The Most Exciting Restaurant Opening

There are every reason to be excited about the opening of Aulis at the turn of the year. Chef Simon Rogan is considered one of the greatest British chef of our time, and with a few Michelin-starred restaurants under his belt, has decided to open a couple new restaurants in Hong Kong as his first overseas venture, with Aulis opening in January quickly followed by a more casual eatery Roganic the next month.

Festive Menu

It was great coming back to Hoi King Heen 2 weeks ago to check out some of the new dishes by Chef Leung Fai Hung, including a few that he specifically prepared for the Chinese New Year coming in a couple weeks’ time.

Power Lunch

I rarely sat down for a proper lunch at a restaurant during the week, but recently I dropped by Lobster Bar at Island Shangri-la to check out their surf and turf menu. As one would imagine, just like any other normal weekday, the restaurant was dominated by the business crowd with suits and dresses but the slightly casual setting – more like a gastro-pub than a formal restaurant – made this an excellent venue for something less uptight.

One to Watch

I was happy and excited for Chef Stephanie Wong when her restaurant Roots finally opened in Wanchai after the two separate stints at PMQ Taste Kitchen mid last year. I walked by the place a couple of times in the past few weeks and finally got a chance to sit down and check out her food 2 weeks ago.

Solid Choice for Canto Food

We never need a reason to eat out well, but of course, it helped when our friends J and D asked us to join their family for dinner at The Chairman a couple of weeks ago. The place is always a solid choice for some classic Cantonese dishes and this time I was tasked to sort out the menu for the 8 of us.

Friends Gathering

When my uni mate J and his family returned from China for a quick vacation here, a few of us met up over dinner at Yat Tung Heen in Jordan. It’s been a while since my last visit, and they went through quite a bit of renovation along with the rest of the hotel, transforming itself from the conventional tourist hotel to more a trendy, young and hip style properties complete with a food hall and even co-working space upstairs.

Quick Middle Eastern Meal

We have always wanted to check out the ever-popular Francis, the restaurant in Star Street area specializing in Middle Eastern cuisine, and we thought it’s a good idea to visit when half the town was out on holidays somewhere during the Christmas season. And even that, there’s a short line when we walked in one early evening in late December, and it’s a 20 minute wait before we could be seated at the bar counter.

First dinner of the year

What’s originally planned to be a small group dinner to buzz in the new year of 2019 turned out to be a dinner for 28 people spreading over 2 big tables on January 1 in a restaurant in Shau Kei Wan which we frequented. We came to Kam Tung Tai Restaurant regularly for some casual but well-cooked home-style dishes and were always delighted to share this with our friends, plus being in a much bigger group meant we could try more dishes that we normally would not be able to with just the two of us.

Once a year

Kudos to the Michelin Guide Hong Kong/Macau team for putting together another fabulous event at City of Dreams Macau yet again where restaurants were awarded and chefs were celebrated over an evening of festivities at the black-tie Gala Dinner mid-December last year.

Pre-Holiday Surprise Feast

We intentionally didn’t make a fuss of telling Chef Dan Calvert in advance that we were coming to his restaurant a few weeks back (meant to be a surprise), but glad to see him and his team working hard in the kitchen as we walked into Belon at Soho just right before Christmas and for the first time since the place was awarded one Michelin star (and a well-deserved one). Our friend V was in town briefly and she made the booking to meet up with some of our other friends for some good food and wines.

A New Casual Shabu Shabu Joint

The entrance of the new Shabu Shabu Shiki restaurant did somewhat resembles those that one may find inside commercial buildings in Ginza Tokyo, with just a small sign at the door and a long corridor leading into a cozy dining room at the back. The former space of La Bombance (a restaurant that I loved but sadly closed a few months ago) right in the middle of Causeway Bay has become a pop-up venue for this new shabu shabu restaurant by the same group, which my friend (and dinner host) D was describing (quite accurately) as a casual and reasonably priced restaurant using top-notch Japanese ingredients.

After Work Sushi

I wanted to reward myself after being stuck at work for a Saturday morning, so I made a last-minute booking at Sushi Shin of Central the moment I left office and walked over to the restaurant once they said they could accommodate me at the sushi counter.

Night of Shuan Yang Rou

I thought we caught the perfect weather for a hotpot dinner at Dong Lai Shun a few weeks ago when the temperature dropped momentarily to mid-teens. Despite the restaurant - located in the basement of Royal Garden Hotel in TST East – is most famous for its Northern Chinese-style hotpot, I have never tried it until this time.