Will new chef regain third star?

When the Michelin guide this year announced that Caprice had lost a star it was a little startling to see one of the greats take a stumble. Ever since previous Chef de Cuisine Vincent Thierry decided to move on to new ventures everyone was wondering who would be taking over the reins at Caprice. Now with new chef Fabrice Vuilin ex-executive chef of the two star La Chèvre d’Or at the helm, will his new menu regain the much coveted third star for Caprice in 2015?

Let’s see.

Some welcome appetisers to begin with. Sardine milifeuille with squid ink jelly, puff with foie gras mousse and fried shrimp patties. The pastry at Caprice is always nicely done crisp buttery layers with the smooth sardine mousse. Not fishy to taste, but it lingered on the fingers afterwards so remember to ask for wet towels. The puff was nice too, choux pastry with a sweet crunchy crust holding a savoury foie gras mousse.

Pull apart white crusty bread. Pillowy soft, but not special accompanied with olive oil.

Amuse bouche of artichoke cream. Two layered, a chilled thick and full bodied cream at the top, while a more translucent soft jelly-like layer on the bottom. Refreshing to start with.

This was the bread I was waiting for~ Olive scroll and baguette. Never fails to please, especially when consumed with a healthy spread of creamy butter.

His choice of appetiser, Brittany lobster soup with ravioli of lemon confit. The soup although creamy was not quite thick enough, but the raviolis were plump with a zesty tang. Nice temperature.

My poached egg was beautifully presented crowned with a savoury sable cracker adorned with greens, diced pork, foie gras and mushrooms. The egg felt like it was hard-boiled, but slicing into it revealed a runny yolk centre adding its richness to the sauce. The flavours worked well, the plain egg giving a neutral counterbalance to the intense savoury flavours of the accompaniments, if the egg white had been poached more softly and the dish served hotter than lukewarm I would have liked it even more.

The escargot was served with compliments (thank you) and the somewhat forest-like presentation matched the use of ingredients. Unlike what most restaurants in Hong Kong would serve- garlic butter soaked snails where we have to pry them out of their shells, here they were de-shelled and scattered among mushrooms, Iberico ham and mossy mounds of herb brioche. Not drowning them in garlic butter allowed us to fully appreciate the natural sweet flavour of these molluscs before following up with the brioche which had a garlicky oil seeped into it. Again, if only this was served warmer…

For mains, his dish of poached scallops and shrimps on a bed of cauliflower mousseline was lovely. It looked so simple yet the scallops were velvety and sweet, the shrimps nice and bouncy with the fried shrimp head adding a textural crunch. Perfect if you are looking for something lighter.

I chose the braised oxtail cannelloni recommended by the Maitre’ D and this was an extremely hearty dish. Three tubes of al dente pasta curled around a tender filling of pulled oxtail decorated with bits of bone marrow and strips of pancetta. The texture was quite sticky, requiring some effort to eat, but I guess that just meant it was full of collagen *pinches cheek*.

A little surprising to see chocolate fondant on the menu as it is now such a common dessert, but it came recommended so he chose this. A solid looking fondant with hints of its warm liquid center starting to leak out from the cracks. Intensely rich, the chocolate used was dark enough to leave enticing bittersweet tones on the tongue and when you are about to fall into a chocolate coma, turn to the sweet poached pears and cool Tahitian vanilla ice-cream to refresh yourself. I ate most of his :p

Feeling like something pastry for dessert I was a little disappointed that they did not serve a milefeuille anymore so I picked the substitute of strawberry tart. It was so pink! A trail of berry sorbet, dobs of cream and flavoured sugar crisps where the tart sat at the centre with a mane of strawberry slices fanning out. It looked better than it tasted. The tart base did not seem fresh, a little soft with no snap and the almond filling made the whole texture quite gummy. At least the strawberries were relatively sweet, but otherwise quite disappointed.

Finishing with coffee and petit four. I loved the mini carrot cake so much he surrendered his one to me too~

This was definitely not the best experience at Caprice and you can tell Chef Fabrice still needs time to assimilate with his new surroundings as well as tweaking his dishes to conform with the palate of the locals. Some of the dishes were served barely warm which was not ideal so hopefully they can improve on that, but otherwise service was welcoming and attentive as usual and the environment beautiful as always.

