the mind blowing logy

Our short trip to Taiwan was about eating and drinking as much as about concert-going - well, almost. But with us focusing on Taipei alone we got time to visit a few of the best restaurants in town, places that I have always wanted to try.  

Looking Back, and Looking Ahead

It's a pure coincidence that we dined at 3 Michelin 2-starred restaurants within the same week in early October, and Arbor was one of them during that crazy eating week. 

More Good, More Food

We love the idea when chefs Agustin, Ricardo and Matt joined force to do a one-night dinner event to raise fund for More Good. We came to know about this organization with the mission of helping the needy in Hong Kong by preparing nutritious meal-boxes from its kitchen venue in Chaiwan, and we have been helping out as volunteers once a month to help with food preparation and packing. So we are more than happy to lend our support in any way we could, and even better, got a “free meal” out of it. 

The Second Auor

Just so happened I returned to Auor for a second meal there in these few months. I love the food and dining experience in my first visit so I set my expectation higher this time given it's an invited tasting of some of Chef Edward's new dishes. 

Late Dinner at Neighborhood

Let’s just say more often than not our dinners at Neighborhood ended up being eventful ones, whether that be the sheer amount of food served by Chef/Owner David or something else. And this time it’s a little bit of both when we came as a big group on one Friday evening in September. 

Longest Spell

This is perhaps one of the longest spells between our visits to Caprice for as far as we could remember, with the last one came right after Chinese New Year almost 6 months ago. Not that we haven’t tried, but it’s almost impossible to book unless you plan way ahead. Anyway, we were glad that they managed to squeeze us a table for a “quick and simple" lunch on weekend afternoon in July. 

Dinner with Some Help

We got Chef Jayson’s help to arrange for us the room that can fit 12 of us in his restaurant Man Ho – otherwise it would have been almost impossible with the ever-growing popularity of the place especially ever since their first Michelin star gained this year. He also helped us with the menu – with my only requests being their signature char siu and also one other dish that I wanted an encore. All up to him for the rest. 

Shane x Tatler

For those who have tried Chef Shane Osborn’s food over the years (or at least watched him cooking in the reality TV show The Final Table a few years ago), it’s hard not to immediately fall in love with his consistent, straight-forward but creative cooking. We were at one of his pop-up dinners at Tatler Dining Kitchen early last month, a warm-up event of sort before his third restaurant opens (in September, I think), and once again, enjoyed his food tremendously. 

Yum Cha Omakase

It’s great to have run into Chef Jayson at his restaurant Man Ho at JW Marriott during our visit on the last day of January, especially on the heel of double good news for him personally and professionally this month. And that also meant we didn’t have to decide what to eat and just asked him to help sort out the menu for us.

Seafood at Mono

It’s not an overstatement that Mono is one of the most anticipated restaurant openings at the turn of the year. Chef Ricardo Chaneton has showed Hong Kong what he could do with his first gig in town at Petrus of Island Shangri-la for the past 4 years, and going solo at his new namesake restaurant meant he’s given even more freedom to show off his contemporary French cooking style.

Pre-Flight Treat

There’s no words more comforting when Chef Bombana dropped by our table and said he would take good care of us, especially during the white truffles season and when you knew he's a man of his word. I was excited to be able to join some other friends for a dinner tasting at Chef Bombana's Otto e Mezzo restaurant late last month, on the very evening I flew out to London for a week - that's the way to start off the holiday with a sumptuous feast.

Event Preview

I was gutted for not being able to attend the T.Dining Off-Menu event in mid-November because of other engagements, but glad I was given a sneak preview in an afternoon recently with a few participating chefs showing us some of the dishes that would be presented at the actual event. T.Dining has been great in bringing together some of the best culinary talents in town for one-of-a-kind collaboration events for the past few years (such as this and this), and this may be their most ambitious one yet, featuring over a dozen chefs not only from Hong Kong but some flying in later this month, all paired up to create a number of unique dishes only available at this event to be held at The Peak Galleria.

Private Kitchen Dinner

We had a great dinner at the home of Chef Edgar Sanuy Barahona a couple of weeks ago. While Chef Edgar may not be a household name in Hong Kong’s restaurant scene he’s the force behind many successful ventures over the years, from the now-defunct (but acclaimed) BCN to Mercedes Me to his latest project Pica Pica (a tapas bar in Sheung Wan). He also started this new project called Privat, serving meal in a "supper club"-like format for his guests once a month right at his residence in Sai Kung. Strictly by referrals, and thanks to our friend V, who organized this and invited us in.

The Perfect Celebration

We rarely contacted chefs specifically before any visit to their restaurants, not wanting to give them a wrong impression that we were expecting special treatments, but this time I did tell Chef Fabrice a month ago about our plan to eat at his restaurant in Macau, and made a special request to eat inside the kitchen. Blame that on the missus who asked for the "Chef’s Table" to celebrate her birthday.

Fine-Dining at Restaurant Week

When we saw Restaurant Petrus being listed as one of the establishments participating in the recent Restaurant Week promotion, it’s a no brainer. We always wanted to go back to check out the fine cooking of Chef Ricardo Chaneton and this just gave us the perfect excuse for a date night at his restaurant on the top floor of Island Shangri-la.

Something Off Menu

“Maybe let me do a Tom Kha Gai this time…” Chef Guillaume casually suggested when I told him we wanted to try some new dishes during our recent visit to his restaurant. Well he did make an amazing laksa-inspired dish last year (which I love), but still, we thought he was just joking this time.

White Truffles and Company

A few weeks ago we were back at Neighborhood for another epic meal. After our meal at Belon in late September, we plotted for another dinner gathering and this casual bistro helmed by our friend and chef David Lai was our choice. And it came right at the prime of the traditional white truffles season so we ended up having a few dishes that were served with the piece of white truffles we picked from Chef David’s stash which he got from his supplier regularly.

Going Back to Haku

When our friends C and M asked us for recommendations of casual fine-dining place on the Kowloon side, we told them about Haku and Chef Agustin’s creative cooking. And we were just as happy to tag along when they made a booking to eat there one weekend evening.

Dinner that almost didn't happen

“Oh, I thought you guys cancelled your booking a few days ago?” Some mis-communications among our group of 8 meant our dinner reservation at a fully-booked restaurant on Halloween weekend was no longer there, just as we were informed by the maître d’ when we arrived at ICHU at H Queen. Luckily for us, after a brief moment of panic (and despair), the restaurant staff managed to find us a table, in none other than their private room, and we were extremely thankful for them saving the night for us and not only that, turned into something quite extraordinary.

Thai-French Four-Hands

When Chef David Lai told me about the upcoming “4-hands” dinner he’s organizing at his restaurant Neighborhood with Chef Ton of Bangkok’s Le Du and asked whether I am interested to come over, I didn’t blink (nor check my schedule) before saying yes. All the meals at his restaurants were nothing but spectacular, and I have never seen him done a crossover menu before, so I know it’s going to be quite a special evening that I was willing to adjust my diary to attend no matter what.