Cepage - An evening without football

I thought I should be more excited than I am now with the World Cup well underway and our South Africa grand trip's just slightly more than a week away, but the England performance last week against the meanly Algeria has dented any of the remaining enthusiasm and hope that I had. Now I am seriously considering defecting and adopting a new team - at least for the rest of the tournament.

Anyway, we did manage to get out of the couch one evening to try out this Michelin-starred restaurant near Star Street with our friends k and p. Taking up the site formally occupied by another fine dining wannabe restaurant, Cepage, as the restaurant is now called, represented the first entry into Hong Kong's dining scene by the Singaporean's highly successful Les Amis Group. Since its opening a year ago, it has gathered quite a number of awards in its own right (among which, the first Michelin star and being ranked as the world's Top 100 Restaurant)

We were the first to arrive for the evening and soon the remaining tables in the lush and cozy dining room were filled. As we were surveying the menu, the manager brought us a couple hors d'oeuvres to start off. A nice touch, I reckon. After much deliberation, we opted for the Table d'Hote which essentially is a 4-course tasting menu comprised of some of their signature dishes.

As the restaurant boasted itself as having the most extensive wine collection in town - including some of the rare finds, I found it surprisingly one-sided. Sure they did have a fair share of selection from Bordeaux and Burgundy, but for anywhere else, it's close to nothing. At least their mark-up was reasonable, if you didn't count the fact that the sommelier tried hard to recommend to you their most expensive wines on the menu (when we asked for suggestions for a easy and ready to drink Rhone Valley wine, he gave us a Hermitage La Chapelle. Go figure!)

The food's decent in general and consistent with restaurants of similar caliber. My favorite dishes included foie gras icecream with rhubarb, and egg confit with asparagus, truffles and ham. The chef managed to strike a balance between being traditional and adventurous so there's a sense of harmony as our dinner progressed. We were surprised to have been offered more choices for petit fours than cheeses - that's a bit disappointing. Service's a bit aloof to my liking but I can't find much fault in particular either. The egg confit was originally not on our menu, but the manager gave us a tasting portion to try after we asked about the dish - we certainly appreciate the nice gesture and turned out that's one of my favorite dishes of the night.

All in all it's a comfortable evening just to be away from being a couch potato momentarily and enjoyed good food and company - and as we depart, I realized I didn't even check scores on my iphone for once. Oh I am so proud of myself about that - at least I know I am not totally addicted to football, yet.

details:
when? June 19 2010
where? Cépage, 23 Wing Fung Street, Wanchai
menu highlights? "Taiyouran" Organic Egg Confit, Green Asparagus, Summer Truffle, Joselito ham "Gran Reserve"
drinks? Chateau Rayas Chateauneuf-du-Pape Pignan Reserve 2004

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"Act Now" vs North Pole

This morning as I was staring at the "Act Now" campaign billboard on the MTR platform and trying to imagine what it would be like to set sail on a journey without knowing the destination, suddenly this story came to mind... it happened a long long time ago in the Hundred Acre Wood...


"We are all going on an Expedition," said Christopher Robin.
"Going on an Expotition?" said Pooh eagerly. "I don't think I've ever been on one of those. Where are we going to on this Expotition?"
"Expedition, silly old Bear. It's got an 'x' in it."
"Oh!" said Pooh. "I know." But he didn't really.
"We're going to discover the North Pole."
"Oh!" said Pooh again. "What is the North Pole?" he asked.
"It's just a thing you discover," said Christopher Robin carelessly, not being quite sure himself.
"Oh! I see," said Pooh. "Are bears any good at discovering it?"
"Of course they are. And Rabbit and Kanga and all of you. It's an Expedition. That's what an Expedition means. A long line of everybody. You'd better tell the others to get ready, while I see if my gun's all right. And we must all bring Provisions."
"Bring what?"
"Things to eat."
"Oh!" said Pooh happily. "I thought you said Provisions. I'll go and tell them." And he stumped off.

So there he went... Thinking "Expedition" is some sort of boat and "North Pole" as some "thing" that you are to discover, Pooh rounded up his buddies Rabbit, Piglet, Kanga, Roo, Owl, Eeyore and all Rabbit's friends, and hurried off to this Expedition. And along the way, Pooh's singing this song:

They all went off to discover the Pole,
Owl and Piglet and Rabbit and all;
It's a Thing you Discover, as I've been tole
By Owl and Piglet and Rabbit and all.
Eeyore, Christopher Robin and Pooh
And Rabbit's relations all went too--
And where the Pole was none of them knew....
Sing Hey! for Owl and Rabbit and all!

So how this story ended? They keep moving "forward" and as they were walking across a stream together, Roo fell into the water, on the verge of being washed away, and was saved by Pooh with a long stick in his hand. Just as the troupe was chatting and celebrating this amazing rescue...

