Signing off 2015

Signing off 2015 with a collage of all the food memories throughout the year, as this has became kind of my tradition taking a trip back the memory lane for the past 12 months.

Breakfast at The Pen

We always have this ideal Sunday morning in our mind which starts with a leisure breakfast at The Pen followed by an easy walk to church down the Nathan Road on a Sunday morning. But in practice we often opted for the second best, but a much easier option instead, which was to sleep in until we must get up to be on time for church.

Family Style Issan Dinner

 

Chachawan may no longer be the newest Thai restaurant in the hippiest neighorhood in town these days, having open more than a year ago right on Hollywood Road, but it's still buzzing as ever, even on a random Monday evening that I managed to pop by for dinner with some friends who wanted to say goodbye to Chef Adam Clift on his last day there before he moves on for the next gig.

With the seven of us going as a group, we went for quite a number of different dishes, all served in family style - just came up a little short of "sweeping" the whole menu. The portion of the dishes was decent, good enough for going around with everyone getting a fair share of food. Most of the dishes were spicy but not unbearably so, and I do love the bold flavors - a good kick of spiciness and acidity which brightened up the dishes served. Chachawan was known to serve the authentic Thai dishes from the northern region, known as Issan cuisine, best known for the liberal use of spices, especially chili.

Caprice Bar Lunch

 

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to try out the new lunch offering at Caprice Bar of Four Seasons Hong Kong. I loved the idea when Caprice Bar was first opened for lighter fare in the evening with a more casual food and drink menu than its fine-dining "big brother" next door, something we have enjoyed much either for a late-night "simple" supper with just wine and cheese, or a chilled evening out with friends, chatting over a few drinks and charcuterie platter. I am glad that now the similar concept is extended to weekday lunch hours.

Celebrate at Tate Dining Room

We wanted to check out Tate Dining Room for some time already, but haven't been able to nail it down on our diary until last week. We have heard great things about Chef Vicky Lau's cooking at this Michelin-starred restaurant in Soho, so we thought it would be the perfect place for our wedding anniversary celebration in early December.

The Number 4

Just as we returned from a weekend away in Singapore where we had a memorable pop-up meal from one of the World's 50 Best Restaurants, we received an email promoting yet another dinner event, this time in Hong Kong at Landmark Mandarin Oriental featuring the top restaurant in Latin America.

I got to be honest here - before the event, I have not heard of Chef Virgilio Martinez nor his restaurant Central in Lima, Peru. True it's voted top on the Latin America's 50 Best Restaurant and is number 4 in this year's world ranking, something that should be in my radar naturally you would expect, but I guess Lima just sounded too far away for me to pay any serious attention to. But that's exactly why I was particularly interested in this dinner event, because otherwise it may be hard to try his food in the foreseeable future.

Fraternity Food

There is no secret that the best Shanghainese food in town was served inside an old building in Central at the clubhouse of Shanghai Fraternity Association. What started as a meeting place for people sharing a similar cultural heritage some 30 years ago has grown to become an exclusive, members-only venue best known for its exquisite Shangainese cuisine served at their restaurant.

Thanksgiving Turkey a la Peking Duck

We haven't really celebrated thanksgiving for the past few years, but this year, when we saw the special promotion at Mott 32 for their special roast turkey during the thanksgiving week, we thought we would give it a try and have our belated celebration at lunch on the Sunday after thanksgiving.

As we walked down the dark staircase of the restaurant right in the middle of the central business district at the basement of Standard Chartered Building, I was actually surprised that the place was so crowded in a Sunday afternoon. Yes, I know the place was packed with people on weekdays and evenings, being one of those high-end Chinese restaurants many people talked about, but I never expected so many people in this part of town during weekends.

Snake Soup at a Warm Winter Night

With temperature still hitting the high 20's during the day even as we approached late November, it certainly didn't feel like we were at the right season for the old-fashioned Cantonese snake soup, but that didn't stop our friend Growing Boy from rounding up a gang of friends for another night of snake soup dinner at our favorite private kitchen in town last week.

VEA-ry Impressive Dinner

There is always a constant stream of new restaurant openings throughout the year in Hong Kong, but to me, so far in 2015 there is none more exciting than this new place near Sheung Wan, which opened its door a couple of weeks ago.

This new restaurant, called VEA, is a collaboration project between Chef Vicky Cheng (formerly of Liberty Private Works) and mixologist/bartender Antonio Lai of The Quinary. I am a fan of Chef Vicky's creative cooking since his early LPW days so I am eager to find out his next move since he left the old venture early this year after over 4 years at the helm. And I came here for the dinner tasting during their soft opening period last week at the invitation of their PR.

