a hk foodie

220 Minced Beef HK style

2009-10-09T16:37:00.004+08:00

Ever since I moved to Shangwan, I've been exploring the area for its restaurants and food shops, and had many fruitful new findings and numerous re-discoveries. This very unusual HK style cafe run by Mr. Steak is one of those interesting spots in this area.

I can't say this is a very good place to eat, nor the food deserves extra attention, yet this is for sure a pleasant twist from the everyday ordinary HK style cafes you'll find elsewhere in the city. The place mimics decor from good old days in the 60's with a modern touch. Nothing too hard to appreciate, it's done with the most lighthearted attitude, you just won't be intimidated by it in any sense.

The food on the other hand, is also a bit of a twist from those at ordinary cafes. I tried the minced beef with raw egg on rice, maybe I was affected by my impression on Mr. Steak, this dish feels Japanese to me. It's not bad, not excellent but really not bad, a nice alternative to the standard ones, and the quality of the beef is definitely above average.

219 Sweetness amidst hectic lifestyle

2009-09-19T16:06:00.004+08:00

I'm so glad to receive this Mid-Autumn Festival gift from a friendly PR. It lightens up my hectic days.

Mooncakes from the Chinese Restaurant of Peninsula is probably one of the best in HK.

218 Assaf

2009-07-23T01:33:00.005+08:00

This Lebanese restaurant in Central has been there for quite some time, it survives and not only surviving, it seems doing quite well. But if you don't use some effort to search for something like this, you might just be always going to the same restaurant day after day, eating the same dish repeatedly, and saying that you don't have a lot to choose from.

Yet, even if you find your way to this tiny restaurant, the food there might not be something you'll come back for more, I mean for average HK people. That's what we discussed on the table that evening. The food there are quite ok to me and to my 2 friends, but we believed that most of our friends just won't appreciate this kind of 'exotic' flavour.

Anyway, I like everything starting from the tea. It's just pure mint, and a lot of sugar. I put a lot of sugar into it, they're supposed to be very sweet.

Tabbouleh, a very common dish from the Middle East, people from many countries in that area make this dish, this is Arab food. The main ingredients are parsley, bulgur wheat, tomato, mint and spring onion. It's pungent and strong, exciting taste.

This is Kalaj, which is made with Halloumi cheese, one of my favourite cheese. Kalaj is just simply cheese inside pita bread pocket, a cheese sandwich. Halloumi is a kind of cheese which won't melt even if you grill or pan fry them, it's made from goat and sheep milk together, and seasoned.

This is Sujuk fried with tomato. This Sujuk is made from lamb meat. Sujuk is a kind of spicy sausage from the Middle East / Central Asia. This dish is very very tasty, we three love it.

Middle Eastern dessert is impossible to be introduced to HK people. It is saturated with sugar, it's so sweet that the sweetness will 'burn' your tongue. I just like it... it's condense, fragrant and full of character, though even I cannot eat too much at a time. This one is called Halva, made with pistachio and rose water

217 Beijing at Taipei

2009-07-12T00:24:00.007+08:00

Months ago I went to Taipei for a very short trip. Most of the time I was at work, but managed to free up a late afternoon, and went to the Palace Museum.

I wasn't going there for the exhibits, but for the tea place on the top floor named after one of the beloved chambers 三希堂 SanXiTang of the Forbidden City in Beijing.

The decor is modern Chinese, and is benefited a lot from the very high ceiling of this space. Tea is the main fare here, to go with traditional Chinese tea cakes / desserts.

The tea is so so, I went there mainly for the dessert...

御品豌豆黃兒 Sweet soy bean jello (as written on the menu). Actually I think 豌豆 isn't soy bean, but should be pea. So I believe these are made from dried pea or lentils. Very delicate and nice, this is always one of my beloved Chinese desserts.

內廷雪藏芝麻糕 Sesame cake (cold). Normally I'm not too crazy about dessert made from black sesame, but this one is really good. The cake mold marked with the characters 京兆尹, the name of a famous Pekingese restaurant in Taipei, which tailor made all these beautiful desserts for the tea place.

This is a star: 紅豆養生綠豆皇 Green bean cake with Adzuki nuts. Adzuki is red bean, made into paste and filled the green bean cake. Again very very delicate and classy, superbly delightful.

The other star, this one got even more characteristic: 松子養生綠豆皇 Green bean cake with pine nuts. You can see the pine nuts in the middle.

