The Principal 灣仔

The Principal 評價 相片

我的優質下午－灣仔星街Principal一個下大雨的下午，跟好友相約在星街九號，一間躲在街角盡頭的西餐廳。

那裡有我最愛的落地玻璃窗好讓我看樹又看雨，也有簡單舒服如家般的室內設計，令人忘掉外面灣仔金鐘的煩囂，專心欣賞這間米芝蓮星級餐廳的藝術品。

為什麼我説藝術品？因為賣相漂亮，每道菜都美得像幅畫。

我的前菜，是乾煎鱿魚。

魷魚以煙肉卷起再煎香，令肉味輕滲魷魚之中，再配以酸酸的黃色醬汁，悅目又可口，絕對是夏日最佳前菜。

主菜是煎魚。

魚的名稱是Pollock，產於北大西洋，口感像鱈魚，但皮更QQ。

此道菜配以橙色醬汁，放在一個純黑的，預熱了的碟子上，賣相精緻得不捨得吃。

摸到碟子的熱力，知道廚師希望客人趁熱吃的苦心，才把心一橫，狠狠地把魚切開，放到咀𥚃，品嘗它的嫩、香和滑溜。

再沾點伴碟的咖哩汁同吃，一濃一淡，陰陽調和。

碟未冷前，我已把食物吃光，並以麵包沾走所有醬汁，一滴不留，完全尊重廚師的心機心血。

埋單找數，為港幣330。

不算便宜，但我認為十分值得。

I booked  The Principal for my wife and I on a fairly last minute whim/psuedo celebration on a deal completed....I will admit I tried to get a reservation in a couple of other restaurants prior to the Principal (Bombana and the new Gordon Ramsay amongst them) none of which could not give me the time I needed (we needed a fairly early time (7pm) to get back to the suburbs for the Kids babysitter to get home on time)...the Principal was easy on the time, which did slightly worry me for a 2 Star establishment expecting a smug sorry sir "all booked".  Part of me worried about the ease of last minute bookingArriving for our 7pm reservation the restaurant was all but empty however, as may be apparent, I am a yokel and prefer to eat earlier than my more sophisticated counterparts and it was a Thursday after all so it did not worry me too much.     The design and ambience of the restaurant is very comfortable, not so stiff that you feel you need to whisper and the sofa booth they showed us to was ideal for the mildly romantic and celebratory mood my wife and I were in.We selected off the Principal menuwith my wife selecting the suckling pig and I taking with Wagyu beef as the mains. The journey through the menu that followed was equally as delicious for the eye as it was for the palate...actually no.... it tasted even better than it looked and this was really hot looking food.  The preamble to the starters was delicious in the extreme and I should beautifully presented and well explained by the waiters...who I should also say were friendly and professional and not rediculously attentive....anyway back to the food if there was a star in the pre hors d'oeuvres it was the quails egg (and spoon race..sorry)...perfectly cooked and perfectly timed it seems when eaten...it really melted in my/our mouth(s)...The Japanese influence to the cooking added a layer of subtlety throughout the menu was particularly strong in the starters The main hors d'oevres we no less eye catching and delicious...I accepted the Crab only because I knew my wife loved Crab as I am mildly allergic however I could not resist eating one and living dangerously....my wifes' favorite course....and I am glad I sampled it and survivedThe 360 degree egg (along with the advice to mix it schoolboy fashion)..foamed potato and all was delicious to the extent that I mopped it up with bread to the last morcel...resisiting manfully the temptation to lick the plate...seriously hard to resist for a yokel enjoying his nosh.The mains, in particular the Suckling pig, were delicious and almost equally shared between us and when this was followed by the beautifully plated desert...Lotus with the incredible pear sorbet, that I was convinced was a delicious miniature pear, the night was rounded off superblyThis is a restaurant that surprised me, and it shouldn't as it has two stars already, but for this Yokel it deserves three.  Perhaps all the planets were aligned that evening but I could really see and appreciate the skill and artistry put into the food and its presentation...a delightful experience.

