A new taste of culinary artistry – COBO HOUSE returns! Embedded in the history of art and culinary techniques, COBO HOUSE is an art & culinary cultural-hub where innovation and gastronomy combine. The word COBO reflects on a Bohemian lifestyle, one that reinforces an unconventional concept of dining experience where edible art is served and art pieces are showcased for guests to experience and appreciate.
Embracing this relaxed cultural-art lifestyle, COBO HOUSE feels like a world away from the hustle and bustle. Located on the sixth floor of K11 MUSEA in a gallery style surrounding, the restaurant offers 50+ seats with the options for grab & go, dine in and bar service accompanied by the spectacular view of the Victoria Harbour. The launch of COBO HOUSE sees two new Executive Head Chefs – Ray Choi & Devon Hou join hands to create an option of six-course and eight-course unspoken tasting menu that are scheduled to change every 6 weeks. Named “The Knife & Spoon”, the restaurant begins a new chapter every six weeks and each course tells a poetic narrative inspired by the chefs’ world experiences that will awake your senses.
The Homecoming of Chef Ray & Chef Devon
From crossing paths to finding their way back to working together again, Devon and Ray break the history as being appointed the “DUO” Executive Head Chefs among renowned restaurants. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Devon and Ray began their culinary career at a young age. They spent most of their time learning in Michelin-starred restaurants around the world including the Mandarin Grill + Bar, L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Amber, Arbor and Tate Dining Room. Described as the ‘yin’ and ‘yang’, both in personality and in their style of cooking, these promising young chefs complement their strengths and merits in their work as they embark on this new journey. Reaching this new milestone in COBO HOUSE, a new unspoken menu concept is also being introduced, as The Knife & Spoon.
The Knife & Spoon: Chapter Zero – Where it all begins
The unspoken menu named “The Knife & Spoon” journey, divides into 9 different chapters. The Knife and Spoon are two commonly used cutlery that has a completely uncorrelated functionality in nature yet are always placed as partners on the same side of a dining table. This companionship ties closely into the partnership bonding of Chefs Ray and Devon, whom carry opposing personality whilst remarkably matching. As their journey continues, each chapter features an option of six to eight courses tasting menu which focuses on one single ingredient as the star of the story. The misconception of a lot of home-grown ingredients has brought to Chefs Ray and Devon’s attention. Challenging their creativities beyond limitations and expectations, the ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ duo Chef Ray and Chef Devon use their knowledge, techniques and flare of imagination to reinvent these ingredients in different ways through a combination of flavors, textures, taste and presentation. Starting from Chapter One onwards, each tasting menu will be a unique display of the chefs’ excellence, featuring premium, seasonal and handpicked ingredients with passion that showcases maximum creativity in COBO HOUSE, bringing a new taste of artistry culinary and dining concept to the discerning guests.
Kicking off Chapter Zero with a complex appetizer packed with mouthwatering flavors and acidity, is Sea bream, a personal favorite to Chef Ray. Combined with creative input by Chef Devon implemented into this cold dish, the sea bream is marinated in kombu and sake paired with gazpacho consommé, fermented Spanish tomatoes, finger lime and pickled ginger.
The unspoken menu continues with another flavor-intense and explosive dish, Chef Devon picks Japanese Hokkaido Akkeshi oysters as the highlight of the main course in Chapter Zero for its natural sweetness and light in taste. Accompanied with caviar and salmon roe to enrich the fresh flavour from the sea, Devon recommends the dish to be eaten in one bite to experience the full blast of flavours in your mouth!
The Knife & Spoon: Chapter Zero completes with a seasonal Yamanashi white peach and the chefs’ favourite Shiso ice cream and rice puff.
What to expect in The Knife & Spoon: Chapter One
In the next chapter of The Knife & Spoon: Chapter One tells the story of the humble egg, a theme that symbolises an origin of life and beginnings. Chosen for its versatile nature that reflect the DNA of COBO HOUSE, Chefs Ray and Devon will use this key ingredient to prepare an array of inspiring savory and sweets. To bring continuous surprise to customers, the two chefs source different types of eggs from all over the world – America, China, Japan, and Spain to prepare for a world class edible tale in this chapter.
Chefs Devon and Ray use Century egg as the first dish of Chapter One. The chefs wish to breakthrough tradition in providing a novel way to enjoy its distinct taste and texture. The Century egg is paired with the fresh sweetness of Japanese crabmeat and fermented cherry tomatoes to balance the dish. The full course is complete with specially prepared cold-brew ‘Moon White’ (a white tea) to refresh the palate.
Another irresistible dish on the tasting menu is the marinated soy sauce duck egg yolk with Aka Awabi (Abalone) from Japan. Under the concept of environmental protection and no waste, the duo chefs have found a way to use the duck egg albumen to prepare a steamed egg dish. At the same time, they mix the remaining duck egg yolk with kombu to make the Aka Awabi (Abalone) Risotto.
The last dish of Chapter 1 takes you on a memorable lane of mouth-watering flavours. Chef Ray has always been a huge fan of the variety of teas, hence why he suggested designing a tea flavoured dessert to corps with Chef Devon’s idea of making an egg-shaped mousse. This egg-white mousse is infused in Tie Guanyin tea flavour, glazed with a caramelized chocolate topping. The Chefs also used citrus to resemble liquid egg yolk in the presentation.
To maximize the usage of one ingredient, chefs never wanted to waste anything during their process of creating a menu. The egg-white that was left from making soy sauced egg on the previous course is now used as a warm dessert to serve after the main dessert. Reintroducing the very traditional Chinese steam egg sweet soup, the chefs have transformed the dish in using duck egg white, richer in flavours and goes super well with Sichuan crackers and their homemade ginger.
The Knife & Spoon unspoken menu is priced at:
6 Courses Tasting Menu: $1,180HK with 10% service charge
8 Courses Tasting Menu: $1,480HK with 10% service charge