Big Group Gathering

Our CHF big group gathering went upscale this time with dinner at Wing. Our friend G was bemoaning how difficult it is still to get a table at this restaurant so we made plan months in advance to eat in one of their private rooms on a weeknight.

Three Meals in One Night (At Least It Felt That Way)

It remained somewhat a mystery why we ended up having twice as much food as we ordered when we visited Neighborhood recently, before the further COVID restriction kicked in early December. Restaurant was as popular as ever despite the circumstances, filled to the (reduced) capacity on the Monday evening we visited. 

Fourth time the charm

I confess that I have been to China Tang for more than a few occasions in the last couple of months – thanks to their special promotion of Peking Duck dish. I enjoyed just about any Peking Duck and I did particularly like the one prepared here. So I believe this is already my fourth time when I came back with a few friends in late May. 

Dinner That Almost Didn't Happen

We managed to make it to Neighborhood for dinner against all odds a few weeks ago. We came close to calling it off at the last minute because of the deteriorating traffic situation in the city that day but at the end we actually arrived ahead of the planned booking time because most of us were allowed to leave office early.

The Right Time

From the onset Hop Sze Restaurant in Sai Wan Ho looks just like any neighborhood eatery serving home-style Cantonese dishes, but one got the hint this one stands out in this old and worn district, either by a quick glance at their menu with a separate section filled with extravagant ingredients, or by the fine wines on display in the cabinet or brought in by their customers.

Burmese Pop Up

I was intrigued when I found out that The Pansodan from Yangon is opening a pop-up in Hong Kong for a 3-month stint. Food was one thing I found particularly memorable when I travelled to Myanmar for the first time last year, and I was curious how this pop-up will fare combining local and imported ingredients with local Burmese cooking, and given a further twist by this modern-style bistro originally located in one of the busiest streets in downtown Yangon and that happened to be the restaurant’s namesake too.

Old School Cantonese Plus Wine

Yixin Restaurant probably wasn’t the first I had in mind in terms of good, traditional Chinese restaurant, but of the few times we visited, whether that be that at the old shops or its current location in Wanchai, we found it more than decent.

Punjabi Feast After 9

We loved our late night dining experience at the Black Sheep Black Series last time around at Belon, and so when the restaurant group did it again offering set menus at special price in all of their restaurants, we decided to check out New Punjab Club on Wyndham Street. It’s a restaurant we heard a lot of good words about but never got around to visit, so this promotion just worked out perfectly for us.

That Killer Suckling Pig

It’s been a long while since we got together as a group and glad we did that late last month over dinner at The Celestial Court at the Sheraton. I have visited the restaurant a few times before and the place didn’t change much from what I remembered, except Chef Jack Chan who came on board late last year. And it’s crowded as always on the Friday evening we were there, just before the Father’s Day weekend which understandably is one of the busier weekend of any Chinese restaurant around town.

All Chicken!

An all-chicken Cantonese feast must be something we found it so hard to miss that despite a few last minute changes of plan, we finally made it at the end of April when most of us were free to go. We had a few decent meals at Kin’s Kitchen in Wanchai before so we were happy to be back for this special menu specially designed by Lau Kin-wai and Lau Chun, the father-son team who own the restaurant.

"Family" Dinner at Seventh Son

The last Sunday of March was a wrap with a trip to Seventh Son Restaurant in the evening. Well, I forgot how and when the conversation for the dinner started but anyway, we sorted out the date that we were all available and someone made a booking.

Dinner with Unexpected Guests

Only when I checked my blog archive did I realize it's been almost 4 months since we had a wonderful dinner at Seasons in Causeway Bay last time - it certainly felt like yesterday, or at least not that long ago. Given the last experience we had it would be hard to say no when they invited us back for a tasting of their new summer menu recently.

Delicious Lesson Learned

I must declare I knew absolutely nothing about Indonesian cuisine. With such diversity because of race, religion and cultural backgrounds for this fourth most populated country in the world, there's simply way too much to learn, so I was particularly grateful for the opportunity to explore a bit more about Indonesian food (and in a sense, their culture) with a presentation by a culinary expert on this subject followed by dinner at Kaum, the restaurant at the newly-opened Potato Head Hong Kong in Sai Ying Pun.

Practicing what they preach

"Farm-to-table", "Locally sourced fresh ingredients", "100% Homemade"... those were big, attractive slogans that many restaurants use to promote their food these days, but Linguini Fini is one of the few in town that truly practice what they are preaching day in, day out with much success commercially.

New Year Get Together at Catalunya

It's a miracle that we - at least most of us - could agree on an evening that we could all get together for a meal to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Catalunya recently has a new chef on board with a revamped menu so they invited us in to give it a try, giving us the perfect occasion and venue to catch up before everyone is going all over the place around the world again.

Forty Dollars a Day

How much do you spend on food each day? Do most of you even consciously count? What would you do if you could spend only 40 Hong Kong Dollars a day on food?

Some friends and I were having this conversation one random day, and decided to experience this ourselves. For 3 days at our own choosing, we pledged to spend only HK$40 a day (equivalent to around US$5.2). "Why 40 Dollars?" you might ask. Well this is partly inspired by the Hungry for Change campaign organized by Justice Centre Hong Kong, a local NGO advocating for refugee welfare, and 40 dollars is daily food allowance provided to asylum seekers stranded in Hong Kong since they were not allowed to seek employment. (even worse when they were only provided $40 "worth" of food, not $40 in cash - so they don't even have a choice of what to eat)