This was a birthday treat from hubby! An occasion to dress-up and experience a full French fare!
It is not the first time we have been to Caprice, in fact, we have been since it’s opening but only really for celebratory reasons. We arrived for our 8.30pm booking after putting the boys to bed. Following very intense studying of the menu, the options before me were: a 6 course summer menu featuring the freshest seasonal ingredients and an 8-course Chef’s Signature Menu showcasing all the signature dishes at Caprice. 
I liked the sound of the Chef’s Signature Menu but it takes like 2-3 hours to serve!! Would the menu be too much when we are starting so late? and would it be too late then to get home to my sleeping babies?
With those questions swimming in my head, Jeff decided to wade in and make the decision. It was my birthday after-all so we were having the Chef’s Signature Menu together with a bottle of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon!
What’s good Out of the 8 courses, my favorites of the night were the first 3 dishes. The poached Gillardeau oyster is a chef Fabrice Vulin signature – whilst the sole oyster was creamy and smooth, I was delighted with the very generous portion of Kristal caviar accompanying the dish.
A while ago, I went to a caviar tasting function and learnt all about the different grades of caviar. The take home for a normal silly mom like me is that regardless of the grade, all caviar is to be savored and slowly enjoyed. Caprice must have presented me with a birthday portion, as I enjoyed each spoonful in utter ecstasy.
Not to be outdone by the first dish, the poached lobster reconfirmed that we picked the correct menu! Beautifully presented like a summer garden, the course was exquisitely light and delicate. It really was the perfectly balanced dish for a summer’s night.
Probably as a deliberate contrast, the duck foie gras was rich and decadent. Usually accompanied by pears, the chef used the seasonal sweet and juicy Burlat cherries instead. What it accomplished was the meaty sweet cherries against the softness of the rich foie gras – to die for!
I must also mention the Japanese waygu beef main course. The beef were under the sous vide machine resulting in an extremely tender texture. The problem was that the cut was too fatty (or marbled) and with the sous vide treatment, the fattiness made it extremely heavy and oily on the palate. It may have been better to have been roasted or pan fried at the end to let the fattiness melt and drain off a bit. Otherwise, the simple natural sweetness of the carrots married well with the “heaviness” of the meat.
Leave room for ….the cheese board and dessert! The variety of cheese is presented on an enormous handcrafted wooden board. I was so excited I forgot to take photos and record the names of all the cheese we sampled! What I can say is that there is a reason why Caprice is so famous in Hong Kong for its French cheese that it opened its cheese bar.
Cheese is then followed by dessert. Luckily, for this menu, the desserts were relatively light and airy – the melon was refreshing on the palate and the vanilla souffle (my favorite) and apricot compote were like a satisfying end to a showcase.
As we finished the course with our teas and petite fours, we were glad that this signature menu wasn’t as heavy as I thought, and I was so very glad we ordered it!
What’s not Apart from the food, the service was flawless – there is not much to complain about actually! The only thing to mention is why Caprice is not awarded back its 3 Michelin Stars since chef Fabrice Vulin took over the kitchen reins in 2014? I think it’s about time. Michelin, wake up!
Tidbits Pace yourself! The house-made bread is crunchy and warm, and goes all too well with the artisan butter shipped over from France. The bread basket came to us on multiple occasions (especially in between meals) to tempt us, and it was extremely hard to resist! I gravitated towards the mini baguettes and min pain epi (shaped like mini wheat stalks) and had to keep reminding myself to stop!! If I continued with the bread, I would be too “carbed up” with no more room to enjoy the rest of the courses!
Luckily the bread basket returned on our cheese course, and there was a legitimate excuse for another mini baguette – can’t eat cheese without bread right?
Date Night Worthy? Oh yes, yes and yes! Due to the dinner menu prices, it is more like a special occasion dinner date for us than a venue for just a normal date night! On that note, their set lunches are much more reasonable – maybe we need to expand our dates to Lunch Dates as well! Hummm….yummmm
You Silly Mommy! 