LaLa

Chef Franckelie LaLoum's Parisien Brasserie in Hong Kong

Life has been busy and after a bout with sickness, I have been eating a lot less adventurously than I usually do. That, coupled with a lull in travel has led to fewer writeups that I anticipated recently.

Now that the rebrand of Le Brasserie is complete, it has been renamed LaLa, for the first initial in the last name of both cofounders: Franckelie Laloum, and Michael Larkin. The restaurant is in the same space, with a slightly different menu. A few Louise classics have been added, like the roasted chicken with rice, the parsley garlic frog legs, as well as keeping some of the classic dishes from La Brasserie’s menu, like the beef tartare, and the pate en croute. After visiting both recently, I think I actually prefer LaLa to Louise.

The meal started with a classic pate en croute consisting of a pork, chicken and foie gras pate tightly wrapped with a crust pastry with a bit of gelatinized beef stock, served with a tangy salad of green beans and lettuce leaves. I tried this the first time I went to La Brasserie, and it’s one of the dishes that keeps me returning as its consistently delicious.

A brunch dish modified from La Brasserie, with two oven baked fried eggs with Duculty ham and crispy waffle potatoes. I actually preferred the older variation with the soft boiled egg topped with caviar, but this was a very brunch appropriate adaptation. They also use these waffle potato chips when they do the beef tartare, and they’re amazingly light and crisp. Another one of the reasons I keep returning.

They changed the soup on the menu to a a curried cauliflower velouté. It’s exactly what it sounds like - a rich, velvety, spiced soup perfect for a cooler day. I actually preferred this over the mushroom and chestnut one they previously had on the menu.

The mains came next, a delicious penne gratin in a creamy black truffle sauce, topped with cheese and broiled under the salamander briefly, served with a savory chicken jus. This was a lot larger and more filling than I expected. Fortunately, I still had a bit of room for the star of the show.

A classic French steak au poivre, a perfectly medium rare Angus tenderloin in a kampot pepper pan sauce encrusted with cracked black peppers.

There are many classic debates about how to prepare this dish - whether you encrust just one side, or both sides in cracked peppercorns, how to get both salt and the cracked peppercorns to both stick to the steak. If you press the peppercorns to form the crust first, and salt it after, the crust prevents the salt from absorbing into the meat. If you salt the steak before pressing in the peppercorns, the meat tends to firm up once absorbing the salt, preventing the peppercorns from forming a crust. I’m not sure what exactly LaLa did, but whatever they do, it creates a consistent, delicious peppery steak.

Finally, dessert, consisting of a flaky puff pastry filled with vanilla and almond cream, with crispy mini meringues and topped with gold foil. It was okay, but not my favourite - I much preferred the profiterole I had last time.

Overall, pretty happy with the rebrand. They took some of the best dishes from Louise, while keeping some of the dishes La Brasserie did very well. The staff are friendly and the kitchen is consistent, and I’ll make a point of dropping by LaLa whenever I’m in the neighborhood.

Total Damage: 1300 HKD/1 person