But Christopher Robin wasn't listening. He was looking at Pooh.
"Pooh," he said, "where did you find that pole?"
Pooh looked at the pole in his hands.
"I just found it," he said. "I thought it ought to be useful. I just picked it up."
"Pooh," said Christopher Robin solemnly, "the Expedition is over. You have found the North Pole!"
"Oh!" said Pooh.
Pooh looked anxiously at Christopher Robin.
"Pooh's found the North Pole," said Christopher Robin. "Isn't that lovely?"
Pooh looked modestly down.
"Is that it?" said Eeyore.
"Yes," said Christopher Robin.
"Is that what we were looking for?"
"Yes," said Pooh.
"Oh!" said Eeyore. "Well, anyhow--it didn't rain," he said.
They stuck the pole in the ground, and Christopher Robin tied a message on to it:

NorTH PoLE
DICSovERED By PooH
PooH FouND IT
Then they all went Home again. And I think, but I am not quite sure, that Roo had a hot bath and went straight to bed. But Pooh went back to his own house, and feeling very proud of what he had done, had a little something to revive himself.

(The story's taken from Chapter 8 of the book Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne)

Now I can't wait for the day when Donald Tsang sticks a plague on the ground outside the Government headquarter and proudly announces:

Universal Suffrage
Discovered by Donald
Donald found it

Weekend Indulgence (Part 1) - Caprice

The old saying of "it never rains but it pours" seems to hold true to us lately - luckily it's not about misfortunes but memorable dining moments that we seem to have experienced in quick succession. I can't think of a better way to wind down a week's "hard" work than (occasionally) indulging ourselves in good food and wine, so here we are on a Friday evening, at 7:30pm sitting in the dining room of this fine restaurant (of whom many said is the best in town). Oh yes, it's also an early celebration to my wife's birthday too.

The décor's elegantly relaxing - it does sound like an oxymoron, but the surroundings do give you a sense of majesty without feeling uptight. Rows of chandeliers hang on the ceiling with modern lighted floor, open kitchen in the center stage of the vast dining room with magnificent harbor view in front... it's almost as much fun looking at people enjoying their food as chefs preparing them and we were glad that our table gave us a little bit of each.


After carefully surveying through the menu, we opted for the 6-course tasting dinner. Not a difficult decision really given everything on the menu seems so attractive. The wine list has a reasonable selection and good variety but seems to be on the pricier end (yet still have a few good value choices available), and the sommelier has been very helpful to sort out my dilemma of wine selection between a few that I think are equally good. Service's friendly but not over the line - you can feel they did genuinely try everything they can to make you feel comfortable.


Then the next few couple hours can only be described as magical. Everything that was brought out from the open kitchen on to our table is nothing short of flawlessness - by everything I meant from the amuse bouche of potato two-ways, to the appetizer of slow-cooked lobster with daikon raviolo and jellified tomato "gazpacho", all the way to dessert and petit fours. My personal favorite is the salmon, which was smoked and then oil-poached in low temperature, and served with rich-flavored sauteed morel mushrooms and a dash of herb coulis on the sides; while CYY loves the juicy and tender suckling pig which was cooked to perfection and served with cabonara orzo pasta (a risotto-like pasta) and sage jus. The sauteed foie gras crusted with poppy seeds with white asparagus is another dish that I like a lot too.


When the cheeseboard was brought in front of us, we can't help but exclaimed at the variety and interesting selections (that means those we have never seen), and the server was very patient in introducing and explaining and recommending. That certainly was another highlight of the evening - we already plotted to return some time later as we enjoyed our cheese course, even just for more cheese and a good bottle of burgundy. There are some restaurants that we keep saying to ourselves that we will return some day but never did, but I am sure (and hope) this is not going to be one of them.

I never believe there's such a thing called an impeccable meal, but I guess our evening at Caprice was as close as it gets. We had yet another reason to say "Thank God It's Friday!"

details:
when? May 14 2010
where? caprice at four seasons hong kong
occasion? CYY's Birthday Dinner - Part 1
menu highlights? Olive oil-poached Smoked Salmon, Morel Mushroom and Fresh Herb Coulis
drinks? Domaine Geantet-Pansiot Gevrey Chambertin Vielles Vignes 2005

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Weekend Indulgence (Part 2) - Oui Private Kitchen

In our mind, there's never too much food, only too little time to enjoy them all. On Sunday, when a friend of ours suggested this private kitchen to celebrate cyy's birthday, of course we found no reasons to turn it down.

Owned by a passionate foodie couple that have a full-time "regular" job Monday to Friday, the place - called Oui - is only open on weekends and for dinner only (provided they didn't get tangled up with their own social commitments on that day) The place where the private kitchen is run is actually their own home and there are no other staff but just 2 of them - husband's the chef, and the wife is the... well sous chef. And it's kinda secretive - try googling for it, or searching on openrice, you will come up empty (trust me - I tried!). For this matter I can't even tell you the address for fear that it will get busted one day thus deprived us the opportunity to return, since their neighbors and landlord don't know what they are running in their home. They purely relied on words of mouth and return business as their marketing channels - a good indication of their quality and consistancy actually, because they have been running just fine for the last few months.

