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Wenn Sie neugierig auf ein chinesisches Gourmet-Restaurant sind, gehen Sie ins Empress by Boon und lassen Sie es sich schmecken!
Wenn Sie neugierig auf ein chinesisches Gourmetrestaurant sind, sollten Sie das Empress by Boon besuchen, wo der Sternekoch Ho Chee Boon kantonesische Spezialitäten in neuem Gewand zubereitet. Durch eine große, reich geschnitzte Tür gelangt man in den 6. Stock, wo sich eine Reihe von Alkoven befindet, die durch schwarze, ziselierte Holzpaneele voneinander getrennt sind. Die Aussicht auf San Francisco ist außergewöhnlich und das 7-Gänge-Degustationsmenü ist einfach zum Niederknien. Besonders angetan waren wir von den Shimeji-Pilzklößchen mit Burgundertrüffel und dem gegrillten Alaska-Kabeljau, der auf der Zunge zergeht.
Meinungen der Mitglieder zu EMPRESS BY BOON
Dish 1: puff pastry, egg roll, lily bulb
Puff pastry is generic, I would easily find something similar in a dim sum restaurant. The caviar on the egg roll doesn’t taste like its high quality. There’s egg white inside and scallop. The egg white really did smell like egg. Not sure whether it’s because it’s undercooked. Scallop was flavourless, might be there for the texture. Lily bulb was a nice surprise. On the inside there’s a honey ginger filling, which was contrasting.
Dish 2: shrimp and squid dumpling
Apart from the cute presentation, I’d say it’s nothing special. Again, easily accessible at dim sum restaurants. The soup thought I believe was chicken soup base, with wayyyy too much vinegar and chilli. It almost hurt my mouth.
Dish 3: fish/squab?
To be honest I don’t remember what it was. I thought it’s fish but on the online menu it says squab. It’s cooked pretty tender. Sauce was ok, it reminds me of a caramel sweet and sour sauce and braised meat combination flavour. Dish is paired with candied walnuts and boiled cauliflower. Both generic, and can be bought at store and easily cooked at home.
Dish 4: lobster
This is where it starts to go downhill. The dish feels like it’s just thrown into the menu as a filler. It’s cooked nicely with a similar sauce as the fish/squab.
Dish 5: vegetables/rice noodle and bean curd/pork belly
The vegetables are again generic, can be found at any Chinese restaurant. Rice noodle was ok with a similar sauce as dish 3 and 4. The bean curd tasted hard, and has no flavour. Don’t know what’s the intention here. Pork belly overall was good. But the sauce is too red man. It almost looks like blood. How revolting! Bet there’s either excessive red food colouring or too much ketchup.
Before this I ordered tea.
Tea menu was almost 70% pu-er, and the variety wasn’t there. I ordered a jasmine tea, which is 18 dollars. There is NO REFILL. Usually at Cantonese restaurants they give you a tea pot with tea leaves in it. And the same tea leaves can be steeped up to 3-5 times. They only gave a tea pot with pre-steeped tea. What a ripoff.
Dessert menu was disappointing, which is why I didn’t order any. The choices were 1) Asian dessert with sago which I can get at Meet Fresh for cheaper, better quality and quantity 2) generic cheesecake 3) generic ice cream. I really don’t understand what the deal is.
Dessert wine menu only have the wine names, origin and years. When I asked the waiter to describe the notes and taste profile, I could tell that they are not an expert. They didn’t offer to ask to bring out the sommelier either. Which leads me to doubt: Do they even have a sommelier? This also brings up the question: why is there so much Italian and French wines? At a Chinese restaurant? I’ve never seen wine being ordered in ANY Chinese restaurant. Besides, there are many good wines produced in China. Maybe add some of those? (I don’t believe in wine pairing with Chinese food also.)
The view was pretty nice. Apart from that, they play pop music. I expected at least some Classical Chinese music, since this is a Chinese restaurant.
Overall very disappointed. For what it claims to be fine dining, I expect at least stunning presentation, interesting flavours, and unusual food pairings. I ended up paying 160 including tips. Would not come here again nor recommend to anyone.