Tag: beef tartare

A “Neighborhood” restaurant in Soho (Hong Kong)

Lured by its inclusion in the list of Asia’s 50 best restaurants (2019), during my September 2019 trip to Hong Kong I made a reservation at Neighborhood, a bistro hidden in Soho. It is listed on some websites as a “French” restaurant, but the chef-owner, David Lai, plays also with Italian and Spanish recipes and ingredients.

The visit

I established contact with the restaurant on their Facebook page, then they asked for my mobile and we exchanged a couple of text messages to pinpoint a reservation. I was warned that I would get a bar chair, that was fine since I was alone.

The restaurant has an unassuming front in an alley.

The restaurant technically is located on Hollywood road, but you won’t find it there… rather you have to look for the nearby Man Hing Lane (shown above).

I was initially seated at the bar as expected. After 10 minutes one of my leg was numb… it was really an uncomfortable chair and luckily after some begging I was moved to a normal table.

I already knew that the menu changes frequently. I was a bit disappointed that the menu I was handed was remarkably shorter than others I saw online. The most interesting dish would have required a pre-order. Yet, there were some attracting dishes and the ingredients seemed to be handpicked.

My first order was an appetizer, Spanish salami that came with a fantastic ciabatta bread (apparently they buy the bread from a nearby award-winning French restaurant, Belon).

My first dish was a delicious beef tartar with salmon roe. The addition of salty fish eggs gave a nice touch to the overall flavor.

Meantime I was offered a complimentary dish: some grilled bell-peppers. Very nice.

My last dish was handmade garganelli (a type of pasta) with an interesting combination of spicy scallop skirts and beef tripe. It was quite spicy (I would say Korean style), but very good.

With the check, I was offered a complimentary French pastry.

The check

The final check was 610 HKD (78 USD) for three courses. Not outrageous and the food in the end was good. This was a luxury casual restaurant. If I was living in Soho and I was a millionaire, I would make it my kitchen. At the same time I feel I missed something since I could have planned my dinner in a more effective way if I had seen the menu beforehand. If you go, ask them to send you the menu, when available.

Where in Hong Kong:
G/F, 61-63 Hollywood Road, Soho, Central.
(But look for Man Hing Lane.)

Why Quince is great for Saigon (even if I did not like everything about it)

Quince Saigon is the Vietnamese outpost of a Quince Eatery in Bangkok, managed by Farandole group. It has been a very hyped restaurant and you can find tons of positive reviews online. Certainly a sign of Saigon’s evolving food scene.

I tried Quince for the first time in summer 2018 and I thought that it would not have been fair to write a review on the basis of just a single visit. So I came back again in my summer 2019 trip to get a better idea.

The visit(s)

Located in the outskirts of district 1 in a rapidly developing area famous for its hardware stores and a military surplus market, the interior of the restaurant exudes modernity and class. As a solo diner, I find the long counter a very nice feature (and I sat there on both of my visits). Let’s start with my 2019 visit.

I started with an octopus casserole. The octopus was tender and all the condiments right. Really enjoyed the dish.

Then I was craving for chicken (this was the beginning of my summer 2019 chicken quest that culminated in Chiang Mai…) and I was attracted by a roast French cockerel (coquelet) on the menu. It was ok, but there was really little meat (which is normal for this kind of chicken, in fact I was expecting a whole one, the menu did not help).

The chicken came with some potatoes and greens.

I had also ordered a dish of greens with an homemade anchovy sauce that was brilliant (the flavor reminded me of Japanese sauces) but I was a bit upset because nobody told me that the chicken was already coming with some greens. It was not clear at all from the menu that, using a modern style, only indicated the main ingredients of the dish without more details. If I knew about it, I would have ordered something else.

While I was eating the salad I was abruptly interrupted by the waitress that wanted to clean the table from the chicken plate. She literally interrupted me while I was chewing. This kind of things make me upset not with the service staff, but with the management that should have trained them in a better way.

No dessert, but the check was accompanied by some jellies.

And now a look at my 2018 visit.

My first dish was an interesting beef tartare. It was not your usual tartare. It was copiously sprinkled with dried egg yolk and rich of ingredients (I appreciated the capers). Overall a very good creative dish.

