Green Mouse

HK-Magazine

It’s not much to look at—Green Mouse is a small restaurant without any fancy French flourishes—but who’s looking at the décor when you’re busy chatting to the excellent maitre’d? His knowledgeable yet subtle serving style made us feel like we’d stepped into the kitchen of an old friend. The chef bustled out to tell us about what he had on fresh that day, and to offer us the $500 a head, five-course tasting menu. We started with pan-fried foie gras, which was lightly seasoned and perfectly crisped on the outside, but warm and rich on the inside. Second course was seared scallop and tiger prawn, served with a rich garlic butter sauce. One of us didn’t want the escargot (presented as a kind of deconstructed lasagna in a rich chicken broth), so they kindly offered a delicious watercress soup instead. The angus fillet and quail we chose for our mains kept up the high standard we’d now come to expect. But God, as they say, is in the details, and we were delighted with the mini portions of pumpkin mash, courgette, mushroom and potato, which were obviously created with as much love as the mains themselves. While Green Mouse was practically empty on the Thursday night we went, we expect it’ll fill up before long when word gets out about this wonderful yet reasonably priced restaurant.

EatDrinkHongKong
I stumbled onto The Green Mouse quite by accident. I’d turned into Peel Street with the intention of heading downhill from Hollywood Road back to Central and there it was.
Since it was almost dinner time anyway I didn’t need much convincing but being told that it was owned and operated by two former Chez Patrick staff was certainly encouraging.
The decor is simple but elegant, white walls punctuated with miniature paintings with crisp cheerful green table linen and napkins. A small chandelier tinkles gently in the breeze from the air conditioning unit. There were no other customers but it was still very early. I took a seat near the window. Net curtains hide Peel Street and, on my side of the door, reflect the restaurants logo; a green mouse.
It’s not a large menu, it doesn’t need to be. Quality rather than quantity seems to be the order of the day. There is a set dinner menu on the right which offers 3-course meals for $378 or 4-courses for $458.
There is a choice of three starters and three mains. The choices are changed every week except desserts which vary from day to day and are not listed. The 4th course, if I made it that far, was a cheese board.
For starters I went for the pan-fried fois gras with caramel sauce. While I was waiting for that I was served a, fresh from the oven, bread roll. It may not have been as enthusiastic a display as an Italian bread basket but it was luxurious in its simplicity. I was about to ask for another when I was presented with a small portion of quiche lorraine which took my mind off it.
I was just looking around for more quiche when the fois gras arrived. Two rather generous pieces, crisp and delicate on the outside deliciously creamy on the inside. It went pleasingly well with the house red wine.
I have to admit I’m a bit of a slacker when it comes to wine and I’d neglected to write the name down. It was quite a fruity tang and was comparably light for a red wine.
Timing of the dishes was near perfect with just the right space between them. But it was here that the background music came forward. For the most part it had been a selection of middle of the road 1960s and 70s pop. Fairly easy to ignore for the most part but there was the odd, annoyingly gimmicky, dance tune.
Fortunately it was over before the main course, pan-fried beef flank steak in port wine sauce, arrived. And a lovely piece of steak it was too. Cooked medium rare, it was lean, juicy and served with a selection of garden vegetables, mushrooms, cauliflower cheese and caramelised onions.
I think it was Oscar Wilde, or someone of that ilk, that once said that listening to music while eating is an insult to both chef and composer. I think that is a load of old rot. Good music complements a meal just a surely as a good wine and I thought this was worthy of a Thelonious Monk or Stephane Grappelli.
There were a number of desserts available including chocolate pudding and crepes but I plumped for the apple tart with cinnamon ice cream. Along with coffee it was an excellent way to round off a very pleasing meal. The cheese board, I’m afraid, will have to wait till next time.