- Appetisers that are theatrical and almost too pretty to eat, nose-to-tail cooking – German chef Uwe Opocensky has put his stamp on Petrus in Admiralty
- Coming soon is a tasting menu, vegetarian menu and collaborations with guest chefs. The restaurant’s dated decor is also in line for a makeover
The decor is still decades old " for now " at Petrus, but the menu has gone from multi-page to minimalist at the Island Shangri-la hotel's 56th floor fine-dining restaurant under new executive chef Uwe Opocensky.
A single sheet is enough to contain its new lunchtime menu, for example. There are four appetisers (two cold, two warm), two meat and two seafood options for main course, and two desserts.
There are no descriptions of the dishes, just a short list of ingredients " reminiscent of the German chef's previous place in Hong Kong, Restaurant Uwe.
"I am bringing my style of cooking to the table, as well as service, so it's like my old restaurant to a certain extent," Opocensky says. "With a bigger kitchen team, the dishes can be more elaborate and allow for more chef and customer interaction, to create a bit of theatre table-side."
As at Restaurant Uwe, he and his team use foraged ingredients and locally grown organic produce from farms in the New Territories, as well as imported ones such as venison from an organic farm in the UK.
"We are ordering five deer and we will try to use the whole animals. We are also buying whole cattle to be more sustainable across our hotels here," he says, referring to the Island Shangri-La, Kowloon Shangri-La and Kerry Hotel. The hotels' Chinese restaurants are looking at cooking nose to tail as well, he notes, as part of a push to operate more sustainably.
I recently sampled a few dishes from the new lunch and dinner menus at Petrus.
From the dinner menu the beetroot appetiser is almost too pretty to eat " a shiny, maroon-coloured rose, its petals made from beetroot that has been brined, cured and smoked in a process similar to that used to make bresaola, accompanied by salad leaves sprinkled with dried beetroot powder, foraged wild pepper leaves, and a cracker with goat cheese and edible flowers.
Another starter was one Opocensky has made before " salmon that has been brined, slow-cooked and smoked. It arrives at the table under a glass dome filled with smoke, and unveiled in dramatic fashion table-side. Each slice is served on a bed of yellow and white dots of Japanese egg yolk and sour cream, and accompanied by a fennel salad, some pickled cucumbers, crackers, and a tiny tin of caviar with Norwegian king crabmeat underneath.
From the lunch menu I thoroughly enjoyed a trout dish, the fish slow-cooked perfectly, topped with trout caviar, and accompanied by Brussels sprout leaves, new potatoes, and a champagne sauce.
For dessert I sampled a treat brought over from Restaurant Uwe, a slice of pineapple that has been roasted over an open flame to intensify its flavour, served with a scoop of coconut sorbet.
Chocolate lovers will enjoy the chocolate tart with caramel crunch biscuit. "I have a weakness for chocolate," Opocensky confesses with a chuckle.
The lunch menu changes every two weeks, and for dinner the A la carte selection depends on what is seasonal. From next spring, Opocensky will begin inviting guest chefs to cook collaborative dinners. And there are plans for a chef's tasting menu and one for vegetarians.
Opocensky says: "We have vegan and vegetarian options if people come, and we will tailor-make them. We always have about 10 vegetarian ingredients on hand, and gluten-free pasta dough if guests tell us their dietary requirements.
"Yesterday I had a customer come in who told us she was vegan and I asked her to give us a few extra minutes, and afterwards she told us it was the best vegan meal she ever had."
Explaining his approach to refreshing what Petrus offers, he says: "Shangri-La is an established hotel group and it needs to move with the times because the market has changed. There aren't as many business travellers but more leisure travellers who are younger, with families, so the expectations for rooms and food and beverage are changing."
As for the restaurant's ornate crystal chandeliers, black columns with gold accents, and art deco statues, Opocensky says there isn't much he can do about them now, but give the hotel a year or so.
Change is in the air at Petrus, with more to come.
Level 56, Island Shangri-La, Supreme Court Road, Central, tel: 2820 8590
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