Roganic 2.0 x 2

The team at Roganic certainly did a good job building up our anticipation for its re-opening at Lee Garden after a 6-month hiatus. While we enjoyed the food at its old location numerous times (both at Roganic and Aulis, their experimental kitchen next door), it always feels like the restaurant was in a borrowed space at a random shopping mall corner. Still in a shopping mall, albeit a fancier one, on the side of Causeway Bay, the new space is now properly designed from ground up with everything built to fit the restaurant's style, from the wooden decor connecting the restaurant to its British Lake District roots, to the spacious open kitchen showcasing the team's cooking and the dedicated outdoor area where some of the ingredients were grown in-house highlighting the dedication to the "farm-to-fork" philosophy which restauranteur-owner Chef Simon Rogan has been a champion for.  

End of An Era

I always feel we didn't appreciate Roganic enough for what the restaurant and the team brought to the local dining scene since their opening  in 2019, breathing a new life into our old concept of "fine dining" with a more casual, no-nonsense approach that's quite unique at that time and has since become more a commonplace. 

Old Face, New Place

I admit I did find it a little surreal when I saw Chef Manav in his new chef outfit at a new restaurant. His departure from his last gig a few months back certainly took many by surprise, but his new restaurant, Leela, on the other side of the harbor, is promising and represents quite a change in culinary direction and style. 

Same Same But Different

I went back to Aulis for a second time in a month, this time on an invited dinner tasting session and hosted by Chef Charlie Tayler from Aulis London who’s visiting while the Soho restaurant is undergoing renovation. I enjoyed the dinner here in early January and I was promised some of the dishes would be different this time, so didn’t mind a return visit this quick. 

Aulis Pop Up

“Chef Oli in town, special menu, wanna go?” My friend V pinged me about the recent special event at Aulis/Roganic Hong Kong hosted by Chef Oli Marlow coming in from the UK for a short visit. And we were able to snap up the seats on a Saturday evening just before the 10-night-only event was sold out within days.  

Quickie Meal

Roganic is definitely my first choice when we wanted a quick, no-fuss lunch – their business lunch menu got you in and out in slightly over an hour with three solid courses. With the whole long weekend of non-stop eating (National Day weekend), that’s exactly what we wanted on a Saturday afternoon, a 

reprieve of gluttony, so to speak. 

"Mo Duck Shue"

Some friends and I decided to take turns in hosting dinners at places each of us were (more) familiar with (including here and here), and when it came to my turn, I suggest we convene at Nikushou partly because that’s a place I am confident about and partly because most of us have not been recently so it’s good for a re-visit. So I gave its owner (and a good friend of ours) A a buzz and asked him to help arrange and all I requested was the menu has to be “unbeatable” (or “Mo Duck Shue” 無得輸 as we often say in Canto) as we often said in the previous rounds of dinners. 

New Sichuan at Times Square

Hong Kong people seem to have bottomless appetite for Sichuan food with more and more Sichuan restaurants popping up around town. Chuan was the latest one I tried at one of the invited dinner tastings. 

Oyster Hut

I saw on Facebook about the opening of a Japanese restaurant specializing in oyster dishes and was curious to give it a try the other night with my friends S and J. There’s no lack of oyster bars around town but I couldn’t recall one in an izakaya setting and focuses on ingredients directly imported from Japan. 

Private Room Dinner

Given this was probably our last group fine-dining meal for the year, it just seemed appropriate that we got to enjoy it at the comfort of the private room at Roganic. We have had a few great meals at the restaurant which opened a year or so ago, and so when our friends asked us for recommendation, this is one of the first few places that came to mind and with tables available on the date we wanted to go. And better yet, they arranged for us the private room situated on the side of the main dining area, giving us some privacy and space to enjoy our Sunday dinner in. 

Gossip and Celebrate

This group of us got together regularly mainly for gossips over meals, but this time we tagged in another reason of celebrating with our friend GB, as if we need any other excuse to eat and drink. G graciously scored us a private room at West Villa when the restaurant in our original plan was shut because of typhoon – a blessing in disguise as it turned out. 

Back to an old favorite joint

My crave for yakitori dishes brought us back to this joint in Causeway Bay, a place that we used to come regularly but haven’t been for quite some time. And glad to see their old chef Ben back working behind the open kitchen with all the familiar staff working in the front of the house at this small, hole-in-the-wall place in the building with the entrance inside a quiet dark alley. 

Back to Normal (Kinda)

We were at our friend A’s restaurant Nikushou on the first night when the "dine-out until 10pm" restriction was lifted. When everyone in town seems to be out and about eating and drinking, we were glad to score a table at this popular restaurant at the last minute - thanks to whoever bailed and freed up the spots.

Fine Dining Takeaway Part 3: Nikushou Bento

When we heard our friend A (aka Meatchelin by his social media handle) started offering dinner bento box deliveries from his restaurant Nikushou in Causeway Bay, we immediately called to order. We have had a few rounds of western and Chinese food deliveries recently but not yet Japanese, and as far as food is concerned, we have little doubt A will deliver at the level we expected. 

Fine Dining Takeaway Part 1: Roganic At Home

With further lockdown being implemented territory-wide and we were stuck in work-from-home mode since mid-July, we resorted to cooking at home or takeaway a lot more than we normally do. And facing the adversity, restaurants have upped their game in the quality of takeaway meals. 

Hidden Gem

We came across this little Italian restaurant in a commercial building in Causeway Bay and decided to give it a shot for a dinner celebration. I love the simple interiors - modern, cozy with comfortable lighting with tables well scattered across, and the quiet ambiance well suited for the fine dining style of the place.

Meat and More

Our craving for meat brought us back to the Yakiniku specialist Nikushou the other night. And their seasonal tasting menu offered more than just their signature dishes of beef from various cuts prepared right in front of the customers.

Star-studded Lunch

For a while Forum in Causeway Bay remained the only Michelin 3-starred restaurant that I have never visited in all of Hong Kong/Macau, but I finally managed to cross that off the list a few days ago when our friends J and P organized a lunch there and asked us to join.

Sushi Craving Satisfied

With the coronavirus outbreak still raging, that means we are eating out far less than we normally would, and instead opted for either cooking at home or ordering takeaway dishes from restaurants. That also means that in a way, we treasure more of the time we got to spend at an actual restaurant seating and enjoy the dishes and drinks properly served – something we used to take for granted.

Long Tasting Menu

Weekend lunch service at Roganic seems to be as bustling as ever with every table occupied, not deterred by the general slowdown in business elsewhere with the virus outbreak and all. It’s been a while since I was last here, so happy to be back to check out a few new dishes on the menu as spring season is approaching and Chef Oli Marlow, their head chef at Roganic London, was in town to bring in some new creations.