Three Michelin stars for 2014~

A little late, but big congratulations to the three Hong Kong restaurants for maintaining their prestigious three Michelin stars~

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon (please click for reviews here, here, here, here and gala dinner)

Curls of foie gras on Ratte potatoes with shaved white truffles

Lung King Heen

Honey BBQ pork

8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo

Peach and Almond panacotta

In Macau- Robuchon au Dome~

Sea urchin trio

And for the new comers~!

Bo Innovation (shocked they became three stars, I still think their tastes are more tuned for foreigners)

Tomato trio

Sushi Shikon (somewhere to try)

In Macau- The Eight (one of my favourite Chinese restaurants, so happy they got it!)

Portugese crab tart and pan fried BBQ pork bun

A little disappointed that Caprice has been downgraded to two stars, but that is to be expected since they are in the transition of chefs.

Well done well done!

One Month Anniversary Dinner~ @ Caprice

I know it sounds a little cliched, ok a lot, but time really flies when you are enjoying yourself especially when you are spending the time with someone who is dear to you and very soon it had reached the one month mark 🙂

Knowing that I had always wanted to try dinner at this restaurant, Mr. C very sweetly reserved a table at Caprice to mark our special occasion~

Last time I was here for lunch, I was seated by the window and I was happy to find that we were once again allocated a window table offering peaceful night views of the ocean. In the daytime, the natural daylight illuminates the restaurant offering a bright, cheerful environment for a business or special lunch occasion, while in the evening it is dimly lit with a yellowish toned lighting enhancing the elegance of the dining room.

When perusing the a la carte menu, I discovered a lot of the dishes I had wanted to order was on the degustation so I was quite happy to agree with Mr. C’s suggestion of ordering the ‘Taste of Caprice’.

The amuse bouche of the evening came as three bite-sized items. From L-R, smoked salmon on a flaky biscuit, daikon puree atop thinly toasted bread and the spoon held a cylinder of fresh prawn wrapped in thin slices of daikon with a citrusy dressing.

A server then came around with a bread basket with a selection of four different types of bread. I remember thoroughly enjoying the breads they offered at lunch last time and the croissant-like sesame scroll and baguette I picked this time was just as good. The scroll had a slightly firmer texture than a typical croissant, but its crust was slightly flaky with the fragrance of sesame seeds, while the baguette was nicely crunchy with a thin crust and pillowy insides.

The first course of the evening was a langoustine cannelloni, wrapped in thin slices of marinated salmon dotted with Sologne caviar lain on a bed of lobster jelly. The individual ingredients were definitely fresh, but I found the langoustine to be quite hard to cut through which alerted us to its slightly too chewy texture. The jelly was bland on its own with a faint whisper of lobster flavour, but coupled with the more salty cannelloni it helped balance out the sodium level.

Our soup course was next, presented very simply with a bowl of chestnut veloute with an accompanying truffled Iberico ham tartine. The flavour of the veloute was quite good, sweet and nutty, punctuated by the smokey, saltiness of the diced pork cubes hidden inside. I would have liked this even more if the texture was thicker as I found it too thin for my liking. The tartine was pleasant, a crunchy toasted base topped with thickly sliced truffles with shaved slices of fatty Iberico ham. The combination of earthy truffles and the oils released from the melting fat really made a gorgeous mouthful.

I was really looking forward to the coming dish of foie gras as I am quite fond of this delicacy and the way they served it here was steamed (like the one in Spoon) enveloped in slices of pink lady apple with dots of coriander puree. By steaming the foie gras, the texture is a lot firmer with a creamier finish and the subtle sweetness of the apple was a perfect complement to it.

The last course before our mains showcased Mr. C’s favourite item:of scallops. This was served gueridon style, with the scallops wrapped in a plastic bag to absorb the truffle smoke for four minutes before being plated on top of a bed of buttered Savory cabbage and crosnes. There was nothing wrong with this dish, good simple flavours, but nothing too special. The scallops were cooked thoroughly, but I would have preferred them to be a little more raw inside to maintain the buttery softeness.

