Tate - Hong Kong
The main dining room
Rating: 16/20
Where: Hong Kong, Hong Kong
When: Dinner for 6 on 15 February 2025
Cost per Person: Tasting menu 1880-2480 HKD, Wine pairing 1080-1980 HKD
Accolades: 2 Michelin Stars
Why: Cuisine that incorporates French and Chinese influences, beautiful presentations
“Tate” or, more formally, “Tate Dining Room" is a two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Hong Kong's Central district. Its food combines aspects of both French and Chinese cuisines - that’s something hard to find outside of Asia, so we were interesting in trying it. The fact that chef Vicky Lau was the only female chef to hold two stars in Hong Kong was another attraction.
While we were walking to the restaurant from the closest MTR stop, I suddenly got a phone call. It was Tate, asking where we were. That was at 8:01pm for an 8pm reservation - I don't think I've ever been that eagerly awaited by a restaurant... After that brief exchange we expected that the whole dinner would be a rushed affair, but oddly, the reverse was true. It took us 4 1/2 hours for our meal, and there were long pauses between courses.
Tate’s dining room was decorated in light colors, with lots of beige and white. Our party of six was seated in a semi-private room - still part of the main dining room, but separated by a waist-high wall. It was a nice setup that gave us a bit of privacy, but didn’t lose the feeling of sitting in a lively restaurant. The charger plates had an interesting property, too: when one looked at them straight on, they appeared to be golden, but when seen from the side, they seemed to have a turquoise color (see picture below). So it made every diner feel special - one's own plate seemed to be the only golden one in a sea of turquoise. Neat.
There were two tasting menus to choose from: a full menu of seven courses, or an abbreviated version with five. The choice had to be made at reservation time, and dietary restrictions were easily accommodated when mentioned early on. We went with the longer menu, and thematically, each course was an “ode” to a single ingredient. As for wine pairings, there were regular and elevated pairings of seven glasses each (at 1080 and 1980 HKD), which differed in three of the seven wines. Alternatively, one could shorten the pairing to “only” five glasses by leaving out two glasses. And each guest could choose which two glasses to drop - a nice flexibility. The wines started off a bit weak, but got pretty good after a few courses - great even without the food. Enjoyment-wise, the wines at the two different price levels were roughly the same, though, for example I enjoyed the red from the cheaper pairing (a Cote-Rotie) more than the red Burgundy from the elevated pairing.
Before the wine pairing began, we received three small bites from the kitchen. A mussel tarte was topped with sliced clams. This bite was lightly crunchy, had a light seafood taste and felt very Mediterranean - maybe there were some olives in it? Quite nice 17. Next, we tried a layered tarte with chicken liver and Chinese sausage. Its bottom had a sandy crunch, the liver was creamy, and overall, this dish was a bit sweet 17. A cracker cup was filled with steamed daikon, some Iberico ham and topped with chopped pickled jellyfish. A salty bite, fresher tasting than the other two, and with a light crunch. Sadly, I couldn't really make out the ham 17.
The first course of the tasting menu was called an “ode to [a] century egg”. Layered into a bowl were (from bottom to top): Alaskan king crab meat, eggplant, a “century egg mimosa” and osmanthus flower jelly. All of this was decorated with some tiny croutons and a scallion puree - resulting in a very pretty presentation. Tastewise, the egg cream dominated this dish - which made sense since it was supposed to be an ode to eggs. The result was very creamy, heavy, buttery and even a bit meaty in flavor. Pretty good, but a bit of acidity might have helped lighten the dish up a bit. As it was, the eggplant and crab were somewhat buried by the cream, they supplied texture than taste 16.
Next came the first of two bread servings, a butter brioche accompanied by a Chinese fermented tofu butter - an explicit combination of the two cuisines represented here: French and Chinese. The bread was served at room temperature, and wasn't particularly memorable. The “butter” was much more interesting, it had a very strong flavor, almost like blue cheese - quite tasty and distinctive 16.