An elegant spot to sit down and relax as time passes.

216 Flat chicken

2009-07-11T00:18:00.005+08:00

The diarrhea I am having today is annoying, though I didn't experience any cramp, but still it's very unpleasant.

The food in this post has nothing to do with my diarrhea however. I had this lunch at Wanchai a few days ago. I always want to try this very famous char grill 'chicken steak' shop at Anton Street. It used to have a more general name, but I guess the 'chicken steak' is just too famous that they eventually changed the name of the shop to 'Wing's style char grill chicken steak 榮式燒雞扒'

'Chicken steak' is probably something a HK invention I guess, it's actually the upper part of a chicken thigh, de-boned and flattened. It's all chicken red meat, juicy and flavourful.

Water crest soup. A 'chicken steak' rice with soup cost HK$40.

The 'chicken steak' is trimmed into rectangle.

The chicken is quite nice I think. I read a lot of bad comments on it from food discussion pages on the web, but I think the dish is totally decent. The skin is crispy, meat tender and moist, just a tiny bit over-seasoned for me. I don't know why it receives such bad comments. The portion is very generous too.

215 Black and Salty

2009-07-07T00:48:00.008+08:00

I'm not really familiar with Beijing cuisine or the so called 'Beijing flavour 京味兒', but I think, to a certain extend, I do have admiration towards it . Maybe it's the rich cultural heritage, or maybe it's the capital of my country for the last six centuries.

The past April, I were in Beijing for a few days of work, so I had the opportunity to savour some 'Beijing flavour' between works. In some of my last posts (188 and 189) I'd been chasing for a bowl of 炸醬麵 in Hong Kong, so naturally I had continued my quest in Beijing, where 炸醬麵 Zhajiang Mian is considered to be one of the original Beijing flavourite.

I asked friends in Beijing and their old Beijiner parents recommended me to try it at the main shop of 老北京炸醬麵大王 at 崇文門. So there I went.

The place is eye piercingly bright, and crowded too. Actually the place's quite neat, I remember I walked passed this shop some 20 years ago when I first went to Beijing, and it changed quite a bit over decades, like the huge neon sign for example.

Claimed to be 'wild grown' sour date juice in bottle. Tastes quite good.

This is the dish. The waiter will perform a fast mixing of 麵碼兒 into the bowl of luke warm noodles right in front of you, check this youtube video out. The authentic Beijing zhajiang mian has quite a number of 麵碼兒 toppings, including fresh soy beans, cucumber, Chinese Lo Bok radish, Chinese celery, bean sprouts and many more.

This is the most essential 炸醬 zhajiang, made from 黃醬 and mince meat, sugar and a lot of salt. The authentic ones should be black and salty like this.

Northern Chinese cuisine uses a lot of garlic. This is raw garlic in Chinese rice vinegar, quite strong. It goes into the noodles, vinegar and the garlic all together. The garlic after being immersed in vinegar, tastes sweet.

Mixed noodles. Salty and strong, luke warm, contrary to common perception, the dish doesn't have a bit of sweetness in it, the taste is raw and straight forward, very different from those delicate and complex flavour from most Southern Chinese regional cuisines (e.g. Shanghainese / Cantonese)

214 My Michelin-starred neighbour

2009-07-06T01:16:00.002+08:00

This is a very seriously done 冬瓜蟹箝 steamed crab claw on a piece of winter melon with master stock. It's actually very good.

I had this a while ago at 桃花源, a very small Cantonese restaurant located just one block from where I'm living now. This tiny and humble looking restaurant has been there for quite a while, and had secretly gained its fame amongst highbrow foodies and celebrities or alike over the years. It became more known to the public for its gaining one Michelin star in last year's first edition of Michelin guide Hong Kong.

Though I'm not crazy about this restaurant at all (not that it's not good), I'm still somehow feeling grateful for having a least expected Michelin-starred restaurant so close to where I live, even though I personally like those starless shops from the vicinity better (e.g. 生記).

But still, I have to say, that steamed crab claw is one hell of a great dish. Below is another famous dish from 桃花源 - 玻璃蝦球 giant prawn with Chinese ham. Again, not bad at all, but if I have to be picky, I would say the flavour of the peanut oil used in this dish was a bit overwhelming, seems to compete with the natural flavour of the prawn. That's why I prefer the crab claw, especially winter melon was just in season.

