I've asked for recommendations from my crazy foodie friends, one of them (that's you, Gary) even suggested that I made a poll to see where we end up dining in. I loved that idea, but in the end was too lazy to execute the poll. Heheheh.
Finally, I picked Mandarin Grill. I've heard so much about this place (thanks, Jason!), and because I heard the dishes are a lot of fun (SC loves creativity) and very photogenic too (this is for my benefit).
Did we have a yummy night?
When considering which tasting "tour" to order, I asked our server, "Are you sure we'd have enough to eat if we ordered tour 1 from the tasting menu?" - he was a bit taken aback. I bet he couldn't believe I was even considering quantity and worried that I wouldn't be full ^_^'
Anyway... here we go.
This was not the first dish, but the picture comes out first, because... doesn't it look gorgeous? Heheheh... I am superficial like that. This is the salad, it's a flower pot.
We "watered" aka "dressed" our salad. Too cute!
The edible soil. Adore the idea, but this soil is very filling. Just have a couple of bites and leave it. Don't feel "ng dai" (not worth) or you'll have no room for the rest of the meal like SC ^_^' heheheh.
Can you see the heart shaped shadow on it? Cute huh? (This is my code for - I can't remember what they were but I just remember they were tasty)
The bread basket.
The selection of olive oil. I chose fruity (second bottle from left), SC chose peppery (second bottle from right). I never thought that I'd love peppery more than fruity. But seriously, the one SC picked's awesome.
Again. Too cute! This is not a pear (duh!)
The softest shade of pink inside!
You can spread the "pear" on these bread.
Savoury cookies. Yum.
Liquid olives. I love. And no, it doesn't taste like you're swallowing olive oil.
Succulent scallops. I munched on an oyster leaf that tasted like the sea at the beginning of this dish. I am not a big fan of the greens that tasted (a tad too much) like the sea, but the scallops were lovely.
Sirloin steak with baked potatoes in edible "foil" and edible "charcoal". The charcoal turned out to be cassava (server said tapioca) covered in squid ink. The cassava part cracked me up, because I am from Indonesia and we eat singkong (cassava) a lot back home - never thought it'd ever make its appearance in a fancy schmancy restaurant.
The steak came with this pot of very lovely sweet corn. Buttery, fragrant, and oh-so-sweet!
The dessert, Oreo. It's cookie crumbs, vanilla ice cream, & hot chocolate - I don't know how to call it - thick foam? It's very very rich. I love that feeling of a-kick-in-the-gut richness from chocolatey desserts, and this particular one kicked ass. Love it. It is a bit too rich for summer though...
For the gentleman, a chocolate cigar.
And a make up powder for me, with a cotton candy puff too. The cotton candy's so sweet, I couldn't taste the powder anymore. The idea's cute tho.
Of course SC had to "light" his "cigar".
And for the birthday boy...
.. a chocolate birthday "candle".
Actually we've pretty much maxed out on chocolate after 1/2 of the Oreo dessert. So we just had fun with the petit four and the candle.
Overall, it is a fun dining experience!
Tour 1 - HK$1,188 per person + 10%
Mandarin Grill
Such cool dishes! And so pretty too. What was the 'edible soil'?
ReplyDeleteA very cute meal! but i still can't get over the edible foil part!
ReplyDeleteEach component of the meal sounds like so much fun! You definitely chose well.
ReplyDeletei came across this restaurant from a local food show and thought the idea was kinda "quirky". glad to know the food actually taste good :D
ReplyDeleteI like how they made such an effort to present the food, the plant pot salad is interesting.
ReplyDelete