The Ocean and Pure Berlin Collaboration: The 4 Hands Dinner

http://www.theocean.hk/#home & http://www.pure-berlin.com/en/about.html

Service and luxury begin long before you enter the front door of The Ocean restaurant over in beachside Repulse Bay.  It's a little known secret that I'm about to expose, but there is a limousine service available from the newly opened restaurant by fine dining restaurant group Le Comptior.  With a fleet of Tesla electric motor vehicles, the group combines luxury and an environmentally friendly approach that is reflected in the group's food philosophy.

Since my first visit to The Ocean, which was a little bit of a mixed bag (see post here), we've been over to Chef Agustin Balbi's fine dining seafood restaurant a couple of times.  It's fair to say that we've come to love the inventive styling of Chef Balbi and his dedication to creating delectable and creative plates of food, centering on seafood.  

So it was great excitement that we travelled from our apartment courtesy of the limousine service to the special collaboration event planned by Chef Balbi and the way-out-crazy-dudes from Pure Berlin.

If you've never heard of Pure Berlin, then your probably not alone, but the avant garde concept group  out of the German capital are looking to establish Germany as the next international culinary trend destination.  Chief idea maker of Pure Berlin and food designer Miles Watson (actually a Kiwi) had decided to take their ideas on the road and the collaborative meal at The Ocean was a stop on the tour.

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.

Biota Dining and Urbane Restaurant - 2 Hat collaboration = 4 Hat success

http://www.biotadining.com/     http://www.urbanerestaurant.com/

Sitting at home, mucking around on my iMac (as you do), I received an email from one of my favourite restaurants letting me know about a pretty special dinner.  I'm normally pretty absent minded and disorganised and good at forgetting about such emails, but this one piqued my interest immediately, it seemed like a once in a generation deal (I may be exaggerating).  It was compelling enough to forward straight on to SC and check that she'd be as keen as I was, with an immediate reply - 'of course'. 

You might be wondering what could garner such interest from a guy that eats out all the time?

2 Chefs - 4 hats - 1 Dinner

Then I read on.  One of the country's best chefs, Alejandro Cancino from our very own Urbane was teaming up with James Viles from Biota Dining in Bowral, who just happened to be youngest ever Chef’s Hat winner at the age of 23.  James has worked alongside some of the world's best chefs including Alain Ducasse and Hans Haas, so it's no wonder that his restaurant, Biota Dining, has been recognised as regional restaurant of the year, two years running.  Alejandro and James are well known for their strong commitment to sustainability and were partnering to design a six course menu, incorporating seasonal botanicals from our own local growers.  It was a meal not to be missed!

I've written about Urbane a few times (see posts here, here and here) which is a testament to how great the restaurant is, but I really wanted to see how two such revered chefs would work together.  I was especially excited about getting along to the dinner, it was petty unlikely that I'd ever find my self in Bowral...  I have to admit, the lure of four chefs hats in the kitchen was too much for me to ignore!