Frantzen’s Kitchen
January 2, 2021
The river of history churns. Galileo discovered that man is not at the center of the universe. Einstein showed that gravity is the curvature of time and space. The invention of the internet made clear that puppy pictures are more effective than psychiatry. And, capping all of this, Frantzen’s Kitchen now inalterably changes our views on butter. Butter! They brown half a quantity and incorporate it back into the other half with a dash of salt. It has the consistency of clotted cream yet all the hazelnutty taste and aromatic of brown butter, or beurre noisette, foaming in a pan. Made daily, it is so good on their toasted bread (from Bread Elements) you’re dumbfounded. Mere butter on toast, it surpasses many of the signature mains dished by rival hotshots. For this dish alone, it is well worth visiting.
Inconceivably delicious butter made daily. The most beautiful butter knife you’ve ever seen, made from wood.
But that is not the only surpassing item in this small, spare, elegant Nordic restaurant set on a lovely corner in raffish Sheung Wan. Their French Toast. It is to standard French toast as booty dancing is to sixth grade slow-dancing (braces on your teeth). It is plain white bread soaked in a batter containing balsamic vinegar, sandwiching caramelized onion, sauteed to a light crisp, warm parmesan cream on top. It is surrounded by beads of twenty-five-year-old balsamic to dab it in before eating. But here’s the gaff hook that hauls you into the boat: it is extravagantly crowned with slices of French black truffle. You’ve eaten so many flavorless and odorless truffles recently at tony joints that had the gall to serve them, that it’s almost shocking to once again fall within the heavenly funk of the real thing. It is probably because of these excellent truffles, which provoke amour, that at the first nibble you eye your wife, how to say, contemplatively. It is served with a truffle infusion broth in a little tea cup which you savor. You might not commit a felony for this dish, but you’d ponder a third-degree misdemeanor. For just this dish, it is well worth visiting.
Inconceivably delicious French Toast
Pencil-thin asparagus or chubby guys? You’ve often weighed which is better. After having eaten their peeled chubby guys, chubby wins. They just bang you with more asparagus. There’s a debate about peeling or not, but this swings it, peeled is better. Of course, the asparagi are cooked al dente, thrillingly perfect. They are nested within two unlikely sauces which somehow harmonize, sharp gooseberry and mellifluous pea. There are outriggers of pistachio and morels for balance.
Asparagus with gooseberry sauce and pea sauce with pistachios and morels
House Smoked Norwegian Salmon with pink peppercorn, crème fraiche, trout roe and cucumber. Their cold-smoked salmon is like Zabar’s lox that has gone to finishing school. Smoked over applewood, it is improbably tender, lyrical against the crème fraiche and saline pops of trout roe. Your wife who disdains lox (the ultimate stress test for a marriage) loves this.
Cold-smoked salmon with crème fraiche and trout roe
Sea of Japan Roasted Scallop. This is an exquisite scallop (caramelized, rare, perfecto) in a puddle of celeriac sauce, deep-fried shreds of celeriac on top, scattered with nibs of chestnut, in a truffled vinaigrette. Given the flavorful truffle in the French toast you’re astonished that the vinaigrette has no discernible truffle taste at all. The flavor of the chestnuts is barely there. It is too salty. No perfectly cooked scallop is bad, but for all its vectored thrust, this dish does not make orbit. Could they not have put the scallops in a chestnut sauce? That would have clinched it.
Scallop in celeriac sauce with shredded deep-fried celeriac
North Atlantic cod in smoked beurre blanc with peas and hazelnuts. This dish is a sweet spring day in heaven, but even paying the closest attention you taste no smokiness to the sauce. Could it be that the subtle elements of Frantzen’s Kitchen’s cooking need to be amped a notch? Or, maybe your palate is dull. Still, the perfectly cooked cod is sublime with its mild, oceanic taste which the beurre blanc lets shine. Your wife adds that “she seriously loved it.”
There is only one true Cod and this is it!
New Zealand venison served with fermented sweet potato purée, juniper jus, quince compote, orange peel and blueberries preserved in honey. This is the crest of the meal before the downslope. Cooking venison, you take your life in your hands. Too raw, it’s gnawing whale blubber. Too cooked, chewstick. Pow! They nail it. You particularly like the quince compote and preserved blueberry against the meat.
