East meets West Menu plus the fireworks

It's no secret that the best vantage point to watch the festive fireworks display - as they do every year on the second day of Chinese New Year over the Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong - is at the terrace of The Peninsula, with an unobstructed harborside view and right in front of the fireworks action. That's something we realized when we came with our friends for a festive celebration at the hotel a few years ago.

Ad Hoc Dinner at Neighborhood

The other day I was asked by a friend what my go-to restaurant is in town - I thought about this question for a moment, and other than a few places near where we live that we go regularly and a couple places that I felt was a bit snobbish to say, the first one I could think of was Neighborhood, a French bistro-style restaurant in Soho that we adore much. It's good for almost every occasion and at any time of the evening; it's comfortable and reasonably priced, and the food never disappoints - in fact I couldn't recall having a bad meal or even a bad dish there.

The Timeless Savarin

When our friends R and A asked us to bring a dessert to dinner at their place recently, I decided to do something simple yet classic, making use a small set of readily-available ingredients in the kitchen (hence saved me another trip to the supermarket in a cold winter day).

Friendly Omakase Dinner

One random evening in late January we went on a weeknight date to the Japanese restaurant Kishoku in Causeway Bay inside a commercial building right behind Times Square (courtesy of the restaurant's PR team). Well we have come here on several occasions before but strangely, never both of us together, and I haven't been back since a new team of chefs were brought in a few months ago.

Snake Feast in the Cold

I certainly picked the best time for a traditional snake feast when I joined a group of foodies and wine connoisseurs to eat at a specialist restaurant in Kowloon in one of the coldest weeks in town on record.

I have had snake soup a few times already during the season but it didn't stop me from signing up for yet another snake feast when i saw the notice for the event from Slow Food Hong Kong - this time at the famous Shia Wong Hip Restaurant in Shum Shui Po. There were a handful of snake restaurants in the old district of Shum Shui Po in Kowloon, and Shia Wong Hip is the one I go quite regularly, for they are one of the few remaining licensed  establishments in town to sell live snakes, hence they keep a good supply of the freshest meat for their dishes.

Shopping Mall Sushi (Not What You Think)

We are very curious to see how a serious sushi joint in a high street shopping mall would fare when we made a lunch reservation at Sushi Tokami which opened only a few months ago at Harbour City in TST. Of course we are not talking about just another regular restaurant chain - after all Sushi Tokami Hong Kong is the first overseas branch of the highly-regarded, Michelin-starred sushi-ya in Tokyo bearing the same name.

KOKO Get-together with the Gang

The recent opening of Koko, a Japanese izakaya on Wyntham first caught my attention not because of its food but its sake selection. With professional footballer turned sake master Hidetoshi Nakata being one of the partners (along with the KEE Club people) there's no surprise that the restaurant has access to some of the rarest sake selections directly from most sort-after breweries (of course none more special than "N" Sake, one Nakata-san collaborated with the famous Takagi brewery - maker of the Juyondai sakes)

My Mac Attack

Many could probably vouch that Macaroni and Cheese is the ultimate comfort food of all. In whatever version you are familiar with, whether it's from the iconic blue box made by Kraft that most people grew up with, or as the sidedish of choice at fastfood joints, or the more upscale version served in bars and restaurants using proper cheeses (the grown-up version so to speak), this simple combination of ingredients and flavors - the warm elbow pasta, mixed with the creamy cheesy sauce, certainly brought satisfaction in the stomach and warmth in your heart and soul.

Settling for an Early Dinner

We were pulling our hair trying to figure out a place for an early dinner in Macau before heading back to Hong Kong Sunday night. On one hand we don't wanna settle for generic, food-court quality food, which was a dime a dozen in the casino complexes. On the other hand, with only an hour or so to spare, it would have been too much a rush trying to go through a proper, sit-down meal.

Decent Edomae Sushi

With only a short weekend stay and so many new places to try in Macau, I was debating whether we should spend more time for local, casual meals or the more upscale, fine-dining outlets. But with every weather forecast warning against a weekend thunderstorm, I played safe and made a Sunday lunch booking at Shinji by Kanesaka, the new sushi joint just right across the street from our hotel. At least we didn't have to walk too far in case weather turned bad (which it turned out did for a good part in the morning)

Cunha Street Breakfasts

Before we parted way with our gracious host J, she left us a little map of more restaurant recommendations near Cunha Street not too far away from where we were staying for the night. And we decided to spend the Sunday morning to explore a couple of them on the list.

Fun at the Butchery Workshop

Recently I joined a few others for a Butchery Workshop hosted by Chef Tom Aikens at his restaurant, The Fat Pig by Tom Aikens, in Times Square. Given I have yet tried both of the restaurants he's currently overseeing (Fat Pig and also The Pawn in Wanchai), I am interested in trying his dishes, but I am even more interested in picking up some butchering skills from him, for this is not something I could easily get some hands-on experience with.