213 Happy little things

2009-06-30T22:09:00.002+08:00

1. Number 13

I can't say I'm a big fan of inner organs of livestock, nonetheless I highly appreciate and enjoy really well made and delicious tripe and chitterlings (and more) dish, like this simple 牛雜串 (assorted beef inner organs in master sauce) from a renowned street stall in Northpoint. This one is cheap, hot, neat and flavourful. All the different parts from the animal's gut are cooked to perfection. I particularly like the small long stainless steel plate they serve you with the beef chitterlings skewer, so that the sauce won't end up all over you, very thoughtful.

2. Tea biscuit

You have to be amazed by the creativity of Japanese. This Jap version of the Brits' export 'McVitie's' has a green tea filling. They are also just 1/4 of the original McVitie's biscuit in size. They are just too cute...

212 Cheap meat

2009-06-28T11:45:00.006+08:00

It's typhoon season again. The past Friday, I went to record a percussion demo at Kwun Tong, and was almost soaked from heavy rainfall.

Felt hungry after recording, naturally. APM was nearby, and I had always wanted to try this cheap Shabu-shabu place there called 牛陣.

It's a 放題 kind of restaurant (like most cheap places), I ordered a fix 150g beef Shabu-shabu set, which you get 150g raw beef, and can go to pick up unlimited vegetables and rice and ice-cream from the buffet counter. It's just HK$50, quite a bargain.

My selection of Veggie from the buffet. There were quite a number of choices there, and most of the food looked okay.

The 150g beef, not bad, it's definitely not from the more desirable part of the animal, therefore the meat is quite tough after being cooked, but the flavour is okay for its HK$50 value.

There were a family of 5 sitting next to me, three children and two adults, they obviously ordered unlimited meat sets, which I saw them keep on asking for more and more meat. I think I saw them finished at least 5 - 8 plates of large portion raw beef and pork (5 times larger than my 150g share). Amazing, and very Chinese - 冇蝕底.

211 Swine

2009-06-07T15:48:00.009+08:00

豚組 has been there in the heart of Causeway Bay for a while. I didn't have the chance to go until last week.

It used to be called 和幸小料理, and I've been there when it was still using this name. The food wasn't impressive at all back then.

Japanese Cutlet pork chop meal is always one of my usual choice for dinner, it's good for eating alone as well as with a small group, perfect for busy city life, and decadently tasty if made right. It brings out the child within everyone of us.

You get to grind your own sesame here, just like at とん吉, and this point makes 豚組 just a notch higher than 近又 at Mongkok.

And the Japanese Cutlet sauce here is good too, it's mixed very much to my personal taste at least.

And they have other interesting side dishes here made from every part of the animal, like this 赤味噌豬大腸 Pig colon cooked in dark Japanese miso.

Unfortunately, the pork chop itself seems to be the weakness of this restaurant. Yet, I saw someone sitting nearby having a dish with a massive piece of pounded cutlet chop, it measures 16 inches long according to the menu, and that is certainly a temptation for me, I'll probably return for this giant cutlet.

20 yrs ago

2009-06-04T01:36:00.001+08:00

we still remember what happened 20 yrs ago.

see you at VP.

210 Beijing Old and New

2009-04-16T22:48:00.009+08:00

It was almost 20 years ago when I first visited Beijing and the Forbidden City.

Back then the entrance fee was under 10 RMB, now it's 60.

Back then there weren't that many people, now I could barely walk inside the imperial garden and being push by people.

Back then the palace was worn out by natural forces; now although many of the buildings were restored, yet they're already wearing out again by human force, by the huge number of tourists who don't care much about the artifacts.

The palace is still grand and sumptuous even with all the wearing bits and destruction here and there. Yet it's sad to see it not being cared and loved by its own people.

Don't be fool by the following pictures, the palace wasn't empty at all, I was just there early enough to be among the first few who entered, and I ran so hard to the main palaces to take these pictures. The sea of people was just behind me when these pictures were taken...

The new things seems to be not much better.

I went to the Olympic park the same day in the late afternoon. The 'Water Cube' and 'Bird Nest' look great from a distance. When I get closer, the Water Cube itself is still very interesting, the surface material is truly one of a kind. Yet it looks like it has not opened yet, like I was there looking at a building a few months before the Olympic. It was all surrounded by fences, and workers are still working on pipes and lines and floor in front of it. So surreal a scene.