Madame Pork

When my friend C mentioned we were going to lunch at "Madame Pork" on our second day in Shunde (順德), I had this mental image of a rustic, somewhat filthy roadside eatery with a fat lady with knife in one hand, cigarette in her mouth, whilst tending a pot of pork stew by the stove (don't ask me why). Not that I really mind street food, but you could imagine I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the restaurant and saw the grand, old Chinese-style entrance gate with a giant Christmas tree next to it, something resembles a high-end restaurant instead of what I had in mind originally.

And just when I thought "Madame Pork" might be a nickname for the restaurant, it's the actual name - they even have a large plaque with the name in Chinese "Jue Yuk Por" (豬肉婆) hung up high at the entrance so there's no mistake. 

Late Night Teppanyaki

We were looking for a place for post-concert supper when we "stumbled" across this little Japanese restaurant called "Kozy Okonomi-yaki Teppan-yaki" in Causeway Bay on Google search. A quick glance at the online reviews did look promising, so we trekked over across the harbor from the concert hall after the show ended at 10pm, figured it would be interesting to try out a new place for a quick late-night treat.

From Spain to Vietnam

I was intrigued when I saw the press release about an upcoming dinner event featuring a collaboration between two relatively new casual restaurants in town, La Paloma in Sai Ying Pun and Viet Kitchen in Central. A special menu will be available for 2 nights only - one at each restaurant - in the last week of November, with the joint effort to blend the food and cooking of Spanish and Vietnamese cuisine for a series of unique dishes.

Lunch at the Village of Fish and Rice

We put on our travel backpacks for the second consecutive weekend in early November and headed out for a short break to Shunde (順德), a small town in Guangdong province just north of our border, about 2 hours away by speed ferry.

Locals have long referred Shunde as a "village of fish and rice" (魚米之鄉) - for its abundant produce from its fertile land at the Pearl River Delta region. And people from Shunde were known to have exquisite taste and cooking skills, and arguably, their dishes represented the best of Cantonese cuisine.

Hipster Sunday Brunch at Artichoke

A few friends have separately recommended Artichoke as the place to go for Sunday brunch in Singapore so we decided to give it a try while on a quick weekend holiday there recently. There are quite a number of small cafes and restaurants serving brunch-style food in town but we were told Artichoke does something different, and better than most.

Oops I did it again - Massimo Bottura Dinner Encore

The feeling of serendipity of sorts hit when I saw the press release 2 months ago about Chef Massimo Bottura being the guest chef at Shangri-la Singapore in late October, on the very weekend we happened to be in town to watch a tennis tournament. I couldn't quite believe such a stroke of luck hitting us twice - only a few months ago another coincidence led me to an unforgettable meal at another pop-up dinner hosted by Chef Massimo in Milan.

The October event was part of the Shangri-la hotel chain's "International Festival of Gastronomy" campaign, featuring 8 different chefs of Michelin-starred restaurants each offer a special menu at five of the hotel properties around the globe. Despite the initial sticker shock - let's just say it's not something we would normally be willing to pay for one meal - we confirmed the reservation as soon as it became available, as I figured an encore for a great meal without having to fly half the world is an opportunity too hard to miss.

Tosca's Wine Lunch

I have always wanted to check out the wine lunch series at Tosca at The Ritz Carlton Hong Kong, where every month a new theme was introduced for their weekend menu with specific wine and food pairings, whether that be based on a specific region, or grape varietal or sometimes even production method (they did one with biodynamic wines before)

Happy Birthday to Me

We often use the occasion of birthday celebrations as an excuse to check out any fancy new restaurant in town, but this time, we decided to go back to one of our favorites, the tried-and-true Caprice at the Four Seasons, to celebrate my own birthday.

Life has been quite hectic for both of us lately so the prospect of a slow and quiet dinner at a place we have been perfectly comfortable with was something that we eagerly anticipate. We were also excited to see what new dishes Chef Fabrice and the team would bring to us, as October came the time for the new menu to be introduced for the autumn game season.

Sushi with Heavy Taste

I found it dangerous to have a good (and expensive) sushi joint near to my new office, with Sushi Mori Tomoaki now sits just right across the street. Obviously it's not very healthy for my wallet if I fall into the habit of making too frequent a visit there. But I did let myself in one afternoon last week and walked over for a quick lunch. I know it's a bit over the top for just another weekday meal, but this time I told myself this is a little birthday treat to myself - only a couple days in advance.

Fancy Lunch at L'Altro

It's like a constant carousel movement with dining establishments come and go at L Place in Central faster than you blink, but L'Altro on the 10th Floor has been the longest lasting one still standing. We never got a chance to come around to check out this fine-dining restaurant, but I am glad I finally did just that last week for lunch, just when my long holiday is sadly coming to an end.