Tuesday Night, Tapas Night

Was looking forward to this tapas dinner at 22 Ships after a long day at work. Not a happy camper after coming back from the long weekend so really need something to cheer me up. It's my first time coming back after they re-opened, now with a new chef Antonio on board. A new menu and many new dishes were introduced, but the same lively vibe remained, along with their no-reservation policy. Thank God for friends who came early to save us the spot at the back of the open bar/kitchen, where we got the perfect view of the cooking. 

Siesta Fiesta

There’s a sense of déjà vu when we went for the weekend brunch at La Rambla a few weekends ago. The nice spread of savory and sweet Spanish dishes at the counter did remind me of the good old Catalunya in Wanchai with their sumptuous weekend buffet before it closed down a couple years ago. Of course, such resemblance was hardly a coincidence given both restaurants were operated by the same group.

Lovely Catch-up at La Paloma

La Paloma in Sai Ying Pun is what I would categorize as a "no-brainer" restaurant - you know, one of those neighborhood hangouts that one wouldn't mind going every day with a menu you are so familiar that you memorized everything on it - whether you call this a pub, a diner, a chiringuito, an osteria, a chachaanteng or whatever depending on where you are from.

Restaurant Week Menu at Mercedes Me

We finally got our chance to try Mercedes Me, taking advantage of the Restaurant Week special menu on a Monday evening with a group of friends.

Our experience with Restaurant Week in previous years has been by and large positive, and we found this a good opportunity to check out restaurants that we have somehow missed out on before. Guess Mercedes Me fell into that category - we have heard good things about this relatively new casual dining establishment in Central too many times, but we never got around to go previously.

Avant-garde Dinner at The Ritz Carlton

It was pure coincidental that I was having my second Spanish - or more accurately Catalan - dinner in less than a week. A few days after spending the evening at Catalunya Hong Kong, I was on top of The Ritz Carlton at the preview dinner featuring Barcelona-born Chef Alain Devahive Tolosa who's touring Asia with a special menu available for a few days in early March at the hotel's OZONE bar and lounge on the 118th Floor.

New Year Get Together at Catalunya

It's a miracle that we - at least most of us - could agree on an evening that we could all get together for a meal to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Catalunya recently has a new chef on board with a revamped menu so they invited us in to give it a try, giving us the perfect occasion and venue to catch up before everyone is going all over the place around the world again.

Chef Edgar's One Night Event

When I accept my friend's invitation to a big group "secret supper party", I have no idea about what and where, but she assured me this is going to be epic with good food and great wine - guess that's all I needed to know to say yes. Just call that blind faith. Turned out - as I learned just in the morning of the event - it's the Spanish chef Edgar Sanuy Barahona (formerly of BCN) who was going to cook a spectacular tapas dinner for all 19 of us, at the Fofo Privat venue near Lan Kwai Fong.

Fly me to the (Mira) Moon

Last Tuesday night I was at Supergiant, the casual tapas bar at the new boutique hotel Mira Moon in Wanchai. Well I vaguely remembered there's some mentioning of the opening of this design hotel late last year, but I didn't realize there's also a full-service restaurant on-premise as well until the hotel PR team mentioned this one day and asked whether I would be interested in trying some of the dishes there.

The restaurant (and the hotel) is located somewhere in between Wanchai and Causeway Bay at a street corner on the unremarkable Jaffe Road. I was somewhat confused by the name which I didn't quite relate to being a tapas bar, but I was told that it's named after an astronomical term of a super bright star, hence consistent with the overall design theme of the hotel, which was inspired by the moon and the Chinese folklore surrounding it. Now that made a little bit more sense to me.

Restaurant Week Menu at Fofo by El Willy

A few weeks ago, we took advantage of the Restaurant Week promotion and tried two restaurants that we have never been before. First of the places we tried was Fofo by El Willy near Lan Kwai Fong. It has been opened for a few years but for some reasons the place has been eluding us. It seems like every time we wanted to go there's always somewhere else that got in the way.

Tabibito - A decent new restaurant (that we managed to get a table)

A few of us from AG turned up at Tabibito on Friday, on the "official" opening night when they offered the full menu for the first time. The timing was actually unintentional - we thought the place has opened for a while but apparently it was just their soft opening with a limited set menu. The restaurant called itself a Japanese-style tapas/Okazu place, and took up the spot of the former "Corner Kitchen" at the far end of Po Hing Fong, a blind alley further up from Hollywood Road. This was used to be a quiet neighborhood but quite a few interesting cafes and restaurants has to open up in the area recently, turning this into a up-and-coming hip hang-out spot.

Monday Night at BCN

We dropped by this little eatery just off Soho called BCN a couple Mondays ago in the evening. I think the place opened late last year and I heard quite a lot of good comments, but we have never been able to get a reservation so we put off the plan to come over until now, when our friend Elsie mentioned she's a friend of the owner, hence we finally scored our spots (without making reservation months in advance)

Many people have mentioned the restaurant is small, but as I walked in I was still surprised to realize how compact it really is. There's only one L-shape bar table that can cozily sit 12 - you literally need to squeeze by to get to your seat. Behind the bar counter was the open kitchen where most of the food was cooked and plated; there's also a bigger kitchen at the back for some other stuff.

As close as it gets - Catalunya Hong Kong

A couple evenings ago I was at Catalunya with a group of fellow food lovers who called themselves the Amateur Gourmet. Catalunya is a new restaurant only opened in late March/early April, but has already become quite a talk of the town - being hailed as the candidate for new restaurant of the year by every local lifestyle magazines in circulation and all that - with the culinary team apparently coming from the kitchen of (the former) El Bulli. This is their second outpost in Asia - the other one being in Singapore on an "island" near One Fullerton with a full view of the Marina Bay Sands. Anyway, just as you thought its Hong Kong branch would be located in Central or at least a prime spot downtown, it's actually in a quiet neighborhood known as Morrison Hill somewhere in between Wanchai and Causeway Bay. It could be hard to find if you are not familiar with the area.