Well, one really impressive thing to me, is how the city of Beijing managed to keep the Olympic park on the same axis as the old Beijing city. From the central walk of the Olympic park, which is right between Bird Nest and Water Cube, if you look to the south, to the direction where the Forbidden City is situated, you'll be able to see the Bell Tower鐘樓 and Drum Tower鼓樓 of the old Beijing city, which lies on the same axis as all the main halls of the Forbidden City. So the Bird Nest and Water Cube are on the same line with Meridian Gate 午門 , Hall of Supremem Harmony 太和殿 and all other main gates and halls. This is a very ceremonial design.

the Bell Tower and Drum Tower is right at the centre far far away, you can still detect the shape of it.

The bird nest basically share the same status with the water cube, all surrounded by high fence. Those fences were put to the ground by forcing openings on the tiled floor in front of the stadium, and their existence totally defeated the grandeur of the architecture of the stadium.

And many of the attaching points of the massive interlocking steel structure have appeared worn out already. It wasn't even a year after the Olympic and the main stadium is already deteriorating, how sad...

Luckily, after the Olympic park, I went to had dinner and had ordered a dish I've been fancied for years: 三不粘 (which literally means won't stick to three things - the dish, the chopsticks and your teeth). It used to be an imperial dessert adapted from 河南 Henan province, it has only 3 ingredients: egg, green bean flour and sugar. The three ingredients were then heated and stirred rapidly to form a mass which is soft like a dough yet won't stick to anything.

This dish of 三不粘 is from 老北京炸醬麵大王, very nice indeed.

209 I'm back...

2009-04-14T23:42:00.008+08:00

Hi, I'm back to the blog finally, after 2 long months of hectic work. But I'm at Beijing now for another project... ha ha.

Fly Air China this time, the last time I flied with them were 1989 winter. Of course things improved a whole lot over 20 long years, yet the pilot seemed like steering an F16 when landing the airport, we all had an exciting ride indeed.

The new T3 of Beijing International Airport is massive, really massive. And it wasn't crowded at all, indeed it seems to be like a deserted building. But then why did we have to get off the plane aside the runway away from the terminal building, and had to take a bus to the terminal, while all gates weren't occupied? Is Air China saving docking cost or what...?

The terminal is obscenely big. To me, it's somewhat an impressive piece of architecture after all, yet it seems to have no point at all to be built to a size like this. As far as I observed today, not even up to 10% of the whole terminal is being used. Some parts left unused actuallylook unfinished, and are already wearing out...

But in pictures, it do look majestic.

208 The result of too much stress and workload

2009-03-28T07:44:00.004+08:00

Crazy working schedule this month. See the bad result of too much stress and load from work. Hope to have something new here by April.

207 Second choice - 近又とんかつ

2009-02-15T23:09:00.009+08:00

I've noticed this restaurant at Langham Place before CNY, but no time to try.

Ever since Mr. 蔡瀾 paid a visit toとん吉in his TV programme and people started to flock to there, I have been hoping that there could be another authentic tonkatsu restaurant so that I won't be having no choice butとん吉. Not thatとん吉has turned bad, but call me snobbish, I really don't want to eat with a bunch of food ignorants who know nothing about tonkatsu, have no real interest in or appreciation on food, and to go there just because it's become a hot spot after someone saw it from TV.

That's why my eyes sparkled when I saw this restaurant opened last month or so in Mongkok.

The decor is quite nice considering its Mongkok location.

Lost 1 score toとん吉, the sesame is pre-ground, where atとん吉you grind your own to your likeness, more fun and freshness. This doesn't smell sesame at all, rather like saw dust...

The tonkatsu sauce on the right is also not as good asとん吉, yet the two salad dressings (in tall glass bottles) are quite nice; the orange one is soy sauce base with apple, the green one is made from cucumber, they both work well.

I ordered the set which you can choose for each individual items. I chose tonkatsu, with tomato soaked in Japanese wine, asparagus and pork roll, deep fried eggplant and 15 grain rice. But they gave me deep fried sweet potato instead of eggplant by mistake. The portion is generous, and like all tonkatsu place, they provide free refill shredded cabbage.

Good news, the tonkatsu really not bad! The breadcrumbs is especially nice.

This 15 grain rice cost an extra 10 dollars.

Even the dessert is nice, this roasted coffee jelly is a winner, full of nice coffee flavour.

206 Sift and sesame

2009-02-14T17:46:00.010+08:00

1. Sift

So busy these days, but I'm not complaining. It's a blessing, and I do enjoy my work.

