Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Bubbly Brunch with a View

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

Looking for another venue for a decadent Sunday brunch? Look no further than The French Window at IFC for an all you can eat appetiser buffet, a choice of a main, and if there's enough room, lots of desserts and non-stop Moet for HK$590. Need I say more?

The restaurant has a great view of Victoria Harbour and you can watch the helicopters coming in from Macau every few minutes. They seem to do a loop around before landing at Shun Tak.

But back to the food. Once you sit down the Moet is poured and you are given a choice of two amuse bouche. The weekend I went there it was either a freshly-shucked oyster or foie gras and I picked the former which was delicious with a touch of sea water taste. Then we headed to the appetisers of which there are many divided into two sections of the restaurant. The one closer to the kitchen features salads, two kinds of cured salmon, a carving station of lamb and ham as well as a selection of sausages.

The salad bar featured a variety of greens and toppings including anchovies which was an interesting touch. However the dressings were mostly on the creamy side and if you wanted a simple balsamic and olive oil dressing you literally had to make it yourself, as there were glass containers for each but not together.

The other appetiser table had mostly cold cuts including parma ham cut from the cured leg, a bland vegetarian aspic as well as rich pate, and a variety of cheeses, mostly on the soft side.

While the buffet selection is great for those who eat meat, there wasn't much choice for vegetarians or those who prefer eating seafood, so you've been warned.

Before we started the staff suggested we eat our appetisers and then decide which main course to have which was good advice. The dishes on the menu included scrambled eggs and wild mushrooms; black pudding with mashed potatoes and cheese; grilled fish of the day with Provencal herbs and sirloin steak with potatoes gratin. I selected the Provencal fish soup served with a garlic mayonnaise and thankfully it was a small portion. The broth was absolutely delicious and flavourful, though the fish was slightly overcooked.

We made some room for dessert and tried a kind of cake that could be cooked in either rum or vanilla sauce on the trolley. The texture was so soft it was almost like eating a wet soufflee. In the name of research we sampled both and I thought the vanilla one had a slight edge over the rum flavour. There were also small mousses in shot glasses or a mini fruit salad in a glass.

Service overall was very friendly and prompt -- and they definitely made sure our champagne flutes were filled at all times.

So if you and your friends want to try something new head to The French Window for a magnifique dining experience.



The French Window
3101, Podium Level 3, IFC Mall
8 Finance Street
Central
2393 3812
www.thefrenchwindow.hk

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1 comment:

  1. The free flow of champ is what to go for. I find the food there rather mediocre. -- beetsy

    ReplyDelete