The second course was also very artfully plated - it looked stunning. A (cooked) langoustine tartare was topped with beluga caviar and a sous-vide-cooked langoustine. Three sauces were on the plate as well, one made from ginger and scallions, one from oysters and a third based on langoustines and lobsters. The langoustine on top was ok, but the sauces were a bit heavier and creamier than I would have liked, feeling somewhat mayonnaise-y. Again, some acidity might have given this dish a bit more of a punch 16.
Mushrooms were the star of the third course. We got a dish of sticky rice and braised shiitake mushrooms, sitting next to a piece of wood bark fungus, and a mushroom sauce. It was accompanied by a cup of mushroom consommé. I love mushrooms, but this broth was a bit of a letdown. It wasn't terrible, but didn't have a particularly strong mushroom flavor - it mostly tasted earthy. The tarte was much better, and the rice and the delicious mushrooms were a good combination. The mushroomy sauce was a bit sweet, and the dried wood bark mushroom gave the dish a decidedly Chinese flavor 17.
Next, a black garlic soufflé that was doused table-side with a scallop velouté. Most noticeable about this dish were its light flavors. The souffle was fine, but didn't taste of much, and the black garlic added color rather than flavor. The scallops were even lighter 15.
The following bread serving paired a sourdough bread with a tofu mousse and extra virgin olive oil. The bread was again merely so-so, and I didn't find the light tofu spread very enjoyable either 12.
A kinki fish filet was topped with pickled olives and sat next to an olive/fish mousse that was wrapped by zucchini slices. The fish was cooked fine, the sauce tasted of olives and the mousse had only a light flavor. By far the most intense part of the dish were the pickled olives. They reminded me of Indian pickles, quite tasty, but also an outlier in this otherwise lightly flavored dish 16.
For the main course, we had a choice between a pigeon and a venison dish. I went for the latter. A venison saddle was served with a sauce made with butter and fermented black beans, looking similar to a mole. Also present: a celeriac puree and a strawberry tempura. The meat was tender, not gamey at all, the sauce added a nice umami flavor, and a pickle on top added some nice acidity. The strawberry tempura was merely ok, and felt a bit oily 17. The pescatarian alternative to the venison was a steamed sea bass served with a bouillabaisse sauce and pickled cauliflowers. Sadly, the fish was quite overcooked, and the whole dish was very light in flavor: the fish, the sauce and even the pickles 14.
As a palate cleanser we received an herb sorbet that came with little cubes of melon, a melon sauce and fig leaf oil. The herbs were an interesting mix of Chinese and Western varieties, and made for a fine combination with the crunchy melons 16.
The main dessert was constructed in layers - as had been the case for many of the savory courses. A yogurt meringue, a rice/soy milk ice cream, a chestnut paste, coconut, a crispy sponge cake and a chestnut mousse, plus a cassis sauce on the side. A very light dish, lightly chestnutty, sweet and crunchy 15.
Just before the petit fours, we were served a lotus flower tea infusion, which was very light in flavor 14.
There were eight petit fours available from the dessert cart, and in the spirit of scientific inquiry, we tried all of them. A canelé supposedly contained some rum, but I was able to detect at most a hint of it. Texture-wise, it was a bit too soft on the outside, but otherwise fine 16. A coconut marshmallow was a good combination, of, well, coconut and marshmallow 16. A choux pastry was filled with coffee cream and an oyster (!) gel. Pretty light, not too sweet, and thankfully without a discernible seafood taste 14. A butter cookie contained a food-related, fortune. Otherwise, it was a pretty standard cookie 14. A white chocolate shell was filled with praline and hazelnuts, resulting in a lightly hazelnutty flavor 15. A strawberry sponge cake was only light fruity, the strawberry itself felt out of season 14. A pistachio financier was topped with a lily bulb mousse. The aftertaste here was of a very, very strong pistachio flavor - more balance might have been better 12. Finally, a five-spice chocolate praline had a christmassy/gingerbready flavor 14.
Overall: Combining French and Chinese cuisines is definitely a very promising concept. However, in this case, I felt that there was too much emphasis on elegance and presentation, and not enough on strong flavors. Everything looked very pretty and was (aside from the rare exception) skillfully prepared, but practically every dish could have used a bit more oomph (acidity, salt, etc) that would have let the ingredients shine more fully 16.
