The Standard Bearer

We realized it's been more than one full year since our last visit to VEA... don't know what happened and how time just flew by but we quickly made amend by making a booking to go one evening a couple of weeks ago. And we managed to catch up with Chef Vicky "in residence" in between his overseas trips. 

End of Year

I just love the lingering aroma from the fresh Christmas tree sitting at the corner as I was led into the private dining room at VEA one evening. The festive celebration might have been over (with the dinner happening in the last week of December) but we never needed an excuse to get together and eat (and drink) something nice, and make this a special occasion by itself. 

Onion Crossover

The other day I took the afternoon off from work to join a few friends on a champagne “run”… to be exact, a Krug run when we went from places to places drinking and eating. It’s part of their annual (and now global) campaign by the champagne house working with a few chefs in town (as Krug Ambassadors) to each create an unique dish with a common ingredient theme, to go with their champagne, that goes without saying. This year that ingredient is Onion, and I am glad to go along with a group of friends to visit some of those chefs and checking out some of those dishes (and more).

Three Hour Sharp

We made the dinner reservation at VEA as soon as the local dining restriction was lifted, but that still meant we need to wait for almost a month for the earliest possible timeslot (in early March). That showed how popular the restaurant has been despite the challenging COVID situation. 

Half Year Celebration

"Name one restaurant in town that you think is truly exceptional and worth a special journey" - every now and then I have such curve-ball questions being thrown my way. While I do have not one but a few in my pocket and the list does change from time to time, Chef Vicky Cheng's VEA has always been among the top that came to mind. I have never had a bad meal there and every time I was blown away by his solid execution and innovative interpretation using traditional Chinese ingredients and cooking style. 

Another Winning Performance

I didn't realize it's been quite a while since I last visited VEA until I received a kind invitation from Chef Vicky and his team to check out their latest menu. I assured him the hiatus was unintentional - my few previous visits to the restaurant were nothing short of exceptional, and I did come to his restaurant a few months ago for one of the crossover meals he hosted (so that at least should count as half a visit).

Two-Third of a Four-Hands Menu

While I was pretty tied up the entire week to go to the special 4-hands dinner featuring Chef Vicky Cheng of VEA and Chef Julien Royer of Odette happening in late February, I was lucky that Vicky asked me to come along for a preview at his restaurant the day before the actual event. 

Celebration at VEA

I was surprised at how packed the dining room of VEA was when I walked in for my dinner reservation on a random Monday night, which was usually the quietest day of the week for restaurants. I have been back to the place a few times for drinks and snacks since my first visit when they opened a little more than two years ago but never sat down for their proper dinner menu since that time so I figured this is a good excuse to do that as part of our annual celebration.

Champagne Food Crawl, The Sequel

"So you wanna join the second round?" I had a great time with the Krug food tour the first time, so it's hard to refuse my friend G's offer for an encore, with three new restaurants, three new chefs with their creations in the theme of mushrooms for Krug pairing.

VEA-ry Impressive Dinner

There is always a constant stream of new restaurant openings throughout the year in Hong Kong, but to me, so far in 2015 there is none more exciting than this new place near Sheung Wan, which opened its door a couple of weeks ago.

This new restaurant, called VEA, is a collaboration project between Chef Vicky Cheng (formerly of Liberty Private Works) and mixologist/bartender Antonio Lai of The Quinary. I am a fan of Chef Vicky's creative cooking since his early LPW days so I am eager to find out his next move since he left the old venture early this year after over 4 years at the helm. And I came here for the dinner tasting during their soft opening period last week at the invitation of their PR.