Rating: ★★★★☆

Address: Shop H701-H708, 7/F, Hollywood, PMQ, 35 Aberdeen Street, Central 中環鴨巴甸街35號PMQ元創方B座Hollywood 7樓H701-H708號舖

Telephone: 2156 0888

www.tdr.com.hk

I was very excited when I hear that The Drawing Room, a Michelin-starred operated by Drawing Room Concepts which used to be located in Causeway Bay, will reopen in June 2016 after a 2-year hiatus, and immediately made a reservation for its first week of opening.

The restaurant takes over the stylish and elegant space in PMQ which used to be Vasco (see my previous review here), a Spanish fine dining establishment that I was very fond of. The Drawing Room serves up refined contemporary Italian cuisine, created by Chef Gabriele Milani.

There are currently 2 options at dinner, a Classical Tasting Menu and a Seasonal Tasting Menu, both priced at $798 for 4 courses and $998 for 5 courses. G and I decided to order one of each.

We are presented with the bread basket and the focaccia is fantastic!

The amuse-bouche is a potato cream with black truffle and red pepper, which is creamy and packed with flavours.

(1) The appetiser, creamy burrata with raw tomato juice & marinated Italian red prawns, is served and I am besotted! The tomato’s tartness perfectly cuts through the burrata’s creaminess and the Italian red prawns are delectable.

(2) The langoustine tartare with amalfi lemon cream & cucumber mayonnaise demonstrates the kitchen’s expert skills at balancing flavours, and is vibrant and refreshing, lifted by the scent of lemon.

(3) The green asparagus with slow-cooked Japanese egg, tallegio sauce & summer truffle tastes as good as it looks. The intense truffle flavour forms a most beautiful match with the half-cooked egg.

(4) The Italian red prawn linguine with fresh tomato & chilli (supplement $50) is one of the restaurant’s signature dishes, and the fresh taste of the Italian red prawns permeates the dish. One slight complaint, though, is that the pasta is a tad undercooked (and by that, I do mean it is undercooked, not al dente).

(6) The spaghetti with Hokkaido sea urchin is a most lovely dish, not to be missed by uni-lovers!

(7) The roasted black angus tenderloin with ox tongue, potato puree & mustard sauce is deeply flavoured and absolutely delightful.

(8) Thanks to social media, I have been yearning for this warm caramelised brioche with vanilla ice cream for some time already, and am very glad to finally meet it in person! It tastes every bit as good as I imaged, and tastes like bread pudding but fluffier – how awesome!

(9) The hazelnut praline cremes with cacao & apricot is a job well done and tastes very pleasant.

The petit-fours are presented in a glass cylinder (same as Vasco). How can I say no to the chocolate macarons?

Dining at The Drawing Room is a wonderful experience from start to finish, and the service is enthusiastic and polished. One word of caution though – if you plan to come here with a date, be prepared to bump into lots of friends!