Divine Dining - Cafe Gray Deluxe

Divine Dining – Hong Kong

The Restaurant

The city of Hong Kong certainly has no shortage of divine dining options; from cheap and cheerful to stratospheric on the wallet, the choice even beguiles the best buffet.

It’s a tough call out there with so many new restaurants opening and so many going by the wayside, but once in a while something special comes along, truly special, that elevates a meal from just eating out to an experience. Once such place opened not too long ago. That place is Café Gray Deluxe. Master minded by renowned Chef Gray Kunz, this unique venue offers substance along with style.

Location

In the heart of Pacific Place, lies the Upper House Hotel, being the inaugural Hong Kong Hotel for the Swire group. Just getting to the restaurant is an experience in itself; certainly in the evening the ambiance sets the tone for what’s in store. While modern minimalism is a feature of the Hotel, making ones way up the long sleek escalator with warm teak wood hues gives way to a lift lobby that then takes you to the top floor of the Hotel wherein lies on the 49^th Floor Café Gray Deluxe. A short candle lit hall leads to the interior. With the bar and cosy semi private booths on the right and the main dining area straight ahead, the inimitable style and refined aesthetics are both soothing and sophisticated.

Service

It’s not that hard to build and create a great looking restaurant, however, while one can build and create the most amazing places on earth it takes people to make them a reality. This is where Café Gray Deluxe exceeds expectations. Quality service should always be unobtrusive yet professional and efficient. Café Gray Deluxe is both. More than that, it’s carried out in a genuinely caring manner. Making this a place where casual meets sheik with attention to service. On our visit our service was superb and again proves that in Hong Kong, it is indeed the five star hotels that can attract and retain quality people.

Food

While there has been “mixed” reports in the media on the food, on our visit we ordered a variety of dishes, all of which were both enticing and delicious. Mixed Oysters with Crab legs (the latter already carefully slice open for easy access) being tastefully presented on a bed of ice, both the Oysters and the Crab were of the freshest and finest. Other dishes to follow where: Pork Chops tenderly cooked with a nice selection of vegetables, a whole Lemon Sole cooked to perfection with a tangy light lemon sauce, and Beef Cheeks, being tender and gelatinous accompanied by a light sauce and medley of vegetables. Now this is were some other reviews had differing thoughts, but my point is this. Good food done well, prepared fresh and with attention to detail is the key to success. It is a simple as that, and while some diners may have different conceptions or follow other fads in reality there is no need for food to be convoluted or complicated. This is where Café Gray Deluxe excels, with quality produce and a traditional approach, neither will never go out of style.

Overall it further elevates the dining status for which Hong Kong is famous. Dining at Café Gray Deluxe can be like dining anywhere else in the world and certainly comparable to, Tokyo, London, Paris and New York. No doubt the fact the Chef Gray Kunz, spent sometime at a very successful establishment in New York, evokes a major influence in this dining venue.

Personally I can’t wait to go back there!

http://www.cafegrayhk.com/

(This is an unbiased independent review, the visit was unannounced and the meal paid for)