Kumabeardiary's Profile

It’s been ages since I last shared my foodie adventures, as life has swept me into a whirlwind of commitments. As I navigate to this new stage of life, I find myself reflecting on the remarkable individuals who have shaped my journey. It is time to gather these honoured people around, who ignited sparks in me, for a delightful dinner, a culinary that would fuse with something special. This dinner is really important to me and I had gone through a lot of thinking about it. Traditional Chinese cuisine with a bit of heritage is what I am thinking as the guests are embodied with a rich Chinese culture and experiences. I also aim to discover dishes that might incorporate modern innovations creating the icing on the cake effect for the meal. On top of that, I need to think about creating an intimate atmosphere with privacy and good noise control, making sure everything comes together for a memorable evening.Suddenly, there was a lightbulb revelation – Ming Court.  I am sure everyone knows this when they established within the Langham PlaceI set out to create a menu that reflects my vision, and I had a few weeks to prepare. During one lunch, I took the time to understand the setting and service. I also explored the venue to see if it was a good fit and had discussions with the manager about the menu. Here’s the final menu, showcasing 10 items that truly represent a perfect ten.The menu looks fantastic!! Not many restaurants offer a Chinese calligraphy menu on high-quality paper for the night. It’s a small action but big enhancement to the whole the dining experience. (I later discovered it was printed rather than handwritten, but it is still a nice touch.)The room I selected is quite spacious. In addition to the main table, there's a corner area where guests can mingle. This room can accommodate up to 14 people, and while they mentioned that 16 would work, I feel that might be a bit cramped. The décor in the room is not overwhelming and have a bit of nice Chinese “old money” vibe. The complementary dish features deep-fried lotus root, cashew nuts seasoned with garlic salt and black pepper, and caramelized walnuts with sesame. All of them are incredibly addictive, and I'm glad I took a photo before they disappeared within five minutes.A proper Chinese dinner isn't complete without a good bowl of soup and the first dish is the Double-boiled whole winter melon soup. The winter melon is tender but not overly mushy, and it should be served in large chunks so that each scoop allows you to taste the melon, the soup, and all the other ingredients. The soup is refreshing and subtle sweetness especially paired with the seafood ingredients such as shrimp and crab. But once in a while, you want a richer profile together with the roast duck meat or Chinese ham and palate cleansing with lotus seeds and tuberoses. Second dish is the South African abalone with shiitake mushroom. It has a briny flavour and a nice abalone sweetness. The thickness matches the level of tenderness quite nicely. What I've lost after all these years of not blogging isn't my sense of taste, but rather my ability to capture great photos. Or perhaps it's also time to upgrade my decade-old phone. Today, I brought two bottles of sake, one for the guest and one for the evening. I thought placing one on the table would be obvious, but one of the staff mixed them up. The genshu was meant to be enjoyed, was undiluted version of sake and would have paired perfectly with the flavoured dish I chose for the night, but I only realized this after my first sip. It left a small mark on the evening that I planned for so long. What's done is done, but it wasn't all bad since the one that was opened, originally meant as a gift for the guests, was the one I truly wanted to try. We all enjoy wine, but pairing it with Chinese food often requires at least one white and one red, which can be a bit much for a weekday evening. Sake or Genshu might be a better option, as they can effectively complement both seafood and red meat, areas where many wines may fall short. I chose this Gin no Shizuku primarily because of the pure spring water used in its production, which enhances the essence of Yamada Nishiki rice and its umami richness. The pairing with abalone was already impressively remarkable. The sake complemented the oyster sauce, adding a touch of fruity notes that enhanced the savoury and sweet flavours of the abalone.The next dish may present a challenge for the sake, as the pickled radish and whiskey have relatively strong flavours. Pickled radish is a common ingredient in Guangdong and Fujian, often paired with congee or diced and stir-fried with rice. This dish is one of the highlight that I planned for the evening.  Surprisingly, the sake pairs very well with this dish! With each bite, the sake's richness effectively balances the strong flavours of the cooking style. Between bites, it cleanses the palate, making each mouthful feel refreshing with the lobster. I enjoyed the overall umami richness from the lobster while the picked radish in whiskey did not overwhelm the taste. Next up is the sea cucumber served with rice crisps. My first bite is just the sea cucumber, which is succulent and not overly soaked, maintaining a delightful texture and flavour. The second bite, combined with the rice, is truly mind-blowing. The crispy rice, with varying degrees of crunchiness, creates an exciting interplay with each bite. This dish presents a delightful contrast in textures that many will appreciate. However, the downside is the plate itself. Its textured surface creates a jarring sensation each time the stainless steel fork scrapes against it while scooping the rice. Replacing the plate with one that has less tactile friction would enhance the overall sensory experience. After all, I view this as a sensory dish and scored quite high in the palate sensation. This private room certainly offers a good level of privacy and minimal interruptions, with staff typically entering only to serve the dishes. However, I feel that achieving both privacy and attentive service can be challenging. So either you enjoy a secluded atmosphere, or you risk having staff out of reach unless your timing aligns with when the food is being served.Peking-style duck, but with goose. How creative! There are few fine-dining Chinese restaurants that serve excellent roast goose and this is one of them. A crucial aspect for me is the crispy skin over the shoulder, which many cannot achieve. It is not that they are not good, it is just a challenge not many can do. The second dish offers a variety of styles. Rather than the usual minced meat wrapped in lettuce, I opted for the salt and pepper style. This choice complements the sake beautifully, enhancing its fruity aroma. Additionally, this cooking method makes the goose meat tender, allowing it to fall apart nicely with each bite.The rest of the dish comes together beautifully, featuring pan-seared French codfish, wagyu beef with wasabi soy sauce, and two vegetable sides. The cod, seared with supreme soy sauce, rivals any cooking style, whether Japanese miso or Western. It is evenly caramelized, and the soy sauce enhances its delicate flavour. The sake lacks tannins that clash with the stronger meat flavours, which is why I chose Miyazaki wagyu instead of the USA ones. Its rich marbling makes it tender and less chewy. The silky, rice-like notes of the sake complement the savoury beef, while the wasabi soy sauce adds a kick that the sake smooths out perfectly.Vegetable dishes may not be the main focus of a meal, but they are essential to every dining experience. While a good cooking method might not garner much attention, a poor one can significantly detract from the overall enjoyment. Here, I chose two very different cooking styles from the menu, the Sautéed Chinese lettuce with dried shrimp in sweet bean sauce and another one using bean sprouts prepared in a superior soup with garlic. This variety ensures there's something for everyone, considering the diverse preferences of my guests. The dried shimp is big! Bathed in bean sauce enrich the Chinese lettuce, it is hot and the searing flavour from the clay pot a lot plays an important role. After a salty bite, the lighter superior soup from the other dish balanced it well. A final harmonious dish marks the important dishes for the night.Oh yes, there's still almond cream with egg white and petit fours to finish off the meal. By this point, I believe everyone is quite satisfied, and these treats were packed for us to savor later. (I’m not a big fan for Chinese desserts).Overall, It was still a wonderful evening where we all enjoyed a perfect harmony of food, service, ambiance, and pacing. Each dish presented a vibrant narrative, showcasing not only an array of flavours but also the mastery of traditional cooking techniques. Despite a minor mistake, we were still delighted to savour another superior sake that paired beautifully with the food, enhancing our enjoyment. However, this leaves the pairing with the other Genshu as an unanswered question.  Weeks of thoughtful planning for the menu was nicely executed by the restaurant. It was good to know that all my guests appreciate every artistry behind every plate, making the entire experience memorable.…Read More

Not that it is a recent topic, but Ketogenic diet is surely the most controversial debate for me recently, Having friends with arguments on both side, plus that fact that I have been experiencing myself, not saying that it won't work, but I would say I might slavish more on the non-ketogenic part, well, at least that is why I am here. This decision brought me to my first planned non-ketogenic meal, that would probably partially explained why I was kept so silent among my dinner gang. Mashi no mashi had been reviewed in a couple of media, bunch of bloggers and of course Mr. David Beckham's IG but being living in Wan Chai for most of my life, except the 10 years working in UK, paying a visit to my neighbour seems courteous. As most will know, the partner in crime of mashi no mashi is the wagyumafia and the Boss of the mafia is Mr. Hisato Hamada. You can basically tell when they have that signature move in front of the camera. It is just hilarious when you just try to wave the camera and the signature move is reproduced immediately, well, I would say they are professional mafia at least. There wasn't much choices for the mains, apart from extra toppings that your greedy tummy craving can add on and the struggle among  tsukemen (the noodle), donburi (the rice) and the gyuza ( the dumpling) was no longer a struggle after all these period of ketogenic diet. The Tsukemen came first and I had so many tsukemen before in my life and I am having a tough time coming up with interesting description to describe this but the broth is what I really came for. Using some second cut from the Ozaki beef, the beef essence merged into the broth. It is savoury enough to act as the beef sauce but silk enough, at the same time, to be able to drink alone. Bamboo was also specially treated to get ride of the astringent taste that would normally be there, if exist, that would have conflicted with the wagyu.  Slurp like a boss as suggested, I finish my bowl in no time. With also second cut from Ozaki beef, I do have high expectation on this. The first bite drag me back to the period where I started my ketodiet plan. Back in the days where I was working in one of the UK hospitals, ketogenic diet is a specific treatment for children with intractable epilepsy, where medication was not able to control the disease alone. They need to keep the diet with no carbs, replaced them with high fat and high protein to produce a ketogenic state. Most of the researches that you can find on ncbi, or even other medical research platform mainly focus ketogenic diet with neurological condition with one of the receptor of carbohydrate being the culprit. Over the years, many interesting theory on ketogenic diet has gradually shifted to correlate with weight loosing. Let's not dig into those theory for now. But OK, I tried and it worked. Following a month of strict diet without carbohydrate, I lost 5kg. A process where I had no exercise at all and the results seems promising. Problem starts here, I have a passion in food and this passion doesn't go hand in hand with the ketogenic diet, or at least the food that I like. At the same time, bound by multiple time consuming projects also doesn't serve the opportunity for me to do adequate exercise. If 10 years ago, where I was a member of a sports team, i would have been easy to gloss over this decision. But everybody enjoys their life right? Having said that, I would,  at least, like to to enjoy my life without those cardiovascular risks and this is where I was stuck.How would that bite of gyoza brought me into these memories? It is exactly a "Mashi" situation.  Mashi, in Japanese, basically describe a better off deal between two suboptimal choices, remember, it is SUBoptimal choice - ie, the ketogenic diet and the gyoza. The gyoza wasn't that bad, but at the same time it wasn't good. It might have slight fragrence from the wagyu, but the texture, on palate, was nothing satisfying.  Dipping on their grounded pepper sauce do no better than seeing just a single heart beat on a non-beating heart. Is this what I am looking for after all these ketogenic diet?The donburi twist the Mashi to become "No mashi". The work from Kahneman's work on decision making was right! We only remember the highlights and  I was enjoying my wagyu donburi till the end without a second debate in my head! Some would say it is just a donburi with Ozaki beef, but if you dig deeper, the rice is actually mixed with some beef bits, tasting like a bone marrow that you would normally taste from a T-bone. A scoop together with the beef slice, the special rice and the golden orange onzen egg summons the golden triad that defeats your palate.  Despite the beef being pinkish  medium rare, the beef is certainly more beefy in taste on palate that normally a more well done wagyu would have achieved. May be that is the secret behind the scene. After this meal, it clearly reassure that no ketogenic diet is a better choice, without doubt, for my situation and I proved it with action. Although "Mashi no Mashi" was definitely not named in the that way, or perhaps, Mr. Hisato Hamada has his own story that he can share. After discovering one of the most famous "mafia" in Wan Chai, this is surely not the end of it. This freezer definitely mean something, at least according to the mafia movie I've seen. Could it be just be a freezer where they hide the body? or is it a gold safe? I guess I suddenly earn my second identity as an agent and further investigations deemed warranted.…Read More

