BO Innovation leaves us high and dry
By The Prodigal Fool, published on 15 October 2009
In fact, a lot has changed and he knew it. Most notably, some of Hong Kong’s greatest restaurants have set-up shop in Wanchai. The one that’s created the most buzz of late is probably BO Innovation. We were staying ‘round the corner so how could we resist? Just a few days later around lunchtime, we found ourselves walking the few short blocks from our hotel to its door.
Many of you will know the history of this restaurant which is fast becoming an institution. For those of you who don’t, here’s a short recap. Hong Kong has a long history of so-called ‘private kitchens’, similar to speakeasies, these were typically unlicensed restaurants in people’s homes from which amateur chefs would seek to impresses the city’s gourmands.
And that’s exactly how Alvin Leung, BO Innovation’s head chef and owner, got his break. The precursor to what is now a sleek and modern mainstream restaurant was started in 2003 as an unlicensed private kitchen at another location. In those days it was called BO Innoseki. It took its inspiration from kaiseki, a traditional Japanese meal consisting of multiple small dishes.
Like the prostitutes before him, a couple of years ago Leung decided to move from the shadows and relative anonymity of the back streets to the spotlight and scrutiny of the mainstream.
As we took the glass elevator up to BO Innovation’s slick new rooftop sanctuary, we were full of questions about what to expect. We’d heard him compared to Ferran Adria of El Bulli; we’d heard people rave about how he marries Chinese ingredients with molecular gastronomy (seriously, we still don’t know what this is supposed to mean!); and only that morning we’d read how a meal at Bo Innovation was “the fusion of cuisine with science.”
The lift door opened; we strolled out onto the relaxing roof garden. A genuinely welcoming maitre d’ greeted us without a hint of pretension. All well so far.
Shown straightaway to our table, we set about making our selection.
The lunch menu is effectively a ‘highlights’ version of the dinner menu. Shorter, more focused and – we’re told – less ‘experimental’. That was fine by us.
Maybe our expectations were too high, maybe BO Innovation’s lunchtime standards are too low, but our first course – though good – was unremarkable. Both the dim sum and the spring rolls had been cooked with great care, the textures were exactly as they should be, but somehow the flavours just didn’t blow us away. We were expecting them to. On the other hand, they were over very quickly.
Well our waiter was right about that: the pork lasagne was very special indeed. In fact, it perfectly encapsulated what we think Leung is trying to do with his cooking: offer you something new but with a welcome twist. The pork itself was beautifully slow-cooked – it literally melted in our mouth – and full of flavour. And, as if to highlight how soft the meat was, it is served with a perfect-looking egg yoke on top. This is just as soft and succulent as the meat: it bursts in the mouth. The dish is served with a rich, Chinese vinegar-based sauce and a couple of lotus roots. Exceptionally good, just all gone too soon for our liking.
So, overall, the food was good with hints of genius but ultimately inconsistent. Leung is clearly aiming for dishes that are as fresh and vibrant as he can make them while highlighting the complexity and richness of Chinese cooking. He is also deliberately mixing up unexpected textures and colours. In this he succeeds. The question is whether you always want him to.
Regardless of what you make of the food though, we don’t think that anyone would argue about the high levels of service. From the pleasant welcome, through the waiter who deftly steered as towards the pork lasagne, to the staff member who escorted us across the roof terrace back to the lift (asking, as we walked, if we’d had a good time and hoping out loud to see us again), we encountered nothing but efficient and pleasant staff. And so it was that the glass elevator swept us down from the lofty heights of the BO Innovation experience back to real-life on terra firma.
As we were unceremoniously deposited back on the bustling, humid city street, we felt indeed as if we’d had a very special experience but we were also somehow left wanting. As we pondered this odd paradox, we glanced over to our left and noticed that Yin Yang was just next door.
Yin Yang is still run as a private kitchen by chef Margaret Xu. We didn’t get a chance to try it but we’re told that Xu simply loves simple cooking. Using mostly organic produce that she sources from the New Territoiries, she is devoted to traditional Cantonese dishes such as roast suckling pig, which she bakes for six hours in a custom-made Chinese terracotta urn.
After lunch at BO Innovation, the idea of a simple meal with Margaret really appealed. And that’s perhaps the most damning indictment of the BO experience. BO Innovation just felt too complex, too demanding of us. By the end of it, we craved something traditional and simple.
We’d certainly be happy to return (probably for dinner because we don’t believe that lunch can really do the place justice) but, before we do, we’d like to spend an evening at Yin Yang instead.
So, in summary, we think there’s a lot in a name. Before our visit, we thought the BO Innovation name rather silly. Now we think it’s one of the most appropriate restaurant names we know because it perfectly describes the chef’s singular focus: innovation. That’s how he stands out from the considerable competition: by presenting Chinese and western cuisine in a manner that is familiar yet with a new twist. He doesn’t always pull it off. When he does, it’s spectacular (the pork lasagne, the apple crumble dumpling) when he doesn’t it’s still interesting (our dim sum). What it’s never is completely satisfying.
BO Innovation, Shop 13, 2/F, J Residence, 60 Johnston Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, China, Tel: +852 2850 8371
P.S. For some further insight into Alvin Leung, the self-declared ‘demon chef’, watch the following video of him meeting Anthony Bourdain of Kitchen Confidential fame:
BO Innovation leaves us high and dry
“Twenty years ago, this neighbourhood was the red light district, just full of prostitutes,” declared our local friend over a drink at The Pawn in Hong Kong’s Wanchai district, “and today…nothing much has changed!” In fact, a lot has changed and he knew it. Most notably, some of Hong Kong’s greatest restaurants have set-up shop [...]
3 Responses to “BO Innovation leaves us high and dry”
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