And then to our mains. There was a choice between lamb and suckling pig, since I had expressed my want to eat lamb that night, Mr. C chose the suckling pig so we could try both. My lamb arrived as a sum of three parts, lamb cutlet, lamb shoulder pastille and a roulade of lamb with a side of artichokes. All of the lamb was gorgeously tender, but the overall dish had no wow-factor.

Mr. C’s so-called suckling pig did not resemble the suckling pig that I had envisioned. Lacking a crunchy skin, it was presented in a style akin to roast pork accompanied with curried green lentils, a small slice of boudin noir and drizzled with sausage sauce. From the slice I had, it did have a pleasant pork flavour, but was slightly too tough making it quite chewy. I think Mr. C was quite non-committal to this dish.

Normally the end of the main course would signify desserts, but before that we had a selection of cheeses to look forward too~ Caprice is renowned for their cheese room and we were fortunate enough to be allowed to have a little peek inside. The manager of Caprice is a cheese aficiando and from the manner he was describing the cheeses to us you could feel his passion in this field. He asked us for our preference in textures and flavour and then cut a selection for us to try. I tend to favour cheese that are oozy and soft, while Mr. C asked to try some firmer textured cheese. They were all gorgeous~ and surprisingly I quite liked the mimolette (the two orange cheeses), both pasterurised and unpasteruised, he cut for Mr. C to try.

After the cheese course, it signaled the time for dessert~ First to arrive were the petit fours, I quite liked the mini strawberry macaron even though it reminded me a little of my lip balm :p and the caramel apple tart-like chocolate was enjoyable too, but the green item of lime and pea mousse was a little too interesting for my taste buds.

The first dessert was light and fruity, a pomegranate and raspberry cremeux tart, accompanied with a peach sorbet. I am a big fan of pastry and the tart base was crisp and buttery, perfect with the sweet creamy filling, but the sorbert seemed a bit too sour for something that was labelled as peach.

The second dessert was definitely a contrast as it was richer and stronger in flavour than the previous one. A piped line of malt mousse and accompanying sorbet with a scattering of caramelised peanuts. Sadly I was not partial to this dessert as I found the malt alcohol flavour too strong and bitter for me, but I did like the crunchy sweetness of the peanuts.

And to end, a decent latte with assorted fudge.

Although the food that evening was good, it was not extraordinary, but the service was friendly and attentive and the ambience and surroundings were perfect for a romantic evening. Happy one month Anniversary~ 🙂

Stunning lunch @ Caprice

Knowing that I had never tried Caprice before, Miss CL suggested that we pick this as our lunch destination for the celebration of my birthday. According to their website, Caprice was the first French restaurant in Hong Kong to gain three michelin stars and having continuously heard great things about their menu I was immensely looking forward to the impending lunch date.

Upon entering the restaurant the slightly narrow entrance opens up into a grand dining room with very elegant furnishings of cream and gold. I loved how the ceilings were quite high, tables generously spaced and most of all the spectacular view of the harbour offered by the floor to ceiling windows just created such a relaxing and comfortable atmosphere for a leisurely lunch.

We were lucky enough to be seated at one of the tables directly facing the windows and soon settled down to the task of choosing our selections from the set lunch menu. There were three sections to select from: appetisers, mains and desserts and there was the option of choosing either two or three courses. Both Miss CL and I decided to have three courses and after some helpful recommendations from the waiter we made our decision.

We were then offered a selection of four different types of bread. Baguettes, whole wheat, olive and croissant scrolls. I chose the olive and whole wheat and was very impressed by the quality of bread. The crusts were thin and crunchy encasing soft insides and the bread itself was so flavourful that it did not need any accompaniments.

Our amuse bouche was served at the same time, a soft cake with anchovies, green olives and pine nuts. At the word anchovies I was already hesitant to try since I was afraid that it would be very fishy, but I was surprised that it was quite mild and the slight sweetness of the savoury cake was strange yet not entirely unpleasant.  

My entree of organic poached eggs with iberico ham and colonnata pork tartine was served in quite a rustic way. A small ramekin containing a poached egg and immersed in creamy soup was served along side two soldiers of thin toasts topped with lardo propped up against twigs. The soup had a tantalising smokey pork aroma from the shredded iberico ham and the egg was perfectly poached where the whites were just set and the yolk still wonderfully runny. The lardo on the tartine was quite flavouful, but a small bite was enough to satisfy my curiosity. This was one of the dishes our waiter recommended and yes it delivered.

