Fine Dining in the Basement

The setting of Artifact may not fit the usual definition of "fine dining" - diners literally sat across an open kitchen/bar in the area amongst other food stalls inside the new Basehall 2 complex at the basement of Jardine House, but I was impressed with the dishes presented by Chef Sato Kiyoshi and his team at a dinner there recently. 

Agora II

Recently I returned to Agora to check out Chef Antonio's new seasonal menu. I enjoyed my last time out here when they first opened their doors a few months ago so I was eager to see how the place evolved given time to run in. 

Dinner with Visitor

Wing has been our go-to restaurant when we want to show our out-of-town friends some finest Chinese dishes in town - something I have shared in a newspaper interview recently. And we did just that a few weeks ago, eating with B who came back to visit from Canada. 

Mingoo's Night

We had dinner at Hansik Goo the other night, when Chef Mingoo Kang (of the Michelin-starred Mingles in Seoul) returned for a visit and as the "guest chef" at the restaurant he founded a few years back. This time (at the event dubber "Mingoo's Night") he joined hands with Chef Steve, the "resident" executive chef, to introduce the new seasonal menu so we became the first group of diners to have a taste of it. 

Pair of Old Wines

I managed to make a second booking for lunch at The Chairman when they opened up for reservation so this time we went with a slightly bigger group on a Sunday afternoon. I felt I pretty much went through most of the dishes in their re-designed menu in my previous visits so this time it's pretty much a highlight of everything that I liked. 

Inside the Tower

Our dimsum lunch at La Chine turned out to be a good surprise. We wanted to try something new during our quick stay in Macau and this Chinese restaurant inside The Parisien came into the radar. We figured since we haven't been inside the fake Eiffel Tower in Macau we may treat this as an extra sightseeing stop too. 

Over the Moon

We confirmed our booking at Sichuan Moon as soon as we knew Chef Andre would be in Macau at his restaurant on the same weekend we were in town for. We always wanted to visit since they open in early 2019 but never got a chance to get around to do that until now. 

All Inclusive

We made our booking for a Macau weekend getaway way before the Covid lockdown was over - a brilliant move in hindsight as the hotel rooms were soon fetch up by people eager to travel once the travel restriction was lifted. And we got this incredible package for booking when they got almost zero visitor. 

Slightly Longer Lunch

I was at lunch at Estro the other day to check out some new dishes on their seasonal menu. It's been a while since my last visit (in June last year - I checked) but we were at Chef Antimo's crossover dinner at Tatler Dining event a few months ago. Anyway, it's great to sit down at his restaurant once again with the most relaxed vibe (the dark pastel color theme helps) at the table directly looking over the open kitchen. 

Eight Slices Tasting Menu

We have had tasting menus of different themes before but I believe this is the first time we have a "Menu Degustazione" around pizzas. We made the booking as soon as we heard the Pizza Bar on 58th at Mandarin Oriental Tokyo is doing a popup at Landmark Mandarin and very happy that we did - soon enough it was booked out. 

Two Years Later

Chef Leonard reminded me that we haven't been back to his restaurant Cultivate since their opening week - well, guilty as charged. We enjoyed our dinner last time but somehow we just procrastinated on making a return visit. Until a few weeks ago. 

Seasonal Get-Together

Felt like we are now doing dinner at Ryota at least once every season - thank to our host C who made the effort to organize - and this time with their winter menu on deck a few weeks ago. We were the only group of diners in that evening so we had the whole place to ourselves with undivided attention from their staff front and back. Chef Ryota was not in that night but I didn't see any change in quality of their dishes in spite of his absence, which is a good thing.  

CENSU

Censu has been on my list of restaurants to visit for a while. Technically I have never been but I did try Chef Shun's cooking at a pop-up event a couple years ago right before the restaurant's opening. 

Big Group Gathering

We had dinner at Neighborhood just a couple of weeks ago with a big group of friends (thanks to our friend P who put this together rounding up the group and working with the chef for the menu). We were happy to be back even though Chef David was not around this time – after all it’s been a while since our last visit to the restaurant. 

