Sky High Getaway

Our obsession with staycation continued with a “weekend away” at The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong. With the craze for staying a night or two away from home now catching on with the rest of the city, we arrived earlier than usual to check-in to avoid running into the crowd. And that strategy worked as we were given the room key quickly by the front desk staff upon arrival slightly after noon. 

New age with the new Rech

We made our way to the other side of the harbor to have dinner at the new Rech by Alain Ducasse in Tsimshatsui on a Friday evening. The restaurant took over the space formerly occupied by Spoon, another dining outlet under the Alain Ducasse "empire", on the ground floor of Intercontinental Hong Kong. Well, I did bemoan the closure of Spoon for a little while – after all the place always has a special place in my heart as being the subject of my first blog post (wait, is that 10 years ago already?) – but I am also hopeful of this new concept of a casual, Parisian style seafood restaurant taking its place, suitably located by the harbor front with the most gorgeous view. Sometimes change is for the good.

Spa Day on Valentine's Day

We are likely the last couple on earth that would do anything remotely special for Valentine's Day, but this year we decided to make an exception - just because we felt like it (okay I lied - it's more because I found a special deal online). Of course it helped that the day fell on a Sunday this year hence we could afford a day of rest and relaxation, so we went for a half-day spa treatment at InterContinental Hong Kong.

Summertime Chicken Hotpot in Kyoto

With our flight schedule to touch down only in early morning at Osaka airport, we didn't make any specific plan for lunch in Kyoto on our first day, for fear of the possibility of a flight delay. Nonetheless, I did have a specific restaurant in mind - I just figure we would just try my luck walking in if all things went well.

Toriyasa (鳥彌三) is a 227-year-old Kyoto restaurant specialized in Tori no Mizudaki, or essentially chicken hotpot, now already in its 8th generation owner at the beautiful street of Kiyamachi by the Kamo river. We arrived at Kyoto right on schedule so after quickly settling in at our hotel near Sanjo, we made a leisurely stroll towards the riverside area where the restaurant is located.

Dinner at The French Window

Last Monday evening I joined a bunch of social media peeps for a tasting of the Le French Gourmay menu at The French Window in ifc mall, prepared for us by its head chef Matthieu Bonnier. It's good to come across some new faces, while catching up with a few friends who happened to be at the dinner too.

We began our dinner with a sumptuous display of the Grand Seafood Platter served on two levels of ice-laden plates, prepared at the seafood bar just right behind our table. On the plates were seasonal seafood item from all over the world including New England Lobster from Boston, clams and Britanny Tourteaux crabs from France, Atlantic shrimps, Tsubugai (small sea whelks) from Japan, and oysters (which I forgot where they came from - presumably from the southern hemisphere given the time of the year). The platter came with shallot vinegar, cocktail and mayonnaise sauces made in-house as condiments, but I reckon just a dash of lemon juice was all it takes to bring out the best of the delightful, fresh seafood flavors.