Sushi Drama

I have been told repeatedly by my friends that the best sushi in Kanazawa is at this cozy restaurant called Otome Sushi, so we asked the travel concierge to help us make a booking and went on the last day of our trip. Given our flight was at in the early evening, I figured we should have plenty of time to make it back to the airport comfortably after finishing our meal there (more on that later).

Sushi Shinosuke

Our road trip through Central Japan was not meant to be just about food, but turned out we still had to twist our itinerary slightly to fit in a couple lunch reservations we made prior to our departure. First of those was at Sushi Shinosuke, the 10-seat sushi-ya in Kanazawa on the second day of our trip.

The Transformed Amber

I came to experience the transformation of Chef Richard Ekkebus’ Amber restaurant recently, shortly after the place reopened last month after the renovation. And when I said transformation, I am not just talking about just the remake of the dining area, now featuring a more relaxed, contemporary design with more natural light beaming through from the window, or the much expanded “show” kitchen, moving away from being just the backstage where food was prepared to being in the spotlight completed with dining counters, spacious cooking stations and wall décor.

When Weekend Buffet Was the Perfect Thing To Do

I am not the kind who usually vouch for all-you-can-eat menus, but this time we went along to one at The Tai Pan at The Murray hotel recently, joining a few friends of ours for a family gathering a few weekends ago.

Hometown Food

I have heard it all when people talk about their dining experience at Xin Rong Ji (新榮記), ranging from rage over the exorbitant bill that appeared at the end of the meal, to singing praises like they are in paradise, to simply an indifferent shrug. Such polarizing opinions always got me curious, and the best way to find out how I felt about was of course to try it myself, which we did a couple weekends ago when our friend organized a dinner gathering there.

Indian in Macau

Golden Peacock fits the bill when we wanted to look for something different to try whilst spending the weekend in Macau recently. Indian cuisine is not something we normally go for in this town but the Michelin star that they have been keeping for a number of years did make me curious how their food would fare.

The Perfect Celebration

We rarely contacted chefs specifically before any visit to their restaurants, not wanting to give them a wrong impression that we were expecting special treatments, but this time I did tell Chef Fabrice a month ago about our plan to eat at his restaurant in Macau, and made a special request to eat inside the kitchen. Blame that on the missus who asked for the "Chef’s Table" to celebrate her birthday.

Pleasant Lunch Surprise

We went easy on our recent Macau weekend trip with only one serious meal planned along with a couple casual lunches, and one of them was at a small restaurant called Root Macau. I have heard good things about the restaurant and the cooking of their chef Anthony, so we headed straight to the restaurant upon arriving at Macau late Saturday morning.

Four Pizzas, One Wine

On her brief return to Hong Kong, my friend V organized a few get-together meals around town and I managed to join her and some others over dinner at Kytaly, the “new-ish” pizza joint at Wyndham that many has said made the best pizza in Hong Kong.

Isola

“When was the last time you were in Isola?” Our host G posed this question to everyone at the table as we came over to the restaurant for dinner recently. And surprisingly, I was actually the only one among the four of us who remembered the days before the restaurant’s relocation from a higher floor at ifc mall to their current spot. A mystery of how this ever popular dining and drinking spot among nearby office staff remained under the radar for so long.

A Restaurant By Sommeliers

It’s been quite a transformation at Landmark Mandarin Oriental ever since the original Amber was closed for renovation six months ago. They literally re-built Amber from ground up with a new kitchen, a new dining area and a new dining concept, and in addition, three other new restaurants opened up on that floor. And I went to try out one of them called Somm one afternoon.