Arcane is derived from the English word for "arcane", which means private and discreet. Although the restaurant is located in Central, the street of Anlan where it is located does have a rare seclusion in the bustling city, isolating it from the hustle and bustle of the city. As the first restaurant to receive a Michelin star in 2018, the young star bonus gives Arcane the opportunity to show its strength in the city's Western restaurant scene, but due to its hidden location and relatively low seniority, the restaurant is not well-known and popular.
Award-winning chef Shane Osborn, the first Australian chef to receive two Michelin stars at Pied-a-Terre in London, opened his own restaurant, Arcane in Central, Hong Kong, in November 2014. Arcane offers a la carte European cuisine, including an à la carte menu, daily specials and set lunches. The restaurant's seasonally updated menu features a wide selection of fresh ingredients from a variety of countries such as Japan, France and the United Kingdom, creating a stylish combination of creativity and classics.
One of the appetizers of the season is Japanese tomatoes with arugula and pesto, topped with rich olive oil. Tomatoes have a very sweet taste, so they are perfect as an appetizer before a meal. The main dish is the restaurant's signature steak, which is about 5 to 7 medium-rare, and you can see the red color of the inside. The steak is not as tender as expected, the tendons are more chewy, the side dishes are only onion and western vegetable leaves, and the sauce sauce at the bottom of the plate is a little thin, and the standard is average. The final chocolate dessert is a much better one, with a rich blend of chocolate panna cotta, chocolate chips, chestnut butter and chocolate powder, making it a must-try for chocolate lovers.
The small lobby with oak floors and linens creates a fresh, natural atmosphere, and the rooms are spaced at close interlocks for privacy, allowing diners to watch the chefs in action from the open kitchen. In addition to the indoor space, the restaurant has a small terrace. The terrace is designed as an English tropical garden with lush greenery surrounding the dining table, and a kitchen garden with 30 different varieties of herbs, fruits and vegetables that will be used directly in the restaurant's dishes.
Most of the restaurant's lunch customers are business people from Central, so the lunch atmosphere is fast-paced, and diners who want to experience formal Western food can choose to dine at the dinner market. Most of the service staff in the restaurant are young men, and compared to the excellent service of other star restaurants, Arcane's service level is slightly inferior, the ordinary waiters are slow to respond to diners, the basic services such as adding water are not meticulous and in place, and the manager-level service staff are relatively professional, but language is still often a major problem affecting the experience of mainland diners.