The restaurant is located at a convenient area for parking.  Diners can indeed park on the street right next to the restaurant (residential building) or PP 3 to make life easier.  The setting and decoration of the restaurant are warm and tables are space out nicely.  We were lucky to get our own booth which increase the sense of intimacy and privacy.The restaurant indeed contacted me to select the menu upon my reservation confirmed. From the comment I read from previous posting, I believe the restaurant just tried to avoid the same disappointment (bad comment) from happening again. Well, I guess this is a good gesture but somehow, they missed an enquiry I sent and I have to resend it again in order to get a reply.Bring my own wine time again and again Amuse bouche...tasted good with creative presentation Oyster – jalapeno pepper & dashiThought jalapeno will be a bit aggressive but surprisingly the natural lovely oyster taste was still there, good job! Salmon Roe  It wasn’t too long ago when I started to enjoy the salmon roe. My friend always complains about the fishy taste of Salmon roe and somewhat I agreed with him since most restaurant will prepare the salmon roe in a salty manner. Once the soya sauce taste is too strong, the juiciness of salmon roe will be swept completely. Thank goodness, the salmon roe here is nothing on the salty side and after taste of the juice can linger in your mouth for quite some time. Consommé de papillote  The presentation is appealing and drove up my expectation towards the dish. The consommé is very nice but it’s unfortunate  that the after taste from the precedents were way too strong to bring out the character of this consommé. A clear and light broth to welcome the next course…wonder how they can rearrange the courses to play the magic???  Foie: I have no complaint about the food but an episode upset me that I would like to share: I communicated with them via email about the food I don't like, i.e. Uni and white chocolate. However, there's no reply after a 2week wait thus I wrote them again.  I got a reply within 2 days this time (which was 2 days before my visit) and reassured me that my request is being taken care of.  To my dismay, they didn't rearranged the ingredients but merely removed the uni from the dish.  I asked them why they did that, they claimed that my request came in too short of a notice so nothing can be rearranged from their end. Honestly, that's not a valid appropriate answer from a Michelin starred restaurant.  First, they didn't respond to my email in a timely manner.  Second, they are being utterly irresponsible in their service.  I am certain Uni is a key part to the Foie dish and the price will defiinitely be different with the main ingredient removed.   Abalone: the presentation is phenomenal but the taste is just average.  The abalone is chewy and tasteless, there's no connection between the abalone and the side ingredients as the seasoning is all on its own. Tuna: nice but a bit too salty Venison: seasoning excellent, a bit dry due to the nature of venison but general speaking, it's good Barley pudding Rapa Nui my compliment goes to their dessert, well done in both Rapa Nui and petite four.  I really enjoyed the Rapa Nui, a perfect portion after a full course meal and no excessive sugar being added.  Petite Four

事先聲明我是一個窮人，從來沒吃過fine dining. 今次同事請食飯才有幸試吃高級餐廳。

我們一行16人book了function room. 餐廳事先也把菜單寄給我們讓我們先點菜。

餐廳環境非常好，食物也很好，只是待應的態度卻不太友善。

介紹食物的時候把我們當小學生，我們問問題居然還要串我們。

我從來沒想過1000蚊一位吃個餐還是要受氣的。

到我們吃完甜品準備賣單，待應告訴我們我們還要花多16000才夠minimum charge.xyzxjdhwj!!那不就是要2000一個人才夠?book function room 要minimum charge是合理但也不用賣單時才告訴我吧? 我們早兩天點菜的時候也可以先告訴我們呀！幸好賣單找數的不是我!!我們要的menu如下總括而言，食物是不錯的，只是要受著氣吃是不值得見人見志

灣仔星街一帶一向不缺美食佳餚，今次就試了米芝蓮兩星的The Principal。

午餐的MENU有兩種，一種是 2／3／4 COURSE的Set Menu(HKD290/HKD350/HKD430)，另一種則是Tasting Menu(HKD780)。

最近因為新年的關係都吃多了，所以放棄Tasting Menu，試試他們Regular的Set Menu。

記得當年在倫敦品嘗米芝蓮一星／兩星餐廳時，餐廳通常都會額外送上Taster，所以3course menu也十頓時變了5/6 course。

在香港的The Principal也不例外，在上前菜之前，侍應先送上Crab Foam作Taster。

通常以Foam作Texture旳蟹肉都非常鮮甜，The Principal今次也做足功夫，沒有失準。

前菜方面，我點了蛋，The Principal把燉好的豬肉放在蛋中間，豬肉香令蛋的香味更突出，再加上Mint的香草味道，較平時的燉蛋Refreshing。

主菜方面，因為最新吃了太多牛，又見到平時較少出現的Pigeon，便點了Pigeon試試看。

主菜一來，我完全目瞪口呆﹣怎麽份量是這麽少的？！幸好，味道搭救。

Pigeon肉呈粉紅色，感覺應是用Slow Cook方法弄，否則肉質不會那麽滑嫩，切起來也容易，一梳梳肉，很新鮮。

很可惜，雖然我不是狼吞虎嚥，但三兩口已經把整塊Pigeon放進胃口裡了。

真希望The Principal可以「放寬校規」，多放一塊Pigeon，那我這個「學生」也就心滿意足了！甜品則點了PB&J，白色的Mousse帶花生味道，很特別。

平時很少見到Peanut Butter Mousse，今次我還是第一次品嘗。

餐廳特意把較膩的Peanut Butter Mousse跟酸酸甜甜的黑加侖冰糕配合，希望令花生味道變得更清新。

不過，個人來說，我還是偏好Pure Fruity/ Pure Beanut Butter的甜品。

這樣的配合確實創新，但味道不太合配。

吃完午餐後，我們才發現3 course可以是點2個Appetizer + 1 Main，Personally 我覺得前菜較甜品特別，若大家希望一嘗這位「校長」的風味，可以考慮點2個Appetizer。

原來The Principal也在Restaurant Week有Promotion，但發現HKD198 Lunch Menu只是2 COURSE，今次的3 COURSE份量也偏少，如果是2 COURSE的話，吃完可能只有5成飽？！另帶一提，這位「校長」的「校董」跟中環的Duddell's 都爹利會館一樣，Duddell's的份量是正常的，可能這位灣仔校長太嚴格了;)

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The Principal餐廳詳細資料：

• The Principal地址:
  灣仔星街9號地下
  The Principal, G/ F,9 Star Street, Wan Chai
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• The Principal價錢: $801以上
• 分類: 西式,西餐廳,
• 座位: 未知
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