Busy, so don't have spare time to eat around. Today, I managed to squeeze a few hours out from work, and went to Ap Lei Chau to look for some furniture. And I almost forgot that this confectionery shop is just among all those modern and antique fittings shops.

The first time I went to this shop was I think at least 2 years ago, when it first opened at Graham Street just off Hollywood Road in Central. It was opened as a dessert bar, it still is now. The first visit wasn't totally impressive, it was ok, I and my friends did feel the passion and love of pastry of the owner and chef, but it seems lacking something essential.

Maybe that something essential is time and experience. Today, I had a very decent piece of millie feuille with chocolate pastry cream and some very nice French macarons. I'm glad that the chef and owner did get the things all on the right track, and I am sure the business is blooming. The only thing I don't feel right about the place is, they use paper plate, paper cups and plastic fork. Customers who went there to eat aren't standing on the street or taking the piece of cake with them and eat on their way. This is not only environmental unfriendly, the experience of enjoying a piece of decent pastry includes the joy of using proper and functional cutlery and plate. These disposable utensils degrade the desserts which are prepared so carefully and lovingly.

This is a very decent piece of 'made in Hong Kong by Hong Kong people' millie fueille, almost authentic, only that the paper plate do spoil the mood, what a shame.

Rose and pistachio macaron.

I ordered this tea, and it tastes magically sweet after eating the chocolate millie feuille, don't know if it's from the tea or the tea boosts the after taste from the cake.

2. Fanta sesame flavour

From 7-11 convenient stores, I found it really interesting, so although I almost don't drink soft drinks at all now, I bought a small size and tried. It do have a punch of sesame flavour, but the flavour doesn't last too long. Otherwise, it's just a sweet transparent fizzy drink. No harm to try though.

205 CNY Basin Feast 2009

2009-01-28T15:45:00.016+08:00

Every year on 年初三 the 3rd day of Chinese New Year, the Tang Clan at Ping Shan hosts an Auspicious Basin Feast at their Grand Ancestral Hall. Three years ago I had been there, and this year I'm just way more than happy to return to the occasion, for the food, the architecture and the legacy. In the Above picture behind the bauhinia blossom is the 600 years old 聚星樓 Tsui Sing Lau Pagoda.

CNY could be seen best in this part of Hong Kong, where old traditions are still living among the people and space. We had the chance to pay visit to the Tang's Clan original house in the village, though it had been quite extensively modified, we can still see traces which brings us back to its 800 year of history.

Part of the Kun Ting Study Hall of the Tang Clan, so elegant.

'Ping Shan traditional Basin Feast' as written on every bowl.

Everybody gathers at the 700 years old 鄧氏宗祠 Tang Ancestral Hall to eat. This is just what CNY is supposed to be like, we city people just forgot what the festival is all about.

Soup first. This 陳皮鴨湯 duck and preserved mandarin peel soup is super delicious.

Here's the mighty basin: It's traditional, authentic, festive and delicious. It might look a bit ticky-tacky, but trust me it tastes good, just think of it as a mixed stew, and you'll just keep on diving into it. Ingredient includes pork belly, Chinese mushrooms, squids, tofu skin, daikon radish and many more.

This rice cooked with chicken and ginger is one of the best comfort food I've ever had. I wish I could eat this whenever I want.

Fresh chicken. Traditional Cantonese cuisine just slightly undercooked chickens, leaving the inside of the chicken bone bright red. This ensure the meat is of its most juicy and flavourful state. I like my chicken this way.

Young ginger preserved in rice vinegar, pair up with pineapple soaked in salt brine, a perfect match.

Happy Chinese New Year!

204 The Crown Jewel

2009-01-02T11:14:00.011+08:00

Happy new year! Went to Macao on new year's eve for a countdown concert, had some free time during lunch hour, so decided to go to this renowned tempura restaurant from Tokyo at the high end Crown Hotel and Casino at Taipa to have a relaxing lunch.

It was weekday, the restaurant was literally empty, three of us were the only customers there for the whole lunch time. I feel sad about that because this really is a nice and decent restaurant, maybe gamblers shun the idea of a place specialising in deep frying food. That's really a shame... I just hope this restaurant could survive. Go there and have lunch at least, the basic lunch sets are just under 200 dollars, a very good deal indeed.

The name of the restaurant is 天政 Tenmasa, its mother restaurant in Tokyo.

