More Tokyo - Revisiting Sushi Yoshitake

This time around in Tokyo, instead of trying new places for sushi, I also wanted to return to a restaurant that I had fond memories of in my previous visit, so I asked Amex Platinum Concierge to help book me a seat at Ginza's Sushi Yoshitake, and they came back with a confirmed reservation on Tuesday evening.

More Tokyo - The refined, old-school Unagi Akimoto

I dashed through immigration and customs, hopped on to Narita Express, arrived at downtown Tokyo and checked in to my hotel at record speed (in less than 2 hours), all because I was starving and in desperate need for food as I got off the plane. And one metro stop away from my hotel in Akasaka, I arrived at a quiet neighborhood of Kojimachi slightly after 5pm, in front of a tiny restaurant called Unagi Akimoto, a 105 year old "institution" specializing in Unagi, or freshwater eel, cuisine. The restaurant just opened for dinner service at 5, but I decided to call this meal a late lunch instead, an excuse for myself to stuff myself with more food later on, at "proper" dinner hours.

Restaurant Week Menu at Fofo by El Willy

A few weeks ago, we took advantage of the Restaurant Week promotion and tried two restaurants that we have never been before. First of the places we tried was Fofo by El Willy near Lan Kwai Fong. It has been opened for a few years but for some reasons the place has been eluding us. It seems like every time we wanted to go there's always somewhere else that got in the way.

Detour for dinner - Cococabana

One Tuesday evening we headed down to the southeastern tip of Hong Kong Island for an "impromptu date" at the beach-side restaurant Cococabana in the quiet Shek O neighborhood.

We have been to several other dining outlets owned by restauranteur/chef Jean Paul Gauci previously, but never been to this one nor its old location at Deep Water Bay, but I did appreciate his rustic cooking style coupled with simple but carefully chosen ingredients.

Home-style Hash - a hearty, one-pot meal

There are times I would challenge myself to cook an elaborate, multi-course meal at home, and there are times I just want to do something simple. Last weekend definitely belonged to the latter category. I was late coming back from a furniture shopping trip at Horizons Plaza on Saturday (okay, I did pick up a few clothes along the way too) so I picked up just a few items from the grocery stores in the same building and did something quick and easy.

A new start at Caprice

We headed back to Caprice at Four Seasons for lunch, trying to have a glimpse of what the new head chef Fabrice Vulin brought to the table since he came on board a couple months back.

The posh but comfortable restaurant has become ever so popular, seemingly unaffected by the loss of the precious third star in the 2014 Michelin Guide (which most suspect has more to do with the departure of the head chef rather than the drop in quality) We tried to make the lunch booking a couple weeks in advance but couldn't get confirmation for a table until the day before.

Green Monday x Miele x Grassroots Pantry

Last week I was invited to a private dinner hosted by Green Monday and Miele, held in the posh dining space of Miele Private Lounge in Causeway Bay and catered by the very talented Peggy Chan of Grassroots Pantry.

I have known David, the co-founder of the social enterprise Green Monday, for over 20 years, and he never occured to me as a serious foodie person, yet in recent years he has been making huge impact on local culinary landscape by advocating vegetarianism and in a broader sense, a healthy eating style through his venture. He even wrote a book reviewing and recommending top vegetarian restaurants in town, which was published a few weeks ago and became a bestseller overnight. And I heard a lot of good comments for Peggy and her pure vegetarian Grassroots Pantry cafe in Sheung Wan from many of my friends (vegetarian or not), so I was quite excited about this one-off event put together by them in collaboration with Miele, the innovative home appliance maker which probably needs no introduction. 

Sunday brunch at Whisk

Usually we aren't big fans of buffet meals with endless table of food and too many choices, but we dropped by Whisk at The Mira to try their Sunday brunch back before Chinese New Year. We have been to their weekend brunch before maybe a couple years back (and we love it - that's the reason we came back this time), and everything was largely the same as before. It's served semi-buffet style - most of the food items were available at the buffet table including the desserts, and for a couple dishes, you need to order and they were brought in for you.

Pisa Wine Dinner at Messina

What's Pisan cuisine like? To be honest I hardly know anything about the town of Pisa except their apparent poor building skills, so I was curious when I saw a dinner event promoting their food and wine, organized by the Italian Chamber of Commerce. Another part that caught my interest is the venue - I have been hearing positive comments about Messina, an Italian restaurant in Hung Hom so that gave me the incentive to check it out myself.