I made a brief mention of View 62, Spanish chef Paco Roncero’s first project in Hong Kong, just before it opened. At the time, it was a bit of a mystery what the whole concept was going to be like, since nobody seemed to know—or wanted to give—the details. But now that I’ve actually been to the media tasting, I can assure our readers that the resto is exactly as you would expect it to be, which is posh fine dining in the style of the restaurant world’s latest craze: nouvelle cuisine (think deconstruction, foams, liquid nitrogen).

This revolving restaurant atop Hopewell Centre is a bit difficult to get to; you have to take a minimum of two elevators to get up, and if you want the scenic route (i.e. via the glass-walled observatory elevator), it’ll be even more (up to four). But the resto is worth checking out at least once—if not for its novelty, then at least for its impressive selection of teas (more on that in a sec). Jaded journo that I am, stuff in toothpaste tubes and smoky liquid nitrogen escaping out of bottles have long since ceased to impress me—but truly yummy foods like the 21st-century omelet in a martini glass and the savory and aromatic truffle “dentelle” actually delivered beyond their new-age presentations.

I’m on the fence about the mains, and think the starters actually outshone the heftier but subtler Chilean sea bass and beef shank. In the resto’s defense, most of the starters were pretty darn good. The drinks selection at the end was a genuine surprise to all—we did not expect to see a full menu of white, herbal and even crème brulee-flavored teas on top of the usual coffees and Earl Greys. My crème brulee tea smelled and tasted irresistibly of caramel and toffee, which made for a very happy end to the meal indeed.

Excerpt from Adele Wong's New & Noted column.