A different type of boozy lunch

Louise has a new chef in the kitchen with the return of Loïc Portalier, and Julien Royer came up to Hong Kong for a proper introduction. It has been some time since I was last at Louise - and in fact any of Julien's restaurants - so when the invitation came to join a media lunch today, I accepted without any hesitation.

As the shenanigans surrounding Asia's 50 Best Bars are happening in town this week, we also had a number of people from outside Hong Kong at lunch with us. There was a lot of talk around the tables about all the after parties last night, and it's obvious that all the partying has caught up with some of my friends...

I wasn't in a drinking mood as I have a big wine dinner tonight, so I just accepted a glass of Chartogne-Taillet Sainte Anne, which was toasty and mineral on the nose.

We then started with three amuses bouches:

Angel hair with black truffle, kombu seaweed, and caviar - this was... OK lah... No doubt it will make lots of people happy.

Pineapple tomato - with peach, tomato, sardine tartare, and pine nuts. Good acidity to whet one's appetite.

The lettuce-based cold soup came topped with chorizo foam, mint oil, and croûtons.

Smoked Basque sardine: citrus | bigarade dressing | basil oil - the sardines from Pays Basque were really, really beautiful... the fatty, fishy flavors were strong and the seasoning was just right. That basil oil in the citrus sauce was really strong, and in fact the acidity from the lemon gel as well as bigarade dressing - made with powdered ginger, coriander, and Kampot pepper - pretty much neutralized the fatty, fishy flavors the way sauce bigarade is intended to be used... although I myself absolutely love my sardines when they're fishy and fatty!

Caramelized onion tart: Comté cheese | vin jaune | brioche feuilletée - the Cévennes onion came on top of a laminated brioche, surrounded by a sauce made with Comté and, from what we tasted, a shit ton of vin jaune! It was soooo alcoholic!

This was topped up with a generous pile of black truffle shaved right before our eyes. Lovely.

Brittany Dover sole: sake and seaweed beurre blanc | bok choi | grilled sweet pea - the Dover sole was "cooked very gently", and the results speak for themselves... very tender, elegant, and nice. Glazed with a "reduction" of dashi and sake, plus some Bordier seaweed butter. This was lightened with some pomelo, lime, and the accompanying grilled petit pois were deliciously sweet while the radishes added a hint of bitterness. A pretty fantastic dish.

"Fabien D'eneour" Brittany pigeon: confit fennel and onions | sauce diable | pine nuts crumble - what's wrong with this picture?! Surely something is missing??? I can't claim to be a superfan of Julien's, but every visit to his restaurants - and those of his protégés - inevitably includes a pigeon dish which comes with the pigeon leg... and that leg ALWAYS has the "middle finger" extended. It's such a signature that I can't believe we didn't get it today.

So we have the pigeon breast, of course, topped with crumble made of pine nuts. Served with sauce diable made with wine, and onion on the side.

Lovely and just as pigeon should be.

The meat from the pigeon leg was removed and stuffed into a pastilla - introduced by the staff as "spring roll" - with some wonderfully fragrant ras el habout making this real tasty.

Our pre-dessert was basil sorbet with nuts like fresh almonds, then something that could have been marinated black cherries with some sabayon. Our server rattled off everything a little too quickly for us to understand.

"Tulakalum" dark chocolate: caramelized sourdough ice cream | cocoa nibs praline | Whisky - leftover bread has been repurposed and made into a bread ice cream, tuile - basically like Melba toast - and praliné. That sauce made with Tulakalum chocolate from Belize and what was obviously plenty of Whisky was pretty tasty.

Really grateful for the kind invitation and definitely happy to see Julien back in town as well as to meet Loïc. I can see he loves using different alcohol in his sauces, so I'll look forward to returning with other friends and get properly sloshed...