Hong Kong’s newest fine-dining restaurant, Écriture, fuses Japanese produce, French craftsmanship, and a lofty city location, and the result is nothing short of enchanting, discovers Nick Walton.
There are pre-conceptions that any Hong Kong diner will take with them when visiting a restaurant for the first time. While Hong Kong’s dining scene is diverse and ever-changing, service is usually lax and dining rooms spaced with the bottom line rather than the diner’s experience in mind. That’s what makes Écriture, the newest opening for the Le Comptoir group, so refreshing.
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Guests enter an elegant, book-lined space that’s more akin to a chic penthouse or art gallery than a restaurant, although the glass-encased kitchen, with its classically-designed Molteni stove and ranks of immaculately uniformed staff led by executive chef Maxime Gilbert, is a mesmerising hint at what lies ahead.
While Écriture isn’t the city’s first restaurant to marry French technique with Japanese bounty, it could be argued that it is its most elegant. Named for a series of paintings by celebrated Korean artist Park Seo-Bo (a piece from whom hangs in the private dining room), art is central to the restaurant, which is perched high above the streets of Hong Kong Island.
While the décor of the dining room, with its soft organic wallpaper and symmetrically copper ceiling, is both soothing and intriguing, it competes for attention with the lights and colours of Central beyond, which are brought into the room through glass walls that open to the cityscape beyond and offer an ambience that’s at once indoors and alfresco. Tables in dark timber, dressed with bespoke cutlery and handblown glasses from Champagne, are spaced far apart, adding a sense of theatre to an infinitely-refined space.
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Playing on the restaurant’s name, which means “writing”, there are three- (lunch only) five- (lunch and dinner) and seven-course menus on offer; the latter, the Library of Flavours menu that we opt for, captures the essence of Gilbert’s gastronomic philosophy to perfection, with deceptively simplistic dishes, each a symphony of flavours and textures, that also allow the star ingredients, for which each dish is named, to shine through.
The seven-course degustation menu is a great way to explore the kaleidoscope of flavours and textures coming from the kitchen, with dishes always featuring the main ingredient but also reflecting the changing seasons and availability of produce.
After some rather spectacular bread and Brittany butter, we start with an amuse-bouche – a crunchy potato croquette topped with Schrenckii caviar; and a delicate langoustine ‘potsticker’ with vinegar.
There’s amaebi shrimp served with bonito jelly, pickled onion and vibrantly red beetroot chips; and slices of Hokkaido scallop and black truffle, wrapped in seaweed, deep-fried in a light beer batter, and served with celeriac puree and scallop foam.
Kuro awabi, or abalone is matched with miso paste, seaweed, and zesty grapefruit; while vibrant red kinki fish, which is lovingly dissected at the table, is prepared three ways – our favourite is as fillets with a zesty yuzu-seafood puree and dried scallops in a rich red wine sauce. There’s also milk-fed Aveyron lamb chops with miso, lamb floss, and moreish morels.
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While the food is insightful and memorable, what’s most endearing is the mature, intelligent service. Our waiter is no part-time uni student but a full time professional and it shows – his wine recommendations and dish explanations show an informed sense of ownership that’s a rare find even among Hong Kong’s leading fine-dining restaurants.
It’s a subtle touch that sews together a unique culinary experience to perfection.
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