Restaurant review: Épure, Tsim Sha Tsui - French

Épure is a hard place to review. The food is well cooked, it tastes good and it's beautifully presented.

So what's wrong? It's unexciting. It's like a classical ballerina who has perfect technique but no stage presence. The chef is obviously talented, but I wished he would relax and let his personality shine through.

Perhaps it's the constraints of the company — Épure is the fine dining restaurant of Dalloyau, best known for its pastry shops in France, Japan, Korea, Doha and Dubai. The heirloom tomato salad (HK$298) was let down by its tomatoes — which weren't very sweet or flavourful — but everything else on the plate was of excellent quality, especially the green tomato sorbet. Vol au vent with seared langoustines and (HK$398) was most notable for the supremely light and delicate puff pastry, although the sweet langoustines were also delicious. Our favourite starter was the duck foie gras (HK$358) — a lovely terrine and thick piece of the seared liver.

Roasted turbot (HK$438) was the most disappointing dish of the day. Yes, the fish was perfectly cooked, but it was bland — it needed a richer, more buttery sauce. The best part of the plate was the innocuous looking whole tomato, which was surprisingly delicious and sweet.

The Hugo Desnoyer grilled beef striploin (HK$628) was, again, perfectly cooked but the condiments, which included sautéed girolles and green bean and potato purée, were nothing extraordinary. Our favourite main course was the roasted Challandais duck (HK$498), which had crackling-crisp skin and sweet, moist meat.