The Mascot Dinner

It took some major convincing for me to skip out of a lavish party next door for a cozy dinner at an exclusive venue, but at the end I think it’s well worth it. 

Burgundy and Beef

This particular dinner hosted by a local wine merchant caught my attention because of their choice of bottles. While many wine-themed dinner focuses on certain vineyard or winemakers, this one featured bottles of Burgundy wines with a nice, “entry-level” selection from different winemakers and through this we could get a glimpse of various styles and characteristics in various recent vintages. And it was hosted in one of the top steakhouse in town, one that was bestowed a Michelin star for a few years already and one we didn’t visit often, so that gave us extra incentive to sign up and go. 

Familiar Guest Chef Appearance

Seeing Chef Alex Fargas at his guest chef gig at our clubhouse reminded me of the time when i was the "guest chef" at his restaurant La Paloma in one Sunday a few years ago. They have been running this series for a while, bringing in guest chefs for a period of time with special items available either in a la carte menu or themed dinner, and they proved to be hugely popular. 

Evening with Natural Wines

Nothing stopped us from assembling at our friend J and C's Interval Coffee Bar near LKF for a special natural wine dinner they organized despite the slight disruption of traffic in the city. The place has recently introduced the new bistro-style all-day menu and they hosted a one night event with a few of their courses paired with a few bottles from Radikon winery in Italy, considered one of the pioneers in the natural wine movement. So we went on the evening before the actual event for a preview and test run of sort.

Wine Dinner Avant Premiere

Late last week I attended the preview dinner of the new collaboration project between Conrad Hong Kong and Burgundy wine powerhouse Maison Albert Bichot. One of the private rooms of the hotel's Chinese restaurant Golden Leaf was transformed into a wine-themed dining area, completed with tableware and stemware with engraved Golden Leaf and Albert Bichot logos. Special menu designed by Chef Wan will be served with wine pairing selected from Albert Bichot’s wide repertoire, from some harder-to-find village wines to ones from the premier cru and grand cru climats owned by the winery.

Barolo Night

We were at Giando one evening during the Easter long weekend for a wine-pairing dinner featuring a few bottles from Barolo with dishes of the cooking style from the same region. I have never been to the restaurant ever since they moved into the Star Street area, and I am glad to see they were as busy as ever with most of the tables filled when we arrived slightly before 8pm when the dinner was supposed to start.

Meeting Curtis in Macau

We joined the troupe of friends in becoming huge fans of Chef Curtis Duffy ever since we watched the documentary film about him and his Chicago restaurant, Grace, which shot to worldwide fame since opening in 2012. We can't help but felt touched by his life story and fascinated by his cooking, now considered one of the best of our times.

Portuguese Wines and Cantonese Cuisine

We were perhaps the only table in the room who cared much more about the dishes to be served rather than the wines that were being poured and passed around at a recent dinner event at Kin’s Kitchen in Wanchai. We always wanted to go back to the restaurant for their old-school Cantonese dishes, and the dinner, with the theme of "Piggy Feast" featuring wines from a Portuguese vineyard held in late August, provided us the perfect excuse to eat together.

A Few Good Rieslings

It’s been years since we last ate at One Harbour Road, the Chinese restaurant at Grand Hyatt Hong Kong by the Wanchai harborfront. I guess for us it’s a typical case of “out of sight, out of mind” place: while there’s nothing particularly bad about our previous experiences, it just never came up as a place we wanted to go back to.

High Street Wine Dinner

I was at the Cape Mentelle Wine Dinner hosted by local food magazine Crave and the winery owner LVMH at Wooloomooloo Prime in Causeway Bay last Thursday evening. 

The restaurant sits on the high floors at the new Midtown Building near Times Square, which advertised to be the new landmark in this busy shopping district. Quite a few new restaurants opened in this building lately, including Penthouse by Harlan G which occupies the top floor (and a new sushi restaurant by the same owner one floor below), and also the casual Italian restaurant bearing Jamie Oliver's name.

Pisa Wine Dinner at Messina

What's Pisan cuisine like? To be honest I hardly know anything about the town of Pisa except their apparent poor building skills, so I was curious when I saw a dinner event promoting their food and wine, organized by the Italian Chamber of Commerce. Another part that caught my interest is the venue - I have been hearing positive comments about Messina, an Italian restaurant in Hung Hom so that gave me the incentive to check it out myself.