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. 

Authentic "Pun Choi" Experience

I cruised along the highway up to the township of Kam Tin near the border after receiving a late phone call from my friend A asking whether I am interested in a “Pun Choi” (盆菜) feast in the rural village in one evening. Just the other day I was telling my other friends that I would love to have an authentic Pun Choi experience some time, so I took this as God answering my prayers with this last-minute invitation.

Punjabi Feast After 9

We loved our late night dining experience at the Black Sheep Black Series last time around at Belon, and so when the restaurant group did it again offering set menus at special price in all of their restaurants, we decided to check out New Punjab Club on Wyndham Street. It’s a restaurant we heard a lot of good words about but never got around to visit, so this promotion just worked out perfectly for us.

A True Collaboration

We are always huge fans of Tong Chong Street Market, the Sunday farmer’s market started a few years ago by our friend J, which brings the best produce from local farms right to the backyard of our neighborhood. I love the idea of browsing around the stalls, learning more about all the wonderful stuff grown right here in Hong Kong and knowing the farmers who take good care of them – to me that’s where cooking starts. And last Sunday, the market went one step further, and together with the equally wonderful T.Dining team, hosted a one-night-only dinner event featuring the top local food and top local chefs.

Brunching at Bibo

Past weekend we went to Bibo to check out their new brunch menu. We haven’t been here for so long that we must have missed a few chapters of this restaurant’s history with a few chefs came and went before. And now Chef Nicholas Chew (formerly of Serge a la Phoque) is at the helm for almost a year already and brought more changes to its menu as he settled, and loving the food at Serge a la Phoque before it’s moved to London 2 years ago, we were curious how this would fare.

Something Off Menu

“Maybe let me do a Tom Kha Gai this time…” Chef Guillaume casually suggested when I told him we wanted to try some new dishes during our recent visit to his restaurant. Well he did make an amazing laksa-inspired dish last year (which I love), but still, we thought he was just joking this time.

Goodbye, Dickens Bar

We thought we should make a stop at Dickens Bar at The Excelsior for one last time before the legendary hotel and bar closed the door in March, and before everyone started to swamp the place again "for nostalgia’s sake" all of a sudden. On a random weeknight right before Chinese New Year with no sports events showing on TV, the place was still kinda packed with the bar and food crowd splitting roughly half and half with mostly locals (rather than out-of-towners staying at the hotel), and a few tables occupied by big group of people for some soft of celebration or gathering. Luckily we managed to fetch the last open table as we walked in.

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.

Anita Lo x Ho Lee Fook

Last week we stopped by Ho Lee Fook when TV chef Anita Lo was in town to present a crossover menu with Chef Jowett Yu for an one-night-only event at the restaurant. With both chefs with similar background and cooking styles, I am curious to see how this collaboration panned out so we made the booking straight away once we heard of this event.

New Style, New Location

I paid a visit to MIC Kitchen at their new location some time ago. The restaurant, which has been awarded Michelin star for many years (until the last edition), has quietly moved from their original location in the middle of nowhere in Kwun Tong to the heart of Central. There’s a sense of déjà vu as I stepped out of the elevator to the top floor of a commercial building on Stanley Street as I realized they took over the former space of Liberty Private Works, even inherited most of their set-up and décor with the same open kitchen and the surrounding counter seats.