Can someone please speak English?

An invitation to dinner came from My Friendly Neighborhood Prime Broker, on account of their big boss passing through town. I was asked to recommend some places for the occasion, and after looking through a number of restaurants in Central offering menus within their official budget, I sent along a list of 5.

I was secretly hoping that they would choose one of the two places on the list that I've never been to, but we ended up at Plaisance by Mauro Colagreco. My last visit earlier this year was on the day before they received their Michelin star - with Mauro himself in the kitchen - and the food as well as execution was already much improved. I was hoping that they would at least maintain those standards, because we know Konishi Mitsuru (小西充) can cook. The question is whether his team would let him down.

Mindful of the expense budget, and wanting to cut down on my intake, I was more than happy with the four course menu offered.

Green apple and blood sausage macaroon - if you work at a restaurant bearing Mauro Colagreco's name, you should know that this is a macaron (with one 'o') and not a macaroon (with two 'o's) - as they are very different things. The ganache had something refreshing and crunchy inside, which I suppose was greeen apple... As I detected some cumin, I wonder if we had morcilla and not boudin noir.

Prawn taco - with prawn tartare, finger lime caviar pulp.

Gala apple with osmanthus gel - the cookie was pretty thick, and very grainy. Kinda ruined what would have been a nice, refreshing bite.

Beetroot caviarCucumber tart - with prominent wasabi, served in a charcoal tart shell.

I was surprised when this sourdough roll came, because it meant they were no longer serving Mauro's signature pain de partage.

Kyoto carrot with Hokkaido botanebi and sea urchin - the kintoki carrots (金時にんじん) were cut into thin ribbons and also puréed, and this was pretty nice. The carrot reduction was mixed with dashi, and we've got nice, fruity acidity here. A decent start.

We were now served a different type of bread, except I could neither hear nor understand the description. Some type of brioche, I suppose.

Catch of the day with basil and coco de paimpol - Japanese Spanish mackerel (鰆) is always nice, and this was grilled with charcoal. The sauce was made with basil and dashi, accompanied by a mix of coco de Paimpol, black olives, diced squid, and chorizo.

The duck from Challans is always tasty, so I was really looking forward to this.

Challandais duck with kaki persimmon and duck jus - the duck skin was thick, chewy, and springy... and having been roasted with the honey glaze, this was really tasty. The jus came with blood and spices, which is something I love very much. Together with the persimmon, the mousseline of blackberries, blueberries, and red cabbage on the side added some fruity acidity. A very satisfying dish for me.

Jerusalem artichoke and vanilla - this was introduced as "artichoke", which it most certain is not. Jerusalem artichoke (also known as sunchoke) is a completely different plant from artichoke. Even worse, the waiter whose English I have been having trouble understanding all night pronounced it the Cantonese way - "ah-jee-juk (雅枝竹)" - at an English-speaking table. Sigh.

We had chunks of the sunchoke with vanilla cream at the bottom, along with sunchoke ice cream and espuma, garnished with some crunchy sunchoke skin. Kinda interesting.

Finally, we had the mignardises:

Passion fruit chocolate

Rum maracon

Strawberry tart

Madeleine

"Mini puffs"

We had some nice white to go with our seafood dishes:

2021 Jean-Pierre Guyon Morey Saint Denis La Bidaude - right off the bat, the nose smelled of Chinese licorice, along with a little metallic notes. This was more ripe than expected for its age, but with good acidity on the palate. The second bottle was showing more of the buttery notes on the nose.

I'm pretty happy with the food tonight, and I'm glad Konishi-san seems to have stabilized the kitchen here after 15 months, although I see fewer bodies through the open kitchen than before. The problem, though, was the service. For someone who has lived in Hong Kong for 30 years, even I had a lot of trouble understanding what was being explained to us in the really thick Hongkie accent. I could only imagine how little the visitors from New York understood...

Very grateful to My Friendly Neighborhood Prime Broker for the kind and tasty treat. I'll make sure to suggest another interesting venue for our next meal...