Café Causette - Lobster & Bubbles Pop-up Menu

Price: $$$$

Cravingness: ★★★★☆

What I love dining at Mandarin Oriental is that they have celebrity chef and pop-up menus from time to time. The classy international restaurant Café Causette has just launched a new pop-up menu - Lobster & Bubbles, pairing the two lavish goodies together to excite our palate. The special menu is available everyday for dinner and weekdays for Lunch until 31 August, 2014.

Cafe Causette is an elegant restaurant framed in traditional Chinese red lacquer with a relaxed and causal ambiance to dine in. The restaurant offers all day dining featuring international items but also well known for Asian dishes such as Nasi Gorend and Hainan Chicken. The lively show kitchen at the back of the restaurant is for the curious ones to observe the cooking skills of the brilliant chefs.

How evil is the chef thought of pairing lobster and champagnes into an irresistible pop-up menu? This menu has over 15 lobster dishes, each and every dish equally attractive. So let aside Cafe Causette traditional a la carte menu, we are all in for this Lobster & Bubble menu tonight.

To kick start the night, we had 2011 Schramsbery "Blanc de Blancs Brut", which will be the main sparkling wine pairing tonight. The American bubbles was dry and fruity with smooth effervescence and mild acidity. This taste was not too exciting but was pleasant to pair with the courses.

Skewers HKD169

Our first course we had was two mouth watering lobster skewers served on a charcoal BBQ port. These lobsters skewers were cooked to perfection, sweet and juicy with a lovely smokiness. The mayo further elevated the sweetness of the lobster, great pair.

Taco - HKD168

The taco was one of the most anticipating dishes tonight. It was served on a crisp hard taco that I love. The taco held lots of chunky lobster meats and crisp iceberg lettuce dressed with colourful sauce of lemon, ketchup, Japanese Mayo and English Mustard, which combined to give a wonderful flavour on the palate.

Cocktail - HKD188

The cocktail lobster was lovely with an appropriate dressing to let the natural sweetness of the lobster shines.

Tempura - HKD188

The tempura batter was light and grease free, the sweet potatoes and pumpkin was fresh and delicious. I love this tempura dish, but not the lobster as it was a bit over cooked and quite tough in texture.

Lobster Dog - HKD228

The Lobster Dog aka the Lobster Roll was my most anticipated dish but was sadly disappointing. The toasted sesame bun was good, the chunks of lobster meats were fantastic, but the dressing was messed up as the strong English Mustard overpowered everything on the bun. A slight adjustment would make this lobster roll one of the best in Hong Kong.

Thermidor & Fries - HKD228/ half

I found most joy devouring the thermidor lobster. Cooked to perfection, the lobster was sweet, creamy and juicy. The fries, looking ordinary, was absolutely amazing! The surface was utterly crispy and the inner was creamy and potatoy. This might be one of the best fries that I had in my life.

Lobster Mac & Cheese - HKD278

I am not very fond of Mac & Cheese, so I could not share the joy as everyone on the table. I found Mac & Cheese often too heavy and cheesy, Cafe Causette's version was still rich but it had a nice crunchy layer of oats on top which I like.

Lobster Bolognaise - HKD268

While thinking I already had the best dish of the night, here comes another heaven on Earth dish - the lobster Bolognaise. The plate came with a drooling aroma permeated the air. The flavour was unbelievably addicting, with sweet tomato sauce, spicy saffron and fresh parsley on the al dente linguini. My favourite and the best of the night.

Wonton Lobster - HKD228

This is a classic Asian wonton soup with lobster dumplings. I found the lobster tasted bland in the wonton and I had to add spicy sauce to top up the flavours. I guess I do not like my lobster to be served in wonton.

Before desserts, we tried Billecart - Salmon Brut Rose to clear our palate. The Rose was lovely. It was fruity, mellow with soft effervescence.

Peach - HKD108

We ordered the Peach from the pop-up menu. The dessert was very refreshing and summery with rose champagne sorbet, sweet poached peach on a fluffy puff pastry.

Mandarin Cheese Cake - HKD108

The Mandarin Cheesecake is the love of the table. It was a rich, creamy and dense cheesecake with light cheese flavour. The cheesecake was not too sweet, so the sweet blubbery compote and the cassis ice-cream were a great pair to top up some sweetness.

Warm Apple, Berries and Hazelnut Crumble - HKD108

My all time favourite apple crumble was excellently executed at Cafe Causette with brilliant flavours and a nice crunchy top. The hazelnut flavour was however too subtle for me to notice, but this warm crumble ended my night perfectly.

One can never have enough of lobsters. It might sound crazy that I have nine courses of lobsters tonight, but the lobster dishes were too scrumptious that you will not be able to aware how many you have taken.

This Lobster & Bubble menu is available by a la carte, with starters priced at HKD168+ and mains at HKD228+. You can opt for two or three courses with a glass of bubbles at HKD408 and HKD488 respectively. Or get the Surf and Turf (grilled lobster) with half a bottle of bubbles at HKD1188. If you are a dessert lover, a happier option would be a dessert platter with half a bottle of Billecart for HKD948! Seriously, given the quality of the lobster and eating at one of the best restaurants at Mandarin Oriental is a super deal not to be missed.

Rating
Food - ★★★★☆
Service - ★★★★☆
Ambience - ★★★★☆
Overall - ★★★★☆


Café Causette

Address (E) M/F, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, 5 Connaught Road Central, Central, Hong Kong
Address (C) 香港中環干諾道中5號香港文華東方酒店閣樓
☏ 2825 4005
Opening Hours: Mon - Sun: 6.30am - 11.45pm
Reservation Available? Yes
Walk In Possible? Yes
Website: http://www.mandarinoriental.com/


Date of Dining (Media Tasting): 30 July 2014

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