Tempura Kaiseki

Just as Yakitori Hirako which we visited was no ordinary Yakitori place, Tenmasa that we went the next day was no ordinary Tempura place either. 

All About Dried Tangerine Peel

You couldn’t help but feel the passion Chef Li has for his favorite ingredient Dried Tangerine Peel (陳皮) whenever he started talking about it. From the different types of tangerines that were used, to the way they were prepared in his hometown of Xinhui 新會 in Guangdong Province near Guangzhou and Shunde (which arguably produced the best dried tangerine peel), to how they were dried and aged and different flavor and aroma profiles developed, Chef Li is like a living encyclopedia for these all. And a few months ago, he even came up with a Dried Tangerine Peel-themed special menu at his restaurant The Legacy House at Rosewood Hong Kong, which was quickly sold out.

Burnt Ends Re-visited

It was definitely not the same Burnt Ends that we last visited when it's still in its old Chinatown location. What used to be a tight, cozy space with nothing but a long kitchen bar and hole-in-the-wall vibe has been converted into a much larger space slightly off the city center and completed with separate bar and dining areas in the hip neighborhood of Dempsey Hills converted from an old military barracks. 

Lingonberry Meal

We spent one evening to do we thought to be a “very London thing” – that is to have a pre-theatre dinner at a restaurant followed by watching the actual theater play at West End. And doing it on a day with absolutely horrid rain and freezing cold - along the same theme, I suppose.

Bring Your Own Seafood

Dinner at one of those seafood restaurants in Saikung is our event of choice whenever we got out-of-town friends visiting Hong Kong. I guess there's nothing more iconic to what Hong Kong culture is about with a meal at a restaurant with live seafood picked fresh from the water tanks and cooked any way you want.

The New Seasons

The restaurant Seasons at Lee Garden turned a new page recently with Chef Olivier departed (hence his name was dropped from the name of the restaurant) and taking his place is the new head chef Lorenz Hoja whose last stop was in Singapore with L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon there. I normally would wait a few menu iterations to let any new chef settled in before trying their food, but the restaurant’s PR team graciously extend an invitation to me to try some of his new dishes recently, so I guess it doesn’t hurt having a sneak preview.

Light Sushi Lunch

I felt I needed a proper sushi lunch to satisfy my crave for Japanese food, so I made a booking at Sushi Wadatsumi in Sheung Wan for a Saturday afternoon. I have been to its predecessor, Sushi Iwa, in its old location before and thought it’s right in the middle of the pack, so I am curious how the restaurant fared, now that they have changed the name and moved to its current location in Sheung Wan, and managed to keep its Michelin star.

Tokyo in 40: Sunday Sushi Lunch

Finding a proper place to eat in Tokyo on Sundays is not as easy as one might think since many fine dining establishments chose to rest on that day, but Sushi Shin in Nishi-azabu is a rare exception, which stays open on Sunday and closes every Monday instead. So I asked the hotel concierge to make the booking for me for Sunday afternoon.

Tokyo in 40: Mo-DEN Kaiseki

After breakfast, I managed a quick nap in my hotel room (thanks Hilton for letting me check in at 8am - must be my record of earliest check in at a hotel), and after that I was all refreshed and ready for lunch at Den, a restaurant owned by the young Chef Zaiyu Hasegawa that many of my friends have gone and loved, and now it became so popular that I needed to call them a month in advance to confirm a spot.

Stumbling Across Tim Ho Wan

It’s a pure coincidence that we ended up at Tim Ho Wan on this holiday morning – we were aimlessly driving around trying to find a parking space we could stop and eat and we ended up just a couple blocks away from the restaurant's Shum Shui Po branch, so that is why we dropped by for an impromptu breakfast stop. Both of us have never been to this branch so we were happy to try for the first time.

Macau Dimsum Part 1: Pearl Dragon

Given their target clientele, there's no lack of high-end Chinese restaurants in many of the new Macau casino/hotel complexes. This time right after we arrived and settled in our hotel room, we headed straight out to Studio City nearby for a dimsum lunch at the relatively new Pearl Dragon Restaurant.

Speedy Fine-Dining Lunch

As I was quickly winding down my current gig, I let myself a bit loose and went off for lunch at Seasons a couple MTR stops away. It was only my first time coming here during the day and I immediately noticed the big difference in the clientele and atmosphere – during day-time the place certainly felt more like a power lunch spot rather than as a restaurant for an intimate night out sort of a venue.

Sunday Brunch at Akrame

We had the opportunity to check out the new Sunday brunch menu at the Michelin-starred restaurant Akrame in Wanchai a few weekends ago. I was here a few months ago when Chef Akrame Benallal flew in from Paris to launch the then-seasonal tasting menu, and this time, it’s his protégé Chef Lise at the helm, delivering a delightful 5-course menu on a hot, but nice Sunday afternoon.

Seiromushi Pit Stop

With time to spare on our last day of the journey before catching the return flight home from Fukuoka early evening, we made a slight detour to visit the town of Kashima right near the boundary between Saga and Nagasaki prefectures for a morning stroll along the quiet path known as Sakagura Dori, or Sake Breweries Street, lined with sake breweries housed in old buildings dated back to the late Edo period.

Then we headed north and stopped by the town of Saga on our way for a quick lunch at Kira, a restaurant specializes in beef cuisine. The restaurant, with a few branches around Kyushu and in Tokyo in addition to its original Saga location, is owned by JA Saga, the regional farm cooperatives. They are the champions for fresh farm products from the region, especially Saga Beef, perhaps their best known export famous for the rich wagyu meat taste and marbled fat.

One Dish Wonder in Miyajima

We decided to have lunch first before we went sightseeing as we stepped out of the ferry into the picturesque Miyajima Island just off Hiroshima. After all since we were spending the night here there's no need to rush through all the scenic spots like most tourists on day trip had to do. And our first lunch destination was at a small restaurant called Fujitaya, the only Michelin-starred restaurant on this tiny island.

True Sunday Brunch at Spoon

We were at InterContinental Hong Kong a couple weekends ago to check out the new Sunday lunch menu at Spoon by Alain Ducasse. It was a particularly lovely day to be seated in this elegant yet relaxing dining room while enjoying the breath-taking view of the Hong Kong skyline across the harbor under this sunny weather.

Decent Edomae Sushi

With only a short weekend stay and so many new places to try in Macau, I was debating whether we should spend more time for local, casual meals or the more upscale, fine-dining outlets. But with every weather forecast warning against a weekend thunderstorm, I played safe and made a Sunday lunch booking at Shinji by Kanesaka, the new sushi joint just right across the street from our hotel. At least we didn't have to walk too far in case weather turned bad (which it turned out did for a good part in the morning)

Quick Meetup at On Dining

After a quick exchange of emails before the end of last year, a few friends of ours decided on a mini get-together over wine and cheese at On Dining Kitchen on a Friday evening in January. Our friend JC is a regular of the restaurant so we left that to her to sort out the booking and other arrangement.

Tosca's Wine Lunch

I have always wanted to check out the wine lunch series at Tosca at The Ritz Carlton Hong Kong, where every month a new theme was introduced for their weekend menu with specific wine and food pairings, whether that be based on a specific region, or grape varietal or sometimes even production method (they did one with biodynamic wines before)

The Very Best Dinner at Tempura Fukamachi

I was surprised when I realized how long it has been since I last visited Tempura Fukamachi. Over the years I had the opportunity to check out a few tempura outlets around Tokyo, and so far Fukamachi was the one I love most. And therefore I felt obligated to come back this time when I was in Tokyo, even if that meant I need to change my schedule to fit the dinner in.