Spoilt by Jeffrey Lebon – Dot Cod Seafood Restaurant

Never in my wildest dream would I have thought my little blog would attract the attention of Executive Chef Jeffrey Lebon from Dot Cod Seafood Restaurant It was by chance we met through Instagram and we have been chatting for a couple of months through email and when I told Jeffrey that I was coming back to Hong Kong, he was very excited and immediately invited me to visit his restaurant Dot Cod in Central.

Jeffrey asked me to bring anyone I wanted, so I invited Win Win to come along with me Poor Mr Bao missed out but I know he would’ve loved the chance to meet Jeffrey as well.

Jeffrey was originally from Boston but has lived and worked in Hong Kong for the past 10 years. He had previously worked for a couple of restaurants in the Soho area for the Staunton Group before moving to Dot Cod and has been the Executive Chef here for 2 years ~

I was a little embarrassed as I walked in and the waitress immediately knew my name and led us to our table, very quickly Jeffrey came out to greet us It didn’t feel awkward, instead it felt like old friends meeting ~

We chatted for a bit before Jeffrey kindly took the menus away from us and said he had organised a whole meal for us and told us not to waste our stomach space on the bread

Bread basket

The bread came with a little set of oil and condiments, I was intrigued by the orange sauce in the middle and tried a little with some lavosh. It was amazing like a seafood sauce with little shredded crab meat or fish meat. If I wasn’t saving room for the dishes to come I think I would’ve had a lot more bread

Tuna Ceviche with parma ham

First dish came which was a tuna ceviche with parma ham Jeffrey didn’t give me the names of his dishes. So I’m just winging it and describing them the best I can. Sorry Jeff if they’re not perfect I really feel so sorry for Mr Bao because he was have absolutely LOVED this dish! The tuna was super fresh which counteracted with the saltiness from the parma ham so well ~

Smoked eel salad with green apple

I think this is the first ‘Wester’ eel dish I have had Most of the time when I eat eel its steamed or in the form of Unagi Don, but this time it was in a salad ~ It was pleasantly light and refreshing with the green apples and the eel was not at all ‘fishy’ as I suspected and may not distinguished it as eel if Jeffrey did not tell us

Foie Gras with rhubarb chutney

I can never spell ‘foie gras’ without looking it up lol guess I’m not suitable to learn French ~ this was such a rich and indulgent dish. Jeffrey was definitely spoiling us with such a thick piece of foie gras, I think it’s the thickest I’ve had Even though the foie gras was very rich, we were able to polish it off with the tartness from the rhubarb chutney ~

Baby lamb with beetroot, lentil with fig

I made a huge mistake when I forgot to tell Jeffrey that Win Win doesn’t eat lamb >_< I totally forgot about it and because Dot Cod is a seafood restaurant I didn’t expect lamb. Thank gosh Jeffrey was very understanding and hehe decided to sit down and eat it with me Win Win’s loss she didn’t get to try this dish! I am not a big lamb eater myself, but this baby lamb from France was very tender and not at all ‘gamey’ and the sweetness from the beetroot complimented it very well. I really enjoyed it and know Mr Bao will be proud of me because I was able to finish the whole plate of lamb by myself

Ocean Trout with baby vegetables and white polenta

Before preparing the last course for us Jeffrey asked if we would like the ‘full’ size or ‘half’ size. We immediately said ‘half’ hahaha there was NO way we could have finished the ‘full’ size I still had to save room for dessert! The last course was an ocean trout with baby vegetables with white polenta. I am new to polenta but I am totally OBSESSED with it! Totally better than potato mash hehe ~ The ocean trout was cooked PERFECTLY! Not overcooked with a pink tinge in the middle. This was definitely my favourite dish

Thank gosh Jeffrey gave us a break between the savoury dishes and dessert It didn’t take me long to recover and I was then READY! We started off with a lighter dessert a Strawberry spider.

Strawberry Spider

Chopped strawberries with vanilla ice-cream and then topped with soda water ~ I have never had a spider with soda water as they were always made with lemonade, there is the risk of it being overly sweet. But with the use of soda water it definitely cut through the sweetness and you could taste the natural flavours of the strawberries and got the sweetness from the ice-cream After awhile I kind of turned this dessert into a drink hehe

I was definitely spoilt by Jeffrey! He actually remembered that I wanted to try his strawberry tart through his Instagram. YAY my wish had been granted

Strawberry frangipani tart

I am SO glad I asked for this strawberry frangipane tart! The sweet case was crumbly, while the frangipane was moist, then topped with fresh strawberries and a sweet jam glaze! Maybe Jeffrey will share his recipe with me???

Super cute how they printed their Dot Cod logo on their chocolates hehe They were hazelnut chocolates with a crunchy base ~

We were treated like VIPs by Jeffrey from start to end! Its the first time I had the experience of an Executive Chef making a special menu for us and cooking everything single dish what an honour! Would like to say a HUGE thank you to Jeffrey for inviting us to Dot Cod and treating us like VIPS! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and in return I would love to now invite you to MELBOURNE I promise we have an amazing food scene AND if you come I’ll be your PERSONAL tour guide!

Dot Cod Seafood Restaurant
Basement, B4, Prince Building, 10 Chater Road, Central
中環遮打道10號太子大廈地庫B4
PH: +852 2810 6988

Daisy and Win Win @Nevertoosweet dined at Dot Cod Seafood Restaurant as guests of Jeffrey Lebon review and opinions are honest and based on personal taste and preferences.