marron.com.hk
www.marron.com.hk
Dinner only, minimum charge $280 (BYOB but with $40 corkage per bottle)

This is the first private kitchen I know of that has become a chain! Le Blanc in Wan Chai was the first and its success has spawned Le Marron in Causeway Bay. The style from what I’ve heard about Le Blanc (I’ve yet to make it to Le Blanc) is similar – you feel like you’re dining in someone’s Continental living room circa 1890; our room came with an upright piano and the requisite knick-knacks for example. Though this being Hong Kong, everything feels a little on the cramped side. A trip to the bathroom involved much pushing in of chairs and sucking in of the belly, which was proving harder to do as the meal continued into the night for the food was good.

The menu is rather fiddly with various choices and prices. The main thing to remember is that the minimum charge is $280 so pick and choose between starters, soups, seafood, mains, dessert and make sure whatever you pick adds up to at least $280. The food in keeping with the dècor is French brasserie fare. It’s classic Continental cooking unfussily served and tasting clean and fresh. It’s not complicated or highly inventive food but it’s good solid cooking that will make you feel like your eating in someone’s home. It’s the essence of the private kitchen experience, until you realise with a slight shock that this has become a mass produced commodity. As you can tell, I’m rather ambivalent about the route that this ‘private kitchen’ has taken. Perhaps it should be moved to the restaurant category….