Le Chefeteria — Restaurant in Hong Kong Island

Dinner that won’t get you disappointed!

I have chronic urticaria (and histamine sensitive) and is highly reactive to a tremendous amount of food that people would consider normal. This is also this very reason that I have not been out for dinner for a looong time as I need to stabilize the occurrence of rash that might come up at any time, and for any unknown reasons; but definitely food contributes as one of the factors. I therefore was skeptical to dine out, but if you have been eating at home for months, and with years of COVID quarantine, you were so tempted to go out and just enjoyed with friends! I took the courage to attend, and the day b4 the dinner, we were given the menu to choose from. I looked at it, and ok, not too bad. At least I have something that I could take, but with a little ‘adjustment’ required, I thought. I called the restaurant the night b4, a lady picked up the phone. We started the conversation, and I told her about my situation and thought that I could just ask them to simply take out those ingredients (a lot of them) that I’m allergic to. The lady listened very carefully, asked a lot of details and said she would speak to the chef. The ‘adjusted’ menu already surprised me. They have actually tailored the menu to fit for my condition, giving details of ingredients that went into all the dishes. Even the dessert was customized for me! I was impressed just by looking at the menu!

The actual dinner turned out to be marvelous! I was busy listening to Ada, the lady that I spoke to the night before, and couldn’t wait to try the dishes that Chef Azmi prepared for me. I was overwhelmed by his clever use of herbs and freshness of ingredients in creating each dish, but never compromised on the taste!! Ingredients were not just fresh, they were organic; and the way he managed was not just French, but with a touch of Asian twist. With his careful source of ingredients, Chef Azmi didn’t just take care of our taste buds, but also our health!!

The restaurant itself is already a little hidden gem; and the team, including Ada and Chef Azmi, add some true colour to this restaurant, making sure that you are being well taken care of inside out!! I highly recommended this restaurant to everyone. You need to come and try out for yourself.

Post dinner: Truly amazed that I have no allergies at all from the dinner!! 😊 And I...

Im baffled at all the good reviews at this place. I visited on the last day of restaurant week and the level of service was so bad that it even stands out for the average Hong Kong standards.

The manager of the place is the worst manager Ive ever seen in a restaurant. I received a call from her 1.5 hours prior to my appointment time, only to be told that our table is available and we can go there anytime from now. What's the point of a reservation then if you assume people should be ready hours before the appointment to be at your disposal? She acted super anxious and stressed the minute we arrived, rushed through our orders even before we have everyone arrived and seated. That mood is extending to all the staff, they seemed scared to make any minor mistakes. They still got one of our orders wrong, alas. The manager also began hurrying us as soon as we finish eating and for some reason, initially refused to show me the bill and breakdown of items and reached for my credit card. That's a new level of rudeness, again, for your typical F&B HK services. She also threw us a bunch of cards to fill in our names and personal info since "the private kitchen is members only". I've been to other private kitchens in HK and had never been asked that.

Food-wise, the lobster bisque and tenderloin were OK. but I'd say the average diner would need to be quite adventurous to order given the amount of things happening on that menu -- a glut of mixtures like hairy crab roe with thai sauces. For dessert, I had the pineapple crumble and --what a joke. It's canned pineapples sprinkled with old bread crumbs and topped with a sorbet.

Unless you enjoy being hushed through a meal, eating desserts that taste like artificial syrup with additives, I'd suggest you get your money's...

I would describe the dinner as manic, amateur, with a touch of scam. Manic, in terms of the lady manager/ owner’s insisting what I booked was a Thursday dinner, and therefore, I had to pay for a $560 meal, instead of a $300+ one as stated on Restaurant Week's website. Also, her coming back each time, and recited to me a 2-minute-long spill on each plate, attempting to make her food appear fancy but with no heart, was annoying. Her directing guests to sit in pre-assigned seats with no negotiation, nor consideration of her customers' requests, reminded me the way Cinderella's stepmom treated Cinderella. As for amateur, it is in reference to this restaurant offering only 1 kind of glass wine, and that this Riesling should be suffice of a reason not to offer any red nor white, since in the lady manager’s opinion, this Riesling was not sweet and could match all food under the sky. I ordered one out of curiosity, and since it never came, it gave me enough time to rethink and eventually I cancelled my wine order. While this restaurant lacks in departments of food, dining environment (tables were mini, not just small) and service, what it has going for itself were marketing gimmicks, and dessert plates decorated with cartoon drawings in food colourings. I left without eating my dessert as this manager with her manic attitude and matching frazzled long hair made me feel uneasy. And the scam of a more costly menu than what had been stated did not help either. I wish Restaurant Week would not have helped drawn innocent diners like me...