Eating as a Sport

It seems peculiar the only facility "The Sports Club" has is a restaurant at their clubhouse - I guess unless they considered eating is indeed a sport activity. 

Anyhow, their restaurant, located in their clubhouse in Central and accessible only by members and their guests, is known for the repertoire of old-school Cantonese dishes. We were there early last month tagging along our friends B and J who are a member there. 

Almost a Total Repeat

It’s been over 2 years since we last ate at Shun Tak Fraternal Association, so we were happy to re-join our friends H and A for a long overdue encore dinner there recently. Coincidentally, we were seated at the exact same spot as last time, a small but comfortable private room which were more than adequate for the six of us. Even the menu was similar, with a few of their signature dishes originated in the area of ingredient-rich Shunde not far away from here. But as we were told that the original chef has left since our last visit, there were subtle but noticeable difference in cooking style with the new team even when many of the dishes were a repeat from our last visit.

A Swiss Visitng Chef

We honestly had not heard of Chef Andre Jaeger and his (former) hotel-restaurant in Switzerland when our friends A and R asked us to join them for dinner when the chef dropped by Hong Kong for a quick stint – it’s certainly our fault for being ignorant, as I learned afterwards that Chef Andre has quite a reputation being in the forefront of contemporary Asian-inspired cuisine out of his family’s property Fischerzunft in Schaffhausen since the 1980’s and remained a prominent figure in the Swiss culinary scene even after his retirement a few years ago.

Facelift at Our Old Club

I was surprised to see a few familiar faces at The Refinery Club when I was invited to a lunch tasting there recently. The members-only club at Quarry Bay’s Taikoo Place complex was re-opened earlier this year, taking the place of The Butterfield’s, a similar social/dining club at the same spot which we were members of for a number of years and over time, became our go-to eatery regularly, especially when we couldn’t think of something else different to eat around this neighborhood (that happened at least once a week)

Basque Guest Chef

What a change it has been since the last time we experienced Chef Eneko Atxa's cooking at his flagship restaurant Azurmendi near Bilbao - when he only began to be on the radar of foodies around the world as a promising young Basque chef having just received his second Michelin star for his restaurant. We still remembered that meal as the highlight of our Catalan/Basque trip in the most beautiful setting. Now almost 7 years later, Azurmendi is on its fifth year holding on firmly to the most prestigious 3 Michelin stars, been voted one of the world's top 50, moved to a new location nearby, opened another Michelin-starred restaurant next door, and since then Chef Eneko's wings have spread as far as ventures in Phuket (now defunct), London and Tokyo.