Restaurant review: Crown Super Deluxe’s new seasonal seafood menu from Chef Toru Takano
I’ve wanted to try Crown Super Deluxe since it was announced. Just look at the space.
Maybe we can’t travel right now but restaurants sure can be transporting. How do we want to feel tonight? What kind of crowd do we want to be surrounded by? What do we want to wear? For some, this will be overthinking things. But I think many of us think about more than just the food when we’re booking a restaurant. We’re also after an experience.
So why did I want to try Crown Super Deluxe?
The vibe
Given the calibre of Black Sheep restaurants, I had no doubt this modern take on teppanyaki would be decent. But the restaurant also just looked like so much fun. What other restaurant in town is covered in purple and gold velvet?
Having now tried the restaurant, I can confirm it’s definitely a vibe-y, escapist kind of place. Definitely edgier than I expected. And I think you’ll get a different experience depending on when you go.
I visited for a late lunch on a weekday. There was a slight buzz with groups of two (restrictions) sat around the main teppanyaki table and a few groups in the dessert / whiskey lounge. But it was quite chill and noise levels were manageable. I hear the later end of dinner is when the place really shines if you’re after an electric buzzy atmosphere.
The food
The regular menus prominently feature beef but the purpose of my visit was to sample Chef Toru Takano’s new seasonal seafood menu ($988 per person). At the moment, Hong Kong is able to get an unexpected number of Australian spiny lobsters (given a ban on Australian imports in other places) so this is the star of the show.
Here’s the menu beginning to end.
Mizuna Salad
This was a fairly simple salad but nice and came with a delicious tangy dressing. Maybe I knew I needed to start with some freshness given the rich dishes to come but it was so good that I kept eating this even when the other dishes started to come out.
Toyosu Market Sashimi
During our visit, we were served tuna, amberjack and sweet shrimp. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a plate of good quality sashimi.
Tokushima Fruit Tomato
A beautiful peeled tomato that was sweet but tangy enough to be full-bodied. Some salt flakes were provided on the side though I enjoyed the natural taste of the tomato alone.
Amadai
The amadai dish was served with a wakame and yuzu dashi sauce. It was a nice dish but felt surprisingly homestyle compared with the escapist vibe of the restaurant.
Grilled Seasonal Vegetables
The teppanyaki-grilled vegetables were fab. Both the sweet potatoes and mushrooms were like sophisticated Japanese snacks in that you want to eat ten of them but need to be satisfied enjoying the few, perfectly prepared ones you get. It has to do with the quality of the produce as well, with the sweet potatoes coming from Tokushima and the shiitake coming from Niigata.
Teppan Spiny Lobster
Finally, the main attraction! Lobsters are fished out of a tank near the front of the restaurant and presented to guests before cooking (the heads are taken away to prepare the final course of Lobster Miso Soup). The meat was tender and covered in classic yet absolutely addictive coral butter sauce which was also soaked up by two slices of crispy garlic baguette at the bottom of the dish. While the price of this menu is on the higher side, I think it’s reasonable given the quality of the restaurant overall but especially because it includes this dish. It was such a treat to be presented with a large pile of fresh lobster chunks covered in the decadent sauce. Maybe I wouldn’t go back for the earlier dishes alone, but I certainly would if it was part of the experience with this lobster dish.
Garlic Fried Rice and Lobster Miso Soup
We ate a lot of garlic during this meal but it was of the Aomori variety so lots of flavour with less stink (fairly office appropriate). Both the fried rice and soup were well-prepared and quite classic in taste.
Verdict
Crown Super Deluxe is a solid restaurant with a fun vibe. Chef Toru and team are certainly masters of the grill and there’s a lot to love about what’s being cooked up. Personally I was a bit surprised at the classic recipes - given the vibe, I thought they might be more inventive. That said, I really enjoyed the experience overall and loved the Teppan Spiny Lobster main. Still thinking about it days later - what a treat. Definitely hope to visit the restaurant again and try the Wagyu set menu for dinner.
Mezzanine, LKF Tower, 33 Wyndham St, Central, 2111 8434
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