Featuring: La Petite Maison, Feather & Bone…
WHISPER it but can it really be winter in Hong Kong? In a city which is famed for its heat and humidity for around nine months of the year, the idea of putting on a jacket and even gloves is a novel concept – so much so that people shop with great fervour for winter clothes in the same way others do for floaty summer threads in cooler climes.
So if there is one cuisine that calls when there’s a drop in the mercury, a good contender must surely be rustic French food – hearty, simple and well done. Step forward La Petite Maison, which to great excitement has opened in Hong Kong as a sister restaurant to the flagship in London and a cousin to the ones in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Miami and Istanbul. Inside is a haven to all things white and linen. Tables are perhaps a little too close together which is fine if you’re in rural France maybe, but in tightly-packed Hong Kong where people love the idea of space because no one has any, the restaurant could do worse than taking out a few. However, the food certainly shakes up the idea of French cuisine in Hong Kong – not that it’s complicated which French food never needs to be, but because it’s so well executed. Fat succulent snails in garlic butter sauce, tender veal chop, juicy rib-eye, and steak tartare with enough piquancy to keep it interesting. It is not cheap. But then it’s not trying to be. With lavish touches of white and gold, and lissom waiters gliding about refilling water glasses, replenishing wine glasses and ever-ready with warm home-made bread, the rather hefty pricing can be forgiven. In a place where mediocre French bistros are on nearly every street corner with an un-mediocre price tag to match, La Petite Maison currently rules the roost. La Petite Maison, Shop 1, H Queen’s, 23-29, 1/F Stanley St, Central; phone +852 2887 1113 or visit lpmlondon.co.uk.
The name Feather & Bone might bring to mind slightly gory Game of Thrones imagery and it’s fair to say that if you’re not a real meat lover the experience might not be for you. However, if the words grass-fed tenderloin is like music to your ears, then this deli/restaurant combo is one concept you won’t have a beef with.
With branches in Central, Sai Ying Pun, Happy Valley and Clearwater Bay, Feather & Bone offers straightforward dishes such as freshly shucked oysters, duck breast with black pudding, smoked lemon chicken and moules mariniere, but it’s the meat counter where it really comes into its own. The butcher’s counter offers every available cut of steak going, all hailing from Australia and undoubtedly nurtured from birth to slaughter. Go up to the counter, order your meat of choice, choose a sauce and then your garnish. which to Feather & Bone means a hefty portion of hand-cut chips, maple-dressed leaves and kale and garlic butter. With quick and efficient service, and light and airy venues, Feather & Bone is a great place for breakfast (think the usual eggs/avocado amalgamations), a hearty lunch or a laidback dinner. Just bring an appetite. Feather & Bone, Shop 1, G/F Bohemian House, 321 Des Voeux Rd West, Sai Ying Pun; phone +852 3705 0280 or visit featherandbone.com.hk.