Neighborhood Korean

I spent one Friday afternoon checking out yet another new restaurant in my office neighborhood with a friend/former colleague E who works right nearby. With The News Room quietly gone from the street corner near Quarry Bay’s Taikoo Place, in its place came Bib n Hops, the second outpost of this casual, street food style Korean restaurant concept backed by Chef Alvin Leung.

Festive Recipe Re-interpreted

Loh Bak Goh 蘿蔔糕, or as CYY calls it, “Robert Go”, is one of those festive dishes we eat during Chinese New Year. Made with shredded white radish (or turnip or daikon) plus a number of other ingredients in a rice flour-based batter and steamed in a deep dish, the dish symbolizes growth (with the word “goh” 糕 sounds like high, or 高 in Chinese). It's often called "Turnip Cake" in English or as Singaporean would say, "Carrot Cake" - but regardless of names, they are all referring to the same thing.

Neighborhood Shanghainese

Thought we would use the occasion of an early Chinese new year family reunion dinner to check out a new restaurant right in our hood. Jardin de Jade （蘇浙匯）at Cityplaza is the second branch of this nationwide chain of Shanghainese restaurant in Hong Kong, in addition to other one in Wanchai which got a Michelin star a few years back and has been keeping that rating since.

Mercato's Sunday Brunch

After a rather hectic Saturday running around, we got to spend our Sunday afternoon at a much leisurely pace, at Mercato by Jean Georges to check out their new weekend brunch menu. We loved the food here at our last outing to this restaurant right in the center of Lan Kwai Fong, so there’s every reason to believe this is going to be another great meal and a great afternoon.

Guest Chef at Nicholini's

I walked into a full house at Nicholini’s at The Conrad Hong Kong on a Monday evening, joining a group of food lovers for a special “four-hands” tasting dinner featuring guest chef Massimo Spigaroli (of Antica Corte Pallavicina restaurant) from the Emilia-Romagna region and Nicholini’s own chef Luca de Berardinis, of course. Our evening began at the lounge just outside the restaurant, where booths were set up for some pre-dinner snacks with canapes and wines passed around. Naturally, my attention turned into both booths manned by the chefs of the evening, Chef Massimo behind the charcuterie counter, and Chef Luca tending the cheese table featuring collection from their own Wine and Cheese Library.