Twice at Mono

It was a pure coincidence that I ended up eating at Mono twice in the same week in late March/early April. First it was on a Tuesday when Chef Ricardo invited me over when the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurant awards were announced over live stream video. There’s plenty to celebrate about that afternoon of course as they found themselves being ranked 32 in the continent this year. Kudos to the team and I was glad they let us share the joy with wonderful food, champagne, company and all. (Both the Arepa with Caviar and Pabellon Criollo were out of this world!)

Louder Than Words

Chef Ricardo may not be the one with many words – you hardly see him hyperactive on social media sharing every single bits of his life, nor he’s the type seen screaming and yelling at the kitchen constantly. But dishes at his restaurant Mono cannot be more expressive, uniquely reflective of his own heritage and culinary journey and his vision of a “perfect meal” for his customers who dined there.

Italian Hospitality

Two weeks ago I was invited to the “unofficial” opening night of Casa Certa, the new office/warehouse/showroom of the Italian food and wine purveyor Certa. Over the years (for the common love of food and wine) I became friends with Certa’s founder Keti and got to enjoy many of the fine products they carry either in the restaurants or at home (wines, oils and vinegars, in particular), and while they may not be a household name to most, they have been supplying to some of the top Italian chefs and restaurants in town and had an online shop for occasional home cooks like myself. 

Spoiled by Chef

We felt we are always spoiled by Chef Agustin and his team at Ando whenever we dined there, with the only problem being getting a table at this busy restaurant is becoming increasingly challenging. Well, we managed to get a lunch booking a few weeks ago - just the two of us on a Saturday for no particular occasion. We opted for the shorter of the two set menus available for lunch service (bearing in mind we had an early dinner planned) but at the end, we had a few additional dishes on top of that and we were properly stuffed.

The Four Hour Farewell

Okay, I am going to try not to sound like this is an eulogy like many people have done. The other day we had lunch at Belon at Soho, for what possibly was the last time with Chef Dan Calvert still at the helm. All tables at his restaurant were snapped up soon after the news broke that he’s leaving for Japan at the end of the month – and we were just lucky to get a booking for lunch on one Sunday. 

United We (Fine) Dine

From our experience normally it does take a new restaurant team between 3-6 months to get around their feet with their culinary direction, so I did come with rather high expectation for our dinner at Amber, my second visit after they re-opened almost one year ago after renovation and transformation, and we were eager to check out the latest menu by Chef Richard Ekkebus.

Business As Usual

When our friends suggested another gathering at Caprice’s private room with the perfect excuse of a birthday celebration, we obliged with no hesitation. We took the stance of being vigilant and cautious whilst doing our small part to support those in the hospitality industry in this challenging times - I understand this is always a fine line of balance.

Lunch 'Til Dusk

Making a reservation at eat at The Greenhouse was perhaps one of the best decisions I made for our recent London trip. I followed my chef friend D’s recommendation to plan for a lunch there while we were in town (after hearing him raving all about it and its chef Alex Dilling’s cooking a few weeks ago).

Cross Border Fine Dining

"Wanna join us for dinner in Shenzhen this coming Tuesday night?" Crazy propositions such as this will normally be politely turned down, but when my friend RC asked this very question just a few days before, within a minute I told him yes and cleared out what's originally on my diary that evening to make the long trip across border for the meal with a few good friends of ours.

That Epic Casserole

I could only count with one hand of a meal as memorable as this in recent times when we went back to this secret spot in Sheung Wan for a feast with some friends. It’s been around a year since my last visit, and the first time CYY managed to make it to this unmissable place for the first time since they moved to its current location.

Twelve Courses and No Chicken

We were excited that Chef Dan managed to get us a table to eat at his restaurant Belon on a Friday evening despite we planned this rather late. It’s been a few months since we last ate there – if we didn’t count the times we dropped by for a quick round of drinks or desserts – and we have always enjoyed the meals at the restaurant with well executed bistro-style dishes and the lively vibe inside this cozy space in Soho.

Off Menu at The Chairman

I don’t like pulling strings to make restaurant booking but this time I made an exception by reaching out to my friend DY for help. Some friends and we were organizing a Sunday lunch with the group at The Chairman so I wanted to see if DY could arrange for us a few off-menu or new items at his restaurant, now many considered to be serving some of the finest Cantonese dishes and most true to the traditions.

My Perfect Kind of Resort

After a summer of turmoil in our city, we were desperate to get out for a little break where we can switch off and relax. Earlier we received a kind invitation from The Hiramatsu Hotel & Resorts group for hosting us a couple of nights at their property in Sengokuhara near Hakone, so we thought the timing was just perfect and it’s perhaps a blessing in disguise.

The Transformed Amber

I came to experience the transformation of Chef Richard Ekkebus’ Amber restaurant recently, shortly after the place reopened last month after the renovation. And when I said transformation, I am not just talking about just the remake of the dining area, now featuring a more relaxed, contemporary design with more natural light beaming through from the window, or the much expanded “show” kitchen, moving away from being just the backstage where food was prepared to being in the spotlight completed with dining counters, spacious cooking stations and wall décor.

The Perfect Celebration

We rarely contacted chefs specifically before any visit to their restaurants, not wanting to give them a wrong impression that we were expecting special treatments, but this time I did tell Chef Fabrice a month ago about our plan to eat at his restaurant in Macau, and made a special request to eat inside the kitchen. Blame that on the missus who asked for the "Chef’s Table" to celebrate her birthday.

"Us Time"

Some quality “us time” was definitely in order as we sent the rest of our family off to the ferry pier and drew the big group Macau weekend getaway to a close. We realized we haven't visited The Tasting Room at City of Dreams for a while, so I shot a quick message to Chef Fabrice a few weeks before and let him know our plan for lunch at his restaurant. Unfortunately he was in France on the weekend we were going, but we figured we should stick with the original plan, knowing his sous chef Leonardo and pastry chef Julien would take good care of us.

Crab Feast at a Yakiniku Place

When our friend A said we must come to his restaurant to have the Japanese snow crab before the season is over, we listened and went one evening along with our other friends J and C. His restaurant, Nikushou, might be better known for its exquisite selection of wagyu beef for Yakiniku, we always had excellent seafood dishes as well, for his connection with food suppliers meant he could always import the best directly from Japan, some rarely seen elsewhere, at least in such quality.

Two-Third of a Four-Hands Menu

While I was pretty tied up the entire week to go to the special 4-hands dinner featuring Chef Vicky Cheng of VEA and Chef Julien Royer of Odette happening in late February, I was lucky that Vicky asked me to come along for a preview at his restaurant the day before the actual event. 

Best Sunday Roast in Town

We are always on the lookout for a place that serves proper Sunday roast – you will be surprised that such restaurants were few and far between. The latest one we tried was the Mandarin Grill, which offers the Sunday brunch set menu with a number of roast items available.

Fancy Mushroom Night

I honestly could not remember when’s the last time I was at Sabatini – don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my meals whenever I was there and I am a sucker for the old-school Italian trattoria vibe the restaurant is known for, along with its classic cooking style and many of its timeless signature dishes. I blame that on the location really, just slightly out of the way of where I usually hang out.