Rating: ★★★☆☆

Address: 6/F, Yung Kee Building, 32 Wellington Street, Central 中環威靈頓街32號鏞記大廈6樓

Telephone: 2810 9000

https://keeclub.com/hongkong/

Founded in 2001 by an Austrian couple Christian Rhomberg and his wife Maria, Kee Club is a private members club which offers exclusive dining facilities in the heart of Central. Situated on Wellington Street above the long-standing Chinese restaurant Yung Kee, the decor of Kee Club is artsy and stylish, and resembles a quirky Parisian private residence that is decorated with artworks collected from across the globe. The setting of the restaurant is opulent yet intimate and inviting, and is a great venue for business meals, corporate events or simply relaxed gatherings with friends.

The restaurant offers a Chinese dim sum menu at lunch and serves modern European cuisine, with a focus on Italian and Mediterranean dishes, in the evening. Chef Roland Schuller, the group’s Executive Chef who has previously worked at Ammo, has designed a few refreshing summer dishes to add to its dinner menu, and I am very excited to be able to try these out! A 4-course dinner menu is offered at $900 per head, which is not excessive given that this is such a private, upscale venue. The kitchen is at times a bit slow in sending out dishes, but the service is otherwise attentive, polite and gracious.

(1) We start off with a small caprese salad as our amuse-bouche. The tomato and the mozzarella are comfortingly fresh, and the dressing is perfectly adjusted.

(2) The appetiser of fresh quail and Culatello ham is absolutely impressive. The pink-middled quail is exquisitely tender and naturally flavourful, and the Culatello ham tastes refined.

(3) The red prawn with grilled octopus and artichokes salad is accomplished. The red prawn, barely cooked, is very juicy and tastes sea-fresh. The octopus is excellently grilled and the artichokes salad tastes spot-on.

(4) The King crab legs in aioli sauce tastes fresh and delicious, but the various flavours in the dish are not in complete harmony.

(5) The tagliolini with Brittany blue lobster is utter deliciousness. The Brittany blue lobster is perfectly cooked and startlingly tasty, and the pasta sauce is also bursting with oceanic flavours. My only complaint is that the pasta is a tad too hard.

(6) The angel hair with sea urchins and porcini mushrooms is too dry, and I would have preferred the sea urchin to be cooked into the pasta sauce instead of just being placed on top of the dish.

(7) The linguine with red prawn boasts bright and enticing flavours, and the red prawn is expertly cooked.

(8) The Wagyu beef tenderloin and beef cheek with potato mousseline is thoroughly cooked and has an attractive, velvety texture. The taste of the beef is deep and soothing and the potato mousseline is gorgeously creamy!

(9) The veal milanese with wild Swiss chard is fabulously crispy on the surface, and wonderfully tender in the middle. Remember to drizzle lemon juice over it to help cut through the fattiness of the veal.

(10) The waiter recommends that we try the mirabelle tart with tonka bean ice cream, but we find the flavours of it a bit unusual. Nice presentation though!

(11) Between the two desserts, we definitely prefer the apple tart with vanilla ice cream, and I like how there are some strawberries, raspberries and blueberries on top of the apple tart. The pastry can be more buttery and flaky, but it is still a good dessert.

(12) We are given two small lemon macarons as our petit-fours.

Some of the dishes from this set menu are marvellous, but some other dishes certainly can be improved. Having said that, the sleek, luxurious decor of Kee Club, its seamless service and prime location ensure that it remains popular as a meeting place in Central!