Azure Restaurant Slash Bar - a dining destination that is so
popular for many exclusive luxury brand party events had you forgotten that
they are indeed a restaurant slash bar that serves innovative culinary and
signature cocktails in the city that never sleep. With that in mind, this party
venue had mylifestylenews to pay
another visit to rediscover its charm in its gastronomy adventure……
The restaurant floor itself is simply elegant, with the lighting fixture design and the bar at one end as a key focal point while enjoying the 29th floor aerie with fabulous views over Central Hong Kong. The bar and the restaurant is divided into two separate floors with a elegant spiral marble stairway leading to the high ceiling main dining room upstairs. But little did we know and here is a word of caution, when you intend to have a classy romantic dinner, you may want to avoid when this restaurant slash bar simultaneously having any private events down at the bar area where huge amount of noises travels to the dining area that really mar the question of ambience at the restaurant.
As the whole dinner was a cacophony of party revelers, not
to mention these guests traipsing up and down the staircase and through the
restaurant floor to utilize the outdoor terrace for a cigarette! If it was a
planned romantic evening night out, you would have packed up your bags and left
before ordering a single course. Nevertheless, we persevered through the incessant party noise
to try out the well crafted menu with a focus on meat and seafood dishes that tantalize
our taste buds at the very mention of each item. Azure Restaurant Slash Bar is
not a huge restaurant and the service team is equally not big, but they are
quite focused on service and very polite into the bargain, which we appreciated
after recent disappointments at many other nearby establishments.
Choosing what to eat proved difficult as there were too many
dishes that we loved, so we settled on a good seafood lovers/carnivore lovers
combination to get a handle on what the executive Chef Luke Lawrence Barry can
do in his kitchen select only the best among his creations and dedicate in four
categories: Land, Ocean, Earth and Flours.
To get the taste buds up and running we started off with a Char-Grilled Quail served with beetroot discs, fresh orange segments and baby spinach and a bowl of Fresh Australian Mussels steamed in dry white wine with charred baguette, root vegetable textures and herb-infused cream sauce. This was a fabulous start to the evening as both dishes were a resounding hit. The whole quail was very meaty with a beautiful gamey flavor, we would prefer this delectable dish to have it without the sprinkle of the Maldon sea salt on the top of the quail as the meat underneath was beautifully laid with tasty sauce to go with it.
The fresh mussels came with large pieces of meat in each shell and of a great substance to eat with the most unctuous and divine creamy sauce. The dill garnish gave a fresh touch in the mouth while sipping the thick cream broth. A great value on both dishes and utterly delicious.
We thought something refreshing was in order before mains, so we shared the Pineapple Carpaccio with buffalo mozzarella cheese, extra virgin olive oil, poached cherry tomatoes and basil leaves. This was a beautiful concept and presentation, but a mismatched dish for our liking, we found the thinly sliced pineapple did not marry with the tomatoes and mozzarella. It would have been more interesting with other ingredients to compliment the pineapple.
The restaurant was getting very busy with walk-ins and the table next to us was complaining about the wait, we were wondering about our mains but straight away the table next to us was relieved to see their food and ours followed soon after. A Beef Rib-Eye on the Bone with garlic crisps, asparagus, baby carrots and parsnip puree was just the tonic to sate a carnivore’s craving. The sizeable portion of rib-eye had a great flavor, but was not quite hot enough and the carrots were under-cooked.
The Hot Seafood Platter for one was a sight to behold for the seafood lover, with a half-shelled fresh lobster, 2 garlic butter king prawns, fresh Australian creamy mussels, salt & pepper fried squid and pan-roasted 120g cod fish fillet. The seafood platter was not all hot too, so we guessed the kitchen was waiting for some items to get done in order for both dishes could be served together, but not successful in this regard. The seafood was in much abundance and great value with some delightful flavours, with the mussels a standout again, along with the cod, prawns and lobster. Despite both dished were not entirely successful, but almost and you knew that on another occasion, it all had the potential to be perfect.
Desserts were a bit hit and miss. We tried the Glutinous Rice with seasonal sorbet, sesame sponge and vanilla custard and the House-Made Sorbets with settling on a Mandarin and Lychee and Passion Fruit. The glutinous rice was too soggy and sugary to our liking, yet the sorbets were very tangy and piquant in flavours.
Excluding the event noise, the restaurant is a lovely airy space to have a great dinner and be looked after by the dedicated team. Most importantly, the food has a lot to say in terms of quality ingredients and presentations that surely worth to explore.
Tried
& Tested:
Location: 4.5/5
Design &
Decor: 4/5
Food &
Beverage: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Value For
Money: 4/5
Experience:
4/5
Highlights:
Australian Mussels
Char-Grilled Quail
33 Wyndham Street
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 3518 9330
Reviews are based on
actual day of visit and experience. mylifestylenews reserves the right of final decision
in case of any disputes. All images are photographed by mylifestylenews team without any photoshop enhancement
and are the property owned by mylifestylenews unless otherwise stated.
No comments:
Post a Comment