SC's Birthday Dinner at Amber. Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong

This post is gonna be very photo intensive, with minimum commentary.
Why?
Reason 1: I decided to just enjoy myself, not thinking too much about what was that yummy thing I just ate (lame excuse)
Reason 2: I am an ignorant glutton, I really didn't know what I ate (truth)
Reason 3: I am lazy (truth)
Reason 4: ...(could not find any excuse to defend myself)..kindly refer to reason 3 ^_^'

Anyway...please excuse my excuses, just enjoy the crappy photos from the night, and maybe see which dishes we liked.

Both yummy, but love the cannelloni one muchhhh!


Bread selection...I especially love the baguette and the thin crispy ones.


Watermelon with broth jelly...very refreshing! Perfect for summer.


Foie gras cranberry lollipops. So cute!


Decadent and delish! Love much!


This croquette squirts out something delicious!


Birthday boy was so excited, he was pretty much posting every single dish to his Facebook wall REAL TIME. He puts my blogging self to shame T_T but I was so happy seeing him that enthusiastic.


Sea urchin in a lobster jell-O with cauliflower and caviar, served with crispy seaweed waffles.
This is soooo yummy! One of our favorites of the night!


Birthday boy playing with his food.


Confit and smoked Tasmanian salmon, with avocado, horseradish and granny smith apple. SC loved it, but I didn't like the smokiness and the soft fish flesh...I just liked the apple thingy.


Duck foie gras and tasmanian black truffle ravioli, in cep consomme. I love the ravioli and the broth...but I just discovered something abominable that night...I am not a big fan of...(gasp!)...fresh black truffle! (Please don't kill me T_T)


Red amadai (including the scales, which were done in such a way so that they're crispy and edible), fennel and orange confit, bottarga grated new potatoes, bouillabaisse "sauce", and manni olive oil emulsion. Yummy, but the scales kinda hurt my gum a bit...opps.


Kagoshima wagyu beef sirloin MS A4 (this almost sounds like an electronic product model number...) oven roasted, with puree of "forgotten" shallots. SUPREMELY YUMMY!


When I thought the beef dish could get any yummier...they served this beef cheek dish. Absolutely delightful! Another favorite of the night!

The french farmer cheeses were wheeled in...

I chose the less stinky ones while SC braved the ones with "stronger" scent. My favorite was that cantaloupe-esque one.

Now, the sweets...and the superb service.

The bottom of this strawberry creation, "mara de bois" strawberry with mascarpone semi freddo is soaked with liquor. I told our server that I am rather allergic to alcohol when we were offered the wine pairing option. He kept that in mind and asked the chefs if any of the dishes had alcohol, I said cooked alcohol and a bit of uncooked alcohol should be fine, I just can't have a few glasses of wine and risk rashes on my freshly sun burnt skin. He specifically checked if they needed to change my dessert as this one has quite a bit of uncooked alcohol. I said it was not necessary, I can handle it.


Little did I know...he asked chef to prepare a different dessert for me, just in case. This beautiful cranberry creation, which had no alcohol...and they still served me my original dessert too, this one's on the house. How sweet and thoughtful!


The birthday boy finished the extra dessert :)


What's special occasion without a bit of chocolate? abiano 85% chocolate souffle with brown rum anglaise and super rich cacao sorbet. Again, I was given a separate non alcoholic chocolate sauce, just in case I couldn't handle the brown rum. Excellent service! I was so happy I drew on a happy face on my souffle and pour in my sauce ^_^

By this course, we were already stuffed to the brim...which was such a waste, they might wanna consider serving this in much smaller portion. The souffle's gigantic! I never believed in "too much of a good thing", but this was the case.

We pretty much couldn't eat anything else...but...

...there were petit fours...coffee for me, chamomile tea with honey for the birthday boy, the whole thing came with a candle..


...and a selection of chocolates...


...with birthday boy's name written on a piece of tempered dark chocolate..whew!


It was beyond!

You must've noticed that the pictures here are a bit..."foggy". I was just in the mood for that. If you wanna see the non-foggy pictures (many many more pictures), they're posted on my Facebook page.

Amber
7/F Landmark Mandarin Oriental
Tel: +852 2132 0066
The signature degustation menu we chose costs HK$1,588 per person + 10% service charge