November 13, 2009
Bo Innovation
Decided to spend a weekend in Hong Kong with the wife before I head to our Shenzhen factory for a week. The tourist hotel plus air ticket package ends up being cheaper than buying the biz travel ticket by itself. The schedule wasn't the best, with a later arrival on Friday evening. That doesn't leave much time to do much else besides a nice dinner. Wanted to try some cuisines that's not available in Taiwan, and Chinese-fusion molecular gastronomy would certainly fit that bill. Standing out amidst the dull hotel-restaurants that make up the bulk of the Michelin Hong Kong Guide was Bo Innovation, promising leading-edge Western techniques with Chinese ingredients. So once we got to our hotel in Causeway Bay, we set down our luggage and rushed to Wanchai by taxi for our reservation. Located in a renovated building amidst undistinguished restaurants, we sat out on the balcony with only a view of a tightly packed apartment block across the street, but that's Hong Kong for ya. Having gone through all the traveling and already being relatively late, we didn't want to drag out dinner for too long with the full multi-course chef's menu, so we both had the tasting menu, with a array of their signature appetizers in common and choices for the main plat.
We slurped down the first appetizer of Australian raw oyster with scallion-lime sauce and ginger snow before taking a picture of it. Oops. So the image above was liberally borrowed from Luxeat. At home we might do oysters with scallions and ginger as a hot stir-fry. Having it as a chilly appetizer was certainly a refreshing change.
Squid ink Chiuchow noodles dressed with XO sauce. Topped with fresh uni. The strongly flavored XO sauce distracted a bit from the fresh seafood taste of the urchin roe.
Scallop carpaccio in rich 高湯 broth. Puffed rice and snow peas. The most classically Cantonese preparation, but delicately arranged as Western-style single-servings.
The Molecular XLB is the creation that put BI on the map, integrating Chinese flavors with molecular gastronomy. A typical 小籠包 xiaolongbao's meat stuffing is cooked to extract the meat juices. The outer surface is gelatinized to form the "skin" while retaining the hot, juicy center. Overlaid with a piece of dehydrated vinegar-pickled ginger to complete the one-bite experience. Not sure the flavor really outdoes Din Tai Fung, but the presentation was very cool nonetheless.
Finally, ocean-trout fillet marinated with fermented black bean and honey-miso. Sprinkled with freeze-dried fermented black-bean 豆豉 powder. Pickled bok choy and ginger gelee cubes accompanying. Another array of traditional flavors presented with innovative flair. I can think of a lot of uses for that fermented black-bean powder, if I had a freeze-drier of my own.
Her entree was a smoked pomfret fish, foie gras, topped with apple foam. The smokiness helps the fish to stand up to the generous portion of rich foie. The fruity foam is also designed to accompany the foie in flavor profile while maintaining a light touch unlike the typical sticky, jammy sauces.
My plat was wild hunter-caught duck breast. cooked sous vide. Preserved kumquat, longan, and red rice on the side. The wild duck meat was darker than farm-raised birds, quite red due to the slow-cooking process. Unfortunately on the dimly lit patio it was impossible to get the picture to get the dark meat and dark wild rice to show up nicely, even with the f1.8 prime lens maxed out. Found the wild game meat flavorful, but a bit tougher than expected.
Just like an Asian banquet, they service a rice dish after the mains to make sure no guest leaves hungry. Bo's Fried Rice was a salmon fried rice with fish roe sprinkled in. The fried rice was cooked hard, almost al-dente, to clearly delineate the elements. Certainly, if there's anything they know how to do in HK, it's fried rice.
Dessert was caramelized banana poached in "shui jing fang" sweet chinese rice wine, accompanied by a classic dark-chocolate ganache, with a kiss of jasmine. It doesn't get more classic than banana-chocolate combination, but the luxurious coating of rice wine sauce and the floral accents made the rich dessert worth savoring slowly.
Petit fours came in a gorgeous little rattan basket. Inside were 山楂 mulberry-flavored marshmallow and gelees in the top basket. 山楂 macarons and chocolate-filled sesame-mochi balls in the bottom layer. The mulberry flavor is more subtle and well-integrated with the Western-style candies, unlike the harsh chemical-tasting 山楂餅 in the cheap candies of our youth. Accompanied by excellent tea.
Mr. Alvin, the founder and head chef, is quite the character, going from cooking neophyte to Michelin-star restaurateur in only a few years with his culinary creativity and outsized personality. With only one seating per evening the chef can take his time to come out and visit each table. I blabbered something about appreciating merging Eastern flavors and Western techniques, which he politely acknowledged before moving on to share a glass of wine and a puff of cigar with better-dressed and higher-paying patrons at other tables.
Okay, so maybe the dishes weren't quite as consistent and reliable, compared to other Michelin-starred restaurants. But one visits Bo Innovation for the innovation and they definitely delivered there, deconstructing familiar flavors in creative ways. We had plenty of well-executed food, but I still had to wonder what we missed out on when I saw the liquid nitrogen, CO2 cartridges, etc. featured for the degustation at other tables. Maybe next time when I need to impress on someone else's dime.
Bo Innovation
香港灣仔莊士敦道60號2樓13號舖
Shop 13, 2/F J Residence
60 Johnston Road
Wan Chai, Hong Kong