Want a restaurant where the chef personally greets you by opening the door for you? You got it.
Want a restaurant where you can see the chef in the kitchen, carefully and laboriously preparing and checking over every dish before it’s sent out? Tick!
Want a restaurant where they give you complimentary white truffles (yes white truffles) on your pasta if they’ve stuffed up your booking?
A THOUSANDS TIMES YES.
Welcome to Upper Modern Bistro.
Chef Philippe Orrico runs the ship at Upper Modern Bistro, after doing stints at Michelin starred restaurants such as Pierre at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong as well as St George at Hullett House, also in HK. Now that’s all well and good – but how is the food at his own place now? The answer is that the food is great – and the service ain’t bad either.
JYSL and I opted for a smaller dinner to share after days of heavy eating, starting with the Salmon Bruschetta, which is actually part of the bar menu. Unfortunately I didn’t get down what exactly the caviar and sauce were, nor the price, but this is definitely a lovely, fresh starter.
Why were we ordering from the bar menu, you ask? That’s because we didn’t actually have a table. When I called the reserve a table there was some miscommunication – at first I was told I’d be put on a waiting list, but then the conversation ended with “Ok, so I’ll confirm your reservation now.” So I assumed that we had our table, right? Unfortunately not – but the staff were lovely enough to accommodate us nonetheless. This meant we only had an hour at the restaurant, but that’s okay.
To make up for the mishap/miscommunication, the lovely Chef Orrico gave us a complimentary addition of white Alba truffles on our pasta. Say whaaaa? That is definitely the way to a girl’s heart. Thus the Mushroom tagliatelle with 63° egg, cheese sauce, Parma ham and complimentary shaved Alba white truffle (HK$188) was a freaking amazing dish – I just wish there was more of it. Check that runny egg! Definitely a must-have dish at the restaurant.
We opted for a light side of Organic vegetables and herbs salsa verde (HK$88) which matched very well, and tasted extremely fresh and not overly seasoned. The vegetables were also cooked just right to retain a bit of crunchiness – perfect.
Already looking forward to my next visit to Upper Modern Bistro – in which I will stay longer, and order more food. (Read: truffle pasta x 10)
Upper Modern Bistro
Upper Station Street
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
http://www.upper-bistro.com/
