Zest x Mizumi

There’s a sense of déjà vu when I dropped by Zest for a special lunch hosted by Chef Konishi with guest chef Hironori Maeda from Mizumi in Wynn Macau back in early June. I just came back from a week-long holiday in Kyoto and Osaka, but with this meal I felt like I was back in Japan once again. 

Speakeasy in the Alley

"Do you serve any food?" It's probably a bit rude to walk in to the bar and immediately ask for food, but then we were desperately hungry (and thirsty too, but in this order) after the concert late evening so we got to have our priority straightened out first. 

Zest for Special Occasion

We picked one of the places we haven’t visited for a while on a night we celebrated a special day of ours. Last time I was at Zest was a few years ago not long after they first opened and before the pandemic times. 

The Trip That Keeps On Giving

Another eye-opening meal awaited at Fumee not far away from where we stayed for the evening. Through door at the entrance on the side of the stone and wood façade inside the lower level of an office building in Nanshan District on the west side of Shenzhen, we were led into our seats at the long bar counter in front of the kitchen studio, where part chefs, part owners Janet and David and their teamwork and where culinary magic was created. With the natural style décor with dark wooden color theme, I felt like sitting in a modern hut in the forest but with a soft ocean breeze, well suited for the contemporary cooking style using ingredients from land and sea that Chef Janet specializes at.

Rainy Crossover

Severe weather the night before didn’t stop us from coming to Ando for a special lunch tasting featuring guest chef LG Han from Singapore’s Labyrinth. It’s not hard to see the striking similarities between the two restaurants and the two chefs behind, both on a mission to re-invent the cuisines of their respective home countries with a new take. 

The Standard Bearer

We realized it's been more than one full year since our last visit to VEA... don't know what happened and how time just flew by but we quickly made amend by making a booking to go one evening a couple of weeks ago. And we managed to catch up with Chef Vicky "in residence" in between his overseas trips. 

Fine Dining in the Basement

The setting of Artifact may not fit the usual definition of "fine dining" - diners literally sat across an open kitchen/bar in the area amongst other food stalls inside the new Basehall 2 complex at the basement of Jardine House, but I was impressed with the dishes presented by Chef Sato Kiyoshi and his team at a dinner there recently. 

CENSU

Censu has been on my list of restaurants to visit for a while. Technically I have never been but I did try Chef Shun's cooking at a pop-up event a couple years ago right before the restaurant's opening. 

Happy Auor

I was curious how Chef Edward Voon’s new restaurant Auor would fare before we went for dinner one Saturday a few weeks ago. To be honest, I knew little about his cooking style or food with my only experience being a dinner tasting at his previous restaurant once a few years back. Turned out, I was pleasantly surprised. 

More Mora

I had a lovely lunch at Mora a few months ago soon after their opening, and I certainly came with a heightened expectation when I visited the restaurant again in late September, for dinner this time around on a quiet night. 

Italian-influenced Kappo

I am almost ashamed to say I have never been to Trattoria Queen Hollywood – I sometimes forgot there’s such a place though it’s been around for almost 10 years and checked all the boxes of the kind of place I would love to visit regularly. And glad I have finally tried when friend B asked me to join her with a couple other friends for a cozy dinner on another night. 

Mora

Opening a new restaurant in Hong Kong during this challenging time required certain level of confidence, something Chef Vicky Lau has no lack of, first with her Michelin-starred, over a decade old Tate Dining Room and now Mora, her first venture with focus on Chinese x French cooking. 

Modern Singaporean (and It Ain't Hawker Food)

Whey was one of those new restaurants in town now with a 2 month waiting list. So our dinner booking in early October was actually made back in August, something that has become sort of a norm these days. But with its young Singaporean chef Barry Quek having quite a reputation for solid execution with his now-closed restaurant Beet, I figured it’s worth the wait. 

Cafe with a Thai Twist

At the onset Lady Nara is definitely not the place I would choose to go – I thought with its fancy, garden-like décor with props everywhere for a cheesy snap, it’s more suited for those young IGers eager for those “candid”, “likes”-catching story posts swinging in those rattan couch or looking over the harbor view holding a colorful drink. And I was proven wrong with a meal there recently – well turned out it has all that I have mentioned, but they also got decent food and unique dishes that woo its customers and contributed to its popularity since they opened a few months ago at Harbour City. 

Sans the Neon Light

“Cuz I heard you didn’t like the neon lights so we turned it off for you”… of course Chef May was joking when she said that at my recent visit to Happy Paradise, reopened at its original site a couple of weeks ago after a “brief” hiatus. Well it’s been a while since I last visited – no, not just because of the lights – but glad to see the place is back to business with a full house on a Monday night, sans the funky lighting and loud music that was almost like a signature at this restaurant at the fringe of Soho but I am not so much a fan of. It’s much toned down, but still kept its cool, I reckon. 

Seafood Recipe Part 2: Hake and Potatoes

I followed up with a rustic-style seafood main course using another pack sent by the purveyor Qwehli (see my previous post for the introduction). Hake is one of the fish species I love working with, for its firm texture and versatility, slightly richer than cod and leaner than black cod. One I received was caught wild off the Atlantic Coast off France and came in vacuumed and frozen pack of around 300g - good for 3-4 person.

Creative Four-Hands Effort

With almost every fine-dining restaurants in town offering some kind of special collaboration dinner events on a regular basis these days, I got pickier in choosing which one to go. But the one at Arbor recently just fits all the criteria, so I made the booking the first day I got the news about the event featuring guest chef Yusuke Takada of La Cime.

First Night at Hiramatsu

We love everything at Hiramatsu Resorts while staying there for 2 nights at their Hakone property, but one thing that truly stood out was their culinary offering. It’s something they are proud of and by all means they should. Our half-board package came with breakfasts and dinners for both nights, so on the first day, after settling in at our gorgeous room and a relax dip in the onsen bath both in our room and at the private outdoor hot spring in the annex building, we walked down to the restaurant located on the lower floor, where a table has already been set up for us.

The Best Ever

“The best ever by the chef” was the comment I heard from my friend RR who went to eat at Haku recently. I came to eat here a few times last year and witnessed quite a transformation from good to great, not just the cooking or the choice of ingredients, but the overall dining experience. And that along with the comments by our foodie friends, we were excited to return to the restaurant to check out their latest menu, courtesy of our friend Chef Agustin who invited us over.

A Swiss Visitng Chef

We honestly had not heard of Chef Andre Jaeger and his (former) hotel-restaurant in Switzerland when our friends A and R asked us to join them for dinner when the chef dropped by Hong Kong for a quick stint – it’s certainly our fault for being ignorant, as I learned afterwards that Chef Andre has quite a reputation being in the forefront of contemporary Asian-inspired cuisine out of his family’s property Fischerzunft in Schaffhausen since the 1980’s and remained a prominent figure in the Swiss culinary scene even after his retirement a few years ago.