La Brasserie (Hong Kong)

Name of Restaurant: La Brasserie
Address: Omni Marco Polo Hotel, Harbour City, 17 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui (尖沙咀廣東道17號海港城港威酒店大堂下層)
Telephone: +852 2113 7925

After reviewing the comments from fellow openrice members (http://www.openrice.com/), I’ve decided I’d give the “all you can eat” menu at La Brasserie a try!! Well, that’s not entirely the truth though, I was actually told that I should book buffet dinner to celebrate my birthday. (Yeah, may I stress, MY BIRTHDAY!! MINE~~~) So my first choice was at Marriot Café at JW Marriot Hotel (Admiralty) and second choice was Yamm at the recently revamp The Mira (formerly known as the Miramar Hotel at Tsim Sha Tsui). However, when I called up to make my booking respectively at the very beginning of September, I was told by Marriot their books are full up until the last week of September so I have a choice of dates like 27th, 28th, 29th or 30th (basically just not the dates I'd like)…as for Yamm, it was even more shockingly ridiculous, books are up to 08th October. Thus, I have no choice but to search for else where and without much idea, I went on Openrice to do some research.

One the day, we went there as a crew of 6 people, the more the merrier when it comes to “all you can eat”. This is because you can try out more dishes in one go, and then reordering ones that you like!

Three of us have decided to add $80 for “all you can drink” house white (by the way it was $50 just over a month ago!). I didn’t take notice of what wine it was, I just took a sip of it. It is on the acidic side, the coloring is light golden, light body and slightly oaky spiced. Mind you I’m not an expert in wine~ I personally prefer fruity, sweeter wine like Riesling, Chenin Blanc and Pinot Gris. But then again, such option of offer is better than not having it, if you just want some alcohol to down your food with.

Our waiter of the day was called Terrence, who was helpful, friendly and hospitable. He explained how the menu works and how we should order and recommended as with Appetizers, Main Course and Dessert of his choice.

Bread Basket with butter and Corned Beef Spread

Appetizers Menu

1st off, Terrence recommended “Two Scallop in Lobster Sauce” as appetizers, so we ended up ordering one portion of every single appetizers from the menu (except for the whelk) and ordered one Scallop and Duck Foie Gras each.

To me, taste and textured of the scallop was good (not exceptional or incredible nor is it remarkable!), but a few of as had seconds of this appetizers, not me though.
The pan seared duck foie gras was beautifully done, crispy on the outside and tender inside…but it had a slight bitter taste to it which had somewhat spoilt the dish.

Other appetizers:
Cured Salmon and Honey Mustard Dressing: It has three slices of salmon on a bed of green salad. It was passable and ordinary thus I’m unable to come up with much comment for it (sorry!).

Beef Tartar and Condiment: the flavour was plain but not beautifully done. Personally I like mine to have more flavour like Worchester sauce and mustard and with capers, raw onion and the extra sogginess of an egg yolk…mmm…dreamy! But that was nothing close to what I like. Probably other people would like just like eating blend tasting minced beef…but not me.

Niçoise Salad with Tuna: the tuna was thick cut pan seared, which looked very pretty. Again, the taste was acceptable but not remarkable.

Six Snails in Garlic Butter: A mellow buttery sauce with snails fullstop.

Tuna Tartar and Parmesan Crisps: This was better than the beef tartar as it had more vinegary taste to it.
Crab salad with Aioli Sauce: This salad was moist, refreshing and went nicely with bread or on its own. It was one of the appetizer that I would reorder (but didn’t).

(Scallop with Lobster Sauce; Duck Foie Gras w/Fig Chutney; Snails in Butter Sauce )

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Soup:

Soup Menu

I’ve only ordered Onion Soup and Lobster Bisque. The onion soup was interesting looking because I was expecting the bread to be soaked in the soup then topped with cheese and baked or grilled to melt and brown off the cheese. But have you noticed how the cheese was melted on the bread and soaked in the soup and looked like the work of muddle! Well, as for the taste of it, the soup wasn’t hot enough and 75-80% of it was onion. The taste of it was acceptable but I was disappointed with it was served and look of the work of perfunctory. Then the lobster bisque, thankfully it wasn’t as big of a letdown as the onion soup. The flavour was acceptable, slight taste of sherry but the consistence was slightly on the watery side.

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As for the Main Course, I’ve tried the following:

Main Course Menu

Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Onion Gravy: This was deliciously done and the meat was pink and tender in the middle. There wasn’t enough gravy served but the potato was infused with savory flavor of herbs and butter! This was a delightful dish to have indeed.

Braised Beef Cheek in Red Wine Sauce: The stew was thick, warming with strong palate. I actually thought it tasted similar to “beef goulash”. The aromatic and succulent meat was simply luscious.

Pan Seared Cod Fish with Lemon / Capers Butter Sauce: The cod was supple, buttery it was nice however, the sauce could have been improved by adding up some lemon zest and more lemon juice to give it more body and character.

Sautéed Shrimp in Garlic Butter: Another boring dish which was nice but average! (I’m starting to sound like Simon Cowell, “you are a sweet girl with an average voice! Unfortunately I don’t see you as a pop star material and the next American pop idol.” – if you know what I mean!). All the sauce and taste of all dishes was just getting a bit repetitive.

Seafood Bouillabaise: It tasted like lobster bisque with more salt and some seafood and a dash of cream then stirred.

Sautéed Mussels in White Wine Sauce: This hard an overwhelming fishy taste to it and the sauce was more like flour with butter and milk then a creamy white wine sauce.

(Beef Tenderloin; Braised Beef Cheek; Lamp chop; Cod in Lemon / Caper butter sauce; Shrimp in Garlic Butter; Seafood Bouillabaise)

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Desserts:

Desserts Menu

We ordered one dish of everything except “Rhum baba with Fruits” which wasn’t recommended by our waiter. He was very shrewd when we asked him for his recommendations by replying: “I think everything is worth trying from the menu, however, I didn’t like Rhum baba with fruits because…”. Ha~ diplomatica approach (and sly), so he wouldn't have to slag of anything!

We were all very excited when this large tray filled with miniutre desserts was set upon us! But the truth is, I really can’t remember much of anything. I felt the most disappointing part of the dinner was the dessert. Nothing there I’d like to order again and my thought was shared by everyone that attended the dinner.

Wonderfully looking...sorry abt the taste

After this experience, I think “all you can eat” is more fun way of dinning than the usual buffet! The quality of food is better or as good as most hotel's buffet (obviously not comparable to Marriot & Yamm). Morever, I didn’t get any indigestion or enterogastritis after this meal!! For "all you can eat", everyone at the table get to interact with each other as we were busy chit chatting which dish they are going to order, what do you think of the dish you’ve tried, was it worth ordering, who would share what with whom, etc. But with buffets usually a couple of people would go to pick up food and while the other would wait at the table. However, I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant for couples because you won’t be able to try out many dishes. Conversely, if you are in a group of 3 – 6 people, you can try out more dishes on the menu. In a way you can spread out the risk even if you’ve ordered something that doesn’t match your taste, you can always share it with your mates! Haha~~ Due to the settings and location of the restaurant, I don’t think it’d be suitable for overly large group; after all, it is at a hotel! I felt the quality of the food does live up to most 4* hotel’s buffet. The great thing is that even if the portion of each serving is small, you can order repetitively (given you have the appetite).

The dinner is $389 / head + 10% service charge which comes round to $438 / head (£29).

N.B. La Brasserie also offers a normal menu which portion are larger in size, of better quality and of course more pricey!