When you try things with no expectations of what to expect, the outcome can most certainly be surprising. No? This was the mindset I had when Mr. C kept our dinner destination a ‘secret’ on Saturday night (mid November) and did not reveal where we were dining until an hour before. I do like surprises don’t get me wrong, but I am the type of person to pour over reviews and the menu online deciding what I want to eat even though the dinner date is still a week away which always makes me anticipate hence expect. This time, I had no time to research so when he revealed that we were going to Bo Innovation, I was quite intrigued.
Needing to take an elevator (or stairs if you prefer) up to Bo Innovation it opens up into the alfresco dining area and you are greeted by the hostess just outside the glass doors into the restaurant. Mr. C had specially requested seats at the bar table, so we could see the action inside the open kitchen. The open kitchen was quite small and seemed even more cramped with the amount of cooks and helpers bustling about. Among them, with his hair dyed a vivid red and wearing shades was the demon chef himself, Alvin Leung. Ruling the kitchen of this two Michelin star establishment he specialises in extreme Chinese cuisine, where he takes traditional Chinese dishes and uses innovative ways to tweak them into something different and exciting for his guests. I have to admit, I am not very keen on fusion, but remember no expectations.
Dining at the bar that night meant that we were automatically served the Chef’s table menu, but for other guests they also have the choice of the Chef Menu or Tasting Menu. Instead of serving bread, they played with Hong Kong’s culture of street food, by serving ‘gai dan zai’ complete with their own paper bag. Filled with cheese and iberico ham, the sweetness of the batter was pleasant with the savoury filling. It was quite addictve, both of us could not stop eating it, but I wish they served it hotter.
First to arrive was a single oyster on a bed of seaweed jelly, topped with a lime and spring onion sauce, and sprinkled with ginger snow. The oyster was fresh, slightly crunchy and had been steeped in ‘xiaoshing’ wine for two minutes prior to serving. So after the mild burn from the ginger snow had passed the fragrance of the wine still lingered on the tongue.
Next, a crispy taro nest basket cradling a quail’s egg topped with Chinese caviar was placed in front of Mr. C, while for me since I do not enjoy fried food, I had a spoonful of vermicielli braised in a soy and morel sauce topped with chopped morel mushrooms. The vermicielli was nicely chewy and the earthy yet heady flavour from the mushrooms invaded the senses. It was a little too salty, but otherwise I quite liked it, while Mr. C said his tasted like the taro puffs you can eat at yum cha, but the caviar was quite good.
Two spoonfuls covered with a bubbly foam was served on top of a billowing steam, covered metal bowl. Essentially it was diced saba fish dressed in a sesame sauce with a ponzu flavoured foam. The steam coming from the bowl was actually rose scented and it made reference to how Hong Kong was once known as the ‘fragrant harbour’. The saba was fresh with no fishiness and the citus flavour from the ponzu dressing helped open the appetite. Light and refreshing~
Since it is in season right now, they incorporated a hairy crab dish to their menu. Presented as a piping hot souffle, the crab meat was layered at the bottom while a mixture of the crab roe cream was on top. This was then drizzled with a little of the dark and thick chinkiang vinegar which had a touch of sweetness. I admit, this was the first time I had tried hairy crab, and while it was not the traditional messy way of eating it (even better for me :p) the richness of the cream was really quite indulgent.
Traditionally, after eating hairy crab it is necessary to drink ginger tea to balance out the ‘coolness’. In this case, we were subjected to a little gastronomic fun. A spoonful of ginger cream was immersed in a bowl of nitrogen cooled water and was served to us after it had hardened sufficiently. Termed as a ginger candy, we were instructed to drink a mouthful of water to prevent the candy from sticking to the mouth and to breathe out a puff of freezing cold air before allowing it to dissolve. It was very creamy, and the ginger flavour was warming and pleasant despite the coldness. Quite interesting.
A bamboo steamer was placed in front of us containing a square of fois gras topped with a bruleed ‘zhou ye qing’ liquor miso accompanied with a surprisingly big portion of bamboo shoot. The flavour of the fois gras with the sweetish miso was a good match, but there was sinew inside the fois gras which spoiled the texture. As for the bamboo shoot we were told to only eat the tender heart of the shoot and the natural flavour of the bamboo was pleasant while acting as a foil to the oiliness of the fois gras.
The presentation of the next dish was simple yet looked quite cute. Named as tomato, all three items on the plate showcased this element. Clockwise from the top: a tomato marshmallow, an heirloom tomato marinated in ‘pat chun’ vinegar and a pastry wrapped cherry tomato. It was suggested to eat the heirloom tomato first and luckily we decided to put the whole tomato in the mouth as it was so juicy that I was sure it would have dribbled everywhere if we took a bite. The sweetness of the ‘pat chun’ vinegar helped to enhance the depth of the tomato flavour and it was a such a pleasant combination~ The pastry wrapped tomato was not so much my liking as I found the pastry to be quite heavy and gluggy, while the cherry tomato inside was actually quite dry. I think I enjoyed the tomato marshmallow most as it was something very different, although it was akin to a puff of air, the tomato element was very concentrated leaving behind subtle tones of tangy and sweet. Very good.