I have noticed a phenomenon, that might have been aware by some, that hotpot was not that popular among westerns especially hotpot that is not along the main stream. I am sure for those with some Asian cultures will have a good grasp of what's going on with the hotpot, but how about "congee hotpot"? I first came across the "congee hotpot" a decade ago in China, in particular, Guangzhou and I love it.Instead of using flavoured broth, "congee hotpot", as you might have guessed, is using congee as their base, and to be specific, it should be "riceless congee". Originated from Shunde, this original congee base should be stewed more than 8 hours, where all the rice were blended into the background, getting this slightly thick texture, yet do not have the chewy touch, hence the name - "riceless congee". But for convenience, most restaurant will just stew for the desire colour, leaving the texture unachieved. But a very important point that is not well received I should add, that initially, they should never use proper congee for base, as congee would have been too dull, too bland and too full to enjoy if it were to be used at the beginning, and therefore, it should be "riceless". Having said that, at the end of the hotpot, in order to have some carbohydrates for the meal, they will still add the congee and act as the finale of the meal, but bare in mind that it should wait till the very last. Unlike other types of hotpot where the broth contribute to the final taste, "Riceless congee hotpot" will actually have the ingredient contribute back to the base. It also claimed to have several advantages, such as more healthy compare to other broth which might contain more oil and this method also claimed to enhance the freshness of the original ingredients. But in my opinion, this just make us focus more on the freshness, as the base was suppose to be flavourless, rather than enhance the freshness per se.There are several choices in Hong Kong for this "riceless congee hotpot" and this restaurant is one of them. I am reviewing this one partly because it doesn't have an english name, partly because it doesn't have any english review and more importantly, the flow for this restaurant is quite similar to the one I tried in China, which I believed should be quite traditional. "Wo sum" is the name of this restaurant and they have a fixed dining time from 6 to 8:30pm, 8:30 to 11pm and 11pm till late, make sure u book in advance, or else getting a table through walk-in could be quite tricky, unless dining after 11pm is not a problem for you. Priced at $198 per person, they included seven fixed seafood ingredients, five other ingredients of your own selection and three complementary ingredients for the final bowl of congee. This is the only hurdle that you need to get through, the only thing you need to do it to have five ticks from those boxes and rest of the meal will be quite automatic. You can randomly tick five boxes if you are brave or tick the five boxes with a red mark next to it which means recommended.  There are just too many choices and I am not translating every option here. But for a good grasp, the left column is mainly meat/meat balls, middle column is the dumpling/deep fry stuff/sausage type meat, whereas the last column is mainly vegetables. Not far from the latter option that I recommended, we have only one option that do not have the red mark next to it, which is the U.S. beef slices, the fifth choice from the first column. The seven seafood ingredients will arrive in the following order: Crab, shrimp, abalone, geoduck, two types of clams and fish. They have a suggested cook time schedule for each ingredient mounted on the wall and a timer was also provided for precision timing. This colour is what you should expect from any "congee hotpot" and I would say it is pretty standard. First arrive on table is the crab, the longest cooking time of 10-13 minutes as they suggested, and they come in sizeable piece. Even though the shell has been cracked for your, but if you are not a chopsticks ninja, that means you need to get down to your bare hands to enjoy these. Second seafood course is the shrimp and they will serve with a cover to prevent them from escaping and this can tell you how fresh their ingradients are. Shrimp size is also considered big, and really, this style of hotpot really make you focus more on the seafood freshness, but of course, if you want some sauce of spice, they will also provide the basics. Shrimp will be done in two minutes and before the riceless congee is infused with other seafood flavours, it is best to have the shrimps and crabs finished first. We also asked for a side plates for the shells which was a small slip due to the full house but it was achieved with a gentle reminder.The whole abalone was giant that sized around an adult palm, less chewy than a calamari but much thicker than a scallop. I enjoyed it with a dip of soy sauce and few garlic granules and it was very nice. When eating a shell-bounded abalone, we discussed if we should eat the "liver-like" stuff that attached to it which is usually green in colour. While few of my friends were saying that it is the best part of abalone, I will suggest other friends, who doesn't have strong preference, to keep it out of the way. This just looks like a waste bag, or a rectum if you use human as a simile. Just look too toxic for me and no way I'm putting that in my mouth. For abalone, it took around 5-6 minutes to cook and remember never overcook them, or else you will be tasting the texture like rubber.Coming to our forth course, it is the geoduck and the suggested cooking time is around 30 seconds. It has a thick neck and the body is meaty, lingering sweetness and didn't have the taste of the seashore breeze that might hesitate you from enjoying. Even though the body is chunky, the texture is not hard to tear apart, and each bite is distinct and this is where you can tell the freshness of this geoduck. I actually would recommend to try this geoduck before the abalone in terms of texture dynamics.For the two clamps, you can either follow their instruction of cooking them for 2 minutes or you can just cook till their shells are wide open. I am not too concern about the chewy texture here purely because of its size and you can just throw all of them into the pot and just eat one or two each time as you go along. Fish her is the turbot and it is cut into filet form. I kept my cooking time just slightly below the suggested two and a half minutes to make the meat less firm.The cooked flesh colour is white and texture is sharp, slight hint of ocean on palate and for this, I just briefly swim the filet with soy sauce. The fish didn't have much small bones which is good for newbie.After the seven courses of seafood, it's time for the extra items. Meat slices for hotpot is very versatile and almost a must for me whenever I go for hotpot. Pork and beef slices are listed the third and fifth item on the left column of the order sheet respectively, but I guess I don't need much explanation about these.Next to come is the deep fried beancurd roll, forth item in the middle column, and it is another must for me during hotpot. It must be perfect crispy crackling in order to get a five stars from me. Most of the hotpot outside kept it in humid area for too long and caused the crust to damp and lost that perfect crispiness, and unfortunately, like others, this deep fried beancurd didn't make the cut. It was meant to be perfect crisp and swim in the hotpot for one to two seconds, with five seconds the most, to achieve the "perfect state".Next arriving is the handmade chicken meat ball, the first item on the left column of the ordering sheet. Meat was well processed with some cartilage mixed into the meatballs, creating a good interesting texture and contrast. Not heavily seasoned, this meatball is not bland at all. With all these positives, I highly recommend this as one of the add-ons. The last one before the final congee is the deep fried dough, also known as the "Chinese donut", and it has an interesting story behind this. Back in Sung Dynesty, there was this hypocrites called QinHui and people just hate him for what he did. The citizens then invented this dish, where they fry the dough, as if they were deep frying him and hence they named it "Deep Fry Hui". The process is very similar to the western donut but just savoury in taste and this is also how it earns the name of "Chinese donut". "All of the deep fried dough you see should be in pairs, implying QinHui himself and his wife, and you can see how deep the hatred is. The pairing of this deep fried dough and congee has a long history and it is almost a fix pairing if you order congee in the morning. It is the third item in the middle column you will never regret of ordering it. Finally, it comes to the last step of the hotpot. Diced Yam, diced pumpkin and sweet corn were served where you put all the ingredients together with the congee. All the seafood flavours will infused into the congee and together with the deep fried dough, it just make the perfect ending.  After a full 2 hours hotpot, the starchy soup base doesn't seem to stick to the pot that might reproduce the burnt taste, reflecting a good choice of cookware.  The surroundings doesn't seem to match, but for the food, the freshness of ingredients, at least for seafoods, are also no doubt a touch above standard. In "Wo Sum", you can have a good touch of the traditional flow of "riceless congee hotpot" and this is how it should be.  After the meal, we also agreed that we should come more often and I guess there is no higher compliment to a restaurant than the desire of a customer to return and the awesome Wo Sum has definitely achieved. …Read More

