Another Restaurant Opening

Even though Cyberport was hardly 30 minutes away by car from home but it did feel like another world. When we heard our friends Caleb and Josh’s new venture, called Interval Farmacy, has just opened in this part (outside) of town, we went to check it out with my parents and made this a field trip of sort on a sunny Sunday afternoon. 

The Long Awaited Sushi

It's been a good six month since we last had a proper sushi meal. When we were able to travel to Japan a few times a year, we often prefer eating sushi while we were away rather than having that in Hong Kong, but well, now we just have to settle with whatever we could until we are able to hit the road again. 

Cultivate

Going to a new restaurant on its first week of soft opening was not something I would normally do, but we went to check out Cultivate a few weeks ago when chef Leonard told us there’s two seats available on a Wednesday, two days after they opened its door. There are every reason to be confident – I was impressed by his creative dishes from a few times I ate at his residence-turned-private-kitchen – and expected him to replicate the same level of success with the same team over at this proper dining space up in Soho, with the long open kitchen and counter that can seat around 20. 

Three Hour Sharp

We made the dinner reservation at VEA as soon as the local dining restriction was lifted, but that still meant we need to wait for almost a month for the earliest possible timeslot (in early March). That showed how popular the restaurant has been despite the challenging COVID situation. 

Dinner Plus a Late Night Distillery Visit

We were surprised to see Hop Sze Restaurant completely packed when we walked through the frosted glass door late evening. This cozy neighborhood restaurant always attracted quite a following, and even more so given it's the second week in almost 3 months when we were allowed to dine out at night and people flock to enjoy the newly-granted freedom. 

Calling This A Series

We made the table booking at Ando in late February just as we finished our lunch on the Boxing Day 2 months ago. With another meal in between, that made it three in as many months that we had Chef Agustin’s food at his restaurant. And first time since they got their first Michelin star. 

The First Taste

Once in a blue moon I was lucky enough to be given a sneak preview of something before everyone else – this time it’s for the soon-to-be-launched Tatler Dining Kitchen series by chef Antimo Maria Merone at the brand new venue at HAUS on Queen’s Road Central. 

The New Man Wah

Other than the new Mandarin Club on the 23rd Floor, February also marked the opening month for two restaurants at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong. One of which was Man Wah, the Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant which went through the renovation and now with an expanded space and totally different décor, and that’s where we dropped by for lunch right after we checked in for our staycation weekend.  

The New Mandarin Club

We were excited to check out the new Mandarin Club facility in its first month of operation during our weekend staycation at Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong. With almost all the luxury hotels in town offering executive lounge facilities as one of the options for their guests, it’s about time they followed suit, converting what used to be the conference rooms on the high floors into an exclusive space where guests could rest, had a drinks and some simple food, or work in a more relaxed environment.

Suite Staycation

With no end of travel restriction in sight, we decided to continue our “staycation series” with a weekend spent at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong after the busy Lunar New Year and Valentine’s Day weekends.