La Rotisserie in Sheung Wan – roast chicken for all!

UPDATE: La Rotisserie has just opened its second branch in Sai Ying Pun, offering more delicious roast chicken, plus quiches, sandwiches, croque monsieurs and other gourmet treats to takeaway! See our Facebook album of photos of the new store here and get the full address at the bottom of this article.

There is nothing more comforting than a perfectly juicy roast chicken, especially if someone has gone to the trouble of roasting it for you. With a good quality roasted chook, the possibilities are endless – cosy dinner in front of the telly, chicken sandwiches, chicken salad, or even using the bones to make chicken soup… and now La Rotisserie in Sheung Wan has arrived to make this happen, regardless of your roasting skills!

This tiny hole-in-the-wall was set up by three French friends who missed the delicious rotisserie chickens they grew up eating. Thankfully the corn-fed chicken here is shipped over from France too, so you know you’re getting delicious free-range poultry that’s worth the slightly extra cost.

For takeaway only, La Rotisserie offers a quarter ($50), half ($90) or a whole chicken ($150) cooked to golden perfection in the shop’s giant rotisserie oven. There’s also the option of quiche, roast chicken sandwich, chicken Caesar salad, and a variety of sides that change daily. Meanwhile, the lunch set includes a quarter chicken, sides and either soup or an iced tea for a mere $68, packaged and ready to take home, back to the office or, like we did, to a pretty little bench somewhere to have a picnic.

The homemade soup of the day was celery and tomato. Although this is not something I would normally order, it was absolutely delicious and so fresh that it seemed it had been made especially for us.

I often find that the breast is the driest part of the bird, yet La Rotisserie’s chicken breast had not the slightest hint of dryness; it was wonderfully juicy and full of flavour, drizzled in a scrumptious, if slightly oily, jus. Side options included rice, roast potatoes and mixed vegetables – we chose the latter two. The potatoes were perfectly fluffy and deliciously infused with rosemary, while the vegetables were perhaps just a touch too al dente.

Since I like to give you a rounded experience of all the restaurants I visit, I simply had to try one of the desserts – so we shared a chocolate cake with sel de guerande. I loved the chicken, but I absolutely adored this cake. The so-light-it-was-almost-mousse cake sat upon a perfectly crunchy layer of biscuit and was all sprinkled with coarse salt crystals, creating an incredible balance of salt and sweet that begged me to finish every last crumb. Needless to say if you’re sharing this cake, you might want to first clarify the boundaries of what is yours and what is sadly not!

La Rotisserie is the perfect answer to a lazy night in or a delicious (and somewhat nutritious) lunch. The concept is right, the prices are to be expected for Hong Kong, and frankly I don’t see anything stopping me from venturing into Sheung Wan at the very least once a week to get my juicy chicken fix.

Lunch at La Rotisserie is first come first served, but you can order your chicken for the evening by calling a day in advance

La Rotisserie G/F, Manhattan Avenue, 255 Queen’s Road Central, Sheung Wan
2324 1898 www.larotisserie.com.hk

La Rotisserie G/F, 71 Third Street, Sai Ying Pun Western District
2857 0818 www.larotisserie.com.hk

Check out more from Ale on her fab blog, The Dim Sum Diaries!