Now Asia's Best

We love our last meal at The Chairman in January so much that we made another booking to eat at the restaurant before we finished the meal, and before we know for sure dinner service would be resumed by then. And I am glad that we did have the foresight of planning in advance. 

Spreading His Wing

It took a bit of guts to open a new restaurant in this time of uncertainty; more so for someone without formal Chinese cuisine training to start one focusing on Chinese fine dining, in the city where there’s no lack of top-notch culinary talents. But that’s the hill chef Vicky intended to climb with his new venture Wing being the first step of that quest. 

Suan Cai Beurre Blanc

I wish I could say this is entirely my idea, but this originally came from a dish I had recently, when the chef prepared the seared threadfin fish with fermented cabbage, fish broth and chili oil, a dish said to be inspired by the Sichuan classic “Suan Cai Yu” (hot and sour fish with fermented vegetables 酸菜魚). Taking the cue, I decided to do my own version, switching the local threadfin fish with the pack of Patagonian Toothfish which I received from the online seafood purveyor Qwehli served with Beurre Blanc sauce made based on the traditional recipe with the addition of “suan cai” (fermented vegetables 酸菜) and fatty pork. 

Poetic Menu

I was scratching my head when I first saw our menu at Cuisine Cuisine at The Mira recently. With the poetic and somewhat cryptic names, Chef Edwin didn’t give away much what we were going to have at a dinner at the restaurant a few weeks ago. 

It's All About The Season

I love the sense of exclusivity when we walked into Kappo Rin at Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong for our dinner. With the dining restriction still in place, the counter-only restaurant specialized in Japanese kappou cuisine could only seat two groups at a time, so we only shared the long counter with another couple in front of the chefs working behind the open kitchen the entire evening. 

Challenge Accepted

Before the Easter long weekend, the team at Qwehli has generously sent me a few of their products for me to try and see what I could do with them. One of which was their Atlantic Salmon which was farmed in the North Sea in Denmark, and delivered to me as the frozen whole fillet with the skin on. I took it on as a challenge to see how many dishes I could create with this 2kg piece, and as it turned out, quite a lot actually.

Brunch at Night

It did feel like there’s a common theme going on with another all-you-can-eat meal at Conrad Hong Kong after our “unlimited” Sunday brunch at Henry only a few days ago. The weekend buffet at Brasserie on the Eighth has always been well-known for its luxurious offering and huge spread of food and drink across both the brasserie and the Nicholini’s next door, and in the month of March, they brought this to night-time for one evening only with its “brunch at night” special menu and asked me to join the fun. 

Better To Know Someone

“Better to know someone than to know how to read” (識人好過識字)… that’s a common local saying that highlights the importance of having the right connection rather than the right credential when it came to having a good meal. I never got around to eat at Run, the Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant at St Regis Hong Kong, so when my friend S asked whether I was free to eat there one evening with a group of friends, with him taking up the task of sorting out the menu personally with Chef Hung who’s the head chef there, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. 

Unlimited Servings

We caught up with our friends A and C over Sunday Brunch at Henry of Rosewood Hong Kong a few weekends ago, as we knew they were always up for good food. I enjoyed my last visit when this Texas-inspired smokehouse first opened more than a year ago and I would be interested to see how Chef Nate and his team evolves over what’s been a challenging times in restaurant industry in the past year. 

More Wines Than Food

While we were still waiting for our turn to check out Batard in Sai Ying Pun, with their waiting list now extended to 3 months plus, we went to visit the wine bar by the same group on the other side of the harbor at K11 Musea a few Fridays ago.

Mono Lunch

A few weeks ago we had lunch at Mono, something we meant to do for a while but didn’t get a chance to. I have been to the restaurant twice last year and enjoyed Chef Ricardo’s unique take on French cooking with heavy South American influence in his casual restaurant in Central which opened in late 2019/early 2020 (which seems ages ago, I know), so a return visit was definitely warranted.