TBLS: A Private Kitchen Experience

TBLS is a small private kitchen nestled on the seventh floor of a local building on Hollywood Road, on a stretch of the street that I've passed by nearly every day on my way to and from work since moving to Hong Kong.  But until the firm dinner on Monday night, I had had no idea that this private kitchen existed.  (This is quite common in Hong Kong, at least for me...)

It has a lovely deck that would probably seat 10-15 and indoor space to seat 20 comfortably.  The kitchen is open, directly behind the diners. 

They work on a theme menu every month - six courses (four savory, two dessert) for HK$680 per person plus 10% surcharge.  Our theme was Gastropub.

We kicked off with an amuse bouche of fried chicken and cole slaw, stuffed in delightful individual jam jars.  Very tasty, although I'm not a big fan of cole slaw.

The first course was a soup and sandwich pairing: a hot pear and parsnip soup with walnuts and a pork belly slider topped with fresh beetroot on a toasted bun.  I thought this was quite tasty - the slider was the perfect combination of crispy, savory, soft and sweet.

Then I got my act together and started taking pictures:

Second course:

tripe and chorizo chili (with beans, rice, melted cheese, sour cream) topped with potato chips

Third course:

poached tiger prawn on corn polenta cake with crab in clam broth

 Fourth course:

pastrami short ribs with mustard braised cabbage and maple and cayenne carrot puree

Dessert course #1:

apple tarte tatin with bacon and maple ice cream and smoked caramel

 Dessert course #2:

macaroon with carrot and cinnamon ice cream and cream cheese icing

It was all very tasty - my absolute favorite (to my utter surprise) was the carrot cake macaroon.  And, you'd be surprised - despite how it sounds, the tripe chili was actually very tasty!