A small dining room seating less than 20 makes up Mirror, a French restaurant in Wan Chai. An open kitchen led by executive chef Jeremy Biasiol overlooks the dining room, allowing the chef and his team to watch over the diners and time his dishes to perfection. Touches such as a curtain of spoons, a collage of mirrors and velvet robin-egg coloured chairs lend the space charm. A small private room at the back is ideal for private dinner parties.

Mirror offers two menus, a tasting menu of executive chef Jeremy Biasiol’s signature dishes, as well as a tasting menu of more seasonal dishes. To get a taste of the chef’s entire repertoire, we order one of each. While on the whole, we enjoyed the meal, we did notice that a number of dishes would have been much enlivened with just a touch more acid. A starter of Hokkaido scallop with corn risotto could have done with more balsamic, a watercress and parsley soup would have been less one-note with a touch of crème fraiche, while a signature main of pigeon with red wine sauce could have benefited with well, more red wine. That is not to say that all the dishes were off: for starters, a slow-cooked egg with a hash brown and bacon sauce will appeal to all breakfast lovers while a main of mackerel confit with tomato concasse and basil is perfect, a light dish with flavours that really pop. We also enjoy the venison, marinated in bravely alcoholic amounts of red wine, offset by a chocolate sauce and a sweet pumpkin and chestnut mash. Most disappointing was a bland dessert of apple and caramel fondant with caramel ice-cream, it is a much better idea to end the meal on a high note with either a cheese platter, or even the petit fours of excellent mini lemon cupcakes.

The all-French wine list at Mirror is not extensive, with three bottles of white, four bottles of red and no wines by the glass available. For those that really care about their wines, it is recommended to just bring in your own wine and pay the corkage of HK$200.

The staff at Mirror is well-trained, attentive to diner’s needs and more than happy to swap or substitute in any dishes from the two menus. They are knowledgeable about the ingredients used and extremely concerned if dishes are not wiped clean.

The signature menu is HK$598 for five courses and HK$698 for six while the seasonal menu is HK$898 for six courses and HK$1,198 for eight courses. Given the generous portion sizes, well-trained staff and general amiable ambience of Mirror, this is not a bad deal at all.