Louise

Chef Julien Royer's Foray into Casual French in Hong Kong

After much success in Singapore, Julien Royer decided to open a second restaurant in Hong Kong. Louise opened to much acclaim that immediately turned to crickets as dining out became impossible during Hong Kong’s restrictive response to the COVID epidemic.

Replacing a dated brunch restaurant in the same location, Louise first opened in 2019, with Chef Franckelie Laloum as executive chef. Within six months, it received its first Michelin star, which it has held on to every since. Chef Franckelie recently left to start his own restaurant, so it was a good chance to revisit Louise, see how the kitchen was adapting, and compare and contrast Louise with Julien Royer’s flagship restaurant, Odette.

Louise has two very famous signature dishes: their angel hair pasta, topped with a generous serving of osteria caviar, and the whole roasted chicken with rice. Wanting a lighter meal, we decided to skip the tasting menu and went a la carte, intending to order both signature dishes and anything else on the menu that caught our eye.

Located in a a small cottage just below a historic police dormitory in Hong Kong, Louise is situated in the SoHo area of Hong Kong, rising about the bustling streets of Central. The restaurant itself takes up the two floors of the cottage, with the ground floor terrace operating a slightly different concept, offering more relaxed French al-fresco dining.

We noticed two of the famous three yellow chickens hanging out and drying in the fridge on our way up to the dining room.

The upstairs dining room features the show kitchen in the back, as well as a prep station where finishing touches are done before plates being served to the guests.

The amuse bouche was a tiny tuna sashimi taco, and a beef consommé cappuccino with a parmesan foam and tiny fried croutons.

A bread course of warm, freshly baked, rustic sourdough, with a homemade compound butter folded with soy sauce, sour cream and a topping of crushed nuts and seeds. Interesting, but not a fan.

The famous angel hair pasta, served as an appetizer. Normally, I think of pasta as a warm, creamy, saucy affair, but the angel hair pasta is served a bit more like a salad - presented cold, dressed with a tangy vinaigrette with a spoonful of Ossetia caviar on top. I always found the pasta a bit dry, and this time was no exception. I know it’s a signature and I tend to order it every time I come to Louise, but I find myself a bit disappointed every time it arrives.

In an off menu special, they replaced their dover sole with two fresh Normandy scallops, served with wilted spinach, toasted hazelnuts and parsnips in a buttery rich tangy sabayon sauce. Mix of textures and flavours here with some perfectly seared scallops. Really good and I wish this was on the regular menu, instead of an one off special.

Butterflied frog legs a la meuniere, lightly dredged in a flour and pan fried in a brown butter and lemon sauce and topped with chopped parsley and garlic chips. I normally see this preparation style used for fish, namely my favourite Dover Sole, but worked fairly well with the frogs legs, which, pardon the cliche, tasted just like chicken.

Accompanying the frogs legs was a second preparation into a creamy, thick, rich watercress velouté topped with chopped chives and fried croutons for texture. Really really well done, and I wish I had a whole bowl of this one to myself.

Finally, the star of the show came out, Louise’s famous roasted three yellow chicken, presented whole before carving. Super crispy skin, with moist, well-brined meat. The chicken was served with a soft Japanese Niigata rice, mixed with crispy chicken skin, chopped chives and chicken fat for an intensely savory flavour bomb, and a small side salad well dressed with a shallot vinaigrette.

This reminded me a lot of the chicken rice from Odette. In fact, the two dishes were presented very similarly, and the rice accompaniment was almost identical, although at Odette, it was prepared tableside. Why mess with a good thing, this dish is amazing wherever you have it.

Finally, a Kyoto grape ile flottante, a modern take on a classic French dessert of a “floating island” of soft marshmellowy meringue floating on top of a green apple jus topped with a layer of crystallized sugar and shizo sorbet, all hiding a perfectly ripe halved Kyoto grape supporting the entire structure. Light, refreshing, and an uncharacteristically light end to a fairly heavy dinner.

Overall, it looks like not much has changed after Chef Franckelie’s departure. The roasted chicken with rice is just as good as ever, and the watercress velouté was an unexpected highlight. The angel hair pasta continues to disappoint, and I’ll probably stop ordering it if I return to Louise.

Total Damage: 3500 HKD/2 people