Plate to Palate | Restaurant review: Vasco, SoHo - tasting menus good value and satisfying

Our waiter at Vasco seemed a little pushy when he strongly recommended that my guest and I order one of the two tasting menus: five seasonal courses for HK$880, or eight "signature dishes" for HK$1,180.

But after looking at the rest of the menu, we realised it was good advice, because two or three à la carte options would have been just as expensive as the eight-course tasting. So that's what we had.

The chef is Paolo Casagrande from Lasarte, the Michelin two-star Martin Berasategui restaurant in Barcelona. We suspected we were in for a good meal with the first bite of the wonderful, crusty sourdough bread, served with five flavoured Bordier butters (salted, mushroom, tomato, spinach and beetroot), and a choice of five olive oils.

There were no misses in the eight courses, several amuses bouches and petits fours. The food is clever with unexpected touches — the first course of raw tuna loin comes with a refreshing celery sherbet. The third course — one of the highlights of the meal — was a fantastic, wobbly foie gras served with artichoke heart and tiny cubes of what the waiter said was horseradish tofu.