I had lunch at a relatively new restaurant in Honkong recently. For less than the price of a ticket to Disneyland, I had a very wonderful and amazing experience at Arcane Restaurant.
Arcane was not difficult to find. Just a street off the main road in Central.
I had the 3-course lunch set. First out the starter: Custard like yolk in a hardboiled egg on top of a cabbage drizzled with this creamy slightly sweet sauce. And a hint of vinegar somewhere in this concoction. I tell you, that slight vinegar taste hit me from out of nowhere and literally zinged my taste buds. My plate was clean when they took it away.
For my main course, I chose snapper over beef. I am not really a beef person. Well, the fish was certainly quite firm yet tender, the taste very subtle and highlighted with the Chef’s special sauce that had nuts and berries mixed in there somewhere. Again, the sauce in my mouth was amazing. It certainly enlivened that fish dish. I would say that the fish was perfect as the instrument to deliver those interesting sauces to my palate.
And finally, dessert. Vanilla pannacotta with peach and some sort of wafer like thing on top drizzled with a very light syrup. When the chef asked me how it was, I was speechless. I did not know how to describe the heady mix of flavours in my mouth! First there was the slight blandness of the pannacotta which was punctuated with the strong flavour of the peach but tempered by the syrup. And finally topped off by this extremely mouth melting chocolate like nut/wafer – I don’t know! It was heavenly.
Definitely coming back. I would love to discover more of Chef Shane’s surprises.
This is good honest food. None of the smoke and mirrors of some cuisine.