For $480 we were able to add on an additional course consisting of ‘cheong fun’ wrapped duck egg smothered in yak cheese and sprinkled with Alba white truffles. This was something really worth eating. The duck egg was cooked perfectly, spilling a lake of gorgeous orange yolk as it was pierced. I would assume that some people may not be able to accept the strong flavour of the yak cheese, but to me it was really good, creamy and smooth, coupled with the richness of the yolk and the earthy fragrance of the white truffle it all made for such a decadent mouthful… Recommended~
When dining at Bo Innovation, one of the most talked about dishes is their signature xiao long bao. Unlike the traditional flour skin wrapped pork mince, this was done molecular style. Served as an ovoid shape, with a line of red ginger placed on top, it really did not look like anything special. But as always, looks can always deceive. Slippery smooth, the slight gelatin casing pierces easily releasing a gush of concentrated porky and gingery soup. To be honest, it did not really taste like a xiao long bao, but Mr. C was spot on in saying that it reminded him of the flavours of fake shark fin stew (wun zai chi).
One of the favourites of the evening was probably their version of a Taiwanese beef noodle soup. White and green strands of noodles made from daikon and chinese chives respectively twined at the bottom of the bowl, with a piece of truffled tendon and a cube of marbled blushing pink saga beef nestled on top. Over this, was poured an aromatic beef consomme which smelt marvelously of aniseed and all the herbs used in a beef noodle soup. The noodles were nicely chewy and the tendon was braised until it was so jelly-like that it just melted on the tongue. The saga beef, despite having a slight chewy texture was very flavourful with the marbling of fat adding that additional touch of richness. This was definitely an over the top version of a simple comfort dish, but wow it was amazing~
The final savoury dish on the menu was clay pot rice with organic ‘long jiang’ chicken. Made with 7 year aged Acquerello rice, it was cooked with a combination of chicken oil and stock with assorted mushrooms mixed into the rice. The chicken was presented as two circular slices laid on top of the rice, one had crispy skin (for Mr. C), while mine was steamed. The rice had an earthy aroma from the mushrooms and it really resembled risotto, big individual grains that were cooked till it had a slight bite and all held together by the creamy stock. The chicken was silkily tender and you could taste the natural essence of the meat. It was good, but I still prefer clay pot rice cooked in the traditional way.
Even after so many courses, we still had desserts to come~
The first was an almond panacotta with a berry compote served in a cute glass jar. What was unusual about this was that they had captured the smoke of sandalwood inside and it was suggested that we inhale the fragrance as we peeled off the foil cap. The smell was very strong, and it felt like we were inhaling incense at a temple, not really to my liking, but fortunately the actual edible part of the dessert was very good. The panacotta was so smooth and creamy with a delicate flavour of almonds while the compote gave a nice tart contrast to the sweetness of the pudding.
Next a small cup of ying yang was presented to us, an all-time favourite drink for Hongkys in cha chan tengs. Honestly speaking, I have never ordered one ever, but I knew that it was a mix of strong milk tea with coffee. The ying yang here was quite interesting, they separated the milk tea and coffee with a plastic partition which was pulled out prior to serving. Reason being, the coffee was cold while the milk tea was hot. We were told to sip right in the middle of both liquids and the sensation of cold and hot at the same time was quite quirky. I loved the creamy texture of the ying yang and surprisingly the flavour of the coffee and tea complemented each other perfectly, neither one overpowering the other. Very nice~
The last dessert before petite fours was a crispy fried milk with a banana foam and drizzled with caramel sauce infused with ‘shui jing fang’ rice wine. Since I try to abstain from eating fried foods, I just sampled the filling of the fried milk, which was quite gluggy with only a faint milky flavour. The foam was like a cold airy ice cream, with quite a strong banana flavour, but in general the dessert was not particularly captivating.
Lastly, we were served our petite fours. Instead of just a few chinese-styled pastries, we were served eight different types! Six of them were perched prettily inside a cage-like stand while two of them being steamed items were placed inside a bamboo steamer. Inside the cage on the top tier from L-R: a chewy sweet cheong fun like roll made from osmanthus, next to it was a rose macaron and a layered dragon eye jelly with coconut. The bottom tier held a fried lotus seed sticky rice dumpling, red date marshmallow and mandarin chocolate truffle. Inside the steamer was a wolfberry, tian jin pear and blue cheese crystal bun and a fluffy chrysanthemum steamed sponge cake. To be honest, the petite fours were not really to my liking, they were too herbal-like in flavour and although the combinations sounded interesting they did not really work well on the tastebuds.
Despite the disappointing petite fours, it was an interesting dinner, one that is worth trying at least once. Service was quite attentive, and our server was adept at describing each dish and its components thoroughly.
No expectations, but really not bad~
Just Something About Me 