The harbour view from Bistrot Le Fauchon is the most impressive thing about this disappointing restaurant. The opposite side of the long, thin dining area is a window on the inside of the Harbour City shopping mall and, while it may be a handy place for coffee or lunch, it lacks the right ambience for dinner.
The meal got off to a good start with a thick, tasty cream of mussels soup ($45) - although the waiter first served mushroom soup by mistake. The goose liver pate ($95) arrived on a pile of tangy green shoots with four thin pieces of toast. Jambon ham with melon ($85) came with a good portion of thinly sliced, salty ham but hardly any melon, which was strange since the melon is the cheaper ingredient. The mismatch made it impossible to combine the two effectively. The huge bed of lettuce on which it came was nothing more than an annoyance.
And annoyance verged on disbelief when the mains were served. While the menu listed only the main dish, we assumed there would be a few cooked vegetables accompanying it. Yet the grilled quail with grape gravy ($118) arrived on the edge of a plate piled high with lettuce, three slices of cucumber and two slices of tomato, all in a pungent dressing. It was the same with the veal roulade stuffed with mushrooms ($128). The idea of an accompanying salad wouldn't be so bad if it were a half-decent one, but this was less interesting than one you'd find in McDonald's.
Still hungry, we opted for baked apple in a puff pastry ($38), which was actually a tiny pastry plonked on top of a pile of apples and raisins which were heavy on the cinnamon. The vanilla cream sauce helped save the dish. But deep-fried ice-cream arrived in a thick, stodgy casing. Service throughout was confusing, with several different staff serving us. The bill for two, with a glass of white wine each ($40), a tomato juice ($25) and 10 per cent service charge, was $745.
Shop 2608-2610, Level 2, Gateway II, Harbour City, 11-13 Canton Road, Kowloon. Open: 11.30am-10pm. Tel: 2117 7171. $$$$