Caprice – Central, Hong Kong | Appellation Australia

Caprice – Central, Hong Kong

Dinner at the 3* Michelin Caprice in the Four Seasons, Hong Kong.

This was actually mid last year, but I’ve never been especially happy with the photos. I’m posting to clear the slate so I can post some reviews from Canada and France, hopefully the standard has remained high in the year past.

This meal was exceptional from start to finish. The beautiful dining room with superb view across the harbour to TST, service and food were all world class.

The service was some of the best I’ve encountered. Professional but charming as well, nothing was too much trouble and everything ran seamlessly. While choosing dessert my partner was struggling to decide between two options and asked the waiter for an opinion, she ended up choosing one but when the dessert came the waiter brought her both, with the second compliments of the house, as he wanted to make sure she got to try both!

Personal menus including individual wine selections were presented at the end of the meal which I know is not uncommon, but it did contrast with Robuchon a Galera in Macau who simply handed us a copy of the menu from the day with all the dishes including the ones we didn’t select on it. Small touches like this really made a difference.

The wine list is excellent, we selected the following wines;

NV Diebolt-Vallois Champagne Cuvée Prestige Blanc de Blancs – France, Champagne, Cramant, Champagne
From magnum. Lemon, toast and strawberry. Palate is clean, crisp and has great focus and length. Took on richness as it warmed in the glass – delicious. (91 pts.)

2002 Trimbach Riesling Clos Ste. Hune – France, Alsace, Hunawihr, Alsace AOC
Nose is tight initially, but it opened up to show mandarin, pear and intense minerality. Superbly impressive palate – powerful, pure and extremely persistent. This is a truly great wine only just starting to shed its youth. (93 pts.)

2006 La Spinetta (Rivetti) Barolo Vigneto Garretti – Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Nicely aromatic nose – plums, liquorice and some violets. Palate is approachable, with plush fruit and tannins that are well integrated rather than stern. Drinking nicely now, but should do well over the next 8-10 years as well. (90 pts.)

I’ll just write about my dishes here, but of the little I got to taste of the others they were of similarly high quality.

Shellfish Consommé with Ginger Aroma, Lobster Carpaccio and Crispy Palamos Prawn – The consommé was simply presented, but the lobster on the side draws attention with vivid red and green herbs contrasting against the Carpaccio. The intensity of the consommé was wonderful, being played off against the freshness of the Carpaccio and prawn.

French rib-eye beef with gratin dauphinois and wild mushroom pastry in merlot sauce – Excellent quality beef, loved the presentation of a little line of mushrooms along the side of the plate. The mushroom pastry was outrageously good, a rich and creamy sauce with earthy mushrooms and crisp pastry. Not innovative but simply great.

Wild Strawberries with Lavender Blossom, Crispy Almonds and Malaga Sorbet – Beautifully presented – there are only a few different elements visible but the shape and angles are very well thought out, then cracking open the cylinder your eyes are drawn to the reveal of another set of layers. The flavours matched the presentation, I love wild strawberries and these tiny bites were delicious, along with the other flavours that were complimentary to the main strawberry theme.

The food cost was just under HK$1000 per person for three courses and plenty of small extras. I ordered some reasonably costly wines which then added to the bill but I could easily have been more restrained if cost was an issue.

Score: 18.5/20

Photos –

Amuse-bouche – Brioche of Cauliflower Cream and Garlicked Brioche
with Spinach