Hong Kong, China

This is where the travel blog turns into a food blog………………..

Our dinner splurge for the trip was at Bo Innovation, Alvin Leung’s restaurant featuring modernist X-treme Chinese cuisine.

I recently decided to start a food journal to help me remember what I’ve eaten when I go out for really nice meals (especially when there is really nice wine to go along with the food). I think that the restaurant staff have have thought that I was a food writer because the chef and the rest of the team kept a close eye on us all night long.

The restaurant has a very relaxed, sophisticated atmosphere. The wait staff were very friendly and knowledgeable. My only criticism is that it was hard to understand the servers at times – they spoke great English but the background noise made it hard what was being said
We ordered the Chef’s Tasting Menu as it included pigeon (which I love). As each course was delivered, the server gave a detailed explanation of the dish. For select courses,some of the major ingredients of the dish were brought to the table. This really helped me understand what I was eating and allowed me to identify flavours that I have been tasting all my life and had no idea what they were. The ‘Show and Tell’ was an amazing idea that really sets this restaurant apart from others.

CHEF’S MENU

Amuse Bouche: Waffles – This is a typical Hong Kong street food with a savory edge created Iberico ham. A very interesting way to start the meal.

Oyster: When the dish was brought to the table, dry ice in the vessel below spread a witches brew of ‘parfum’ that had the salty sea smell of the Hong Kong habour. The oysters were flavoured with lime and dehydrated ginger snow. They went down easily with a little sparkling Castellroig Cava Brut.

Wine: Schlossgut Diel – Demon Reisling 2010 served with next 3 courses. I think that this was specially made for the house.

Ham: Iberico ham was wrapped around a morel and vermicelli threads with gazpacho foam adornment. Very tasty!

Foie Gras with mui choy (pickled Chinese cabbage) ice cream. (I really NEED a Pacojet!!!) The Perillo blossom provided a surprising citrus burst. (Perillo is also called shiso and is used extensively in Japanese cooking). This course looked so good, I was half way through before I realized I hadn’t taken a picture.

Har Mi (dried shrimp) was served in 2 forms: oil and powder. The lo mein noodles were sprinkled with har mi powder and the perfectly cooked carabinero (red shrimp) was flavoured with the oil.

Wine: Azienda Agricola Cos – Frappato 2009 served with next 3 courses.

Tomato: In this course, a foam, Chinese olive and a pat chun soaked tomato were served. Pat chun is an aromatic sauce used to marinate the tomato – the flavour was out of this world! A version of this recipe appears in the Toronto Star.

Molecular: This was the best dish of the meal. Xiao long bao is a soup dumpling served in Shanghai and other parts of eastern China. Spherification has been used to create a single bite course with layers and layers of xiao long bao flavour. I would love to know how this is done! Spectacular…..

Crab: Succulent crab served in the shell with chili. The shell was held in place with a base of mashed potatoes.

Wine: Domaine de Montille Volnay 1er Cru Les Taillepied 2007 served with next 2 courses.
Century Egg: This traditional flavour combination has a very strong a sulfur taste that I cannot tolerate. This foaming modernist version provided a thin film of taste that was quite good – and very interesting to eat. The bubbles just kept coming and coming and coming……

Fish: Coral trout was served with dehydrated powdered Hunan ham, mushrooms and a poached onion. Very delicate flavours.

Main: Perfectly cooked pigeon was served with shitake rice cake. Choy sum and wood fungus reductions add colour. The pigeon was served with a very interesting Luciano Landi Lacrima 2009.

Dessert: Ying yang: half tea, half coffee, half hot, half cold was served with different versions of pineapple and butter cream. The pineapple was flavoured with pink pepper, star anise and salt and pepper – great flavour combinations. Lake Breeze Moscato 2008 finished the wine service.

Finish: A modernist fragrance dish filled the air with sandalwood aroma while carrying almond and orange chocolates. A basket of Hong Kong candies finished off an amazing meal.