My main was a veal cheek with mash and cherry tomatoes. There was a good balancing of flavors among the three main ingredients of the dish. However the veal was quite dry contrary to my expectations.

The cauliflower with cream that I ordered as a side was full of flavor and simply great.

I also enjoyed a Vietnamese red tea.

Finally I had some room for a dessert: a scoop of Ralf’s chocolate gelato. Good of them that found the best in town.

The final complimentary jellies were already there.

The check(s)

The 2019 visit cost me 1,218,525 VND (52 USD), including a super expensive bottle of water!

The previous visit cost me basically the same (the tea was much less expensive than the water).

By international standards, it was quite reasonable. Being in Saigon, the cost opportunity is not negligible.

After these visits and after speaking with F&B professionals in Saigon I realized one thing: Quince has been and is great for the development of Saigon’s restaurant community. The head chef, Julien Perraudin, has an amazing curriculum and is a true creative force. The creativity is reflected in his dishes and the menu changes frequently depending on the quality ingredients available. Do not expect to find the dishes I described. All of this creative power is trickling down to the wider community and is helping in modernizing Saigon’s food scene. Great.

What left me with mixed feelings, especially after the second visit, was the lack of clarity on the menu. I hope I could have had a more in-depth conversation about the food to order with the chef (but he was, rightfully so, busy) or some knowledgeable staff. This would have made the experience more streamlined. I would gladly go back if chef Perraudin was to offer a tasting menu or to try some specific dishes.

Where in Ho Chi Minh City:
37bis Ký Con Street, District 1
Follow their Facebook page.

French fine dining in Seoul at TocToc

TocToc is a Michelin-starred restaurant in Seoul also included in the list of the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. This is my experience in July 2019, during the week of their grand opening in a new location in Gangnam.

The meaning of the name is explained on their website: “‘Toc Toc’ is a French expression of ‘knock knock’; demonstrating chef’s determination to open up your taste through fine cuisine”.

The visit

They took my booking by email after a bit of back and forth, but at the end they also asked me to pay a deposit of 50,000 Won with an online system. I hate when restaurants do that, but I obliged. It was not explained to me, but the deposit was to be returned and not deducted from the check.

I went for dinner on a Saturday night. The dining room is very elegant. Everything was brand new. When I arrived I discovered that they had made some changes to the set menu that I had seen on their website (now it is up to date), but fine. I went for their dinner course menu.

The amuse bouche was a slice of cooked ham with a stick of grissini. That’s Italian in my books. But fine.

The welcome dish consisted of three snacks: watermelon, seabass (fermented and deep fried), beef tartare with house sauce.

Then the bread was served with some fanfare. It turns out that TocToc’s executive chef and owner also started a bakery called Sikbugwan and that’s where the bread came from. Time for a cross-promotion. But the bread was very good and best eaten while warm.

The raw dish was brown croacker sashimi with ginger dressing. I am all for sashimi, but the dressing flavor was a bit overwhelming. Something funny happened here. Since the waiter was a bit chatty, I randomly mentioned that I like to eat sashimi with chopsticks. I did not phrase it as a request or a complaint, but the guy did not like my remark and put me to my place saying “We are in French restaurant in Seoul“. You cannot argue with that. Chopsticks or not, it was a forgettable dish.

In addition to the course menu, I ordered a beef tartare with crispy lotus flowers that was excellent. They did not messed up adding too many ingredients and let the beef speak for itself.

The warm dish was a piece of abalone on mash and eggplant.

Exceptionally, because it was their opening week in the new location, they grated some French truffle from Avignone on the abalone. Truffle or not, the abalone was tender and very good.

For main I could choose between lamb, fish, or Hanu beef. It was a simple choice, I went for the local beef – striploin – that did not disappoint. Korea has some incredible beef.

More truffle on the pasta, some pappardelle with pecorino cheese. It was good, but it was a minuscule portion.

Finally I was served the seasonal dessert (a sorbet on a mango puree).

And it was nice that a cup of tea was also included.

The check

The course menu was 110,000 Won that became 120,000 because I opted for the truffle pasta that commanded 10,000 Won extra (the only pasta with no surcharge was kelp pasta… not the most attractive; they also had lobster pasta for a 15,000 won surcharge). The tartare was excellent but also not cheap at 37,000 Won. So, all in all, I spent 157,000 won (or 130 USD).