Miss CL had the shellfish bisque with Alaskan king crab eclair. This was presented very simply, but that did not matter as the taste of the bisque spoke out in volumes. The flavour was so intense and the texture of the bisque was so smooth and velvety it just glided down the throat. I did not enjoy the eclair as much and I found the rubbery looking orange slice of crab to taste quite odd. Miss CL gave it her thumbs up.

Originally for mains, I had a little trouble deciding between the braised wagyu beef shoulder with carrot meli melo and red wine sauce or the roasted garoupa rubbed with fennel and anis and accompanied with provencal vegetables and anchoyade vinaigrette, but since I had been eating a little too heavily for the past few meals, I chose the lighter option of fish. I like garoupa as it does not have an overly fishy taste and the one served at Caprice was perfectly cooked. The skin was lightly salted and seared to a slight crisp, the snow white meat was tender and I loved how well the tanginess of the dressing went with the fish. On the side were provencal vegetables which consisted of a mini squash, eggplant and tomato. They were all cooked to a soft, mushy texture which was perfect for me.

The plating of Miss CL’s wagyu beef shoulder was quite interesting, with the wagyu beef shaped into a thin rectangular block and the carrot meli melo was an assortment of brightly coloured carrots cooked in different ways. From the mouthful I sampled, it was simpy amazing. The wagyu was braised till it was buttery soft and the flavour of the tender meat and melted fats was just superb. This was definitely a dish that was worthy of food envy. Recommended~

And all too soon it was time for dessert. As usual, whenever I spot something that is chocolate oriented I seem to be programmed to automatically choose it. This time it was no different as I selected the chocolate and orange souffle tart with a peppery grapefruit sorbet. It was quite artistically presented with the summery yellow and orange colours contrasting sharply with the sombre browns. And of course I did not miss the candle and birthday greeting which Miss CL kindly asked them to add. Thanks~ Chocolate and orange has always been a favourite pairing of mine, however, I do prefer the orange flavour to come from the liquer Grand Marnier rather than the fruit itself. In this case, actual orange pieces were used inside the souffle which gave a slightly sour flavour to the intense chocolatey darkness of the souffle. I did enjoy the buttery chocolate tart base used to encase the bottom of the souffle as the crisp firmness of the pastry added some texture to the softness of the souffle. I did not mind my dessert, but was more captivated by Miss CL’s choice.

The popcorn cheesecake and marinated fig napoleon with raspberry and fig sorbet did not look anything like we had envisioned it to be. We were originally expecting the cheesecake to be the focus in the form of a slice and the napoleon to be an afterthought, but instead, it came out as a giant napoleon where the popcorn cheesecake was the piped filling inside. It was such a pretty dessert~ All pinks and reds, extremely inviting to the senses. To be honest, I am not a napoleon fan at all, but the fact that I could not stop eating the pastry showed how good it actually was. Layer upon layer of thin, crisp, butteriness which gave a delightful crunch and although the popcorn flavour was very subtle, the pairing of the pastry and the smooth, creamy cheesecake… *speechless* There was an abundance of figs which were perfectly ripe and the sorbet was a cool and pleasant respite from the sinfulness of the napoleon. Definitely recommended~

Last, but not least, petite fours were served. From L-R dark chocolate truffle with a banana filling, a cute pink strawberry macaron and a caramelised apple chocolate ball. The chocolate truffle was not too sweet, and although I was a little wary over the banana filling, I was surprised at how subtle the flavour was and none of that fake banana taste either. The macaron was light and not overly sweet and I could smell the fragrance of strawberries before it reached my lips. The chocolate coating of the last petite four covered a buttery sable biscuit and eaten together with the apple, it reminded me distinctly of apple pie. Normally petite fours for me are an afterthought as not all of them taste good, however I thoroughly enjoyed these.

Nothing ends a meal better than a cup of well-made coffee. And the decaf latte I had was exactly to my taste. Despite the slightly messy pulling of the latte art, the coffee itself was very smooth with a creamy foam.
Highly satisfying~

Caprice, I will definitely be returning 🙂