火土燒肉 (尖沙咀)

Hearth Yakiniku conveys a fun concept of giving their customers a taste of glamping while enjoying Japanese BBQ. The restaurant is adorned with   camping equipment, and instead of using booth seats, some tables have canvas camping chairs pulled up with genuine camping lights over-hanging the BBQ or if you're lucky enough can also reserve one of the tables enclosed inside a camping cabana.Service is quick and friendly and you order off the QR code given to you with your mobile. Menu consists of beef, pork, chicken, organs, seafood, BBQ platters, vegetables, starters, snacks, rice/noodles/soup, dessert and drinks. Cutlery and dishes are already set on the table for us to use, and there is a choice of BBQ sauce or their homemade red wine sauce (highly recommend this) for dipping. We start with a refreshing sip of their signature sea salt pineapple soda, cool and sweet with a sharp tang of salt on the rim. Shortly after our food arrives and we were ready to start BBQing. Each item is presented neatly on a silver dish with a printed label describing what it is. Very photogenic presentation. Ox tongue with scallion. One of my favourite meats, this was soft and luscious.Short rib. Rich with a lovely marbling of fat.Pork belly. Nice meat to fat ratio and melted in the mouth.Thick cut ox tongue. Look at that.. just beautiful.Garlic-butter scallops. Loved the butter and garlic sauce.Oyster blade. Sliced thin shabu shabu style, we ate this with an accompanying truffle and egg sauce which when mixed together was creamy with a lingering truffle flavour.Tiger prawns. Huge in size with firm, springy meat.Garlic-butter clams. The clams were so sweet and fresh, could have eaten several more portions.Chicken heart and gizzard. Springly heart muscle and crunchy gizzard.Thick cut pork belly. This was my favourite of the night. Pork belly from Korea, we grilled it till the fat was burnt so it was all crispy and melt-in-your-mouth. Highly recommend this.And to end. Two scoops of home-made vanilla ice-cream, one dusted in matcha powder, the other in soy-bean powder. The ice-cream was not icy at all, light and creamy with a fragrant aroma of vanilla.Would definitely come again. And one of the best things, we left without smelling like we had been cloaked in BBQ smoke.

大飯糖甜品小食屋 (元朗)

Came here on the recommendation of a taxi driver. He said it was a relatively new place and seemingly popular with the locals. So one evening after dinner in Yuen Long, we decided to give it a try. Took taxi there, is a little hard to find if not familiar with the area.

The place was super busy, but then again it was Sunday night. Quickly seated, we scanned the tables around us trying to get a sense of what to order. They do both traditional (Chinese sweet soups) and more 'modern' (chocolate fondants, soft serve, shaved ice) desserts.

I was in the mood for a good black sesame soup as a lot of what I've had currently at other dessert places have been really rubbish so I picked that while my bf chose the chocolate fondant and durian pancake.

Service was so fast, a few minutes after our order was taken, the desserts were already on the table.

Portion size of sesame soup was huge. Really black in colour which was a good sign that not too much glutinous rice powder had been added. Fragrant and not too sludgy in texture. Good.

Durian pancake turned out to be the typical two fat bundles wrapped in green pancake. The fruit was perfectly ripe and stinky with a good cream ratio.

Chocolate fondant was luke warm as if it had been pre-made, but nevertheless the center spilled out in a chocolate liquid pool. Loved the 3.6 milk soft serve that came with the fondant super creamy with a rich milk flavour. Can also choose chocolate or chocolate swirl soft serve too.Will be back

大廚 (南灣)

The last time I was here, it was to taste a very special gala dinner prepared by Chef Kishida all the way from Tokyo Quintessence. This time, I wanted to appreciate The Kitchen in it's own one star glory. Known for it's selection of beef, just glimpsing the glorious cuts of bovine showcased at the entrance and admiring the different grades of marbling you can choose, meat lovers you know you are in for a treat! Those that are not inclined towards the cow, don't worry as you are catered for with seafood (fresh fish live from the tank) otherwise there is pork, poultry and lamb for your choices.Starting with bread that is made fresh in the open kitchen when you arrive. Two types, a chocolate chip brioche (yes choc chip!) and a gorgeous crusty country loaf. No picture as we were too busy tearing into the fresh bread, but let me tell you it was worth allocating stomach space to, especially when there is mango butter to be spread with it.