There are only very few places in Hong Kong that gives a relaxed urban retreat from the perpetually crowded place in Tsim Sha Tsui and Vibes is one of them. Vibes is located inside Mira hotel, that is addressed in the middle of the busy Tsim Sha Tsui. Although very assessable to hotel users, others will need to travel through a rather indirect route but it's all pretty quick. The garden view, that some hotel rooms are facing, created a good contrast to the busy streets in Tsim Sha Tsui, the big open space with trees and scrubs, it's just relaxing.It is roofless and will be susceptible to rain and cold weather, but there are plenty of portable patio heaters and outdoor hanging umbrellas if the situation is not that bad. Although the breeze was not week tonight, but it is nothing compare to the UK, where I am from. The offering is basically shisha and cocktails with some bar food like chips/ fries,  salad and burgers etc. Tables were down to knee levels and I always find it hard to have a proper meal here due to the table height. Unless you are very keen for some nibbles, otherwise, I do no like bending forward just for some food. Tonight, I am meeting my IBA (international bartener association) certified friend and therefore, I am sticking with my plan with some cocktails tonight. With some bartending experience in the past, and catching up with a pro, our conversation is purely about cocktails tonight. Interesting menu with four to five winter cocktails, seven Mikey's special and ten breezy tiki cocktails, Vibes do have a good range of interesting signatures. The bar will also  do the classics, i assume, if one wants them to but I guess the trend in Hong Kong is all about signatures now. There are several cocktails that I really like and Negroni is definately one of them. For those who don't drink cocktail, this is the basic you need to know about Negroni, It is a cocktail with equal portion of Gin, Vermouth and Campari. Getting the exact equal amount of volume each time isn't easy as the slightest difference in volume could result a big change in taste. Negroni a well-crafted aperitif, with some bitter, herbal and citrusy component in it. Because it has the a good lingering sweet component, by the vermouth, this also makes a good digestif to me. As I am studying their cocktail menu, I spotted that there are two types of Negroni, one from Mikey's special and one from Mikey's winter cocktails, the Mira Claypot Negroni and Negroni Bianca respectively. With both jackpoting the "Negroni" buzz word, this is definitely what we will be having tonight for round 1.Mira Claypot Negron added a twist on the original classic Negroni with few additional ingredients.  On top of the bitter from Campari, which contributed mainly to the sense, I also realise some texture match, something like tannin. Sweetness is definately more pronounce than normal Negroni, with hint of toasted stalks and burnt vanilla or cameral. Interesting complexity compare to classic Negroni, but at the same time, suppressed the herbal flavours that I liked from the classic ones. Mikey's winter special's Negroni Bianca too are imprinted with their own twist with Bianco Vermouth instead of Rosso Vermouth, giving a refreshingly bright appeal. The most important ingradient, Campari, is also substituted with an italian Aperol, which has a relative less bitter profile. Not a bad choice as the bianco and Aperol match with the garnished orange skin well that added a bit of citrusy as well. Ordering two cocktails from a bar is definitely my minimum if I am in mood and you can tell, the settings for tonight just basically tells me that I'm ordering more. So second round it is. I always like something more in terms of taste and texture. If you want something more powerful than Negroni, there isn't much choice, but vibes does. Darky chocotini is the one i'm ordering. Sometimes, it is just so much more fun to let the bartender decide your drink for you as well and my friend is doing this. For special drinks, bartender / waiter are ought to describe the cocktail, or may be at least let us know the name. Something Mikey's Speical I heard and he just turned away from us as if we were contagious.My chocotini was really nice, a good degree of vanila, chocolate and hazelnet taste, not too thick yet having a good texture. It is creamy and smooth and felt like I am having a chocolate dessert! In that moment, I just closed my eyes and imaging that i'm pairing with a vanilla ice cream that is smooth with many vanilla seeds. The enjoying moments were fantastic, and i'm still enjoying with my eyes closed.  But the moment I opened up my eyes, I just laughed out loud! My friend's holding his Mikey's speical with a pronounced face distortion.Wow, this special just had every WOW factors, but in a very bad way! This cocktail served had the worst balance between sweet, sour, fruit and alcohol, and it is also garnished with the most sour strawberry that I have ever had. The cocktail was some what a green apple syrup cocktail and tasted very artificial. It just trigger your childhood memory of having those cough meds as a kid that they tried too hard on adding flavours, but failed in every way! This is exactly the taste! Cannot taste any spirit existence that could have been resulted by diluted vodka, which suppose to be tasteless. I also tried to taste in deeper detail but it is just too bad to continue especially after a very well done chocotini. I was recently reading some work from a famous psychologist, Daniel Kahneman, a guy who also won a Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002. He is famous for his psychological  decision making and suggested that the ending surprise is the determining factor to decide whether one is good or not.  To be fair, if I didn't try the Mikey's special, I would have easily given a smile to drinks with this quality, the special just ruined it. However, to enjoy a good drink in a secret garden like this, especially in the middle of a busy city like Tsim Sha Tsui is just so rare. It is worth going back to vibes for this reason alone. There are many important considerations as well, but the consistently good is one of the major points that I am looking for here in Vibes. Lack of service with non-eager attitute also contributed to "just ok" for overall experience. …Read More

I guess once in a while, we all have this craving for peking duck. The market visualised our needs and F&B groups such as super star group and maxim group gradually promote their "specialised peking duck" line and the feedback is very positive.  Unlike most of my review, we did not book a table this time and we did not study their menu in advance.Actually a very interesting name using "forbidden", rather than saying "we should not order, it is forbidden", I guess it is more a cliche of the "Forbidden City" in Beijing to reflect it is a Beijing style restaurant.  We were welcomed by this cute little duck in front of the restaurant and I think it is a very smart move! We see many young ladies queuing for a selfie and this is such a good marketing technique! This statue of approximately 1.8m tall is stunning when you stand beside it. As I always say, the settings of the restaurant set what the restaurant could become and I like this restaurant's attitude. They're not aiming for any high class glassware or dish-ware, neither for the choice of tables, tea pots and menu cover. The design of the cup behind Forbidden Duck have, recognised for some, that this is an innovative concept, a touch of austerity driven for a traditional Beijing restaurant.On this menu, two dishes caught our attention, the slow roasted whole duck and the french style second course add on. Unfortunately, the slow roasted whole duck is a limited special and we were just too late to enjoy. They were also not doing the french style either due to some import restriction of foir gras from France.  First to try is their Duck Tongue and Jelly Fish with Demon Sichuan Green Sauce. "Demon Sichuan green sauce"? Are they trying to be casual or wait, is it implying the person behind called himself "demon"? Because there isn't many people call themselves demon and the surprise comes! It is, indeed, opened by the three Michelin star chef Alvin Leung, a.k.a Chef Demon! A WOW factor here for me and kind of make more sense to me with the slow cook method now.This starter with the duck tongue was not bad, the duck tongue was relatively tender and the jelly fish was fresh with a good texture. Taste of refreshens and hint of spicy and hint of pungent saffron streaks. Saffron here also added a bit of vibrant to the dish with a good contrast overall. However, these type of starters are standard and the demon sauce was not able to strive one more star to it. Next to come is the peking duck. my all time favourite for Chinese cuisine. The duck is sliced into many pieces, some with just skin, some with just meat and some with both of them. Together with the duck is the wrap, ingredient slices and sauce. There was really no best way for wrapping the duck, and adding those ingredient slices are really up to your own preferences. In my opinion, the duck sauce and the leek is a must since it enhance the essence of the duck and goes pretty well with it. Other ingredients were also claimed to enhance the taste, but I would say in a lesser extend compare to the leek.The skin was hot and crispy, meat was also tender with a good amount of duck flavours. The subcutaneous fat between the skin and the meat was also adequate, providing a good essence, yet not too fatty in texture.When you come to a restaurant that specialised in duck, you really want to get the most out of it. People usually ordered the "second course add on", basically stir-fried minced duck meat, and Forbidden Duck has taken this to the next level. Besides the original taste, they also provide the Portuguese style, French style, Korean style and the Mongolian style,  French style was out of the list due to the previous reason and we choose the Portuguese style and the Mongolian style. The Portuguese style is basically the minced meat mixed with the "Portuguese sauce". From my knowledge, the portuguese sauce should be from Macau rather than Portuguese and this would easily set a trap for customers to step on. The turmeric flavour was not pungent enough because we are tasting as a sauce here rather than its usual broth form, and the stir-fried duck also has a strong flavour which needed to be balanced. On the other hand, the Mongolian style used cumin during the stir-fried process and I would say this is a better option. The herbaceous pungent flavour from the cumin matched with the duck and has a synergetic effect that I never thought of! Earthy tone and the savory taste is well balanced by the lettuce wrap and overall a very satisfying dish. This night's was accompanied by their wheat tea, a toasty tea with ricey flavour but not too heavy such as other black tea. Managers also managed to send us regards about the food, a small little action that I always look for in restaurants that has great effect and Forbidden Duck has done it.  The taste for tonight definitely do not have the WOW factor, but come on, who would need a WOW factor for peking duck? Because peking duck is already a WOW factor in our lives! It is our soft spot ! There is also some magic in the cooking as well where mundane food was not so mundane in taste. We were very full but at the same time want to try their sweets, after a long pause, I guess this would be our next visit in Forbidden Duck together with the slow roasted duck and the French style add on. We enjoyed the night at Forbidden Duck and I am very pleasured to see Chef Demon was not creating another Monster slavishing along the three Michelin star line. But perhaps, Chef Demon might be sharing similar view as me, that Michelin guide was erratic and there is no point playing their game where it only correlates with money especially in Causeway Bay, the most expensive rent in Asia.…Read More

