Table side at the Verandah

Having Jonathan in the F&B industry certainly has it perks.  With a week day off, we got a dinner reservation at the Verandah at Repulse Bay.

The Verandah at the Repulse Bay is a place where you can surround yourself with old world hospitality and classic cuisine.  Arrived early, we had our before dinner drinks at the bamboo themed bar, an Absolute Grasshopper seems to fit the bill.

We went into the dining room filled with candle lights, shiny silvers and the pianist playing.  The hallway was filled with table-side service trolley rolling back and forth like a mini highway, carrying Roasted Lamp Rack, Smoked Salmon, after dinner drinks, made to order steak tartar and their famous Caesar salad.  Most of their must have dishes were table side service.  With lots of goodies to choose from, we decided to go tartar style.  We first have the scallop and Ebi Shrimp Tartar, light and sweet with a hint of truffles.  Then comes the dozen French Oyster over ice, salty and creamy.  Our trolley arrived with all the ingredients to make our steak tartar.  It took the waiter almost 15mins mixing one or two ingredient at a time, it was such an experience that I was mesmerized.  Only a few place in HK will do these type of time consuming stuff.  Then came my Caesar Salad trolley, Romain freshly tossed with extra spicy dressing to my request, croutons were crisp and accompany with smoked organic Irish Salmon, define!

Call me old soul but I was completely tickled.  The classic sometimes gives you a sense of comfort and grounds you to the core.  It was not a fancy fusion dinner which kept you guessing, but it sure makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.  We spent the rest of the evening talking about kids and life so far and it was definitely a perfect setting to bring back old memories.