The Long Awaited

We finally managed to secure a booking at Mosu and went a couple of months ago. With only a handful tables available every night, it did take a bit of effort to get a reservation at this restaurant which opened about a year ago in West Kowloon. 

Second in a Month

We went for a second staycation weekend in a month with a stay at The Langham in TST in mid-June. We probably picked one of the worst weekend to go, as it fell into Father's Day, and that meant the hotel and its restaurants were all fully-booked.

Chaat It Out

It did take some twist of my friend G’s arm to get a last-minute booking at the ever popular Chaat at Rosewood Hong Kong in Tsimshatsui. And even with that what we got is a table booking at 3pm – certainly not a complaint but that made it another late lunch/early dinner for us on a Sunday afternoon. 

Annual Ritual

A visit to Sabatini is always a good idea especially during the white truffle season with their special tasting menu by Chef Claudio. And I was glad the restaurant (and hotel) was re-opened just in time before the end of the prime season for the treasured ingredient. 

Lunch at the Museum

While we were staying nearby for the weekend, I felt a visit to the Hong Kong Museum of Art is a must, partly because I have never been back since they re-opened a few months ago after years of renovation (which took almost 4 years thanks to government bureaucracy), shut again in January because of virus outbreak and re-opened only a few weeks ago; and partly because their special exhibition featuring works from Tate was ending in a week. And I only came to realize it’s also the “International Museum Day” weekend, as if we need any more reason to go.

Bemused Kaiseki

While we were in the hood for the weekend we thought we would take the opportunity to explore one of the new restaurants in K11 Musea. Tominokoji Yamagishi is the first overseas branch of the Kyoto-based restaurant of the same name, specializes in kyo-ryori, the formal Kaiseki cuisine rooted in imperial Kyoto.

Place to Rest

Recently we became more conscious to bring our business to local and small shops around our city as our tiny contribution to support them. And it often led to pleasant surprises as we ventured out of what we are more familiar with and started checking out new places.

The Big Fish

The dinner was months in the making, at least that’s how far the chat group went discussing every single details of the meal beforehand and rounding up enough people for a feast. It all started when our friend F who managed to get hold of the rare Ikan Empurau fish from Malaysia and organized a dinner just for that.

Pre-Concert, Pre-Typhoon Dinner

We have always wanted to try the new Pici in Tsimshatsui since they open a few weeks ago and we decided to go on one evening for an early dinner when we had to attend a music concert nearby, just as the super typhoon loomed.

The Stars Not To Be

A chance encounter in Tokyo a few months ago led to a meetup in Hong Kong with my Dutch friends M and J over lunch at Tang Court of The Langham Hong Kong. They were on a trip to travel around Asia for some nice restaurants and wines which brought them to Hong Kong and Macau this week as their first stop.

Exploring the Garment District

The neighborhood of Shum Shui Po could be different things to different people – to computer and electonics geeks, this is the place where they fetch the latest gadgets inside the legendary Golden Arcade, or at one of the outdoor stalls on the block of Ap Liu Street; there’s also a street dedicated to toys, dai pai dong/street food, Chinese dessert soups and many more. And on the other side of this old commercial/residential mixed neighborhood, there were a few blocks of shops for fabrics and all garment accessories – there were specialty shops for everything from buttons to ribbons to threads and needles and more, carrying down from the days when this is where all the garment factories were.

Lunch with Fukuoka Ingredients

Recently I was at Whisk at The Mira for a Friday lunch featuring a special menu with ingredients coming from Fukuoka, working in conjunction with a guest chef from the region. There’s no lack of fresh ingredients from Kyushu and the nearby waters, especially the area surrounding Fukuoka in the north being the center of this southern-most main island of Japan, so I think Chef Oliver from Whisk and guest chef Yasuhiro Yamada from Fukuoka’s Hakata House restaurant has the easiest task of turning all these wonderful produce, meat and seafood into a fabulous tasting menu available at the restaurant for a limited time in March.

Hangzhou Guest Chef

The industrial area of Lai Chi Kok on Kowloon side seems to be an unusual place to open a high-end restaurant, but someone had the vision to start a new trend, not only with one but a couple fine dining outlets all housed under one roof in the form of a posh private dining club called Greater China Club inside a modified commercial building in the midst of factories.

Stumbling Across Tim Ho Wan

It’s a pure coincidence that we ended up at Tim Ho Wan on this holiday morning – we were aimlessly driving around trying to find a parking space we could stop and eat and we ended up just a couple blocks away from the restaurant's Shum Shui Po branch, so that is why we dropped by for an impromptu breakfast stop. Both of us have never been to this branch so we were happy to try for the first time.

Dai Pai Dong Encore

When our friend V proposed that we do a Dai Pai Dong run in the forgotten neighborhood of Shum Shui Po, I obliged. We had a great time on our last time out at the restaurant so all we need is just any excuse to go back there to eat. A few more later signed up to this plan and we fixed a Tuesday night to go.

On My Day Off: Izakaya Dinner

A long story why I ended up on this side of harbor after spending a good afternoon browsing through exhibits at the Art Basel on the other side (alright, for me it’s more about the champagne at the VIP lounge than the art pieces, I admit), but anyway, since we were around this neighborhood (TST, that is), I thought it's a good idea to check out this new Japanese izakaya nearby that I always meant to try. Goshaku sat on the sixth floor of a commercial building on Knutsford Terrace and behind the restaurant was the same team which operates Keyaki near LKF and a handful of other Japanese casual diners around town.

New age with the new Rech

We made our way to the other side of the harbor to have dinner at the new Rech by Alain Ducasse in Tsimshatsui on a Friday evening. The restaurant took over the space formerly occupied by Spoon, another dining outlet under the Alain Ducasse "empire", on the ground floor of Intercontinental Hong Kong. Well, I did bemoan the closure of Spoon for a little while – after all the place always has a special place in my heart as being the subject of my first blog post (wait, is that 10 years ago already?) – but I am also hopeful of this new concept of a casual, Parisian style seafood restaurant taking its place, suitably located by the harbor front with the most gorgeous view. Sometimes change is for the good.

True Sunday Brunch at Spoon

We were at InterContinental Hong Kong a couple weekends ago to check out the new Sunday lunch menu at Spoon by Alain Ducasse. It was a particularly lovely day to be seated in this elegant yet relaxing dining room while enjoying the breath-taking view of the Hong Kong skyline across the harbor under this sunny weather.

Farewell to Yun Kee Kitchen

As all the street-side stalls have closed for business late at night, one could still hear the noise coming out of this block in Sham Shui Po from the famous Yun Kee Kitchen. For the past 20 years or so, this down-to-earth neighborhood restaurant has built up a reputation as being one of the best kept secret in the area, serving a combination of classic and creative Cantonese dishes with quality cooking and ingredients.

Treasures of the Sea

In the middle of last month we were at Cuisine Cuisine to check out the new seafood dinner menu available every Tuesday at their TST branch. It's a good thing that after a few rather heavy meals in the past few weeks I got to try something lighter for dinner.