Restaurant Akrame (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

In recent years, Ship Street has quietly surpassed Star Street as Wanchai's leading culinary hotspot following the success of Bo Innovation, Madame Sixty Ate and 22 Ships. Its position could be further cemented this week with the addition of restaurant Akrame, a new concept headed by El Bulli and Pierre Gagnaire alum Akrame Benallal.

Chef Akrame Benallal made a name for himself by opening restaurant Akrame in the 16th arrondisement of Paris in 2011. A year later, he was already awarded with his first Michelin star making him one of the most promising young chefs in the country.

At his first venture in Hong Kong, expect seafood to be the focus in the "no-choice" menu that promises to change every fortnight.



Akrame offers three choices at lunch, a three-course, four-course and six-course surprise menu. There's no a la carte menu offered at this point.



The 30-seater was full on this day and our man, Chef Akrame Benallal could be seen working just outside the open kitchen!



First of all, a little advice before you head over to Akrame. Wash your hands carefully coz you will be using them a lot.

Lunch started with some interesting nibbles. First up was a plate of three nibbles including a radish "sandwich" with a piece of fish that looked like a herring on top, a slice of smoked eel on a squid ink chip and lastly, salmon roes on a cheese puff.

And if those couldn't get your appetite going, try the next nibble - a small chip of dried black olive with yoghurt. The olive flavor was very compelling (6/10).



While we were still cleaning up our fingers, our first course arrived and it was a cauliflower soup with bitter jelly. The combination of cauliflower and bitter jelly was quite an interesting experience (5/10).



Under this parsley foam was a few layers of fresh clams along with a strong passion fruit emulsion and some passion fruit kernels. The balance between the parsley and clams was good but the passion fruit was a little too overpowering at times (6/10).




A nice fillet of red snapper was our fish course today. The red snapper with a crust of rice cracker was served on a pool of purple glutinous rice. That was a rather unusual marriage of contrasting flavors characteristic of Chef Benallal's cooking (4/10).



Our meat course was a veal with three different textures of onions. The onion flavors were really enjoyable but I found the veal a little too chewy (4/10).



Had to use our hands again, this time for the palate cleanser - a margarita ice!



We had trouble identifying which one was the pre-dessert and which one was the real deal because both the dark chocolate mousse and the charcoal grilled pineapple arrived virtually at the same time. 

Personally, I found the chargrilled pineapple with crumbs and "charcoal" ice-cream slightly more intriguing.

Time for our petite four - a dark chocolate bar with flakes of sea salt that we could either eat here or bring home as a souvenir.

I had mixed feelings about this lunch at Akrame. While the creative flare was quite apparent in the interpretation of some of these dishes, none of the dishes really stood out.

Food Rating: 5/10

Price: $$$

Address: 9 Ship Street, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Wanchai
Tel: +852 2528-5068