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TATE Dining Room & Bar

Passion, hard work and talent make apowerful combination for success. Such is the case for TATE, a much-touted French restaurant in the city. Behind the success is Vicky Lau, a native Hongkonger and an up-and-coming culinary star.

Chef Lau started her career as a graphic designer, but quickly found her passion in French cooking and switched careers. After enrolling in prestigious cooking classes and apprenticing under an acclaimed chef, Lau opened Tate Dining Room & Bar in 2012. The restaurant, which serves French dishes with a healthy dose of Asian influence, was a hit from the start, garnering numerous awards along，the way, including a Michelin star.

Tate relocated to its current, larger space in 2017; it’s a two-storey venue that also houses Poem Patisserie, Lau's new dessert venture. It's clear that the new space has been elegantly and thoughtfully designed in all its elements, from decor to furnishings to table setting, attesting to its Lau’s unerring attention to detail.

Chef Lau's cooking philosophy is her passion to take fusion cooking to a rarefied level of creativity, with a subtle but noticeable blending of French with Cantonese ingredients. The meals are themed as “Odes” – poetic tributes to new dishes.

For our much-anticipated dinner we had the eight-course menu, “All the odes” ($1,680 per person), with a six-glass wine pairing ($780 per person). After an amuse bouche, we started with Ode to Tomato: fruit tomato with tomato green tea kombucha, Sicilian red prawn, langoustine and Chinese onion. We gave a special nod to the tasty Sour Dough bread with House Seaweed Butter served. A glass of Chartogne-Taillet Sainte Anne champagne accompanied the meal. Next was Ode to Chinese Yam, in which the Chinese Yam is escorted by smoked eel, aroma of sesame oil with a delicate touch of Ossetra caviar; another intriguing concoction. A brioche with house-fermented Tofu butter – a first for us – was a winner at our table.

Ode to Kumquat arrived promptly: warm sea scallop accompanied by aged kumquat Grenobloisestyle sauce – the scallop is tender with just the right texture. Ode to Olive, Alfonso fish complemented by fishbone olive sauce, eastern olive leaf and Dracontomelon jam, was another dish that we consumed eagerly. A trio of white wines was served: 2014 Jean & Sebastien Dauvissat Chablis; 2015 Cailbourdin Pouilly-Fumé ‘Les Cris’; and from Ningxia in China, the 2015 Silver Heights Family Reserve Chardonnay, which were all well-matched with the food.

There followed a real treat – Ode to Scallion: Blue lobster lightly steamed, balanced with a duet of scallion ginger sauce and Vin Juane Shaoxing wine foam. The Cantonese influence of this dish is unmistakable, and to excellent effect. Our final entree was Ode to Mayura Beef, beef striploin with soy-braised Shitake mushroom and grilled green asparagus – the tender meat, the sauce and the ingredients all meshed together well. A nice Rhone, the 2013 Perrine Gigondas, accompanied the beef.

Two desserts, Ode to Tofu, light tofu vanilla espuma with lemon mint compote and balanced by Dragon Well Ice cream, and Ode to Urban Honey, a mignardise surprise, accompanied by a delightful sweet Bordeaux, the 2009 La Tour Blanche, completed this highly enjoyable dinner.

A dining experience at Tate is enlightening, exploratory and memorable; you should really give it a try.■

G/F-1/F, 210 Hollywood Road,Central

2555 2172

Edited on 3 Oct, 2018