"What exactly is there inside the California tower" and I would say it's a fair enough question, labelling is "Proudly home to the city's finest restaurant", although I am sure that JinJuu should be excluded on the list, I guess I should not stereotype the whole tower based on only one restaurant. But in terms of restaurant, what else is exactly there? This time, it is the Mercato on the eighth floor. Mercato, the Italian word for market, makes things a little clearer for what type of cuisine we are trying today. Also, the restaurant did not choose a glamorous or exotic names for it and gave a feeling it is a casual Italian restaurant. Direct facing the Mercato bar when you get off the lift, my first thought was just wondering if there are any Italian cocktails. Interesting red brick wall with a three way open bar near the entrance and open kitchen on the other end. Today is actually 14th March, also the "white valentine" and it is also the restaurant week and we are trying the three course Dining City Menu. The next surprise is actually the person behind this restaurant, "Mercato by Jean-Georges" the menu wrote. Jean-Georges? The three Michelin star chef Jean-Georges ? Apparently It is!!  This just make the night more interesting since JG really has a long history in Hong Kong.For the 3 course menu, each of us will receive a complementary signature Prosecco infusion. So Mercato does serve Italian Cocktail!, Well, technically not "Italian cocktail", but using Italian Prosecco infuse with difference flavours and we choose one lychee raspberry and one passion fruit for it. Prosecco as an infusion is actually very versitile, basically you can add any fruit flavours and can become one of the signatures. Prosecco and fruit infusion, by definition, is not a cocktail, and Mercato knows it very well too. Therefore, it is not under the cocktail section and avoid picky people like me pointing out these potential minor mistakes. Prosecco is an off-dry sparkling, or even described as demi-sweet or sweet depends on the producer. Due to this characteristics, the infusion will usually be well-liked by female customers. This Prosecco has a good amount of acidity from both the sparkling and fruit making it not a bad apertif to start off the night. Getting rid of traditional oil and vinegar, the complementary bread was dished with just olive oil and sea salt. At this point, I felt like table space is actually a problem. Don't get me wrong, this table is already bigger than most other restaurants, with visual approximation of 70cm x 70cm. However, the table is actually slightly too busy with glasses, candles, decorations, sea salts container and  olive oil plates etc. The table liner actually further set the limit of the shared space. The staff assumed that we shared the dishes, or may be our gesture hinted, but this shared space was on the edge taking account that we have two glasses of water and two glasses of Prosecco infusion. For starters, we choose the Burrata cheese and Char grilled octopus. Burrata cheese is basically mozzarella cheese that is more buttery, in fact, translating into english, "burrata" literally means "buttered". It is more a creamy version, more silky and milky compare to normal mozzarella.  The beauty of it is when burrata is sliced open, like an egg yolk, the essence and aroma spreads. Might not be the best picture that I can capture, but you get the idea. For starters, burrata is always better than mozzarella in terms of its ability to spread on bread, in terms of aromas and in terms of milky and creamy flavour as well. However, if you were to melt the cheese for like pizza for example, mozzarella would be better option as melted burrata just lost its signature texture and flavour, and more importantly, would be cheaper as well.  My requirement for starters are low, as long as it can increase your appetite, it is a good appetiser. A good degree of acidity like balsamic sauce or salad dressing would be good enough and for here, it is the lemon jam.  This lemon jam is tangy and zesty, a bit of lemon fragments that is not too sour, but providing a good degree of acidity and well balanced with a good lingering fragrance that is beyond my taste bud. Good combination with the creamy and silky burrata and of course, some heavy carbohydrate chain to fulfil and at the same time suppressing your hunger desire. For next starter, we choose the char grilled octopus and it was a great success and the key is that the octopus flavours was delivered up by both green olive and funnel, a good punch of caper with a good base of garlic that is not too overwhelming, nor too shy to hide themselves among the crowd. Have you ever tried a fully cooked octopus that is not chewy? well, I found one here and it was good.For the mains, we enjoyed the porcini crusted salmon more with a hint of JG influence.  For the other main, Veal milanese  was slightly over cooked and slightly dried out inside making this slightly disappointing compare to other fabulous dishes. Topped with parmesan cheese, I barely taste any of them purely due to the fact that the veal is too chewy, where I focus too much energy on using my masseters dealing with it. Credit where credit's due, the salmon was excellent.  The warm leek vinaigrette and herbs really does link to JG's work in terms of using herbs and vegetable juice as one of the important ingredients in his dishes. Like slicing butter with hot knifes, the salmon has zero resistance to any cut.  Even it looks like a well done salmon, the texture is somewhat you cannot imagine. Believing using the slow cook method, the salmon melted on your tongue with good vinaigrette and herbal flavour, of course with a background of porcini taste.  Surprise on taste and surprise on texture and this reminded me so much of a dish that I tried in Connaught hotel, of course which it is also under JG. After trying more desserts at different restaurants, the dessert tonight didn't work for me very well. The tiramisu, with their own twist, using a whipped version foam instead of mascarpone cheese, lost its signature. The foam was a bit too sugary, too much air intergraded making the texture too thin. The flavour, on first bite, retained the "tiramisu" impression, but the base was too hard to fully enjoy. Although the texture dynamics was increased, but in a way that they were too separated to enjoy. The passion fruit chocolate tart is more or less the same. The chocolate seemed texturally gummy, bit not the gooey texture that I am looking for. Trying to mimic the synergetic effect of orange and chocolate combination, this one, I would say, just lost the war.  If they were served seperately, this might have enhanced the game, but sitting next to the sweet chocolate, the sauce was just too sour in comparison. Chocolate tart has strong chocolate intensity and the sesame tuile was greatly enjoyed. Dessert, still, is not at its best and if taking this factor out, I would say I super enjoyed the meal. The restaurant offers a good variety of interesting italian dishes, same as the wine list. Mercato seems to deliver Jean-Georges spirit through some dishes, and they deliver on the promise. Even though some of the dishes was a disappointment but this restaurant defo exhibit some JG vibes. Nougtine and Mercer kitchen might have the star, but I don't think that this make Mercato a poor connection. Mercato provides a very fairly priced compare with other restaurant of the same ilk.  For those who wants to try the shadow of JG, the mains at Mercato will offer with promise for sure. For missing his version of "light as air" pizza and the mercato bar, these will be my goals on my next visit. …Read More

I was so engaged to projects and works and barely have time to see friends or even have a proper meal. A pop-up idea of meeting friends for a catch up in mist of my busy work and searching restaurants is definitely one of our challenges despite the fact that we all love to eat, or perhaps, doing a full restaurant research with limited time is the culprit. For a catch up dinner, i think music, a place to drink and a place to eat is the minimum, which is 3 ticks for soul and here we are. I love reading psychology and recently I was reading Daniel Kahneman's work, a guy who won a Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002. Well, he is actually a psychologist and famous for his view on decision making. Why is it related to this restaurant, but it is obvious because i rated it "soul" bad.Location was great, it is located at the 9th floor of 9 Knutsford Terrace. It was a huge contrast compare to the busy bar down along the Knutsford Terrace or may be because the live band was not there. A very cozy area with a bar on the left and dining area on the right. It was around weekend and dinner hour, it just lack of buoyant and buzz to the room, after all, we were the only customer there. Doesn't need much time for the menu as we studied the menu in detail before we arrive and three drinks it is. 2 craft beer and a classic cocktail. Yes, I am the one who ordered the cocktail - Negroni. Recently my feeling towards cocktail is back and my latest favourite is Negroni, but this disappointed me immediately. You can actually taste abit of each ingredient individually but not as a whole. It is not well mixed and the Campari is off. Although I have OCD on which cocktail to which glass, especially to wine, but I accepted this glassware as alternative to the proper rock glass. Lack of attack, where it should normally be if it were the classic Negroni and the gin just overided the whole glass. Even Negroni seems to be easy to make with a 1:1:1 ratio of all the ingredients, A careless measurement definitely will ruined the whole taste. The other down point for this is that the ice are too broken and diluted the drink during the mixing process. Garnish, however, was good with good oil mist flavour into the glass. But one thing I appreciated is that the orange peel garnish is well prepared, removing the white layer lying just immediately below the skin, which would have offered an undesirable bitter taste to the drink. First out for the table to share is the gillette shrimp, gillette being the direct translation word for "deep fried" in chinese I guess. Size is a problem here, unless there is a WOW factor, and this failed to deliver the apertif message to customers. The garlic sauce was mundane and the shrimp was just warm when served. Tasteless shrimp with lack of sweetness and I will put my bet that it is a frozen pre-made one.Next on table to share is the cheese nachos. Wait a minute, Doritos for $88? what are we paying here? The cheap squared cheese or the dried parsley? Or we are paying the fact that this is not the smallest package available in the market? At least give some good quality tortila with a higher grain ratio, using shredded cheddar or atleast some fresh granted parsley. Would have been rated for nil star if there's this option.  It hasn't been a great start, but always a good ending peak could compensate the lost.Mummy chicken wings is next, too dry, too hard and too much garlic granules. I just didn't finish it. We started discussing through the meal about the generous portion and how this could have been better. We had discussed possibilities of achieving the WOW factor, like by shortening the deep fried time to make it more tender, add a bit of glazed mapel syrup sauce that added abit of after taste lingering or even de-bone the wings and stuff it with minced pork with cheese and corns. The taste reminds me nothing about "mummy". Bad name and bad taste. Garlic parma ham pasta, the "always there" dish in customer's review and  I do have high expectations.  The aromas was wonderful on first breath, and became de ja vu on the second sniff. This is then, where I realised that every dish was either paired with a garlic sauce or cooked with garlic . The dish was not too well balanced with overwhelming salt on palate, garlic oil was not bold enough to display the character. Ham was standard, good call to use a very young aged ham rather than, for example, a 36 months aged ham as this would definitely, override the dish. Portion was definitely an issue here, and it is anther issue on top of the poor cooking technique. Beef was stale without any honey flavour, balsamic salad on green with this beef was a bad choice. The word "Homemade" usually try to set a unique position in the market and direct correlate with "secret" recipe or "special" taste, which I taste none here. The "homemade" mashed potato was hard, not creamy and not smooth. The only association with "homemade" to me in this restaurant is just poor quality, a taste that they cannot buy outside, and therefore try it with their own.  One of the poorly cooked ribs with poor entremet pairing. At this point, our main purpose of catching up gradually shifted from our works to commenting on food quality. I then think about Kahneman's work on decision making. Let's put the poor quality food aside and start with and interesting story.  Let's say there is a restaurant competition to rate the best menu. To make it simple, lets say 2 restaurants only - A and B, and each menu is marked out of 10. Restaurant A scores the 5 rounds of 8,8,8,8,4 while restaurant B scores 5,7,4,8,10. Clearly restaurant A has scored 36 (average of 7.2), while B scored 33(average of 6.6). Restaurant A wins and got the title of the best menu in Hong Kong.  This winning menu continues to be available to public. Let's say other things being equal, and which menu is the most successful over next 6 months? The answer is actually restaurant B's menu. Kahneman suggested that we, as a person, has two self. Experience self, that do not have a voice, and remembering self, which is sometimes wrong, but it is the one that make the decision and keep the score. Most of the remember self only highlight the best and worst experience and this is what lead us to make a decision weather this is good or not other mundane dish just blend into the background. Soul's dish has been quite bad starting with a suboptimal cocktail and each dish is just getting worse and worse, but the worst is yet to come. The mini burger that come last was really last rated. This is truly the signature dish, but in the worst way. The pork has a strong astringent taste, which is really bad. Tomato was unripe and the lettuce has strong metallic taste, not to mention that it should have been called a nano burger. You can totally tell the size when compare the burger patties with the slice of tomato and it is not even half the diameter.At soul, you constantly get the feeling that everything is "homemade" and the quality it definitely not up to standard. Service throughout was at best too casual, too passive and too inattentive. Most of the time we felt ignored even we were the only customers there. We felt like we were unwanted visitors who just somehow passed by for quick meal before doing something more important.If the food and service had been better, this could work well as a good hide out from the busy Knutsford Terrace with a good live music potential,  but with the dreadful service and awful food, I feel that this restaurant totally lost the war. After reading Kahneman's work, the decision was clear, in terms of both experience and memory, this restaurant surely receive the lowest possible score from me for food, service and cost. Without better improvement for these aspects, this will just give themselves the final nail to the coffin.…Read More

