Cooking with Oranges (Part 2): Citrus Pasta

For the past few days I have been cooking with products from Trepunti, an online shop owned by a Sicillian farmer. I shared my recipe for a dish prepared using Sicilian blood oranges and fennels, which were hardly an innovative combination. Neither does this one actually though I did make a slight change. 

Cooking with Oranges (Part 1): Baked Fish with Orange-Fennel Salad

Recently, a friend of mine referred me to Jennifer of Trepunti Sicily, a Hongkonger who ran a farm on the ground and also an import/export business bringing many of the Sicilian produces and food products to this part of the world. I learned a great deal more about the regional ingredients and cooking just by a quick chat and message exchanges with her, and she even arranged to have a goodie box available for me to pick up with some of the seasonal produce including many of the citrus fruits. 

Taste of Springtime

I found myself eating more and more at Japanese restaurants lately – maybe that’s subconsciously my way of getting through the pain of feeling stuck in town for over 2 years already. One of the most recent ones I tried was Nagamoto, a Kappo-style restaurant in Central headed by Chef Teruhiko Nagamoto. 

Three in Three

It certainly felt like déjà vu when a few of us had lunch “together” at The Chairman across multiple tables – we did this last year because of COVID lockdown, and this time again. And credits to the restaurant for being accommodative and flexible despite the circumstances. And surprisingly, it’s our third visit to the restaurant in as many months - we were just extremely lucky getting a table to eat.

Quick And Easy

Sushi Shion does have that feel of those sushi-ya in Ginza, situated inside a random commercial building on Wellington Street with the door right by the lift lobby. Craving for a proper sushi meal brought me here and I was lucky to get a booking for solo lunch at the counter one weekday.  

Grand Majestic

I don’t really buy the PR rhetoric that the décor of Grand Majestic Sichuan took inspiration from an old “ritzy supper club” in the 60’s, but the setting did remind me a little of those “grand” Chinese restaurants/banquet halls common in Hong Kong in the old days with the same festive red color tone and touches of gold for the flamboyant feel. There’s always an appetite for high-end Chinese restaurant in the middle of the business district so the restaurant, centrally located inside The Landmark’s Alexandria House building, is a welcoming addition despite we are still in the middle of the pandemic lockdown. 

Casual Bistro Brunch

We were determined not to make this little freezing rain ruined our weekend lunch plan, a rare occasion that we were able to be out and about eating at a proper restaurant. It’s been a long while since we were last at Louise – in fact if I remember correctly that’s only our second time and I felt like it’s a century ago.

Keeping the Tradition

We managed to keep our “tradition” of eating at Caprice during this past Lunar New Year long weekend. We have been eating out much less these days so this did feel like an even more special occasion.

Mora

Opening a new restaurant in Hong Kong during this challenging time required certain level of confidence, something Chef Vicky Lau has no lack of, first with her Michelin-starred, over a decade old Tate Dining Room and now Mora, her first venture with focus on Chinese x French cooking. 

3pm Dinner

Upon learning the new dine-in ban announced by the government in early January, the first phone call I made was to The Chairman to make sure my dinner booking can be switched to late afternoon to stay within the rule. With a booking at this ever popular restaurant became one of the most sought after commodity in town (despite the COVID downturn), we intend to do anything we could to keep the original plan, even though it meant having dinner at 3pm, and being seated in separate tables for our group of 8.