Although I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting him, I hear Harlan Goldstein is quite a character. He must be to call one of his restaurants Gold and indeed decorate the place entirely in gold! I have always therefore been a little intrigued about Gold by Harlan Goldstein…
As I mentioned, Gold is gold: gold ceiling, gold walls, not to mention a huge gold bar in the entrance. Yet it is not gold in a tacky way; everything about it speaks of elegance and class, which you’d down right expect from a one Michelin-starred restaurant, especially at the prices he charges.
Our meal began well, with an excellent slow-cooked Italian octopus. The taste from the fennel, black olives and melitzanosalata (a kind of aubergine caponata), as well as the octopus of course, was earthy and light. Unfortunately, however, a little too much dill slightly masked these flavours.
From the specials menu, the balik smoked salmon with caviar was even better. Each morsel of salmon was beautifully tender and paired perfectly with the slightly sharp blood orange and sweet chunks of beetroot.
According to the menu, the 8oz fillet of beef ‘will melt in your mouth’. It most certainly did. This excellent cut of beef, cooked to medium-rare perfection, was so succulent and flavoursome it needed no form of sauce whatsoever. All it was served with was a whole head of roasted garlic, which could be spread like butter over the beautiful beef.
The 10oz Dutch veal chop was somewhat of a disappointment compared to the beef; although the flavour of the milk-fed veal was delicious, it was ever so slightly under-cooked, resulting in a rather chewy consistency. Again it was served with the same roast garlic, which definitely helped redeem it.
Sides of creamy spinach with pine nuts and black truffle mash were exceptional, particularly the latter. Remember how delicious I found the mash at L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon? I think this one might have trumped it. Imagine the creamiest of mashed potatoes, add a generous sprinkling of black truffle, and seriously, what else do you need in life? (Other than Chocolate.)
For dessert, due to my silly decision of giving up wheat and chocolate for Lent, we opted for a slightly boring and also slightly forgettable choice: Baileys and vanilla gelato. On another occasion, I would be interested to see if Harlan’s warm white chocolate cake truly is the ‘best [I’ve] ever tasted’, as it says on the menu…
Despite our food being very slow to arrive, service was professional and very efficient. Again, this is to be expected from a Michelin-starred restaurant, yet I was impressed by the knowledge of our friendly waitress and her readiness to give us her opinion when asked.
All of the above was washed down with a beautiful bottle of Montepulciano, and amounted to a total of around $2800 for the two of us, including a further glass of wine each on the beautiful terrace. The restaurant’s name alone suggests a pricey bill; add to that Harlan’s fame and a Michelin star, and of course it isn’t going to be cheap. It is, however, rather cheap compared to his extortionately priced “8” dinner – eight courses, eight wines, eight people for a whopping $88,000! Does anyone have $11,000 lying around they’d like to spend on dinner for me?!
Gold by Harlan Goldstein
Level 2, LKF Tower
33 Wyndham Street
Lan Kwai Fong
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2869 9986
Woah! That’s one expensive meal, but the spreadable garlic sounds heavenly…
Oh it is… You can try it at home too – if you’re making a roast, just pop the garlic in the oven with the roast with its skin still on. It will become an incredible garlic paste ready for spreading!