To Infinity and Beyond

Food and travel guest blogger hkLifestyleGeek gives us her next scoop on fantastic restaurants around town and travel tips. Contact her at hklifestylegeek@hkfashiongeek.com 

Disclosure: Aqua is a client of FashionGeek’s day job. Photos taken when FashionGeek went to try the brunch. All views are presented by guest blogger LifestyleGeek

Whenever I have a Sunday brunch buffet, I always tell myself to slow down and eat smaller portions. But my good intentions evaporate as soon as I see the mouth-watering dishes enticing my tastebuds. I give in and pile the food on my plate(s) and waddle out later.

But Aqua now offers the perfect-sized menu that allows you to sample just about all the dishes you want and not feel like you have to be wheeled out of the restaurant.

The dining establishment at One Peking Road has its Infinity Champagne Brunch for HK$588 complete with unlimited bubbly, and for January and February it's Louis Roederer Brut Premier NV.

And while you pace yourselves throughout the meal -- mine lasted three hours -- you can enjoy the amazing view of Victoria harbour and literally watch the boats go by.

For starters, there's the sushi and sashimi platter, a long narrow plate filled with tuna, salmon, yellowtail and shrimp sashimi along with scallop sushi and cucumber rolls that are topped with gold flecks. Totally decadent dining.

All the fish are flown in fresh daily from the famous Tsukiji market in Tokyo so you know you're getting some pretty good stuff. There is also a bowl of fresh European and Australian seafood on ice, including a giant cooked prawn sliced lengthwise, along with fresh clams and oysters that hit the spot.

Next came a plate of greens covered with thin slices of meats from proscuitto to salami, air-dried meats and a small container of olives to whet our appetites.

After we were done with these, we were asked if we were ready for the pasta -- all three of them.

When they arrived, we were pleasantly surprised to see the small portions. The homemade squid ink pasta had a delicious combination of prawns and slices of green asparagus in a tomato sauce. Next was the homemade cappelletti pasta that was like dumplings stuffed with fresh snapper and garnished with finely cubed vegetables.

Finally the ricotta ravioli had a green appearance and had a great creamy taste with cherry tomatoes and basil. Just a few bites of each was just enough for the two of us to almost finish all the pasta.

There's a long list of mains and you can try as many as you wish -- or how much more your stomach can take.

But without any bread to fill your stomach, it's likely you'll have more room than you thought.

Recommended to us was the roasted seabass, which sat on a bed of seasonal vegetables topped with a balsamic foam. The fish was cooked perfectly and again a small portion enough for tasting.

Another excellent and colourful dish was the duck breast with morella potato and white asparagus. Thin small slices of duck served medium rare were placed on top of a bright purple potato mash, each flavourful and delicious.

For a bit of Asian flavour, we had the silk tofu, deepfried in what is described as a "light crispy batter", but was a bit on the thick side. But it didn't matter as the tofu really was smooth as silk. The assorted tempura featured prawns, a mushroom, asparagus and squash, all so good we polished them off.

Other mains include rib eye steak with grilled eggplant, zucchini and tomato; grilled mackerel, herb and pistachio crusted rack of lamb with shallots and baby carrots; and grilled salmon with balsamic ponzu.

And if that's not all, there was the Aqua signature dessert platter to finish off the brunch. It was filled with all kinds of goodies, from the molten chocolate cake (which we immediately attacked and sated our chocolate craving), lemon sorbet, creme brulee that was really creamy and rich, tiramisu, vanilla ice cream, and wine jelly.

Throughout the meal our champagne flutes were constantly refilled and friendly staff were on hand to explain the brunch format and the dishes. For a leisurely Sunday brunch where you are served small portions like this is the way to go without having to waddle out.

Aqua
Penthouse, One Peking
One Peking Road
Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: 3427 2288