"Bao bei" is perhaps the sweetest name that you can call  your beloved ones, no matter they are your wife, girlfriend or your daughter. Today I'm bringing my bao bei to Bao Bei. I am a person that loves planning, especially for meal plans, and of course, as usual, I asked for their menu to see if I would like to have a tweak. Today we are trying their valentine's day menul and I am very satisfied with it especially the difference for starters "for him" and "for her".After a long staircase down, turn left before the bar area, that's the main dining hall. Three big female portraits, fashionable and eye catching.I booked the table around 2 weeks before valentine's day and I was still given a big round table. The slightly dimmed settings added a bit of romantic element for the night. Table settings was simple, chopsticks, fork and knife and you can tell it is a fusion restaurant, at least with some shadow of Chinese cuisine. Before everything is served, the little act of instant photo, capturing the sweet moment, is also well thought. A complimentary glass of sparkling wine for both of us. It was brut with clean freshness. It also a bit of mild citrusy and a bit of hinted toast with a wrapped character of expression, good amount of bubbles and crisp of finishing that reminds me of one sparkling that I had in Italy. Not a bad choice for the start of the night. It would be better if the flute glass were slightly taller. The starter "for him" was a beer battered tiger prawn, while the starter "for her" was  a hand-pulled chicken salad.  The batter wonton strips  was paired with a sweet sauce, although a hint of acidity, but the palate was in good harmony and does really increase your appetite. Although I cannot taste any hint of beer that you would normally do for example from the "beer battered onion rings", but It was crisp,  the prawn was fresh and quantity was about right.  It is a very satisfied palate experience with different texture. Overall, it does make you waters your mouth and I think it is a good appetiser. Her starter was a hand-pulled chicken salad paired with sesame dressing with a hint of wasabi sauce. The acidity really is the key for starter and I like them both. The brut sparkling  do match with both starters, but if I were to choose one one, it would be the beer battered tiger prawn.With a beetroot barley soup included in the menu, this infusion menu is getting more interesting. Soup was smooth and creamy. Although I am not a great fan for barley, but I finished the last bit of it and the essence of barley is really the key of the soup. Mains arrived with an interesting appearance, not least the contrast from the egg rice bun and it may took a bit of imagination for this. Slighlty difficult to handle, especilly with the oily rice cake bun and the runny egg yolk. It can be a bit messy if it is not carefully handled. Pork was very tender, juicy and the runny egg yolk added the WOW factor to the palate in terms of taste and texture. The urge for pairing woke up after the first bit of this dilicious homemade cha siu bun and I ordered the special valentine's day cocktail - Cupid's potion, a combination of vodka, godiva liquor, osmanthus honey and cream, garnished  with a rose pedal. First, the looking was perfect, eye catchy with romance element and the cocktail was rich, creamy, sweet with interesting herbal taste. The interesting herbal taste is getting stronger and stronger as you drink and it is the star anise that they put along with the cocktail and I actually do not like it. Partly because it is too thick in texture to paired with the greasy burger, and partly due to the fact that the star anise doesn't match any part of the drink. I do not mind the taste of star anise, but it might go better with gin or vermouth or even campari for example. The star anise was a bit too much and a bit too unnecessary. There is also some orange skin stripes within the cocktail, but again, i don't think it match well with the drink nor the food. Bad decision here.They cook the salmon filet in parchment paper and for a wild guess, is it a fusion of Chinese with Italy or Spain? If the chief complaint for not cooking a fish well in a restaurant, it must be the skin that is not cooked properly. It is not a concern here with a good pink middle that retained the tenderness. Butter sauce and lemon grass sauce is also very concentrated. Dessert is an impression style offering 2 heart shaped mango moose with fresh berries and chocolate decorations.  Although lack of mango tang, but the overall texture was firm and not bad as a finale. It is always something missing if the dishes were not paired and for this meal, I would say, is half satisfied purely because it is not fully paired up. Having said,  baobei really brings you a good vision of their fusion food but most importantly, my "baobei" is satisfied, hence, I am also satisfied. Not a bad cost-ratio for the night with only $598 per couple for the set menu. …Read More

It was 4pm and I was replying a message,  a sudden eerie aura that tells you that you missed something, not something that might cause you to lose your job, but at least it is something that will nag you inside your brain. Oh! I really yelled it out loud in the room. I missed the Gout de France 2017, a event that aims to spread the spread French Cuisine around the world. Well, I guess that is not the only day that you can try a French Cuisine, so I searched. I was searching for new restaurant through Openrice, but I realised that most of them don't even have menu or food photo and this really stopped me from choosing those. Petit Paris was definitely not the top search and I was going through several pages before I can see this name, but the Onion soup and Confit de Canard caught my attention, they looked nice, reasonable-ish price and I can almost imagine the taste, so Petit Paris it is.Definitely not the most convenient location but the atmosphere was not bad.This restaurant has its own style, checkered black and white floor tiles, woodened wall and train like rack, together with those vintage paris photos and posters, kind of have a retro feel bring you back to the 90s. Table wasn't spacious but suited the theme and the mirrored wall defo opened up your visual space.I was browsing this restaurant's menu earlier through Openrice and it was pretty accurate. Wine list weren't extended but matched with all the food the restaurant provided. Price of the wine per glass were also approachable ranging from $70 - $90.This restaurant dropped the "sparkling or still" act and their "tap water" has a hint of lemon. Since I studied their menu, it didn't take long to decide what to eat. I also added a glass of Riesling from Germany which only cost $78 for a glass.Bread basket was nice! It was hot, it was bready and it was yeasty. From the photo, you can also see the table size and setting as mentioned. First to arrive is the website's 5 star recommendation - the onion soup. This onion soup was gratinated and the cheese was nicely melted and browned. After removing the crust, you can see the french toast sitting on top of the soup. The caramelised onions weren't too strong and the soup wasn't overwhelmed by onions as well and indeed, a 5 star onion soup. I liked this bite size appetizer next, the foir gras with mini bun. Foir gras was generously seasoned with salt and pepper, a rather interesting marination, was seared to perfection and seated on top of the bun and sided with red wine braised apple with apricot sauce. Most of the time, I tried foir gras with balsamic sauce, but the apricot alternative was also eye opening. You can either consume it like a mini burger or enjoy each ingredient individually. Foir gras was succulent, the moment i slice it, the goose oil oozed the bun beneath and the aromas float to your nostril. However, the red wine braised apple were too citrusy. The Riesling also arrived just on time and the typical sweetness and green matched with this dish super well. An interesting point here is that I paralleled my cutlery to signal that I finished the dish, the waiter just collect the dish and placed my used cutlery back on the table for the next dish.I liked every duck dish in a French cusine and Confit de canard is one of my favourite.  This juicy duck leg was resting on top of potato slice which was well seasoned with rosemary. The skin was crisp and the meat was soft enough that you can "pulled" the duck meat, but I'd rather like the duck to be poached for longer so that the meat can be more tender and the duck oil can be more intensive. Overall a very enjoyable dish and I really liked the touch of rosemary. The final course was grilled iberico pork and staff suggested for medium well. Busy looking dish with colourful presentation. Pumkin puree, zucchini, tomato and pineapple, interesting combination and even, some degree of exotic sensation.  Cutting in the middle, I would say the "medium well" was well controlled.But as an Iberico, the meat was not as tender as I thought and the juiciness was also suboptimal. Normally, I would say a dijon mustard would match well, but may be the sweetness from the potato, sweetness from the pumpkin or the sweetness from the pineapple, they just didn't match. Taste of pumpkin puree was nice but it wasn't that "puree" and had many fibre that you can chew.Overall a decent restaurant, the food, the service and the manner was nice. It was a full house tonight and none of them cracked under pressure and definitely didn't have the "new" restaurant feel. All their staff know what they were doing and can manage well in any acute situation. Only interesting point left is the presence of the Iberico pork in the menu and the taste wasn't that French, but perhaps, it was really a train from Paris to Spain.pine cone shaped candle holderInterior settings facing Elgin street…Read More

I still remember back in UK, I was reading an article about Hong Kong is a hot spot for French and the first question I asked at that time was "where are they?" and today, I have the answer.When we talk about French cuisine, most will associate immediately with confit, foie gras, wine and cheese, although we know crepes or galettes are French, but the brain process will never let this be the top search. We were referred by one of the French teacher, who indeed is a French, and said that this restaurant produce one of the most authentic galettes in Hong Kong and we love this place. Every time we pass Foo Ming Street, we could smell the intense buttery bakery and we never thought there is a French restaurant hidden within the building bushes. Hiding is a good word because beside the savory aromas, you hardly notice its existence.Wait, this is Hong Kong right? because this tiny, narrow tunnel, together with the use of brick, with reachable roof-top gave a lot of "French feel" to me.  The floor is simple and the decorations are also simple and it is that minimalist together contributed to the conclusion. If you were to ask a British, crepes and breton galettes basically mean pancake . Other said galettes are for savory and crepes are for sweets but that wasn't my understanding. I first encounter crepes and galettes when I was attending a health lecture about coeliac and the major difference between them is the presence of gluten. One might question that why would they talk about crepes when I was attending a health lecture and this need to go through some basics. Coeliac is basically a disease when people is hypersensitive to gluten, just like someone is allergic to pollen, but they are allergic to gluten. Ingestion of gluten will cause tummy symptoms and therefore, those people who is diagnosed with coeliac will need to have a strict gluten-free diet for life to prevent the flare. Galettes use buckwheat, a gluten-free grain, and crepes use normal flour, which contain gluten is therefore the main difference between them. Having said that, some galettes might mix a bit of wheat flour and if you are truly having coeliac, be sure to ask. Besides the gluten, galettes also has a lower sugar contents, darker in colour and different in texture and this is mainly due to the use of buckwheat. I need to try both and I planned my course.A great dish to start with is the La Terre-neuve, which is a galettes with smoke salmon, egg and spinach. Well boiled spinach and dissolve the spinach juice over the salmon, egg and cheese. Outer sides of the galettes are crisp and the center is mount by the cheese and egg. The galettes are delicate, yet not fragile and overall is very juicy.One have to try is their apple cider, a French apple wine in a sparkling bottle. The refreshing note with a finishing of good acidity on top of lingering ripe and toast apple is just delicious. Quite different from the UK apple cider which mainly lack of nutty and acidity tone. This apple cider can choose from sweet, dry or rose and I choose the sweet one and it goes well will all the galette I ordered.Doesn't sound like a traditional French galettes but it just sounds amazing! The combo of Japanese eel with foie gras is another kryptonite to me. The honey flavour from the foie gras and the teriyaki sweetness from the eel is such a great marriage. The galette sheet at the bottom balanced out the oily essence that leak from savory ingredients. This dish work best with the sweet apple cider as it synergistically enhancing all flavours and balanced well with the acidic tone. Boneless eel, chutney onions and the sesame, the choice of each ingredient has its own duty and I really like this dish.Next is the chef's recommendation - La Toulouse. Main ingredients include the smoked sausage, cheese, onions and french mustard. Sausage with mustard was one of my favourite when I was in Europe and it is not a simple Dijon mustard, it is the Moutarde de Meaux mustard. Robust coarse mustard seed with vigorous caramelized onions produce a good pairing for the smoked sausage. The only picky point is that the sausage are slightly over-fried with a relatively hard crust that dragged the experience. The three galette had good consistency and the thickness is perfect.Even though it is located in the heart of Causeway bay, feeling is so different inside Fleur de Sel especially when you are at the balcony. Using the most romantic footbridge of Paris, the Pons de Arts, with the iconic twin tower of the Norte Dame, this picture will make you project yourself at the scene, in addition that the customers are mainly French, this certainly give a unique scenario that can delude into thinking that you are in the city center of Paris. This projection is not something that you can experience else where in Hong Kong. After a long imaginary walk in Paris, it is time for dessert and I ordered the hot chocolate together with the Crepe de Toblerone. Needless to say, this crepe is very different from the galette I tried earlier. Less crisp, more soft and certainly more sugary. It is a melted Toblerone with vanilla icecream seated on top of a chocolate cushion. It is simple, it is satisfying and I am happy that the meal ended with this dish.It is March and that means it is time for French Gastronomy - "Gout de France"!! It is basically a food and tourism event to promote French cuisine with good food, good company and good environment, which I think Fleur de Sel tick all the boxes. This year's event date is on 21st March, 2017 and there are 15 restaurants participating in Hong Kong and Macau region and Fleur de Sel is one of them. On that day, Fleur de Sel will serve a special menu, although the special menu is not out yet, but I am pretty sure they will continue to offer the highly recommended galettes or crepes related dish on this day.The stereotype of French having a relax attitude seem to reproduce in Fleur de Sel. Whole experience was relaxing and even asking for the bill took some time as well. Also due to the feeling, and the contrast, I just feel like i was enjoying my meal in one of the cafe in Paris, the little Paris that situated in a busy district in Hong Kong.Previous participation in Gout de FranceFleur de Sel wallFleur de Sel wall in another viewOpen kitchen of Fleur de SelFleur de Sel logo…Read More

