredible mashed potato, which it must be said is the best I've ever had.  So, as indulgent as it sounds, we booked into the three Michelin starred L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon just so I could have some more of that fantastic mash.

We've been to the Hong Kong outlet for L'Atelier before, and to be honest, I'd been just a little bit disappointed with the meal (see post here).  Don't get me wrong, it was good, but just not what I'd come to expect when dining at a Robuchon establishment.  

The last time, we'd selected our meal from the a la carte menu, so this time we wanted to sample the menu decouverte, or discovery menu, Robuchon's famous tasting menu.  I'd had the tasting menu at the Singapore outlet and had been blown away by the meal, so was hoping for the same for our latest visit.

Ivy - Is it Italian or French? The French Riviera

http://ivyhongkong.com/

One of the things I still find a little strange, even after residing in Hong Kong for over twelve months, is the placement of restaurants in shopping centres. Throughout Australia, Europe and the Americas, shopping centres have designated areas for restaurants and food outlets. They're often quite fancy places with a range of restaurants from renowned chefs and up-and-coming dining establishments.  Harrods in London and KaDaWe in Berlin are great examples of major shopping outlets that have specific locations for restaurants.

Hong Kong is quite different, with restaurants dotted through out major shopping centres, often spread around shopping centres in unusual locations.  Ivy is the latest restaurant from the Gaia Group and is one of those restaurants that's tucked away on it's own in the IFC, so you stumble across it almost by accident!

It's a little known fact (well, I didn't really know!) that the French Riviera was a part of Italy until it was handed over to France in the 1800's. Which explains why the French restaurant has more in common with an Italian eatery than your traditional French bistro.

We'd initially hoped to get along to the annual Winter Carnival recently, but changed our mind pretty quickly once we'd seen the queue to gain entry, so had an evening free and no dinner plans.  We were feeling pretty lazy, so wanted to check out something close by, and the Ivy seemed like a pretty good option.  With no reservation made, we rocked up to to the restaurant and were relieved to find plenty of tables available.  

Restaurant Petrus - fine dining with views to die for

http://www.shangri-la.com/hongkong/islandshangrila/dining/restaurants/restaurant-petrus/

I think I've found the most spectacular and stunning views of Victoria Harbour, and quite possibly the most wonderful vista in all of Hong Kong.  Located on the 56th floor of the Island Shangri-la, Restaurant Petrus is a French fine diner that had been on my 'must visit' list for some time. I'd heard that there were some spectacular views from Petrus, but nothing could prepare me for the view that greeted me as we were shown to our table.

Matching the spectacular view of Hong Kong, was the plush interior of the Island Shangri-la's showpiece restaurant that was literally at the top of the world.  Old style French opulence sprang to mind as we surveyed the gilt chairs surrounding crisp white linen at each table.  A grand piano underneath hanging chandeliers and cherubs guarding the entrance were just some of the features that added to the feeling of pure luxury.

Matching the regal setting was a menu that was not short of luxurious ingredients, along with a wine list that showcased the restaurant's twelve thousand bottles of wine (yes, you read that correctly).  We had a choice between a special black truffle degustation and a la carte, but with an unusual take on our normal dining habits, we chose the 'simpler' options of the standard a la carte menu.  

Le Dome de Cristal - opulent decedent and oh-so-French

http://www.cristal-hk.com/catalog/

It might be said that heading to the first global collaboration between renowned French Champagne house Cristal by Louis Roederer and a restaurant might be a waste for a tea-totaler like myself.  I mean, I've never been a connoisseur or consumer of champagne.  But I am a fan of exquisite French cuisine and found that the prospect of the promised unparalleled dining experience by the luxury group appealing.

It was exactly that promise and the lure of the very experienced Chef Charles-Benoit Lacour and his pursuit of perfection that finally convinced me to check out Le Dome de Cristal.  After working with legendary French Chef Guy Savoy in Paris before becoming the Chef de Cuisine at Guy Savoy in Singapore, Chef Lacour continued his journey into Asia by becoming the culinary director and head chef of Le Dome de Cristal.

I'd walked past the innocuous entrance to Le Dome de Cristal, which is located in The Galleria in Central, many, many times on my way to work, never realising how close I was to the completely opulent and luxurious restaurant that took up almost ten thousand square feet.  It wasn't until we ascended the steps to the main dining room that I was able to truly understand how spectacular Le Dome de Cristal actually was.  Award winning interior designer Steve Leung was responsible for blending the contemporary and classic design which fully utilised the massive dome ceiling that was the highlight and centrepiece of the restaurant.

Akrame - the beginning of a global empire?

http://akrame.com.hk/

While there is little dispute that Hong Kong is one of the world's great food cities, for a westerner in an Asian city there are a couple of locations that seem to capture my attention most.  It's no surprise that Wan Chai and Soho/Central are the locals where I dine out most often, after all those two hot spots have the highest concentration of French restaurants in all of the land.

Renowned French chef Akrame Benalla, who'd secured his second Michelin star in only his second year of operating Akrame in Paris, picked Wan Chai as his location for Akrame Hong Kong.  That Chef Akrame had earned two stars at such a young age was not so surprising, after all, he learned his trade from culinary legends Ferran Adria and Pierre Gagnaire.  What was surprising was that the young chef decided that Hong Kong would be the location of his second French fine diner.

So well regarded is Akreme Benalla, he was recently voted as one of the top 100 chefs globally by Le Magazine Le Chef in 2016.

Located in trendy Ship Street, the facade of Akrame is unobtrusive and understated and, unlike many of the flashier dining establishments along Ship Street, would be quite easy to walk by if you weren't specifically looking for it.  We'd made our booking quite late on a Saturday morning, more just hoping that we'd score a seat than actually thinking we'd get in.  As it turned out, we secured the last two seats in what turned out to be a busy Saturday night.

Taipei: L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

http://www.robuchon.com.tw/atelier/main.html

There have been a number of cool new restaurants opening up in Taipei over the last twelve months, highlighting the growing popularity of fine dining in Taiwan.  Andre Chiang is perhaps the most well known of the new breed with the opening of his future #AsiaTop50 Restaurant RAW (See post here), but he is not the first, or best know chef to do so.  

Joel Robuchon is arguably one of the most well regarded chef of the last fifty years, with restaurants spanning the globe combining a total of 25 Michelin Stars across his global gastronomic empire.  Chef Robuchon had obviously seen the potential in Taiwan, opening an outlet of his famed L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon restaurants in 2009.  I'd been lucky enough to have dined at the Singapore  (see post here) and Hong Kong (see post here) L'Atelier restaurants, and wanted to add a third to my ever-growing list of top Asian restaurants I'd visited.

It took my third visit to Taipei to finally convince my buddy to come along and check out L'Atelier in his adoptive land.  The Big Boy had been living in Taipei for quite a few years and it had been a source of contention that he'd continually avoided committing to taking me to L'Atelier.  It was only with the promise of the fromages that I was finally able to convince the Big Boy that a classic French fine dining meal was just the ticket leading into Christmas.