New Opening: Rech by Alain Ducasse

The Place

The cream and white tones and the natural materials used in the decor give Rech by Alain Ducasse a relaxed, contemporary seaside feel.  There’s an air of understated luxury and the dining room has a gentle buzz about it.

The stunning view of Victoria Harbour is pretty special, and being at ground level makes a pleasant change from all those high rise views we know and love.

Rech by Alain Ducasse takes over the space formerly filled by Spoon, at the InterContinental Hotel on Salsibury Road. Rech is a famous Parisian seafood restaurant, opened in 1925 and taken over by Alain Ducasse in 2007, and this is the first international outpost.

The Food

The fish and shellfish served here mostly comes from France, where it’s sourced from small independent fishermen, with an emphasis on sustainability and quality. If you are an oyster lover then you will love Rech, you can choose from four types of beautifully fresh French oysters here.

New for Rech in Hong Kong, and not available at the Parisian restaurant, is the Raw menu. Highlights include the hand-dived sea scallops, citron/gold caviar and the mackerel, caramalized belly/shisho.

Moving on to the starter menu, we began with one of Rech’s signature dishes, the cookpot of tiny spelt, squid and sesame seeds. This dish is a charming presentation of beautifully cooked squid and was very tasty, almost ‘homely’ (if only we were lucky enough to get this standard of cooking at home!)

Next we tried the ‘club’ crab and mango, which looked enticing and the fresh flavours of the crab and mango were delicious.

For main course the gorgeous looking sea scallops in their shell, artichokes and coriander-peanut were excellent, the scallops had a perfect texture and we loved the subtle Asian flavours.

Another main course, the pan-seared large sole with half-salted butter, tiny potatoes is a bit of table-side theatre, as the fish is filleted at your table. Purists will enjoy this simple classic dish of a perfectly-cooked piece of excellent quality fish.

If you are not a fish-lover don’t fear, you are catered for with a duck with citrus, sweet and sour sauce and beef-duck foie gras-truffle, Perigeux, although we didn’t sample these.

Moving on to the cheese course, but only one type of cheese is served at Rech, their famous whole Camembert. This cheese is aged for 20 to 30 days, has an unmistakably ripe scent and is probably a love it or hate it dish – we love it. Apparently this cheese best served with perfectly chilled champagne.

It’s worth saving some space for dessert at Rech. We tried the Mr Rech: hazelnut ice cream and chocolate sauce, the XL chocolate éclair and the oven-baked pineapple. The chocolate comes from Mr Ducasses’s own chocolate factory in Paris and is excellent.

The éclairs are denser than your typical café éclair and with the beautiful dark chocolate topping they were absolutely delicious and great to share.

The flavours in the simple oven-baked pineapple with lime were fantastic and would make a perfect lighter end to the meal.

Our View

Given the environment, price-tag (starters are between $180-$450 and main courses are between $380-$680) and the Alain Ducasse name you would expect outstanding food, service and overall experience at Rech and we’re happy to say you won’t be disappointed. If you enjoy fish and seafood then we highly recommend Rech by Alain Ducasse.

Where:   Rech by Alain Ducasse, InterContinental Hong Kong,18 Salisbury Road, Kowloon
Book:     [email protected] or 2313 2323

Note: This meal was by invitation of Rech, but the opinions are the reviewer’s own. Some of the photographs used in this review were supplied by Rech, but are a realistic representation of the food served at this restaurant.

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