"Where's the restaurant?" That's the question we asked each other when we were walking in the K11 shopping mall. None of us really know. Starting at shop 201 on the second floor, we counted and ended at shop 220, Gochiso the med dining tokyo style, and we completed a circle and back to shop 201. "It says shop 221". Yes, we did it once again and that's where we found this hidden hallway between shop 201 and shop 220 and that's where we finally reached the restaurant. I mean the front of the shop wasn't dim or unnoticeable, but it was not within the main escalator ring and the traffic was significantly reduced. People who don't know this restaurant will hardly notice its existence on the second floor.One day, we suddenly had this Peking roast duck syndrome and need to have the roast duck to control the disease progression and we called this restaurant. We tried to book for table for four at 6:00pm and the receptionist was rude. "Mo ah!" is exactly what she said and told us the only time available was after eight. We had some errands to run around eight so we gave walk-in a try, even if it was full, there are still some other options for Peking roast duck and in worst case, we will just delay in taking this medicine. Right, we arrived at 6-ish and we had table right away! Really? I though it was full, but anyway, may be it's our lucky day.Multiple chandelier, together with grey stone wall is the theme for the restaurant. I wouldn't say it has a large floor plan, but using booth seating for the middle section was indeed a good call. Maximizing the gaps between tables, the booth also kind of provided some degree of privacy for your party. The seats for the booth was a vinyl suede and associated with the word comfort in terms of the whole experience. The menu is surely above many traditional Peking Duck restaurant in terms of duck parts and cooking method, ranging from salted foie gras to duck tongue and price is also approachable too. We lead out with a marinated gluten, a non duck dish, and it is one of the famous dish from Shanghai. Those who have coeliac, i'm afraid this dish is not for you, but at the same time you didn't miss out anything as this dish was just so-so. The gluten was under stewed and texture was slightly hard. Just ok in terms of salt and sugar balance and this is the first time I see fava beans added to this dish. Sesame was surely just for decorations and trust me, you didn't miss much.Spot light shifted immediately to this roast duck at the moment it was placed on the table. It was quite a tough picture for the camera as the contrast was huge, spending too much time to adjust the focus might cause you to miss the best moment for the food.Together with the duck is the wrap, ingredient slices and sauce. There was really no best way for wrapping the duck, and adding those ingredient slices are really up to your own preferences. In my opinion, the duck sauce and the leek is a must since it enhance the essence of the duck and goes pretty well with it. Other ingredients were also claimed to enhance the taste, but I would say in a lesser extend compare to the leek. Another highlight for this restaurant is that the meat and the skin is well separated and really is something that you won't often try. The duck skin was crisp and had a hidden smokiness flavour but also due to the fact that the subcutaneous fat was removed, the "duck taste" also dropped and lost the complementary juiciness that usually comes with it. When you come to a restaurant that specialized in duck, you really want to get the most out of it. This is a stir-fried minced duck meat with bun. Bun wasn't steam hot and when you flip the bun, they had already emptied the center for you to stuff the minced duck.Minced duck was well marinated with good mix of vegs and onion to give more dynamics to your palate experience but once again, the duck taste was missing and one could easily being persuaded that it is a minced pork bun. Portion was also not well controlled. As you can see, I already tried to stuff the bun by pressing and packing and eventually a little mountain was built with quite an excess left on the plate, and even by doing this for all four buns, there were still around half of the minced duck left on the dish. But perhaps, it was one of the marking method to ask you to order more buns, but whatever. Next to try is the stewed roasted duck with plum sauce and this dish must be No.1 on the list. Yes, No.1 on the bad list. The meat was minimal and the taste of duck was also minimal. Overwhelmed by the vegetables, every scoop was either onions or green peppers and only just a hint of plum taste, and the worst, is that there were way too many fragmented bones in this dish. We were not full at all, but stop at this point would be a sensible thing as all the duck dish we tried already dictate all the taste of the upcoming duck dish. Emperor City Roast Duck has no doubt providing excellent range of duck dish and we just had a scratch from the outer surface. However, the last dish we tried stopped our journey to proceed. But to be fair, the roast duck is really not bad and did temporarily stop the itch for my Roast duck syndrome and I really appreciated the vigorous details the chef tried to provide. I was at a point that I stereotyped this restaurant to be tasteless but when we were leaving, we could see many people waiting outside for walk-in. When a restaurant is sited in an implicit location in a shopping mall like this and people still find their way to come and wait for the food, and not for the shopping, it must mean something. After all the consideration, second visit planning it will be, and I hope the "tasteless duck" image will be overridden and prove me I was wrong this time. The special cooking method for the duck Roast duck menu with suggested eating methodEntrance of the restaurant with window seeing the chef preparation for the duck…Read More

Hong Kong really has a vibrant history of Chinese Cuisine Culture, and probably is the only city that you will find restaurants that specialise in dishes from all regions of China. Aiming not just to specialise, but to expertise in all Chinese cuisine in Hong Kong  is one of the goals for this institute, the Chinese Cuisine Institute. The Chinese Cuisine Institute or CCI is stealthily situated along the Pok Fu Lam Road along with the T-Hotel and Western Cuisine Institute, which have similar nature that was interweaved by The English-Speaking Dining Society (TDS). Bus is certainly an option, but I really suggest you to go there either by taxi or drive by yourself due to the rustic location. There is no parking charges, but you will need to inform them in advance if you are driving, and in fact, I suggest you to book a table every time as most of the time, walk-in is hardly possible.In order to enjoy the facilities of having Chinese Cuisine, Western Cuisine and living in the T-Hotel, one need to be an associate member with an annual fee of $1228 and anyone can be an associate member. There is no 10% charge for restaurants and that might be one bargain point for you to become a member.On Arrival, you will need to walk pass all those waiting area, tea descriptions area and history section of the CCI before reaching the dining area. Promoting hygiene is the most applaudable point in customer's point of view and CCI is so proud that they will let you see their kitchen as well. You are also welcomed to see how their students prep & cook. What has to kept in mind is that all service and food for the night are provided by their students and what these students want is I'm sure the high-end service that they can use one day when they graduate. They are here to learn and I won't be too picky to point all the tiny mistakes and blame them for this and that.The CCI is one of those places where it is nice to enjoy the dinner or even a business meal. They provide exclusive service mimicking those high-end hotel including service for seating, servicing dishes, explaining dishes and wine and answering request etc., and of course, shyness is still one of their hindering point. They only serve around 8 to 10 tables per night and tonight, we were given a table that was equivalent to a table for 10 in other restaurants. Most of the time if you dine in CCI, it will consist of 6 courses: Appertisers, soup, barbecued, hot dishes, rice and dessert. The only thing that they change is the theme and they change in a regular basis and you will never get bored with CCI. Beside the exclusive service, CCI also focused on entertainments and usually will have someone playing classical Chinese songs with Gu Zheng. The dinner theme for tonight is "North to South Regional Dinner Menu", but before the appetiser, some students came with a wine trolly and introduced all their wine to us. Remembering the tasting note isn't easy and that particular student did it very well. She explained several regions and several grape with pretty accurate tasting note, and with my passion in wine, I feel guilty for pushing her to the limit. But anyhow, I think the student was fantastic and at least good enough to pursuade me to choose the Gewurztraminer by Domaine Weinbach from Alsace. This appetiser consist of 4 small portion of nibbles: the sauteed fresh water shrimp, spare ribs in dark vinegar sauce, smoked egg and celtuce in sesame oil. Each choice is a famous dish from a specific region in China and each item has only a hint of its regional taste, not a strong execution but at the same time, not a bad appetiser. After finishing the appetiser, the soup follows. It is a sea whelk soup with fish maw and you can taste the essence of the salted ham and definitely has a good flavour. The classical taste with big fish maw and perfect texture of pak choi, I would say they nailed this dish. For Chinese cusine, it is an old faithful to kick off the menu after the soup. First after is the barbecued dish - the roasted pigeon. One of the most famous dish from Guangdong, you can almost have this dish all around HK. Slightly rough for the meat, suboptimal juiciness and slightly dull on crispness make this dish just a par dish overall. The salad with lemon vinegar was odd. It is yellow croaker next with seaweed batter mix. This yellow croaker is really excellent, tears apart nicely and robustly seasoned. Outter crust is crisp and not heavily battered with the seaweed occasionally enhancing the palate. Matched nicely with the lychee taste from Gewurztraminer.Next is the Sauteed prawn with mashed salty egg york. This dish is one of my kryptonite, the coarse mashed salty egg york with a fresh well cooked prawn is just perfect! The taste combination is just so classic and the execution is also impeccable. If you are not a healthy freak, this dish, I would say, is a dish that is impossible not to love!Half-way through the "Hot dish" is the stir-fried diced beef with walnut and asparagus. The walnut and the sweetened chilli sauce is the soul of the dish. However, the chewiness and lack of beef essence was in fact too significant that drag the overall experience, and more importantly, the beef was too uneven to be called "diced" as described.The Last hot dish is the steamed bamboo fungus stuffed with minced fish. The portion size here, as we can see, was not too busy in order to let customers has wider range of choices. Fungus was invigorating and caused good contrast with the minced fish. It was less savoury and gave a softer taste and seemed to work like a sorbet, which clean your palate before your next dish. Not a bad choice, but I wasn't impressed as the fish was slightly too mashed up.Rice dish is certainly one of the old faithful dish for Chinese but this fried rice with diced chicken with abalone sauce was slightly bland. Individualized rice and similar sized chicken dice was ok, but the abalone sauce can be richer. Up to this point, I kind of have an eerie feeling that there was something missing. I thought for so long and tt was the dish decoration and I would say it was minimal. It wasn't obvious as each dish has colourful ingredients that kind of compensate the dull and mundane presentation, but perhaps, I was too influenced by this trend.  But on reflection, this does has an impact for diners as "appearance" was also one of the factor that trigger your desire to eat.Last but not least, the dessert! It is a double- boiled red dates, lotus seeds, medlar, dried longan and snow fungus and all worked together very well, capturing all the flavours and at the same time enjoying all the original ingredients in a bowl. Sided with a pan-fried glutinous rice, and my only issue, was that the glutinous rice was stuffed with chestnut and pumpkin, which wasn't that pureed and slightly ruined the experience. With all the food above, each person only cost $298 and without 10% charges it is such a bargain. With the king-like service and food quality, CCI is certainly one of my all time favourite. The loo is somewhere that you must visit, not mentioning that it is tidy and clean without any urinated smell, there will also be someone in the toilet passing towel after your hand wash and again, the experience was fantastic. The meal was certainly correlated with the menu title and shadowing each region's characteristics wasn't easy. The CCI isn't however out to impress the diner, or to serve to become a Michelin star restaurant, but to provide practical environment for student to learn and I think this alone worth my support to them. What's up for CCI? If you want to be a true King, then the Qing Nuptial & Imperial Feast on Mar 10th & 17th is a must go! CCI did a thorough research and revive 10 particular dish of the Qing Emperors and will be conducted at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum  for $488/person.  CCI is truly a first class training institute and with aim of high standards that diner nowadays expect and with all the targets that they set, CCI will beyond doubt provide diners with food, environment and service to match.The entrance lobby of CCI, WCI and T-hotel.Roasted PigeonInternal environment of CCIInternal environment of CCI (the history section)…Read More

