The Signature degustation menu of most fine dining restaurants features the best of the best signature dishes of the Executive Chef. L’Envol’s Signature menu did not disappoint.

Led by Executive Chef and Culinary Director Olivier Elzer, two-Michelin-starred L’Envol offers an innovative interpretation of French haute cuisine, incorporating the use of selective seasonal ingredients and produce from France and Asia.

Signature Menu

Last week we walked through the Festive menu with a full disposition of the restaurant, decor and kitchen. This week, let’s savour the Signature menu.

Amuse Bouche

Once we finished our food and drink orders, the meal promptly started with amuse bouche which came in three parts.

Shallot cream with chives and homemade crackers 

The first small bite was sour cream chives dip with housemade crackers sprinkled with seaweed and spices. Nice little snack, but I expected something more.

Dry aged beef from Spain

This is not the usual Iberico ham. Cecina de Leon is a traditional Spanish cured beef ham and is the flagship product of the province of Leon. It is smoked using oak found in local forests which gives it a characteristic taste and aroma. Very tasty, another thing to look out for my charcuterie platter.

Palate cleanser – yuzu with blood orange 

Bread Service

I look forward to the bread service for these fine dining restaurant, but recently the variety has been limited. They served three kinds of bread – German pretzel, the traditional brioche and the sourdough.

Baked daily in-house, it is accompanied by a selection of butters which speak directly to Elzer’s long-standing affinity for caviar and champagne – champagne butter (L) and caviar/seaweed butter.

The seaweed/caviar butter delivers a profound umami flavor and possesses a finely textured consistency, achieved through the gradual addition of caviar during the churning process. On the other hand, the champagne butter exhibits a subtle tartness and a velvety texture, making it an elegant complement to the assortment of naturally leavened breads on the table.

Foie gras terrine with red wine jelly with red wine poached pear 

The third amuse bouche were identical in all ways, but Princess’ version came with a layer of camembert cheese instead as she would have foie gras in her next course. My Signature menu version came with foie gras.

The red wine jelly balanced the fattiness of the foie gras. The camembert version was lighter than the foie gras version, so the jelly taste was more pronounced. On top, a small slice of poached pear. The French never serves their pear raw.

Le Caviar Ocietre Perseus. No.2

Brittany razor clams “à la marinière”, “No.2 Superior Osciètre”

This is one of Chef Oliver’s signature that he brought to L’Envol from his previous outing. It is one of those strange naming conventions where the name of the caviar was featured rather than the key ingredient. And the tin of caviar was brought to you for inspection.

The finest razor clams from Brittany coast of France cooked “à la marinière” with ocietra caviar from Chinese Hong Kong caviar purveyor Perseus and lined with caviar cream at the bottom of the shell.

The caviar spoon made with mother of pearl was used to scoop the razor clams and caviar with the caviar cream as a mouthful. It wasn’t the best utensil to use as it was rather flat. But each mouthful was the saltiness of the caviar, the umami from the cream and sweetness from the razor clam.

L’Oursin D’ Hokkaido

Hokkaido sea urchin, Gamberoni prawn & crunchy fennel

Inspired by his mentor Joël Robuchon‘s maniacal attention to details, Chef Olivier created this sea urchin masterpiece as a tribute to his mentor’s favourite ingredients. The dish is served in a glamorous caviar box with a mother-of-pearl caviar spoon, and showcases carefully aligned strips of sea urchin atop a bed of raw Gamberoni prawns and crunchy fennel.

The excellent course was heightened with sprinkle of chopped chives and piment d’espelette. There was a hint of yuzu, but not overpowering. I wonder why everyone is using yuzu instead of calamansi or lime these days. Don’t they know that a lot of cardio patients cannot take yuzu if they are taking cholesterol medication?

Caviar Perseus No.7 Amur Beluga 6 Mois Affine

Grilled red prawns “Carabineros”, “bavarois onctueuse” & caviar

L’imperial de sologne de la mason nordique – another aesthetic, savoury dish created by Chef Olivier – has been renamed Caviar Perseus No.7 Amur Beluga 6 Mois Affine to celebrate the new partnership between Perseus and L’Envol. We have already tried the No.2 in the razor clams, here’s the slightly larger No.7.

Amur Beluga caviar comes from one of the largest sturgeons: Kaluga sturgeon, whose native home is at Amur River. No. 7 Amur Beluga, harvested from 100% farmed Kaluga sturgeon by Perseus, explodes with strong yet elegant umami notes. They are quite large (3.2mm) and have shiny brown colour with verdant jade hues. You will be surprised to known these sturgeos are farmed and harvested in Hangzhou, Zhejiang in China.

Beautiful Carabineros are a large deep-sea prawn species that hail from the Eastern Atlantic into the Mediterranean Sea. They are renowned for their jumbo size and striking bright red colour.

