Cars, Food and the Ladies of Hong Kong & Macau: AKRAME

Saturday, January 11, 2014

AKRAME - ( Hong Kong )

AKRAME HK is classified under Modernized-French food and in it’s original Paris shop has attained a Michelin 1* status since it’s inception a few years ago. Although they pertain to be doing French Fine-Dining cuisine, I personally wouldn’t insert it into this category at all. This is nothing like the true classical, thoughtful from start to finish formal Michelin Starred meals I have eaten in France or anywhere, nor the equally classified Modern-French restos over there a class above here. In reality the food presented tonight were more of Casual Bistro recipes but in a smart Fine-Dining lookalike setting. Somewhere in between seems to be its final aim. Except the price here was still relative high at $988 for 6 Courses. (In comparison, my Le Chateaubriand meal in Paris only costs 60 Euro for 9 Courses, you do the Maths yourself).

Butter with Lemon Powder -
served with a Fresh slightly Sweetish Raisin Bread
Couldn’t taste much of the mentioned Lemon Powder and the butter somehow reminded me of Lescure butter, soft but not too detectable by the usual palate. The bread texture was really interesting as it’s crusty outside with a powdery coating although quite sweet. ~ 7/10

Cauliflower Soup with Italian Campari Jelly, Walnut Paste, Tabasco, Dehydrated Broccoli, etc
This was probably going to be interesting, with all the different elements thrown in. I don’t expect them to bind together but as we experienced it then, every scoop of the soup gave it a different sensation and taste. Interesting as all the underlying bottom bits got blanketed up with that cauliflower soup, so it was all hidden beneath and serendipitous in the end. ~ 7/10

Scallop wrapped in Spinach Leaf, with Spinach Puree & Caviar -
The scallops were surprisingly diced rather than whole like a tartare, and had some lemony dressing and herbs, almost Thai styled. Whilst the taste of this was fine, it was kind of simple and predictable, the caviar seemed there more for decoration and as color contrast ~ 7/10

Clams with Passion fruit -
The small imported French clams were cooked with an abundance of Butter and Passion fruit juice and pulps. Initially I thought this was out of season as a recipe, but then the overall taste and balance with subtle herbs was really enjoyable. One of the better courses. *Certain bite had sand in it though.. ~ 7.5/10

Oyster with Salmon Roes and Onion Consomme -
This was balanced but is it too much to ask for something more thought provokingly non-boring these days? Considering this is Michelin 1* back in home town in Paris. This to me can be cooked by just about anyone you meet on the street. ~ 6.9/10

Lobster is Slow-Poached, in front of customer inside a jar, for a few minutes -
The bottom of the nice looking plate is then lined with Lemon Sabayon, diced Green Apple and Zucchini and edible flowers. The result was quite enjoyable, cooked just right and refreshing. As it is presented now however, it was a bit predictable and even too small in portion. Despite being cooked so well. ~ 8/10

Margarita Sorbet -
Palate Cleanser. TBH if a restaurant of this caliber shall serve this directly onto the Customer’s hand, I think they ought to also provide some sort of sterile tissue wipe beforehand. This was quite alcoholic and lemony, also quite hard icy.. ~ 6/10

Beef Onglet, Fried Potato Strings, Jus, Onion Puree, Beetroot, Onion and Salsify -
This looked good when presented, but the staff introduced this Onglet to me as a Beef Fillet instead initially. It was rather chewy and also small in portion. I asked the Staff 3 times before they managed to re-confirm with the kitchen that recently they did switched to Hanger-Onglet as I suspected from looking at the cut, from the previous Tenderloin. 1stly slow-cooked to release meat jus before being quickly seared, in theory this sounded right but the end result was unacceptable and doesn’t alleviate it from its very chewy texture which I had to spit out. The only failed dish tonight. ~ 5/10

Red Snapper with Black Rice, Puffed Rice, Squid Ink and Endive -
After the failed Beef dish, this luckily was an excellent retrieve. The fish was cooked just right, the black rice was addictive and with a consistency of a risotto than the harder-chewy black rice that Asians are used to especially in Thai cuisine. ~ 8.5/10

Comte Cheese and thinly Sliced Porcini & Mushrooms Mille-feuille, in Mushroom Broth -
On taste alone this was pretty amazing and we liked how this warmer recipe replace the usual cold French Cheese course. ~ 7/10

Charcoal Ice-cream, Caramelized Pineapple with a Thyme and Charcoal Sauce -
This signature dessert tasted almost as devilish as the name promised. The so-called Charcoal flavour wasn’t too apparent and I wondered at the time what exactly I was eating as it was so subtle in background. The thyme herb was so apparent in the sauce, really fitting with the grilled pineapple. ~ 7.5/10

Chocolate Mousse with lots of Sea Salt, and Crackly Croustillant layer on top -
This was really excellent in taste and consistency, though very very salty. ~ 8/10

Mignardise
Madeleine – Buttery but quite dry. Looked better than they tasted. Better than Bistro du Vin still.
Bruleed Marshmallow with Lemon Curd Biscuits - Liked this and quite French like
Dark Chocolate Bar – It had a lot of sea salt added beneath, and very salty just like the above Chocolate mousse. I like it personally but it was becoming borderline too salty as a dessert course
~ 7/10

Very Salty Dark Chocolate -
Not even in France can you find this amount of Saltiness usually..

Nice Cozy Deco -
Although service was friendly, it honestly wasn’t up to par for a Professional setting.
If you noticed already above, we were actually never given our Starter Canape courses - unforgivable and we did paid $1200 per person. Talk about a major blunder.
Our Beef course also had a major problem and wrong information was being passed by the staff, but no remedial action was offered despite me spitting out parts of the beef. I did really liked a few courses here to be fair but they were so predictable. But overall, why should any customer pay so much and not receive their full courses and executional accuracy?