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La Maison

Yvonne Lai

1/F, Flat B, Mountain View Mansion, 2 Swatow Street, Wan Chai Tel: 2628 3888 Open: Monday-Friday 11.30am-3pm, 6pm-midnight, Saturday and Sunday 6.30pm-midnight

Cuisine: French

Price: about HK$350 without drinks

Ambience: housed in a first-floor apartment of a residential building, La Maison lives up to its name with its cosy homeyness (above right). Tables for two line the windowed far wall of the main dining room, with small knick-knacks and memorabilia - the owner's, presumably - perched along the narrow sill.

Pros: I was happy that oysters could be ordered by the piece, as my guest won't touch them. I sampled one each of the belon (HK$92), fine de claire (HK$60) and Irish rock (HK$45), all of which were very fresh. We were tempted but did not order the fruits de mer platter (HK$188 for two people), with its whole crab, mussels, cowries and baby lobster. Service was calm, efficient and unobtrusive; the timing for courses was impeccable.

Cons: while our meal was overall an adequate turn of simple, classically prepared French dishes, off-notes included the wrinkly, pre-fab bread rolls that cost HK$20 per basket; the onion soup (HK$68) covered in a thick cheese tarp that acted and tasted like extra mozzarella on a pizza - very stringy and gooey; and the cherry clafoutis (HK$46) which yielded a measly few cherries after much digging into the heavy, overly worked pastry.

Recommended dishes: escargots (HK$58, above), with the requisite garlic and herb butter over a bed of creamy potato puree, was a surprisingly pleasant experience. The grilled rack of lamb (HK$240) was served in a nice demi-glace-thickened jus and cooked perfectly to order (rare) but otherwise unexceptional. The 'ice mountain' dessert (HK$46, above) is a generous scoop of French vanilla ice cream hidden beneath a cloud of raw meringue and drizzled with caramel.

What else? There is no service charge or corkage fee - so be sure to adjust tips accordingly. There are two private rooms, one for six to eight, the other for 10 to 12, which are popular on weekends so must be booked in advance.

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