Caprice

Date: 9th Jan 2011

Caprice @ Four Seasons Hotel 

My first meal out in HK of 2011 was at Caprice, as I left right after New Years to Seoul, where it was snowing and I had a red nose everyday from the cold.... Shopping isn't so fun when its -10degrees C! For lunch on this day, we were a three-some - mum, my brother and myself. We had a good time for the most part... but I'll let you decide whether it's worthy of a re-visit for lunch... 

“Amuse bouche” – garlic herb bread sticks

I was surprised when this was our amuse. I double-checked with the waitress and indeed it was our amuse for the day... Whilst it wasn't bad, it was very average and boring....not something which I expected...

menu

"salted and unsalted butter"

once voted best condiments in HK on cnngo... this was plenty for the three of us to go with the bread basket the waiters came around with... the salted was quite yumm but I honestly don't think I am of the caliber to distinguish salted butter from Brittany and other salted French butters... 

As for the bread, I had a rye and brioche roll for a contrast. Both were good but I wish they were warm.

"Correze Chestnut Veloute"

with Duck Foie Gras and Croutons

This was mum's choice. According to her it was good.

"Alaskan King Crab, Shellfish Jelly and Mango Mousse" 

I chose this as my appetizer, and it was delicious despite the hiccup I experienced - the first one had a tiny tiny bug on a micro-green leaf, and I notified a waiter who kindly offered to exchange it for me. Ten seconds later another waiter ]in black suit] came back and said that the black thing was a seed. Trust me, it was not. I had shown it to my brother next to me prior to sending the dish back and we had both seen the bug with its antlers and all! To have a bug is one thing, to have a waiter try to defend the goodwill of the restaurant by lying denying the truth is another which I couldn't accept...

So back to the actual dish - I really liked the combination of flavours - from the light and sweet mango mousse to the fresh crab meat, and jelly which was studded with diced sweet bell peppers. If the triangle crips could've been more crispy/brittle, then for me this would've hit a 9 or 10!

"Scallops a la plancha"

with a watercress custard and green lentils

another photo because it deserves it...

this scallop dish was deceptively simple in appearance but really very tasty. the four scallops could have been juicier and fatter like the ones you often find from Japanese restaurants, but these were perfectly seared a la plancha (i.e. hot plate). the pool of sauce which the green lentils was stewed in was not very appealing in colour (greenish-brown?!) but certainly very tasty, with Indian/SE Asian spices which I definitely did not expect! The watercress custard was very green and tasted green too, could have used a bit of seasoning, but quite enjoyable with the lentil stew because of its panna cotta-like consistency... 

"Coated Veal Head"

with Pommery breadcrumbs, Vegetable Meli-Melo and Tartar Sauce

my brother wanted to be adventurous and went ahead and ordered this dish, but I had my doubts as to how they were going to make the head of a baby cow tasty...

The brown cake in the photo is a deep-fried 'cake' of shredded meat (which I assume is from the head of the animal), and the outer layer was perfectly thin and crisp, not heavy despite its appearance. I thought the cake was very well seasoned and the meat/fat inside incredibly tender, but the creamy and slightly tangy tartar sauce added another layer of flavour. My brother (who hates most vegetables save for choy-sum) happily ate all the vegetables on top too (of course, with some help from the yummy house-made tartar sauce).      

"Teriyaki Wild Pollack" 

with Creamy Basmati Rice and Shiitake Mushroom

This was mum's choice, and I had a bit of the perfectly seared pollack - not my first choice of fish because it is way too lean which means the texture isn't comparable to cod or salmon when roasted / pan-fried etc., Anyway, I felt that this dish was definitely lacking in....sodium! The name was also slightly deceiving... 'Teriyaki' denotes a sweet soy marinade-coated protein, but this had drops of the sauce on the side which for aesthetic purposes was excellent, but not such a big hit for me on flavour. 

"dessert trolley" 

"Desserts" is what i read on the menu before anything else... so I was waiting for this course with excitement. There were six selections for the day...and our selections (all) can be seen below.

"petit fours" 

marshmallow, pineapple financier, caramel candy, chocolate with cranberry filling

I liked the textures of the marshmallow but it was too sweet, and the chocolate with the tart cranberry reduction was definitely my favourite. 

my plate 

Blueberry macaron, berries tart, blueberry mille-feuille

the macaron was impeccable - it was larger than your average candy but was so yum - crisp exterior, chewy interior, had a foot and the chocolate and blueberry filling inside was a perfect balance of sweetness. 

the berries tart was fresh, and the base is buttery and shortbread-like

the mille-feulle had a crisp pastry, but i didn't really like the filling - a layer of blueberry, mascarpone cream and white chocolate - i'd be happy with a good creme patissiere and fresh berries!

brother's plate

yuzu creme with a diced mango crumble - incredibly sour but quite light and nice if you like yuzu.

Chocolate cake - had liquor and was a tad too dry, we left this. 

Coffee eclair was quite enjoyable. There was a coffee mousse on top, a layer of tempered chocolate, caramel mousse on pastry which could've been slightly less soggy if I am to be picky... 

"cappuccino"

wasn't a bad cuppa, but simply not near Mandarin Oriental's. 

Save for the 'hiccup' I experienced during the appetizer course - which I can understand because a bug in Caprice's food would be appalling news, but it did happen, and I didn't understand why they couldn't just accept that it was a bug -I was pretty satisfied with lunch here, and left feeling content (thanks to the exceptional macaron!). I would come back again I guess, just not running back...

Food: ♥♥♥-♥♥♥♥

Service: ♥♥-♥♥♥♥

Price: $$$$$

Caprice 

6/F, Four Seasons Hotel, 

8 Finance St, Central

Tel: +852 3196 8888