For appetisers, Mr. C started with grilled abalones. Stealing a bite, I had a pang of food envy. Perfectly cooked and utterly tender paired with a tasty vegetable salsa, crispy ham and a drizzle of chicken jus.When in Macau, I can't go past the traditional Caldo Verde. A lovely creamy vegetable soup served in a toasted bread bowl with bites of grilled chorizo on the side.We originally wanted to order the bone-in-ribeye to be shared between two, but we lucked out as it was all gone. Instead Mr. C decided to go with a 14oz New York sirloin. Grilled to a medium rare with nice char marks, and his sides of sauteed mushrooms, asparagus and a little cup of tomato egg custard?Since Mr. C ordered steak I decided to choose something different. Fish. Grilled sea bass to exact. They give you a choice of being served a whole fish or if you don't feel like working for your meal, they can also de-bone it for you. I chose the whole fish and it certainly looks intimidating. Some parts were tender, some parts a little chewy, being grilled does take away some of the juices in the flesh and that is where your choice of sauce will come in handy. Lemon butter sauce is recommended for fish and it added a little zest to the dish.Apple tarte tartin and creme brulee for dessert.
Presentation of the tarte tartin was pretty, but the actual tartin did not look like I imagined... I was hoping for a big puff pastry with sticky caramelised braised apple slices, but here it looked like a mass made version. Flavour was decent, hints of cinnamon, but a little disappointing.What makes a creme brulee special is a thick, full bodied creamy custard fragrant with vanilla and coated in a thick caramelised sugar layer that shatters with a satisfying thwack with the back of the spoon. The version served here was a little lackluster, just a thin sugar layer that gave way when a spoon was dipped into it and the custard a little liquidy. Tasted like creme brulee, but it was missing what a few key elements.I will definitely order steak next time and the bone-in-ribeye has our name on it!

尚坊 (路氹城)

As we were staying at the Banyan Tree, it only made sense that one of our meals were allocated to their Thai restaurant Saffron. They had two menus available that evening, a special menu for their hotpot and their normal a la carte menu. Not really in the mood for hotpot that night (now finished), we decided to stick to a la carte.

Amuse Bouche to start, pleasantly surprised they offered this in a Thai restaurant.

Fried rice cracker on top of a prawn cracker with an assortment of dips. Green was a spicy eggplant, red was minced pork and the creamy looking one was made with coconut milk. Tasted like a Chinese version of 'wor bar'.I love grilled pork neck and this version was a little more special. Charred and then placed on a smoker so when you eat the pork the smoky flavour is intensified. The sticky, sour sauce worked in perfect harmony.Green papaya salad. Crunchy strips of julienned carrots and green papaya tossed in a sweet and sour dressing. A little spicy kick in the aftertaste awakes the palate.Tom yum goong. Loved the spicy, sour flavours with a generous serve of four big, fresh prawns. It would have tasted even better if the temperature had been hotter as when it reached us it was already lukewarm.Saffron is open all day for lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and during the morning hotel guests have their buffet breakfast here.

8 (南灣)

A weekend trip to Macau means a morning ferry ride and arriving just on time for lunch~ And where is lunch? Why, The 8 of course

The elegant decor of the restaurant is as always stunning with the glamorous crystal hanging ball and the striking goldfish motif.They have a great selection of dishes from their huge a la carte menu, but today is all about dim sum~

Starting with their amuse bouche

XO fried pork in a crispy nest and an individual baby abalone on a slick of yuzu jelly. Loved the freshness of the jelly paired with the tender abalone.Signature goldfish prawn dumplings. Cute as always and so delicately detailed with their gaping fishy mouths. The skin is nicely chewy with a bouncy textured fresh prawn.Scallop and prawn dumpling wrapped in a spinach tinted skin with a touch of truffle. Very moist with a lingering aftertaste of truffle.These porcupine buns are possibly my favourite item here. A bbq pork and preserved vegetable filling enveloped in a perfectly steamed soft bun with a crunchy pan-fried bottom.These crab shaped pastry puff tarts are also adorable. A fragrant Portuguese curry crab filling paired with the slightly sweet tart shell leaves the tastebuds wanting more.A whole prawn encased in a light batter and fried to a nice crisp. Not too oily and the mayo/sweet hoi sin sauce (although no too pretty) were a nice accompaniment.Deep fried custard mochi. Piping hot with a flowing custard filling, I wasn't expecting it to have a katalfi like exterior, but it added more texture to the dessert.I was looking forward to the usual petit fours of mini Portuguese tarts, but instead it had been replaced with black and white sesame roll. Soft and chewy, they packed a burst of toasted sesame flavour. Not bad, but I still miss their Portuguese tarts...

As always the petit fours are accompanied with their famous milk tea, super strong, super creamy, super sweet.I am already looking forward to my next visit