Bistro on West Side

"Why bother scrambling for a table at Batard when Bistro du Vin is just as good?" said a friend of mine on IG recently. Sour grapes as that might sound with a table at Batard now being the most sought-after in town (good luck trying!), but it's true that Bistro du Vin under the same group was not bad an alternative when all you want is a casual get-together for food and wine in a neighborhood bistro. 

It Never Rains...

Let’s get the rant out of the way first for one of our recent dinners at 11 Westside of Kennedy Town. Problem #1: we had a reservation for 6 persons at 7pm and confirmed in writing by the restaurant team 3 days before, but when I walked in at 6:45pm I was told they only had my booking for 4 persons at 7:30pm (and the maître d’ even tried to correct me til I showed her own email in her face suggesting otherwise). Problem #2: to make up for their mistake they tried to offer me a square table for 4 with 2 additional chairs pulled up instead and asked whether that would be okay – are you f*cking kidding me?

A Filipino Feast in Hong Kong

Most of the restaurant promotion emails fell directly to my Trash folder but this one caught my attention. It’s a 2-night-only Filipino Feast pop-up event brought to Hong Kong by Cheryl, a well-known social media personality based in Manila. And we managed to get a small group of friends and booked a table for the second and final night. I must say I knew little about Filipino cuisine but with a couple Filipino "food experts" at the table, we were in for a fun evening of sharing good food and good conversation.