The overall experience left me unsatisfied. It was not a disappointment because overall the course menu was good, but I was expecting something more. The chef mostly played safe with traditional French high cuisine classics and some Italian dishes. I wish he had brought more of his Seoul’s upbringings into the menu.

Where in Seoul:
3F 41 Hakdong-ro 97-gil, Gangnam-gu.
In Korean: 서울특별시 강남구 학동로97길 41 3층.
Website: www.restauranttoctoc.com.

Perfect lunch with “virtuoso” dishes at Le Bistrot de Racine, Shanghai

I have eaten in terrible Italian and French restaurants with Italian and French chefs. So no surprise if I just loved the perfect French food of Le Bistrot de Reacine even if there is no French chef in the kitchen (but the head chef trained in France for years according to the maitre).

Le Bistrot occupies a large old-style villa in a street full of Western eateries, Wuding Lu. And do not be misled by the Bistrot thing… this is a fine dining venue.

They also operate a bakery in the same building (on the right). Their bread is well worth a trip.

The visit

Once a year I treat to lunch in Shanghai two good friends and this year I invited them to Le Bistrot de Racine for a Sunday lunch.

My phone reservation (that I had to change, so there might have been some misunderstanding) was lost, but there were tables available. I was escorted to my table in a lateral dining room that must have been a veranda. The maitre spoke English.

The table was splendidly appointed.

The bread basket deserves a special mention: all the bread was fresh and perfectly baked. And just good old-school bread, with the addition of a brioche and some flatbread with pistachio.

We ordered three appetizers and three mains for this lunch. We did not try the desserts because we moved to another venue for a sweat treat afterwards.

The first dessert was a classic beef tartare (with M5 quality wagyu and an organic quail egg) that came with hand-made potato chips. A bit skeptical about the chips, but, as I could say of all dishes, it was perfectly executed and very enjoyable.

Another tartare, this of bluefin tuna with guacamole and topped with Russian caviar. It came with rice chips with pepper seaweed.

We also had a pâté en croûte with an amazing array of ingredients: Rougie duck foie gras and leg, veal, Iberico pork, French ham, black truffle. It was an explosion of flavor, better shared among several people. This dish also illustrates the chef’s predilection for crusts and pastries that will be in full display in the mains that we ordered.

The first big ticket item was a Wellington steak that came presented like an abstract painting.

The Wellington steak is a dish that requires a certain degree of technique to cook the beef without burning the pastry. On top of the steak there was also a nice chunk of foie gras. We all greatly enjoyed this dish.

The next main was another dish “en croute”, this time a seabass.

Inside the crust lied a perfectly cooked seabass in a delicious sauce.

We also had lamb chops (char-grilled from New Zealand). This was another excellent dish, some of the best lamb chops I saw in Asia with some morel mushroom and truffle mushroom jus to delicately enhance the flavor.

The check

We spent 2,050 RMB for the food and water (296 USD). A main and an appetizer will easily set you back of 100 USD, more if you add a dessert, and much more if you drink wine. And I would not say that the dishes are suitable for sharing, with a few exceptions (like the pate and perhaps the Wellington). It is an expensive restaurant, but the quality is there. The food is perfectly executed with top ingredients and I will certainly go back to try some more dishes.

Where in Shanghai:
609 Changde Lu near Wuding Lu
In Chinese: 静安区常德路609号，近武定路

Brunch at Le Comptoir de Pierre Gagnaire in Shanghai

To complete my Shanghai Michelin Guide Scrambled I made a reservation at Le Comptoir de Pierre Gagnaire in Shanghai for a Sunday lunch. The restaurant was given a star in the 2019 editoon of the Shanghai Michelin Guide and is located in the exclusive Capella Hotel in the former French Concession.

According to his Wikipedia entry

Gagnaire is an iconoclastic chef at the forefront of the fusion cuisine movement. Beginning his career in St. Etienne where he won three Michelin Stars, Gagnaire tore at the conventions of classic French cooking by introducing jarring juxtapositions of flavours, tastes, textures, and ingredients.

Spoiler alert: nothing of this was apparent in the restaurant I visited.

The visit

My first attempt to make a reservation was weird. I called and was told that it was possible to join for lunch. But when I replied that I would come at noon, at the opening time, I was told that they could only accommodate me at 12.30. To me that does not make any sense. If you have a table at 12.30, then it must available also at half an hour earlier (since it is the opening time…).

