Bo Innovation, Hong Kong

I’m not sure where I first heard of this restaurant, but we’ve had a decent number of fine dining experience back home in San Francisco and wanted to see how it’s done outside the states, so it seemed like a no-brainer to make a reservation at Bo Innovation. I emailed the restaurant just over two months in advance and had no trouble reserving a table.

We arrived at the top of the elevator that serves as the restaurant’s entrance to a rendering of the city’s rail transit map in neon light.



We were promptly shown to our seats where we decided on the “chef menu” (as opposed to the “chef’s table menu”, which differed only by two main courses versus one) and we did one regular pairing and one reserve pairing.

We started with a couple of glasses of Champagne from Bruno Paillard.



Hot towels were compressed and then hydrated in front of us, an interesting effect.



Amuse bouche: crispy egg waffle with scallion and scallion oil.



First pairing was Dom Pérignon P2 Champagne 1998 for one of us and Wicks Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2015 for the other.




First course: “Air”, century egg, pickled young ginger.



Second course: “Caviar”, smoked quail egg, crispy taro nest.



Third course: “Oyster”, duck tongue, jelly fish, sichuan green sauce.



Second pairing was Laurent Dupatis Chablis Grand Cru “Les Preuses" 2011 for one of us and Massolino Moscato d’Asti 2011 for the other.




Fourth course: “Bamboo”, foie gras, “chu yeh ching” miso, indian lettuce stem, green apple, winter bamboo shoot.



Next pairing was only on the regular pairing track, as the reserve pairing continued with the Chablis for several more courses: Parés Baltà Penedès “Electio Microcuvée” 2012.



Fifth course: “Umami”, kitimat spot prawn, har mi oil, “wok air” powder.



Another regular-pairing-only wine: Christian Collovray–Jean-Luc Terrier Pouilly-Fuissé “Vielles Vignes” 2014.



Sixth course: “Molecular” “xiao long bao”.



Seventh course: “Tomato”, “pat chun” chinese vinegar, fermented chinese olives “lam kok”, marshmallow with green onion oil.



Next pairing was Maison Roche de Bellene Clos de Vougeot “Grand Cru” 1996 for one and Kruger-Rumpf Spätburgunder “R” 2012.




Eighth course: “Wild Haida Gwaii Cod”, lotus.



Ninth course: “Brittany Blue Lobster”, “Bo” chilli sauce, charred corn, shrimp dumpling.



Tenth course / palate cleanser: “Mao Tai”, hawthorn, lemongrass, passion fruit.



Main course pairing: Château Latour “Le Pauillac de Latour” 2010 and Château Pichon Longueville Pauillac “Comtesse de Lalande” 2013.




Eleventh / main course: “Organic ‘Long Jiang’ Chicken”, “Bo” chicken rice, wood ear fungus, golden pin, shiitake mushroom, lotus leaf.





Dessert pairing: Klein Constantia Riesling “Vin de Constance” 2011 and Schlossgut Diel “Demon Riesling” 2012, a wine made exclusively for this restaurant.




Twelfth course: “No Shark Fin”, mango, coconut, shark fin squash.



Thirteenth course: “Bo Baba”, chestnut, sugar cane, imo.



Mignardises: “Eight Treasures”.





Finally, to top it all off: candy service.



The review

It’s a rare occurrence that a meal of this magnitude manages to pull off such a string of fantastic dishes and tastes. The foie gras and caviar were nice touches—and original takes on those nice touches—but other dishes like the molecular xiao long bao and the lobster and charred corn har gow created instant and indelible memories of Hong Kong for us in a single bite.

The dishes seemed a bit gimmicky at first delivery, but when all of the smoke and mirrors gives way to undeniably delicious food, the overall effect is elevated to another level.

The only really surprising parts were to see that the dress code apparently is nothing more than “at least short sleeves” and to see the chef spend our entire meal serving and drinking champagne at the bar and leaving the kitchen duties to his staff. But neither took away from one of the finest meals we’ve ever had.