Salt and lemon juice on table for each diner

The chef, who is going to cook everything in front of customers, is exhibiting today's ingredients to us

Three of us ordered 2 lunch sets and some extras from the a la cart menu. This is the appetizers combo for one of the set lunch; chestnut tofu in the glass bowl, smoke eel rolls in front and Japanese sweet potato on the side. The chestnut tofu is very good.

Appetizer from another lunch set, this is eggplant jelly topped with grated Japanese yama imo, very delicate and delicious.

Here comes the tempura: 海老 shrimp

鰍 sculpin

蓮根 lotus root. There is some fish paste alike sandwiched between 2 pieces of lotus root slices.

蕪 turnip

椎茸 shiitake mushroom, this is the best fresh shiitake I've ever had, though dried ones found in Cantonese dishes could be even better.

海老芋 ebi taro, a speciality from Kyoto.

牡蠣 oyster, wrapped in 海苔 seaweed.

This one I'm not quite sure what it is, I guess it's sea eel 鰻.

百合根 lily bulb on the left, 栗 chestnut on the right

The chestnut is so good.

紫蘇 shiso leaves.

The batter is made freshly in front of you, and last only for one meal serving. The waitress said, the batter will get bad after a while, so the chef will make a new batter for every serving. It's a kind of wasting food because just a very small portion of it is needed for coating the ingredients, yet this also reflects how serious Japanese are to their food.

The waitresses display the fresh ingredients of the day to us once again, to see if we'd like something else which isn't included in our sets.

There's a sushi bar in the restaurant, so we ordered some sushi too. The beautiful one in front is とろろ昆布 tororo seaweed sushi, is a kind of processed dried seaweed. At the back is 卵 egg sushi.

This is 和牛スタミナロール wagyu roll, with grilled spicy wagyu, lettuce, white leek and baked egg with spicy sauce.

梅紫蘇巻 umeshiso roll, with pickled plum, cucumber and perilla (shiso leaves). Delicious!

This is the staple dish of one of the set: 白子天婦羅と金目鯛の石焼き雑炊唐墨添え testis tempura porridge served in a stone bowl with dried mullet roe. The testis tempura is delicious, at first I worried about the testis tempura ( 白子天婦羅, which is the milt of cod) would be wasted for making a bowl of congee, yet the result is satisfying.

another staple from another set: かき揚天丼 kakiage - assorted vegetables and seafood deep friend in batter, chopped and mixed with rice, looks humble but tastes great.

A bowl of green tea before desserts.

First dessert comes with the set: さつま芋天婦羅のアイスクリームのせ sweet potato tempura and ice cream. This is definitely a classy version of those similar dessert you can get from 麻布茶房, only way better.

This one is from the other set: 和風杏仁豆腐 soybean milk tofu, seasonal fruits dressed in black sugar sauce and soybean flour. Actually the Japanese description from the menu just stated 'Japanese style almond tofu', don't know why the English description is totally different. The dish is more like how it's described in English though. Looks great but tastes just so so.

This is the star of the whole meal, we nearly miss it out. We saw this dish さつま芋のブランデーがけ imo brandy, from the online menu the night before we go to this restaurant, and decided that we must have this one. Then the waitress insisted that the one comes together with the set (which is the above one with ice cream on top, さつま芋天婦羅のアイスクリームのせ) is very similar, if not identical to imo brandy, and strongly suggested us not to order. So we didn't order. But after we'd finished the さつま芋天婦羅のアイスクリームのせ, we thought although this tastes very good, but doesn't have a slightest trace of brandy, so we ordered the imo brandy again. It turned out to be a totally different dish, and this imo brandy is of course a much more exciting dish than the ice-cream topped さつま芋天婦羅のアイスクリームのせ.

I guess the imo (sweet potato) is soaked in brandy, then deep fried. When it's cooked and still hot, the chef sprinkled some powder sugar on top of it and caramelised the sugar with a few drops of hot oil from the frying pot, and finished it with a light brandy sauce. It tastes so good, definitely a dessert for grown ups.

203 Persian Experience

2009-01-01T10:24:00.002+08:00

The most eye and mouth opening experience this time I back to Vancouver, must be the Persian meal I had with some new friends in North Vancouver...

Persian food market and fast food restaurant all in one, on Longsdale Ave, North Vancouver.

The pastry section, having traditional Persian and general Western sweets side by side.

This is fast food counter. My friend told me that the signed written 'hot bread and meat', which is a common signage you'll find in Persian eateries.

