Amber weekend wine lunch – its all about the Hokkaido sea urchin (2*)

I’ve been to Amber before (here). I very much enjoyed it and so I invented a feeble excuse to go back and try some more of chef Richard Ekkebus’ food at their new Saturday weekend wine lunch. This was despite the fact it was meant to be a lean January. Oh well.

And to further compound my financial pain, I broke and ordered one of the dishes they are so famous for. Their Hokkaido sea urchin in a lobster jell-O with cauliflower, caviar & crispy seaweed waffles. On its own this costs a weighty HK$440 (£36).

So what can one say about a dish where you combine hokkaido sea scallop and caviar and dress it with a bit of gold leaf. It is… expensive… it is Hong Kong… it is a floro-yellow painted Bentley with hip hop blaring out the back. It is you having a massive sea urchin brought out to your table and everyone knowing that you are quite a big deal.

Fortuitiously, the taste nearly matched up to the price. The sea urchin was moussed in texture giving you, when combined with the lobster, a light briney jelly. The caviar helped give you that salty kick to wake up the palate and the gold leaf… well that was just to show off.

The rest of the meal was up to the standard I now expect from Amber. It wasn’t perfect with a notable mix up which meant they forgot all of our apéritifs and still didn’t bring them despite being reminded a couple of times. However, when this is set within  a meal of calm relaxed competence it is soon forgotten. Now just to find another feeble reason to revisit.

• Price – HK$698 for the 6 course wine matching meal. Hokkaido sea urchin nearly as much
• Landmark Mandarin Oriental, 15 Queen’s Road Central, The Landmark, Hong Kong