Epure, La Saison, The Awakening, U Hang, Hikari and Eezy Peezy Parties

If you’re looking for cross-harbor gems, the Dalloyau group has added fine-dine Epure (Shop 403, Ocean Centre, Harbour City, 3-27 Canton Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui, 3185-8338) and outdoor bar La Terrasse to its repertoire. The flagship patisserie/restaurant and new establishments are all clustered together in the corner of Ocean Terminal, with Epure holding court where Spasso used to be. Get settled in a forest-wallpapered booth and dig into decadent specialties by French chef Nicolas Boutin, who worked in Bordeaux and high-end resorts in the Caribbean and the Maldives before ditching it all for Hong Kong.  

 

 

Get your bums over to La Saison by Jacques Barnachon (2/F, The Cameron, 33 Cameron Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui, 2789-8000), because it’s one of the best things to happen on Kowloon side this year—even though it took me a while to discover it. (For some reason, news from across the harbor travels light years slower to my desk.) LS’s culinary director is the same Jacques Barnachon of Michelin-starred L’Etang du Moulin in scenic Bonnetage in eastern France, but it’s executive chef Florian Muller who churns out all the painstakingly prepared dishes, using ingredients that correspond to the French agricultural calendar. The current menu incorporates winter truffles, pumpkin and black figs into veal, sea bream and duck dishes. If they’re serving anything like the plump scallops paired with crispy pig’s ears, or the lobster dumplings soaked in an intense seafood broth (which took many Boston lobster shells and days of reduction to achieve) that I had during our media tasting, then I’m sure the dishes will pretty much sell themselves.