There’s only one prawn per serving, and they were perfectly grilled. More importantly, given the amount of plating, the prawn was still warm when it was served. The prawn was already cut to single bite size with a small topping of caviar on each serve. Served with a creamy Bavarian sauce (totally unnecessary) and a shaving of I forgotten what. Maybe someone can remind me in the comments.

But the creme de la creme was the head of the prawn, where the prawn miso resided. The natural umami from the brain matters was something not to be discarded, especially if you are not afraid of cholesterol. I mopped every bit with bread.

Ombrine De Mediterranee

Line-caught ombrine cooked on the bone, spices from Tel Aviv

Next up, the fish course which featured a line-caught umbrine from the Mediterranean. The fish was chopped diagonally into oval pieces and cooked with the bones intact. It was smoked with rosemary and spiced with za’atar and other Middle Eastern spices that was vaguely familiar.

The croaker or umbrine is a fish similar to sea bream and sea bass, but not eaten as much. This could be a consequence of overfishing in recent years, which has made it a rare fish. It is a lean fish, even though the best time to eat it is winter.

After the presentation, the box is brought away for plating. I was served a sliver of the fish, topped with a raspberry relish, a dollop of smoked eggplant caviar, a quenelle of garlic confit and mozzarella foam infused with lemon rinds and bits of croutons.

Firstly, I am not a fan of this kind of fish. Second, there were too many components to this dish that I did not comprehend nor did they enhance the taste or the overall experience. And finally, the fish was too dry.

Le Bœuf En Trois Façons

Australian M9 Wagyu in different ways | Carpaccio, charcoal grilled & braised

The final main course was Australian M9 Wagyu beef done in three ways. M9 is the highest grade you can get for the Australian grading system, equivalent to a Japanese A5. It has the best marbling and highest fat content.

The first taste was the M9 beef as a beef carpaccio or steak tartare. It was all over in one bite. One cannot even figure out the taste of the texture of the beef to determine if it was sliced or chopped, nor the condiments used to make the tartare. The whole thing was wrapped in a gelatine membrane and held together with a stalk of chive.

The second was a small piece of charcoal grilled M9 beef sirloin, medium rare and well crushed with salt and pepper. Came with two pieces of potato puff that were delicately cut into heart shapes. Cute. Served on a béarnaise sauce with ikura roe. I rather enjoyed this one as you at least have two bites – one to taste the original flavour of the beef, the second to taste the accompaniments.

The last piece was a wonderfully slow-cooked M9 sirloin with mini baby potatoes. I wondered where they procured these cute little potatoes and when you took a close-up photo of the beef, it looked a regular portion. This course was over even before it started.

The optional cheese course was next but I upgraded Princess’ Festive Course to the full cheese experience and we had plenty of cheese to share between us.

After the wonderful cheese course that was described in the last blog post, we ordered our coffees and waited for the first of two desserts to arrive.

La Poire Conférence

Confit conférence pear, truffle crémeux & vanilla ice cream

This delightful creation captures the essence of the festive season with its exquisite combination of poached conférence pears, aromatic cardamom, and fragrant vanilla. The chocolate sticks had real black winter truffle in them. It’s a dessert that will transport your taste buds to a winter wonderland!

Born in China and groomed in southeastern France, ‘Soleil à Nice’ is Executive Pastry Chef Steven Jin’s creative statement of his unique background and one of the signature desserts that was available. But Princess wanted to try the soufflé, we picked the hazelnut soufflé instead.

Piedmont Hazelnut

Hazelnut soufflé, praliné & ice-cream

The soufflé held up the whole time, technique that was really difficult if you don’t know how. The hazelnut filling tasted like Nutella and was very sweet. Thankfully the soufflé wasn’t.Can we a quenelle of hazelnut flavoured ice cream with salted caramel drippings in the side. Topped with shavings of dark chocolate. Princess had the soufflé while I ate her pineapple dessert.

Petite Fours

The Miganardise Trolley, a selection of chocolate, macarons, caramel, cakes and tarts featuring various texture, seasonal ingredients and extensive techniques, is the most exquisite finale to the delectable gastronomic experience at L’Envol.

L’Envol is a chic and satisfying destination that celebrates the joie de vivre of French cuisine. It combines classicism and modernity, offering staple courses from fine dining alongside well-timed experiments, resulting in a fresh perspective for diners. Two things bothered me though. As it was an open kitchen, the Sous Chef’s temperament was for everyone to see. The portion of the main courses were really too small.

L’Envol
3/F, The St. Regis Hong Kong, One Harbour Drive, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, China
Tel : +852 2138 6818

Visited Dec 2023

Michelin Hong Kong and Macau Guide 1 Star 2020, 2 Stars 2021-2023

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