How good is good? That's the question I asked myself after the meal and I struggled for a long time as there were few high points, but at the same time, some low points. The background of 3 star Michelin but with a bargain price seemed to be well publicised and certainly has an positive pandemic effect in terms of alacrity to visit, and more importantly, make a review or feedback slavishly along the "3 star Michelin" line. Not trying to be a contrarian, as I would easily give a "smile" for this quality of food but not the carbonara definitely, but since the restaurant held up a "passion" as motto and seemed like the executive chef is aiming high, my expectation also soared proportionally. After all the consideration, especially the suboptimal carbonara, I gave an overall "OK" at the end.Involtini is the first of Jack Law and Gary Ngai and I am sure most customers who visited Involtini had a good grasp of their biography especially their background of working in a 3 star Michelin restaurant etc. The Involtini sign wasn't that easy to spot as the surroundings advertisement were quite busy as well.We did not book the place in advance and on entering the restaurant, it was full-house. The staff greeted us with a friendly smile and hinted us that one of the table will be ready soon. After seated, staff also gave us the stylish leathered cover menu. The menu is offering a good concise choice of dishes, so does the wine list, and each dish was paired with a suggested wine (separate order obviously) which not many restaurant will do. As the restaurant was famous for their pasta, I opted to try their first two pasta dish on the menu together with their suggested wine. Now, here is one of the disappointment. The wine suggestion for the Pork Ragu Tagliatelle (Il Palazzino Chianti Classico) was only available if you order a bottle; that means that it was not available by glass. If you not sharing, who could have finished a bottle during a meal? I had no other option, but ordering another glass of wine with the same region and same grape, but obviously different wine producer. Wine manner in Involtini were perfect including the choice of glassware, confirming the wine, pouring a taste and serving the wine. Their bread compliment was one of its kind! How often will you see ham and cheese served together with the bread compliment? Olive oil and thick balsamic vinegar was a good choice that overcome the oily experience compared to those watery black vinegar. Not the best bread that I have tried, but at least I enjoyed it. Table space and spacing between tables were another concern. Don't even mention that your personal space will be encroached upon, the table itself seemed to just fit the dishes, and may be that's why you won't see the bread plate and the table setting was minimal. For our starter, we had the beef tartare. It was outstanding! The beef tartare was boldly seasoned with mixed, small, diced nuts and herbs which delivered the flavour. It was also topped with generous carvier which added a twist to a traditional tartare. The dish was also decor with quail eggs and sundried tomatos and the taste was sensational! Of course, the traditional toast as well.For the 1st main, we had the pork ragu tagliatelle and it was good! I really wanted to highlight the use of fennel seed as it was astonishing! It is such an amazing ingredient with pork just like cumin with lamb. Pork was tender with good fat lean ratio and texture also matched up with the al dante pasta. It would be more appealing if the pasta had slightly more touch of salt. This dish paired with sangiovese from Chianti was perfect! One of the "great marriage" between wine and dish I would say. However, still marks off for not having the designated wine by glass. Everything was so good so far until this carbonara. I would say it maintained a lot of good techniques such as no cream and using pancetta but the overall impression wasn't that striking. Using fresh pasta for cream based sauce seemed to be justified, but with no offence, this fresh tagliolini has a lot of Chinese character in it, especially the imaginary link with Chinese "Lo meen egg noodles". The sauce also seemed to have hint of nutmeg which I had a moment thinking I was having a Mac&Cheese and the carbonara was also under seasoned, and where is the black pepper and parmigiano reggiano? I guess it was not so traditional after all. But the huge homemade Pancetta was crispy and was very good for visuals. The paired white was fairly good and balanced with the sauce nicely. But with all due respect, this carbonara did not make the cut.There is a lot of controversies about open kitchen; for transparency, for interactions, for bonding between customers etc. I experienced none of those except one - noise. Dropping utensils, binning the left over by hitting the dish against the bin's edge repetitively and utensils hitting each other seemed to be the concerto of the night. Even though the pure background music was soothing, it still couldn't overcome those nagging noises. We also should have tried their tasting menu and with just $518 per person, it does seem a bargain, as the meal tonight already cost a $400+ per person. Overall, I do enjoy the meal, although not the best I tried, and it was the carbonara -the classic italian dish that I liked most, and I cannot stress that enough, was the major culprit of the night. If it was not the carbonara tagliolini, I would have recommend it. But also, I would't comment about an Italian restaurant without trying their carbonara dish. The Hand-Made Pasta MenuThe "passion" blackboardThe culprit of the night…Read More