We promptly arrived at 7pm. It's on the third floor of an old apartment building, and the decoration's simple inside - a long table's in the middle of the living room and there are drapes all over the walls - presumably to hide away normal household furniture and stuff. There is also another smaller room that seated a table for two that evening.

Only one menu's available on any given day, and we were provided with the menu beforehand so it can be modified in case there's any food preference or allergy issue. We started off with an amuse bouche of scallop tartar, topped with chives and caviar and served with a tiny piece of toast. A minimalistic dish - in a decent way. It's followed by the lobster and pumpkin bisque which we found equally enjoyable.

However, the salmon rillettes that came after, while colorfully presented, lacks the rich taste I would have expected. I am not quite sure if it's because of the salmon or the way it's cooked, but I reckon using smoked salmon instead, or at least put that into the mixture, would probably have done the trick. We like the fancy presentation of baby asparagus wrapped around the layers of salmon and pear relish - looks like little green fences - but I would personally prefer using thinly-sliced toast instead, thus combining the chef's original idea and the tradition of how rillettes are usually served. The crunchiness of the toast would probably bring an extra dimension to the texture too.

After the palate cleanser of a dollop of star fruit/mint granite served on shot glass, the main dish of quail with porcini risotto came and we all have to agree that it is the highlight of the evening. I always showed special appreciation for something that cannot be easily done at home - and deboning a quail's probably high on that list. Knowing that he has to do all the nitty-gritty preparation work all by himself - unlike a more established restaurant where there are more helping hands - you can imagine how much time he must have spent on making this dish, and the heart and effort spent certainly shows on the excellent taste and presentation. The quail's deboned, stuffed with risotto with porcini and parmesan, and roasted - all bits done to perfection. I also heard good words across the table re the side dish of Gratin Aubergine - too bad eggplant is simply not my cup of tea so I only tasted a tiny bit before gladly passed that to my dinner companions.

By comparison, the dessert seems to have somewhat waned in quality. There aren't many techniques involved in making a red wine-poached pears served with ready-made vanilla icecream, but this one tasted just like pears in simple syrup - the canned type, that is. That's unfortunate, but I am sure this is something that he is capable in improving on.

It's amazing to see Chef Kelvin managed to prepare for us a 4-course dinner from a kitchen not any bigger than ours at home, with just a husband-and-wife team. As a budding private kitchen, Oui certainly excels in its own rights. It's no Caprice obviously - nor did we expect it to be like one - yet we enjoyed our evening no less.

details:
when? May 16 2010
where? oui, somewhere in causeway bay
occasion? CYY's Birthday Dinner - Part 2
menu highlights? Quail stuffed with Porcini Risotto, Gratin Aubergine, with caramel and vinegar sauce
drinks?
Cloudy Bay Chardonnay 2005
Domaine Benjamin Leroux Savigny-les-Beaune 2007
Pegasus Bay Finale Noble Chardonnay 2004

Complacency

躬自厚而薄責於人, 則遠怨矣(論語．衛靈公篇)
(Strict on yourself yet forgiving on others will keep resentment away - a word of wisdom from Confucius)

Too often in our lives we became complacent at other people's mishaps or when things that simply don't sound right. Remember the time when you had a terrible dish at a restaurant yet when the waiter came by and asked how everything is, you told him everything's good without hesitation, because you didn't want to upset the chef? How about the time when someone in your team screwed up but you held back your criticism because that person happened to be your best friend/the nicest person on the team or you just want to avoid any embarassment to anyone? Then what happened? Well he screwed up yet again, and again, and again, because no one has told him so.

I am sure there are hundreds of reasons why we chose to be so: because we have been taught it's part of our traditional moral values; because it's the political correct thing to do; because we always want to be the peacemaker; because no one likes the awkwardness that may result when someone speak their minds. But it is a dangerous path really when we start settling for less, in big or small ways, whether to yourself or to others - complacency breeds mediocrity. And once we decided to go down to this trap of mediocrity there's no turning back: soon enough you would think it's okay for a fine-dining restaurant to serve ready meals; soon enough you would think Genki Sushi's better than Sushi Shin because they got more smiley faces in openrice (or Spaghetti House really is the best Italian restaurant in town); soon enough you would think that random Australian Pinot you got at Park N Shop can rival your treasured DRC Grands Echezeaux; soon enough you would think functional constituency can be considered as part of universal and equal suffrage. Well, hope you got the idea.

It's time for us to stop following this downward spiral - by this I am not advocating people to be hypercritical or nitpicking; I am merely saying people should just say what they truly feel without hesitation of being seen as "political incorrect", or be afraid to offend somebody. Trying to play Mr Nice Guy in a bad situation doesn't make it goes away, and by tolerating mediocrity we will eventually turn into one, when we start to think it's acceptable to be mediocre, or "average" became a new word for "good".

So let us all start by telling the waiter the food's bad when you think it is so, or letting people know that Spaghetti House is NOT an Italian restaurant; that terroir does count in making good wines, and there's no place for functional constituency in equal suffrage. Please...