Venison, sweet potato puree, juniper jus, quince compote, preserved blueberries. Amazingly good!
Impelled by some self-destructive instinct you order their cheese course. Of course, this is much too much food, but you hope that momentum will carry you through. You’re simply enjoying yourself too much and can’t stop. It is five cheeses, each at the apogee of ripeness: La Toma (Savoie), L'abbaye de Pontigny (Champagne), Le Marcaire (Alsace), Chabichou (Poitou). It is served with a vibrant jam of mandarin orange and cloudberries. Each cheese is terroir itself and transports you to its place of origin on chunks of toast.
Cheeses with mandarin orange, cloudberry jam
Stemware is delicate, elegant, lovely. Plates are charmingly irregular handcrafted ceramic. There’s a wooden butter-knife you love.
Service is affable, but sometimes it is hard to catch servers’ attention. Though not in the least cold, you wish they were more personable. Probably masks are an impediment. And you wish they were more knowledgeable about the food (when asked questions, often they had to fetch answers). Nor did they seem deeply trained in the protocols of serving in a fine establishment. You didn’t expect (or want) Bridgerton butler service by any means, but you’re a crumby eater (another marriage stressor) and it’s not too much in your view, particularly given cost, to sweep the crumbs from your place and to remember butter when bringing bread. This may seem like small stuff (it is), but it’s the stuff of a starred restaurant that you think this place augurs to be.
An exception is the alert sommelier who speaks knowledgably with your wife of his curated six wine-pairing you two split. The Prosecco is unremarkable, but three of the five others bring such ecstasy you plan to buy a case of each. You especially adore the lilting 2017 Cauhape, “Chante des Vignes,” Jurancon. After too many table-wines from U Select that begin to taste like they’re siphoned from the same reservoir, these remind you that vastly more delicious wines exist.
Amazingly delicious wine
There are two desserts. The first is merely excellent, Blood Orange Sorbet with caramelized hazelnuts, olive oil, honey and yoghurt. It is the clear expression of blood orange which has raspy undertones of bitterness you like.
Blood Orange Sorbet
The next dessert, Spicy Red, is a pressure wave of delight that knocks you down. It is a parfait of vanilla meringue, strawberries preserved in rum and sugar, tonka bean cracker, pink peppercorn (genius), dried strawberry powder on top. You’re still reconstituting, like Wolverine, from the blast. For their Spicy Red alone it is well worth visiting.
Spicy Red
A revelatory Tokai, liquefied Indian summer with scents of roses and rain, accompanies dessert.
It would have been nice if they’d thrown in coffee or tea at the end. How about some iced nitro coffee as an option? Maybe lemongrass-ginger tea.
The cheese option cost 150 HKD. The French toast 125 HKD (with all those truffles, a steal). There was a 90 HKD charge for unlimited sparkling water. The six-wine option was 588 HKD, a fabulous price considering the quality of the wines. In fact, it is the best wine deal you’ve seen in any fine HK restaurant. You ordered the “Sharing is Caring” menu option which has every one of their dishes (except the cheese and French toast) for two to split, 1288 HKD (awesome deal). The total meal cost 2350 HKD including a 10% service charge. High, but value-for-dollar outstanding. Money well spent.
Coco Chanel said, “Before you leave the house look in the mirror and take one thing off.” Such is this food: elegant with restraint, complex not busy. Each dish is a piece of art, but not at the expense of flavor. Each dish is a smash-hit excepting a quibble or two. The menu doesn’t have quite as many options as you’d like but you understand a small restaurant must husband its resources. Service is good but could have been sharpened. It is beautiful. It is romantic. Frantzen’s Kitchen unquestionably deserves a Michelin star. Though a reservation is required here, you and your wife wholeheartedly recommend it without reservation.
Frantzen’s Kitchen
Rating (on a scale of 0 to 5)
Food: 5
Ambiance: 4
Service: 3.5
Overall Value: 5
Frantzen’s Kitchen
11 Upper Station Street in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
+852 2559 8508
https://www.frantzenskitchen.com/