The St. Regis Hong Kong opened recently, and with it came L’Envol, the city’s newest French restaurant.
Helming the kitchen is chef Olivier Elzer, who makes his return to fine-dining after leaving his one Michelin-starred casual eatery, Seasons by Olivier E.
French Savoir Faire
The concept of L’Envol was critical to Elzer, who spent 18 months fine-tuning everything from the kitchen setup and restaurant layout to service style.
What he’s created is the epitome of an upscale silver service French restaurant. Think spacious and lit by modern chandeliers and smart little table lamps, white tablecloths, plenty of cream and grey tones – all set against views over a corner of Wan Chai through floor-to-ceiling windows.
This is the kind of restaurant that has a wine sommelier to talk you through an extensive wine list, and a cheese trolley will all sorts of exquisite (French) cheese.
Ingredients First
For dinner, there are just three menus available here: two eight-course options and the five-course Decouverte (discovery) taster. It’s only a Wednesday night, so we opt for the Decouverte tasting menu.
Elzer’s aim here is to challenge himself, encourage diners to return, and showcase the quality and variety of French produce. So to those ends, his menus change every few weeks, and are built around whatever produce is available in France at any given time. He admits that it’s a pain to redo the menus and train his staff in the new dishes, but he considers it necessary to his success.
Like any fine-dining restaurant worth its salt, the meal starts with bread and amuse-bouches. But this is L’Envol, so there are three types of bread – served with Champagne and caviar butters – and three different small bites.
The first dish was a flavourful burst of seafood with Hokkaido sea urchin and gamberoni prawn, given a satisfying runch with fennel and pink raddish. But then Elzer surprised us with a dish of beef jelly topped with a huge dollop of caviar; the salty, surprising dish is a firm favourite among returning guests, and will be one of the few mainstays on L’Envol’s ever-changing menus.
For the main, I opted for Le Canard de Challans – Challans duck breast grilled over charcoal and served with a variety of French mushrooms that are currently in season. The duck was perfectly tender, while the mushrooms and gravy added a nice contrast in textures and flavours.
Before dessert, the cheese trolley was wheeled over so we could make our selections – this will probably be your toughest task all night. There were some 15 cheeses on offer, all from France, and in all manner of smell, consistency and style. I couldn’t begin to name any of them now, but I can tell you that you absolutely should listen when they tell you which cheese to pair with what condiment. The Iranian honey on offer – served on the comb – was indeed the perfect foil for a smoky cheese covered in ash rind.
Paired with a glass of Crozes-Hermitage Domaine des Lises 2017, it was the perfect segue into dessert. Which was a rich, heavy, wafer-y concoction featuring Mekonga 70% Vietnamese pure origin chocolate.
Good to Know
L’Envol hosted the first St. Regis Midnight Supper in Hong Kong soon after its opening. The regular events are a legendary part of the St. Regis brand and originated with Caroline Astor – mother of St. Regis founder John Jacob Astor – but you probably won’t be invited to one any time soon: it’s highly exclusive.
The restaurant has its own cheese cave, where a huge variety of French cheeses are stored while waiting to make their appearance on the trolley – see if you can get a sneak peek.
Verdict
It’s taken Olivier Elzer several years to return to fine-dining, but it’s clear that this is his passion – and diners at L’Envol are benefitting. Using the freshest, most in-season produce means dishes are bright, light and taste exquisite; rotating menus keep diners intrigued and coming back for more.
The food, combined with a genuinely good-looking restaurant and service that is (mostly) attentive, patient and knowledgeable means L’Envol is in it for the long haul of Hong Kong dining.
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