If there’s a dish that best represents what French chef Julien Royer is trying to achieve at Louise, his new French restaurant in Hong Kong, it is his local roast yellow chicken (HK$858, and good for four to share).
Perfectly cooked, with crispy skin and tender meat, the whole bird was paraded at our table before being carved. Filling the table was a cast iron pot of Japanese rice seasoned with chicken fat and chicken skin, spring onions and chives, and topped with black truffle shavings, which was mixed before being served; a side salad; and sauteed potatoes with melted Cantal cheese. Together it made for a family-style meal that was unpretentious and hearty.
On Wednesday he was a bit more specific, describing the dishes on the restaurant’s menu as reinterpreted traditional French from his childhood. “Growing up on a farm in Cantal [in France’s Auvergne region], my most precious memories are of family meals,” he writes in the menu’s introduction. “This joy is what we want to invoke at Louise.”
The dining room at Louise in PMQ, Central, designed by Andre Fu. Photo: Louise
A parlour table for two at Louise. Photo: Louise