Excellent Food ● Elegant Interior ● Average Service

L’Envol, The St. Regis Hong Kong

L’Envol is a one-Michelin-starred restaurant at the St. Regis Hong Kong led by Chef Olivier Elzer.  The restaurant is a warm yet luxurious space decorated with jade, marble and bright green moss arrangements.  It has an open kitchen and features innovative French gastronomy.  We love that the restaurant, as a whole, is bright and airy and is a very welcoming and comfortable space.  

Our visit was a lunch on a weekday for a party of four and we opted for the “Allure” lunch menu.  We have also pre-ordered the chef’s signature Hokkaido sea-urchin box and a whole yellow chicken when we made our reservation.    

The food was delicious and we enjoyed it very much. Particularly, we liked the grilled red prawn, the monkfish as well as the roasted chicken.  All in all, the food was exquisite, sublime, and not overly rich; though not as innovative if we compare to what we would normally see in Nordic or Spanish gastronomy. 

The Food – 4.5 stars

Our meal begins with a plate of three snacks along with bread and butter (flavoured with caviar and champagne). 

The first course was the sea urchin box, the chef’s signature. It’s a small tin packed with flavours – freshness of the creamy Hokkaido sea urchin mixed with sweetness of the gamberoni prawn. A beautifully presented dish with very precise and balanced flavours.

Next, we had the grilled red prawn carabineros & gamberoni, Brittany razor clams with Oscietre caviar, and the grilled tuna with five spices. The tuna was not bad but didn’t leave us a strong impression. The razor clams dish, as a whole, was quite luxurious and the caviar cream underneath the razor clams was very delicious. Particularly, we loved the grilled red prawn and it’s surprisingly flavourful, especially, the head.

Next, for our fish course, we had the line-caught Brittany turbot and the Brittany monkfish with foie gras. The turbot was quite nice and refreshing with the spinach and the arugula butter sauce. And the monkfish was really good and it smelled so nice when it arrived at the table. The combination of the meaty monkfish and the creamy foie gras was lovely. We wonder, though, it could taste even better with ankimo, steamed monkfish liver, instead of foie gras.  

Next, we had the roasted whole yellow chicken. The whole chicken was first presented at the table, then taken back to the kitchen to carve it, and finally served table-side so that everyone can choose their favourite piece. The meat was very tender and the skin was crispy and flavourful. The caramelised onion was a surprisingly elegant sauce and not too powerful.

After the roasted chicken, we had a cheese plate and three different desserts. The cheese plate was served pre-selected (see service issue below) and the cheese was not bad but quite standard. The honeycomb, though, was very good and paired perfectly with the cheese. The three desserts were just average but nicely presented. We finished our meal with coffee and tea and a selection of petite fours.

The Service – 3 stars

The service was a big question mark.  The staff was warm and engaging at the beginning and throughout the first half of the meal – but then, it went downhill pretty quickly after the main course.    

Wine Service

At the start of the meal, the Sommelier came offered us a glass of champagne.  However, we didn’t see him for the rest of the meal until we were already having our main course.  He never showed us the wine list.  

By the time we were already enjoying the roasted chicken, he came over and asked us if we would like to have some wine with the chicken.  At that point, it’s already a moot question.    

Cheese Service

To end the meal, we had an order of the “at your preference” cheese plate and three desserts.  We saw the cheese cart going around the restaurant but that cart never came to our table.  

When the cheese plate arrived, it was already pre-selected.  We never asked for it to be “pre-selected” and the way they just served it without asking us whether we want to take a look at the cheese selection was just bad service.  And that took away a big part of the joy of having cheese at a fine-dining restaurant.  

To make it even worse, the waitstaff who served us the cheese plate didn’t even go through each of the cheeses but simply state “to start with the soft goat cheese and end with the stronger blue cheese.”  Well, we aren’t sure what kind of service was that but definitely not up to par.

Petite Fours Cart

After dessert, we ordered coffee and tea.  The coffee and tea came but no petite fours with it (not even “pre-selected”).  We saw the petite fours cart circling around the restaurant and was wondering if it would ever be at our table.  No word from the waitstaff and no mention of it when they served us the coffee.  

After we finished our coffee, we didn’t want to wait anymore and just asked for the bill.  At that moment, the waitstaff mentioned the petite fours cart and apologised for having us wait for it for so long.  She offered us a refill of our coffee and managed to get the cart to our table shortly after.  

For a Michelin-starred restaurant at a St. Regis hotel, the level of service we encountered was indeed quite bad. It’s a stark contrast to the excellent butler service at the St. Regis Hong Kong.