A kind of slow stew, the most interesting thing is the little pea alike thing sprinkled on top. They are actually baby grapes.

Persian cook rice very differently from what we Chinese do, it's less starchy, not at all sticky, but just as delicious.

Lamb shank braised slowly in a tomato base sauce, with two kinds of rice. The shank is fork tender.

A paste or dip like condiment made with grilled eggplant, and goat milk on top. This is my friend's favourite dish.

This is like a Persian quiche, baked egg with various leaf vegetables.

This is my favourite dish of the whole meal, it's a kind of stew with tomato base sauce and beef. The beef is slow cooked to perfection, the sauce has a very strong characteristic by itself, with a hint of preserved lemon flavour, similar to those from Chaozhou cuisine or Vietnam cuisine. Cleverly top with potato fries.

Kabob, or kebab as more commonly transliterated, is native to Persian cuisine as well as many other Middle Eastern cuisines. Kabob is so common that Persians are said to have the ability to differentiate real charcoal grilled ones from gas grilled ones with a bite. That's nothing surprising indeed, just like many Chinese can tell if the chicken is frozen or fresh from one bite. The Kabob made here is very authentic, according to my friend.

2 kinds of kabob with saffron rice: saffron chicken and beef lamb mix, both are juicy and delicious. The whole tomato kabob on the side is not to be missed too.

This is another condiment like sauce, made with various leaf vegetables, and flavour with lemon. tart and tangy. It's said to be an acquired taste, but I found it pleasant and welcoming.

Very good Persian flat bread, freshly made in the house.

This Persian version of rice crisp is very popular, people ask for them. They're not as crisp as Chinese ones, but more filling and could just be treated as staple food rather than fun food.

Pomegranate juice is something you could drink with a Persian meal.

I think 99% Chinese people can't eat these traditional Persian sweets at all. It's saturated sugar. As a super sweet tooth, I'm ok with it of course, and also delighted to suspect that they're made with rose water so the flavour is nice, and the swirl one actually resembles Chinese dessert 蜜糖馬仔 Sachima in texture. Tastes good!

202 East (Indian) Meets West

2008-12-30T09:19:00.007+08:00

Nothing more appealing than a spicy and warm Indian dinner in icy cold winter night in Vancouver. Three of us went to this very famous Indian restaurant called Vij's on an extraordinary cold night in Vancouver.

I remember when the restaurant opened I was still living in Vancouver. Back then I think it's just a pretentious place, but after all these years it survived and gradually earned a lot of respects from fellow Vancouverites. This time I finally got the chance to try it out.

This restaurant has a 'No reservation' policy, what you could do is wait. Good that they have a stylish bar with free snacks for you to sit down, order a drink and wait warmly indoor.

Paneer, eggplant and green beans in tamarind curry. This is the example of how the food in Vij's is being constructed: using traditional Indian ingredients (for example Paneer in this dish), cooked with traditional spice but mild down to 'Westernised' the dish. This is how Vij's wins the heart of North American. But don't get me wrong here, the food isn't bad at all, just that they're not just ordinary Indian food you'll get from an ordinary Indian restaurant.

Garam masala sauteed portabello mushrooms with porcini cream curry. The mushrooms tasty, yet nothing too garam masala to me, just in ordinary cream sauce with spices.

Wine marinated lamb popsicles in fenugreek cream curry on turmeric spinach potatoes. This dish looks the nicest, the lamb 'popsicles' are fine, the sauce is again bit too mild and lack of distinctive character.

Beef shortribs in cinnamon and red wine curry with warm greens. I like this one the best, Canada is still a place for good beef after all, the shortribs are tender and flavourful.

201 In A Pear Tree

2008-12-29T20:02:00.015+08:00

No one would probably associate Canada with fine dining. You'll think New York City, Tokyo, London, Paris, even Sydney, but you'll never have Canada on your list I bet.

Actually, food and restaurants in Canada aren't that behind, there are loads of up and coming chefs and restaurants out there in major Canadian cities like Montreal and Vancouver, and the good thing about them is, you can probably had a more or less similar dining experience to those haute cuisine in London or Paris, but you only need to pay a fraction of the price. Here's one fine example, recommended by my foodie friend in Vancouver, the Pear Tree has been there in humble Burnaby for quite some time, it just pops out from nowhere on a street you'd never thought of having a fine restaurant like this.

