Gaddi's (Hong Kong) 11/2011

Passing through the modern foyer of the Peninsula Hotel to the private lift to this renowned Kowloon restaurant, like Alice in wonderland, one is transported to a spacious palatial room, a throw back to colonial times, where the British aristocracy would have eaten and danced 150 years ago. Elegant tables,
gilded mirrors, huge chandeliers, silver candelabras and vases filled with dozens of roses set the tone. It's sophisticated old world, almost ostentatiously rich, a place for the upper echelons of society to meet for business , or to dine. One imagines it unchanged with eager waiters passing between elegantly set tables, taking orders from guests and hurrying to satisfy their every bidding. Coccooned here perhaps not all that much has change

Today the chef obliging allowed me to have the set dinner whilst Sandra ate from the a la carte menu which suited her better – we both got to taste everything anyway! The meal began with a small chef’s offering of two small quennelles one of delicate crab meet next to a vinegary broccoli with a little slice of oven crisped bread. The crab was lovely but suffered from juxtaposition with a vinegary partner. The menu is in French and English but I will just use the English version here although there were plenty of foreign words included in it!

There were a variety of breads served with salt and sweet butter. The crusty white bread was super but the beer bread fantastic. Oddly they also offered a bacon filled croissant and an olive and fruit bread. My first course was Tasmanian salmon poached in olive oil with a lemon coulis and Osietra caviar. The salmon was delicious but had been poached to the point where it could hardly be picked up without falling apart on the fork. The caviar and the rest of the dish did a lot for the presentation but did little for the flavour of it.Jerusalem artichoke custard ravioli with black truffles and sautéed scallop was not very successful. The black truffles might as well not have been there, The very large scallop was over sautéed and slightly stringy with strong scallop taste but lacking the subtle texture one expects. The custard ravioli was thin and overcooked.Unfortunately the flash failed for this pic. Sicillian red prawns (it should have read prawn) roasted with pike soufflé poached in tomato bisque was a fantastic dish with wonderful flavour. I felt like licking the dish. Definitely a rare treat.Slow cooked Bresse spring chicken with roasted leg, goose liver and cep mushrooms was another winner. The chicken breast was stuffed with the rich but ever so delicate goose liver creating a great combination.Poached pear in tonka bean aroma and crispy meringue ball, vanilla ice cream was rather pretty. It probably added an inch to my waistline. Nothing subtle about this dessert which was extremely sweet with a nice variety of textues and flavours.Mocha or Peninsula tea with petit fours, which were ,and only added to my caloric excesses. As well as the little sweets there were a couple of thin slices of chocolate with honeycomb served in a toast rack which I especially liked.This menu cost $1488 + 10% = about A$235 + wine which goes from about A$17 a glass upwards. Cocktails are about A$22. The same menu with matched wines adds about A$150 to the bill

Sandra had fine puff pastry with melted goose liver, caramelised onions, and smoked bacon (A$60). This was an outstanding entrée and whole roasted Boston lobster with a lightly whipped jus, semi dried tomatoes in Armagnac butter. (A$110) They also offer Brittany lobster which is a tougher meat and has a stronger flavour. For dessert she had 3 scoops of absolutely excellent ice cream, the mascapone, caramel being the best of them, and a plate of water melon and rock melon.

Just a little short of excellent for the food but outstanding in every other way
Score: 15/20