Fa Zu Jie 法租界

1st Floor, 20A D’Aguilar Street, Central.

This was one of the newer private kitchen’s that open up in Central serving European influenced Shanghainese cuisine. In fact as the name suggest, the inspiration of the restaurant came from the old French Concession in Shanghai. The location of the private kitchen was very tucked away, through a lane near the end  of D’Aguilar street before Lan Kwai Fong, in a walk-up building on the first floor. The front door of the restaurant was unmarked, just a plain simple looking white door (I thought someone was playing a prank on me!). Once the door opened, you step into a different world, a restaurant with French influenced decor and an open plan kitchen so that the diners can see the action happening inside the kitchen.

Menu degustation started with Petit Shanghai that was an interpretation of the typical Shanghainese sea blubber head cold entree and chopped up abalone pieces on a baked pastry base. This was a very interesting play on the sweet and sour taste on the diner’s palette, which is common flavour amongst cold entree dishes in Shanghainese cuisine.

Next was a pizza like interpretation of onion bread that was baked fragrantly served with fresh river shrimps. The spices associated with this dish kick-started the senses of the diner.

Next came the novelle cuisine presentation of yellow-fin tuna cooked with radish. The radish added sweetness to the milky fish soup though I would prefer it less concentrated and it needed more pepper to take away the “fishy” smell.

The tangliatelle edamame lobster with black olive was the most innovative dish through the whole experience. The sweet lobster, subtle flavour of the edamame complemented well with the heavier black olive flavour. Whilst eating the dish, I felt something was missing which after the second bite, I realised it needed to be less dry as it left an uncomfortable floury sensation in the mouth.

The duck confit serve on a base of vegetable rice was the filling up part of the meal. The duck confit was cooked just right (not too dry, not too raw) and the skin was crisp. The duck confit had a moderate flavour to it which was a pleasant surprise as it is quite easy to “over-salt” the duck during the cooking process.

The dessert was a creme brûlée inspired baked sago with custard. Nice presented but unfortunately I am not a big fan of baked sago 😉

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER
Rating:
Will I go back? Most likely, its worth the visit.

Date: February 2013
Food: Innovative French influenced Shanghainese cuisine.
Service: Polite, attentive and explained each dish very well
Ambience: For a private kitchen they have put a lot of effort into the decor to give the feeling of entering a different world from the front door.
Pricing Category: Fine Dining, HK$500+ per head