Lantau Road Trip

"Cows!" we exclaimed at the first sight of wild cows wandering on the road along the southern coast of Lantau. And we felt the urge to stop the car and take hundreds of pictures of them enjoying their lunch on the curb-side pasture. Of course, our enthusiasm soon died down as roving cows became a more common scene than say, taxis passing by.

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.

Tokyo in 40: Dinner at Kanda

While my Tokyo weekend was not entirely about food, I did have a few restaurants in mind that I was eager to try this time around. After an extraordinary lunch at Den just a few hours ago, in the evening I went for dinner at Chef Hiroyuki Kanda’s namesake restaurant at Moto-Azabu. Chef Kanda-san is a legend on his own, having earned the 3 stars for his restaurant Kanda in the first Michelin Guide Tokyo and retained the accolade til now. But this is not the only reason I wanted to visit the restaurant. A few years ago we had a memorable meal at Tokushima’s Aoyagi owned by Chef Hirohisa Koyama, whom Kanda-san has worked under for over a decade before going on his own in 2004. So with the chef coming through the school of one of the chefs I admired most I am curious to see how their cooking styles compare.

Tokyo in 40: Take Me Out to the Ballgame

I finally managed to catch a professional baseball game in Japan this time, as this is something I always wanted to do but never had a chance to. I was planning my itinerary for Saturday afternoon when I realized Den was literally right next to Meiji Jingu Stadium which is the home field for Yakult Swallows, and they happened to be playing at home that weekend against Seibu Lions. So I thought it would be a good idea to attend the game after my lunch at the restaurant.

Tokyo in 40: Mo-DEN Kaiseki

After breakfast, I managed a quick nap in my hotel room (thanks Hilton for letting me check in at 8am - must be my record of earliest check in at a hotel), and after that I was all refreshed and ready for lunch at Den, a restaurant owned by the young Chef Zaiyu Hasegawa that many of my friends have gone and loved, and now it became so popular that I needed to call them a month in advance to confirm a spot.

Tokyo in 40: Ramen Breakfast

Last year I spent a quick weekend in Tokyo with approximately only 50 hours on the ground - turned out the weekend was filled with happenings but didn't feel the rush. So this time I am doing it again with an even shorter stay (10 hours less, to be exact), made possible by the favorable flight schedule by the local low-cost carrier HK Express with red-eye flights both way.

Ushering In a New Era

Recent changes at Caprice saw Chef Guillaume Galliot now at the helm. And some of us went there recently to check out the new weekend lunch menu as he has well settled in at this Michelin-starred restaurant at Four Seasons which happened to be one of my personal favorites in town. It’s another full-house at the weekend lunch service and this time, we were seated at the round table near the front and the window, offering us a view of everything.

Drinks at the Barber Shop

Despite the un-proportionally high number of drinking venues at MO, I thought I have tried them all – then I was told there’s a little bar in Mandarin Barber which actually opens to the public (not just the customers at the barber shop) And one Monday evening, my friend J and I went to check it out.

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.

New Steakhouse in Town

Everyone at our table walked in and asked the same question - "what was this place before it's converted into a fancy steakhouse?" (by the way it was a spa, according to Google Map) A few evenings ago we were at Wolfgang's Steakhouse, an import from New York City, on their first day of business. The restaurant took over this vast space on the street level on the quiet Duddell Street in Central and has turned into that classic steakhouse look, with the classy façade, dark wooden décor with gold accent, with the bar in front near the reception and dining area further back. We were all amazed at how this hardly noticeable store space has gone through such transformation (hence the question)

Extended Breakfast

In between patches of rain, we managed to conduct a Sunday morning food crawl in old town Macau as our extended breakfast on our last day of vacation. When I look beyond the dazzling casinos and shopping malls that came as a dime a dozen in the newer part of town, I actually found the old town more charming, with traditional shops inside relatively well-maintained building in mixed Chinese and European style - thanks to the Portuguese colonial influence.

Macau Dimsum Part 2: Golden Flower

Of the many restaurants on my to-try list, Golden Flower has always been the elusive one for whatever reasons. But we worked around our itinerary a little bit this time to make sure we stopped by for lunch at the restaurant this time we were in town for the weekend.

Macau Dimsum Part 1: Pearl Dragon

Given their target clientele, there's no lack of high-end Chinese restaurants in many of the new Macau casino/hotel complexes. This time right after we arrived and settled in our hotel room, we headed straight out to Studio City nearby for a dimsum lunch at the relatively new Pearl Dragon Restaurant.

Fancy lunch across harbor

We thought we should give it a try to some of the restaurants on the other side (of the harbor) so we made a booking for lunch at Epure. We have been here before once about 2 years ago and thought that was enjoyable, so we expected even more now that they have the first Michelin star. Though the main dining area was more or less the same as before, now they also expanded to include an outdoor area for their Bistro/Café serving a more casual, all-day dining menu. Definitely worth our consideration next time when we wanted something less formal.