Before reviewing restaurants, I try as much as possible to avoid reading the opinions of others because too much hype in favour of the place is hard to live up to, while negative comments might prejudice me. But I couldn’t avoid seeing the enthusiastic praise my friends were bestowing upon Frantzen’s Kitchen on their Instagram and Facebook accounts. In this case, the restaurant deserves the praise, and more.

Our waitress told us that the right amount of food would be a couple of “snacks” and five of the larger dishes. It turned out to be a little too much food, but there wasn’t one dish we were regretted ordering.

Apple and lingonberry macaron with foie gras parfait (HK$55) was ethereal – it just disappeared on the tongue, leaving behind a richness from the liver and sweet-tart flavours of apple and lingonberry. The waitress said the “French toast” with winter truffles, balsamic vinegar and aged cheese (HK$125) was big enough to share, but she was wrong: as soon as I bit into it, I realised I should have ordered a whole one for myself.

Take the best cheese toastie you can imagine, add truffles, and somehow, it’s even better than that. The rich cheese was balanced by the sweetness of stewed onions and a few drops of aged balsamic vinegar.

White asparagus with fermented gooseberry sauce, split peas, morels and pine nuts (HK$175) was spring on a plate. Composed of white asparagus stalks cut into pieces, shaved green asparagus and edible flower petals, it was a pretty and light but flavourful.

The fish in our next dish was changed from skrei [Norwegian Arctic cod ] to white cod. Served with beurre blanc, anchovy juice, vendace roe, caramelised onion and tiny discs of crisp potatoes (HK$230) it was one of the most delicious fish dishes we’ve tasted in recent memory. Just as good was the tartare of Swedish dairy cow (HK$195) that had been aged for 100 days, and served with smoked eel, a heaping helping of herring caviar and raw mushrooms.