Felix is the Philip Starck-designed restaurant perched on the top floor of the Peninsula in Tsim Sha Tsui, which boasts outstanding city and harbour views of Hong Kong. Known for its infamous washrooms with French maiden-dressed lavatory attendants, which are a tourist attraction in itself thanks to its unique design and breathtaking views. Felix is a good demonstration of 90s contemporary chic, capturing an era that strived towards modernity seen with its world atlas carpets and the images of long-serving loyal Peninsula staff quilting its signature Philip Starck seats. But while this restaurant was wildly popular in the 90s, without an update in their décor, the design is a little passé.

We kick off our meal with an appetiser of ahi tuna and Kumamoto oyster, soy mayonnaise, cucumber gazpacho and summer vegetable, as it seemed like an unlikely and curious combination of flavours. The presentation, much like the restaurant, is minimalistic, with three cubes of tuna served with a slice of radish, one of which was served in a bed of light foamed gazpacho, encased with vegetables in the foam soup. We follow this with the marinated Tasmanian salmon with frozen cooked organic egg yolk, avocado and arugula salad, mint yogurt sauce. This was one of our favourite dishes of the night as the salmon was light and fresh and perfectly complemented with the ice-cold egg and tart yogurt sauce. Another favourite is the French duck liver terrine with soft poached egg and toasted brioche, served warm with a generous amount of melt-in-mouth terrine. However, the mains do not live up to the expectations set by the starters. A light blue cheese-crusted Tasmanian salmon with citrus veal juice and carrot-celeriac stoemp is beautifully presented but the fresh fish is overwhelmed by imposingly strong cheese. Perhaps as a point of contrast, the carrot-celeriac stoemp is extremely bland. Our other main of roasted American beef tenderloin with braised romaine, artichoke pickles and potatoes arrives slightly over-cooked but surprisingly delicious as it still retained the juice from the meat. We wrap up the evening with mascarpone and strawberry mousse, as well as a caramelised mango and lemon cream sandwich with pistachio ice cream and mango coulis, a great way to cleanse the palate and end the meal on a high note.

A thorough wine list and a generous selection of wines by the glass predominantly from Australia, South Africa and France. While there is surprisingly no sommelier at the restaurant, the wait staff at Felix are impressively well-versed in their wine diction, and we thoroughly enjoyed our Peninsula-brand Sonoma Coast Chardonnay.

In general the serve staff is well-mannered and polite, the only real qualm we had was our inability to flag down a waiter. Although we were positioned in the centre of the main dining room, there were few wait staff manning the floor.

A three-course dinner for two with wine will come to just over HK$2,000. While this is expected of a five-star institution, we found it a little on the high side considering the overall experience.