Newly opened The Drawing Room in Central – Italian fine dining

Anyone who’s been following the Hong Kong dining scene for a while will remember The Drawing Room, which was in the JIA Hotel in Causeway Bay before it was revamped and renamed the J Plus Hotel in mid-2014. The fine-dining Italian restaurant has resurfaced at PMQ in Central, where it replaces Vasco, which closed last month.

If you’re waiting for a friend, the restaurant will provide you with a piece of paper with a set of crayons to doodle with. It’s a drawing room, right?

The decor hasn’t changed much from when it was Vasco. We were seated in a small nook consisting of two small tables. There are two tasting menus, one seasonal, the other classic, with prices at HK$798 for four courses, HK$998 for five.

We sampled both four-course menus and were pleased with the results. The creamy burrata with marinated raw Italian red prawns and raw tomato juice poured at the table resulted in flavours that were slightly acidic and very refreshing.

Grilled quail was flavourful with a light foie gras mousse that went well with the tart red cherry marmalade.

Another delicious second course was two stalks of green asparagus with a slow-cooked Japanese egg that had a rich orange runny yolk that combined beautifully with the taleggio sauce, and bits of truffle.