New Ramen Joint with a Queue

It's not uncommon to see long waiting lines outside the newest and hottest restaurant in town, at least until the next newest and hottest one came around - thanks for the patience and persistence shown by many food lovers in Hong Kong who always want to be the first to try just about anything. Lately we have witnessed another such new entry to our local dining scene in Tsuta, the ramen joint in the unofficial ramen street in Causeway Bay recently making Hong Kong their third overseas home after Singapore and Taipei.

Another Weekend Feast

Another Sunday, another Sunday brunch, this time at Mercedes Me in Central. We have been here before a few times in the evening before and loved the relaxed atmosphere and well-planned dishes, so I expected the same for their weekend brunch.

Hiroshima's Okonomiyaki

I guess not having Okonomiyaki while travelling in Hiroshima would be like going to Philadelphia without trying Phillies Cheese Steak. As soon as we hopped back to Hiroshima from the nearby Miyajima Island and checked in to our hotel there, first thing we did was to look for a place to try this symbolic street food famous in this town.

Breakfast at Blue Bar

As much as locals were obsessed with all-you-can-eat meals offered in many places around town, it seems like no one really paid attention to the breakfast buffets, as offered in most hotels, for a meal which some may argue as "the most important one of the day". Guess that's just something I would never understand, as I do enjoy hotel breakfasts, especially when I am traveling.

Cooking at home - Meatless Carbonara

I picked up some pea shoots at the farmer's market last weekend. Pea shoot, or dou miao (豆苗) in Chinese, is a common cold weather vegetables regularly found in local market this part of the world. It's leafy with soft and tender stalks, with a distinct flavor (fresh but not grassy) which didn't require a lot of extra seasonings, and hence very versatile to cook - in Chinese cuisine, you can sauteed with or without garlic, boiled in superior broth, most of the time on its own but worked equally well with dried scallops, meat or seafood. Think of it as peas but in vegetable form. During hairy crab season (usually from September to November every year), there's nothing better than a dish of sauteed pea shoot topped with hairy crab meat and roes.