When planning my valentine's day, I only have one mission, to show my love physically to my other half. While chocolates and flowers seem to be pretty standard action, and acting more like a body for this special day, I always think that the interactions should be the soul. Unfortunately that the valentine's day fall on a weekday this year, which means that we all need to work, hence, squeezing dinner and activities like watching a movie might be very packed. I have actually planned this day for so long and have sent thousands of e-mails to my top ten restaurant choices. After several weeks of hassling with e-mail exchange, I finally decided my restaurant - The newly awarded michelin one star restaurant with just a mere year: Beefbar. This is, however, not the end of it. As I said, the soul of the day is the interaction and I wanted to do a bit of tailoring to the flow of the meal. Part of the reasons I choose Beefbar is because I have high expectations and believed that they could accommodate my ridiculous demand for the "menu flow" and partly because their valentine's menu fits the wine that I am going to bring. OK, here is my postulated plan for the "flow" . The Valentine's menu is a 5 courses meal with sea urchin, beef tartare, foie gras ravioli, Striploin and a chocolate dessert. Ordering the same thing for two person seems to be a bit dull, while beefbar allow the option for a la carte, I will definitely maximize this opportunity.  I wanted to bring my 2011 Calon Segur, the "valentine's wine", into the play and enjoy over the 2nd, 3rd and 4th course of the set menu, which matches well.  For the a la carte to match the wine, I ordered the 1++ short horn Hanwoo (Korean Beef) filet, M5+ Blank angus short ribs and the U.S Prime Black Angus rib-eye cap for my 2nd, 3rd and 4th course respectively. The order of these three beef can give a  dynamic flavour and a crescendo in beefy texture that should go well along with the wine, which evolve from an implicit state at the beginning to a more explicit state as you aeronate the wine. It is hell of a lot of meat and I am not sure if I can have extra appitizer or dessert, so I opted out these for now and see how it goes on the day. I also wanted a full wine flight meal, so I ordered a glass of blanc de blanc by Legras & Haas and a glass of sauvignon blanc by Alto Adige to pair with the appetizer and a glass of Chateau Coutet and a glass of le fonti for our last course. The planning seems complicated and I asked my sommelier friend for opinion. "Good luck" was what she said.  The wine list for beefbar is very extended and will provide subregions like California, Oregon, Washington state and New York for U.S.; Victoria, Western and Southed parts for Australia; Abruzzo, Fruili, Calabria, Lazio, Tuscany, Alto Adige and Piemonte for Italy etc. Of course, famous wines from France like Palmer,  Lascombes, Margaux and Petrus are also seen on the list. Their wine by glass menu is also very appealing and seems to be able to pair all the food they provide on their menu, which is one of the important factors I concern especially when going into a high-end restaurant.It took me few days to imagine the tasting process and constructed this customized menu and sent to beefbar. I was really afraid that they will say they cannot comprehend the menu, but guess what, they said they can "arrange as requested"! Nice~~They also obtained my partner's name and I am really looking forward to see what surprise they will give. Note that all the arrangement process was done weeks ago and I did not contact them ever since and really trust them in doing the work, which they did, and it was smoothly done as well, which earned my greatest respect!Just a stone's away from LKF, beefbar stealthily situated between the Ice House Street and the Dundell's street, located on the 2/F of the Club Lusitano. To be honest, I had been passing Queen's Central Road almost everyday and still hardly notice its existence. But it is also that "remote feeling" that gave additional privacy and a classy touch to the restaurant. Arriving on the 2/F, you will encounter the big logo -" Beefbar, born in Monte Carlo"The venue itself, with dim lights, has a romantic environment. However, the tables are slightly too closed for a Michelin one star restaurant and have a feeling that the personal space was being encroached upon. With that many wine, you will expect that they have many wine cellar as well, and yes, those wine cellars and beef dry ageing room became part of their wall and gave Beefbar its own style. Their menu is no doubt a touch above many steakhouse in terms of cuts and range of beef. I really studied the menu hard before constructing the customized menu for tonight.In terms of restaurant preparation, beefbar would definitely be world class. They provided 3 exclusive experience that you really never experience before in the past, or any other restaurant during V-day. Beside a menu with both your name printed on the Valentine's menu, which was a very bespoke menu, they also prepared a big red rose with packaging and an instant photo gift card for you to capture the "moment", and the table were scattered with colourful flower pedals as well to bring in the mood. White italian marble wall, dark wood patterened floor and black leathered chair, sounds like a classy description of a high-end steakhouse. I quickly let the staff aeronate my Calon Sugur and started our selfie bomb.After the selfie with the flowers, we settled ourselves and enjoy the bread together with the champaign and white wine I pre-ordered. I would like to say that the Staff were outstanding and professional. They just double confirmed with me once about the pre-order and everything went smoothly. Appitizer arrives shortly on a big plate, and the stylish decor surely worth one wow from us. This dish is a very niesh, small portioned amberjack with sea urchin. My idea is to have this seafood dish paired with a champagne that is more crisp, but unexpectedly, the NV blanc de blancs by Legras & Haas seems to have aged and provided a hint of toast and honey raisen on top of the usual expected citrus fragrance, which subsequently overriding the non-smoke amberjack and sea urchin. This unexpected mistake was, however, compensated by the other glass of wine by Alto Adige from Italy. May be we were both very hungry, we kind of rushed ourselves for the appetiser, also with the amazing taste, we finished this dish in no time. It is also time for me to taste the Calon Segur before our 2nd course. I deliberately ask the staff not to decant as I want to preserve some "green" as my partner was only having a beef tartare and I was having a very delicate Hanwoo, which should go well, and more imortantly, we still have 3 courses to enjoy and I don't want the wine to blossom too quickly before we hit the mains. Talking about Calon Segur, I can surely be a lecturer. I love wine from St. Estephe, so does the former owner, and that's why he put a heart logo on the bottle. Bare in mind that he was also the owner of Chateau Lafite and Chateau Latour and he had this famous saying "I make wine at Lafite and Latour, but my heart is in Calon". This legendary phrase continued by the Gasqueton family, but unfortunately, Madam Gasqueton passed away on 2011. The following year, Calon Segur was sold to another group and they had extended renovation to the wineyard, not saying that it is bad, but the original taste of "my heart is in Calon" is definately different, which makes this year's Calon Segur more special for occasions like Valentine's day. After the long story, it is time for steak and that's what we really here for! I started off with 1++ short horn Hanwoo while the girl was having the beef tartare. Let's talk about the beef tartare first, as that fit the chronological order.  Beef tartare, I would say, is third to none only. The mixed nuts inside the tartare, yet not destroying the beef texture, is quality. However, it was under seasoned and the topped cream didn't compensate. On top of that, I didn't like the diced citrus. But still, I liked the fassone beef and the crispy burrata cheese.Beefbar is so pround of their cooking methods that they will tell you on the menu that all the meats in beefbar are "broiled at extremely high temperatures before char-grilled" and they said by doing this, "the juice will be trapped to enrich the flavour". All meats were served on a hot Iron cast by STAUB to keep the temperature. For this Korean short horn, the staff also kindly suggested that this is best with medium rare in doneness, which I took his advise on this.You might not be impressed by the presentation and would even say it looks dry from the picture, but tell you what, you are totally wrong! It might be true that the steak in the cast looked dull, but after transferring to my own plate, which was a hot plate, this little monster started to shine and you can see the oil start glittering on the surface. By slicing in the middle like a butter, as you can see, this steak was done perfectly. This 1++ short horn was first rate, generously seasoned with just salt and pepper. It was just so tender and juicy that it just burst in your mouth. The delicacy, the tenderness and the melting texture, you don't really need a bold tannin wine to pair with.For the 3rd dish, we had the goose foie gras with black winter truffle and the M5+ Australian short ribs. Seems like goose foie gras is getting sacred and most restaurant started to use duck liver, paired with seasonal black winter truffle, it is just mouth watering by only hearing the ingredients. The ravioli was brought you on the trolly and the chef will peel the truffle in front of you. Generous amount of black diamonds were fallen on top of the ravioli and it was just sensational! This robust and earthy truffle added a touch on the foie gras ravioli, which was creamy, honey and sweet. They worked very well together with a magical bonding, and we rated excellent, with a ten out of ten.After my 1++ Hanwoo, the beef craving evil inside me crawled out, wanting something more in flavour and wanting something more in texture and this M5+ Australian Black Angus short ribs came just in time. Again, not the most appealing presentation, as every steak dish seemed to be in this restaurant, but also implying that they do not need fancy deco for impression.Advised of having it to medium doneness, once again, beefbar had this perfectly controlled. Slightly less heavy in terms of seasoning compared to the Hanwoo, I really like their touch of salt. The short rib has rich connective tissue apart from pure protein that brings on the beefy texture. I super liked this progression and seemed to go well as planned.Finally, we came to our last two steaks for the day, which is the A4 Kagoshima striploin and the U.S. Prime black angus rib-eye cap. This wagyu was a very good steak. It was also as delicate as the Hanwoo but slightly more implicit in beef essence. The accompanied red miso sauce was rich and has lingering sweetness that goes well with this neish steak. Overall reflecting the level of A4 Kagoshima striploin and beefbar handled it very well.The U.S. Prime, however, was suboptimal. Taking account that it is a rib-eye cap, a U.S. Prime and a corn fed cow with just 20-22 months of age, the texture was truely disappointing. Although it is still considered somewhat tender, It was still way more chewy that its acceptable range as the "world's highest quality meat", bearing the name that it was, in fact, a U.S. Prime. Having said that, I am greatful that I put this as my last course as it fits perfectly for the texture dynamic purpose. The Calon Segur also peaked with good black current and bell pepper and matched well with the steak and everything was going smoothly according to the plan.Feeding more than 500g of meat really broke my own record. I was so full, yet so happy that I didn't waste any beef. I was also glad that I didn't order any dessert but dessert wine, I would say,  is always an exception. I ordered one from Sauternes and one from Chianti Classico while my girlfriend was having her finale. It was a "golden chocolate" but I was too satisfied with the steaks and too full to enjoy the dessert and I left my girl to finish it. Seems like a touch on some crisp and some hint of earl grey but I just don't care anymore~ I understand that sometimes there must be a sweet tooth to complete the meal, but unfortunate to say, this dessert can't. Not saying that it was a bad dessert, but the taste seemed to be too complex and the sweetness is relatively light, but perhaps, we were just too full to properly enjoy.We were so complete after the beef tour and all steaks were cooked to the desired perfection without error, and that alone, would already worth a second visit. Each steak was so memorable and there were so many high points within beefbar to make it a high standard restaurant. Staff were friendly, explanatory, professional and the overall environment was relaxing. The only environment disappointment was the distance between tables, that I cannot stress that enough, as if you were joining the conversation with the neighbour tables. I liked to focus on details, mainly and only on higher ratings restaurants, such as transition time between dishes, having a special knife for steaks, noise made by the staff, temperature of the plate that they serve you etc. which beefbar tick all the boxes. It is also a bonus that beefbar didn't crack under pressure in special occasion / important date like today and I am happy to tick that box for them as well. Beefbar is certainly not a cheap option but the quality and taste can be assured. What's coming up for them?  They are having a a wine flight dinner event with the Domains Devillard, on the 7th March 2017, including one of my all time favourite Domaine des Perdrix Echezeaus, Grand Cru  pairing with a New York flat iron. With all the good steaks that we tried including Wooloomooloo, Nebraska by louis steak house, Marbling (the winner of best steak for restaurant week), Mourton and Ruth's Chris Steakhouse etc, beefbar has no doubt earned the honoured membership to be one of the best steakhouse in Hong Kong. And next time, when my steak craving evil awakes, I know how I can help him scratch that itch off, by visiting beefbar with loads of meats.Electric candle with realistic flickering flame effectThe leather mat with beefbar logoThe "beefbar" knifeInterior environmentThe U.S. Prime on cast iron with just baby corn as garnish…Read More

If you look close enough, there are actually a lot culture heritage in Hong Kong and Chan Yee Jai must be one of them,  and probably the top on the list. Chan Yee Jai  worked very hard on the food processing and maintained a lot of original taste. The taste 20 years ago, I would say, actually, tasted the same as the taste today and the associated memories, triggered by the taste, is what makes Chan Yee Jai so special to me. The Bird Nest's Cake was one of the "beauty triad", along with barley biscuit and almond milk, produced by Chan Yee Jai that gained a lot of reputation through decades, of which, the bird nest's cake has the most influence on me. Remembered when I was a kid, my father and grandfather used to award me with a bar of bird nest's cake whenever I got a high mark in exam and this good taste gradually became my motive to work hard. Each pack consist of 6 bars of bird nest's cake and cost $48 each pack. It has four main functions including increase your appetite, rehydrate, healthy and suitable for all age. Oh! I think some of you might not know fully what's bird nest. It is actually the nest produced by a swift/swallows and it is their saliva that makes the nest. Their saliva will get solidified and is edible and it has all these functions!!The bar of bird nest's cake has fragmented bird nest in the middle with the "cake" sandwiching the core. The texture is somewhat slightly more firm that a fresh bread with a hint of lingering sweetness, not a texture that you will find as a snack beside Chan Yee Jai. I am actually enjoying one bar while typing this review and another common saying popped in my head. I remembered Amy Cheung Siu Han, a famous write, actually wrote that buying a pack of  Bird's Nest Cake at Chan Yee Jai is actually good for woosah your girlfriend if she is angry. What if you are single? Then Cheung Siu Han said you can actually buy one to comfort youself! Haha, that was actually quite mean, but i guess she actually wanted to say Chan Yee Jai is so good that we should forget about the sad things! Unfortunately, I am sure that the name is gradually loosing among the youngs and girls might actually be more angry if a guy try to comfort her using Chan Yee Jai. Turning the box, we can see the expiry date and usually it is a week ahead, but I never wait for a week to finish. On day one, it is soft, cotton-like and refreshing. On day two, the cotton texture is missing. One day three, the softness gradually gone and by day four, the cake became hard and so on, and I'm sure by day seven, the cake is a test of your dental strength.Who said there was no souvenirs from Hong Kong! Chan Yee Jai will always be the top on my list but I will also warn them about the lost of touch when they waited for too long, therefore, making this the best "last minute souvenirs". There are also many other snacks available in Chan Yee Jai and the bird's nest cake is only one of them. Chan Yee Jai is always one of my recommended items for people visiting Hong Kong and definitely one of my recommendation to the young. A heritage that lasted for so long without much change in taste itself. …Read More