I completed my reservation by email.

When I arrived I discovered that the menu that I had consulted on the website was only available for dinner! There was a less interesting brunch menu available. Later I complained about this with the manager and I see that now they published on the Capella’s page for the restaurant all the various menus. You are welcome.

I settled for their brunch package that included two courses, mineral water, juices, tea or coffee, bread basket, and desserts from a mini buffet. Then, I also added some eggs from la carte.

The bread basket was promptly served with butter and some confectioneries. Nice, but nothing spectacular.

Then I got their signature beef tartare. It is tartare with some additional ingredients, such as cheese, tuna and duck sashimi. Iconoclast? I was expecting a lot, but please give the Le Bec tartare every day of the week over this.

Next I got a sea bream seared fillet with a delicious condiment. This was a very good dish, but nothing new.

The Egg Benedict were perfectly executed.

Finally, I sampled some cakes from the dessert buffet. Again, very good, but nothing that left me with the crave to go back.

The check

Final charge was 644.60 CNY (94 USD). The basic package was 488 CNY plus 10% service charge.

What to say? For a brunch in Shanghai, this is a pretty bad value for money. For that money you can dine in a luxury buffet on the Bund (hint… check the Cathay Room).

Did I find anything exceptional about this French restaurant? Not really, I can have a good sea bream fillet in so many other establishments. If I could sample the full menu, who knows, maybe I would have had a better experience.

Why a place like this gets a star and Villa Le Bec does not will remain a mystery to me. Unfortunately, the Shanghai inspectors seem to be prone to award stars by default to the branches of renowned international powerhouses.

Where in Shanghai:
480 Jianguo Xi Lu inside Capella Hotel
Address in Chinese: 建国西路480号(建业里)
Check the hotel website page for the restaurant.

 

 

The pleasure of French food and hospitality at Villa Le Bec

There is a great French restaurant hosted in a villa in the heart of the Former French Concession in Shanghai. This beautiful place is the brainchild famed French chef Nicolas Le Bec who, in 2012, decided to move shop from Lyon to Shanghai (hint: his wife is Chinese).

He took him a couple of years to turn the villa, dating back to the 20s of last century, into a multi-function dining destination that now includes a bistro, several private dining rooms and two gardens.

The visit

In my second visit in early October 2018 I was seated in the backyard garden. It is a spacious but yet intimate location. If the sun is not too hot, this is one of the best outdoor dining locations I visited in the Former French Concession.

The bread arrived still warm, in the form of two types of ciabatta bread.

I started with a rich pâté en croute, a French dish that could be defined as a meat pie. But much better than a meat pie… the meats and the spices were perfectly amalgamated under the pastry shell. While it is certainly a filling dish, I found it delicate.

Then I had one of my favorite dishes in the world, a beef tartare. I had high expectations from this beef tartare and I was not let down.

The waiter aptly mixed the beef with an egg, crushed capers and some Tabasco pepper sauce. The result was a dish of exquisite texture and taste.

Then I was served the main consisting in a lamb shank (the shank is the portion of the meat around the tibia of the animal). It came along with mashed potatoes.

This was a very compact yet meaty piece. The skin was lightly fried adding to the flavor.  It was a bit dry, but the great sauce that came with it solved any issue. I found it an excellent execution of this French classic.

Unfortunately, at this point I had no room for a dessert. There were some attractive specimens on display in the bistro.

I was also happy to find on the menu Alain Milliat juices (otherwise they do not have many options for people who do not like alcohol).

The check

For these three dishes I spent 680 CNY (basically 100 USD). It is not the check of your everyday bistro… however it should be noted that most dishes were perfectly suitable for sharing between two people.

Given the quality of the food and the surrounding (with English speaking staff) I have no problem with this price point. I think Villa Le Bec is the perfect place where to taste authentic French food in Shanghai.

Pro-tip: for a memorable experience if the weather permits try to get a seat in the garden and if you have a party try to use one of their private rooms.

Where in Shanghai:
321 Xinhua Lu
Address in Chinese: 新华路321号
More information on the restaurant’s website.
They also operate a wine bar called Epicerie 62 at 62 Xinhua Lu.