Same Same But Different

I went back to Aulis for a second time in a month, this time on an invited dinner tasting session and hosted by Chef Charlie Tayler from Aulis London who’s visiting while the Soho restaurant is undergoing renovation. I enjoyed the dinner here in early January and I was promised some of the dishes would be different this time, so didn’t mind a return visit this quick. 

First of the Year

We had lunch at Caprice a few weeks ago just as we wrapped up the long Lunar New Year holiday. What started off out of convenience some years ago – back then it was far easier to make a booking when people normally go for Chinese food during the festive season - has become our little tradition to start the year with one fine lunch date, even though their table has now become sought after all year round. 

Castellana

We had dinner at Castellana in Central a couple of weeks ago right before the Lunar New Year long holiday. The restaurant has gone through quite some changes since our last visit a few years back, now at the new venue in Central and a new chef on board, but they remained uncompromisingly Piedmontese, serving the contemporary style of cuisine from the region known for white truffles and Barolo wines, among many other ingredients and produce from the province in Northern Italy. 

Boxing Day Lunch

Sometimes going to the same restaurant within a short span meant one gotta end up with some repeated dishes, but “no problem” at The Chairman this time when I went back for lunch 2 weeks after another dinner there. With the new menu system we were able to pick from a list of dishes so I was able to choose something different (mostly) and still got some of their signatures. 

Aulis Pop Up

“Chef Oli in town, special menu, wanna go?” My friend V pinged me about the recent special event at Aulis/Roganic Hong Kong hosted by Chef Oli Marlow coming in from the UK for a short visit. And we were able to snap up the seats on a Saturday evening just before the 10-night-only event was sold out within days.  

Getting My Own

“I got the booking on my own!” is probably not something people would brag about but it’s my first time being able to secure a table in this ultra-popular restaurant CHAAT inside Rosewood through their website instead of tagging along someone’s booking or got invited to one of their dinner tastings as I did previously. People who tried to make a reservation there would understand the sense of achievement. 

Sushi Night in Fukuoka

We spent most of our time in Fukuoka exploring the casual food scene but we did have a more serious sushi meal one evening at a restaurant called Sushi Kuma. 

Two Point Zero

"Wanna join us at dinner at The Chairman?" when my friend F offered me one of the prized seats for a meal at the most sought-after restaurant in town, I didn't hesitate to say yes even though that meant having two serious meals back-to-back on the same day.

Middle of the Latin American Series

“We were in a roll for Latin American cooking,” I jokingly told Chef Marco at the new restaurant Rosita when we visited one December evening. With lunch at Ando just the day before and dinner at Mono a few days later, we squeezed in one dinner just in between at this new restaurant specializing in contemporary Latin American cuisine, and one happened to be the brainchild of Chef Agustin from Ando and Chef Ricardo from Mono. 

Mono Before Christmas

We had another outstanding meal at Mono a few weeks ago. Realizing it’s been a while since our last visit we made an effort to go one more time before the turn of the year, and we were glad we did just that. 

Dinner At An Old Pawn Shop

The historical site of Woo Cheong Pawn Shop on Wanchai's Johnston Road has gone through iterations of changes, with the western, contemporary restaurant The Pawn made way to the modern Chinese Woo Cheong Tea House in late 2021. 

Wing with Friends

At our recent dinner at Wing with a few friends before Christmas, I was blown away by the number of new dishes that Chef Vicky brought to the table and the way he managed to seek improvements on some of the already excellent dishes in his repertoire.  

Post-COVID Getaway

It was a wise choice in retrospect to have picked Kyushu as our first vacation destination post-COVID. The short flight from Hong Kong to Fukuoka and the proximity between the airport and downtown meant we could fully spend more time on the ground during our 5-day holiday, and so we booked our air ticket as soon as the news broke about the lifting of travel restrictions, then there’s a long 3 months wait before we actually took off at the end of November.