There were 6 of us all together at the dinner table that night. Our friend Angie who brought us there happens to be a friend of the chef, so we got a lot of little treats between course. This is the amuse-bouche I suppose, the slice of ham is coated by a clamato deglaze and dust with lime powder, very interesting concept.

This is foie gras in different forms, the most interesting one is the white cap there at the bottom left, it's a 'foie gras aspirin', it shatters and melts on your tongue, and gives out a nice foie gras flavour.

Homemade brioche, this is outstanding.

My cup of 'lobster cappuccino', which is lobster foam with altantic lobster tail and dashi custard, served with little choux pastry balls. I think this is the one dish which makes this restaurant famous. The taste is intensive and concentrated, complicated too. I found it too salty at the beginning, and got used to it towards the end.

Forest mushroom ravioli with crips bacon and chive glaze. It's simple, straight forward and basic. I didn't try it out, but from the look of it, and from my friend's first hand experience, it is one of the best dish of the night for sure.

I really like this one, it is a trunk of rainbow trout sits on a potato cylinder...

... the potato cylinder is actually hollow in the middle, and there's cream sauce inside. Both the potato and the rainbow trout are divine. I think the chef is really happy about this dish, he chose the time when this dish was served to come out of the kitchen and greet us.

This one is just too much a surprise dish from the chef, this could be a casual main course all by itself. Lobster tail cooked twice and pork belly.

Main course I ordered: braised lamb shank topped with seared scallops and served with a roasted pear risotto. I ordered this mostly because of the risotto...

'Campbell's pheasant'- butter poached pheasant breast with hon-shimiji mushrooms and fall vegetables. The breast is as moist and tender as you could imagine.

my dessert: Okanagan poached pears with vanilla ice cream and dark chocolate sauce. This is before the chocolate sauce

after the chocolate sauce

200 The Fake Alpine Experience

2008-12-25T17:47:00.005+08:00

I've been to Banff and Lake Louise for many times, but had only stayed at Banff overnight for once, and never done so at Lake Louise. This time because the room rate has a super cut, four of us got a junior suit at the Chateau Lake Louise Hotel and stay a night for only 250 Canadian dollars or so.

When I first visited Banff some 12 to 13 years ago, people will say to you that 'Banff is the little Switzerland of the Canadian Rockies'. To a certain extend, it is; the scenery, the weather, the hot springs and the winter sports, all made you feel like you're at the Alps. Only the food there just couldn't deceive you no matter how hard they've tried.

But this time, we went to a very good Swiss restaurant located just right inside the Chateau Lake Louise. It's authentic, casual and warm, with attentive and professional service. A meal at this restaurant finally completes the Canadian Alpine experience.

The Walliser Stube at Chateau Lake Louise.

Bread rolls.

This onion soup is serious. The cheese on top is of course good cheese (we're after all dining in a Swiss restaurant), and the soup base is very well made too. One of the best of its kind.

The menu of this restaurant is mainly classic, but they have a small section with 'modern' dishes, like this one : 'Burnt' wheat and wine soup, with hazelnut creme and brown sugar. Interesting soup.

Also from the 'modern' part of the menu: 'Under vacuum' oxtail and mini foie gras doughnut - tender braised oxtail and soft organic organic corn polenta (put in layers inside the jar on the left), leek and celeriac slaw (under the foie gras doughnut in the middle). Everything is good about this dish.

Wiener Schnitzel with parsley potato and Ligonberry preserve, done very authentically.

Star of the night: Raclette cheese

Air-dried meats accompanying the Raclette cheese which I ordered as a main course, It is authentic to serve the cheese with boiled vegetables, pickles, bread and air-dried meats. Both Chesa and Swiss Chalet in Hong Kong don't have air-dried meat to go with their Raclette dish.

All kinds of vegetables and pickles to go with the cheese, the star is of course the boiled potatoes.

my wedge of Raclette melting nicely under the broiler. But despite the fun of broiling your own cheese, the Raclette I had in Hong Kong is a bit better in taste.

This 'deconstructed' Black Forest cake sounds corny, but it actually tastes very good, though other than taken out the some of the cherries, I don't know how 'deconstructed' it actually is.

Crème caramel, not bad at all.

Pine forest at Lake Louise, I like this picture a lot.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2008-12-25T14:43:00.001+08:00

from Snow White Vancouver 2008

hundred and ninety-nine

2008-12-11T01:53:00.007+08:00

Francophone

It was a rainy day yesterday, a typical winter day in Vancouver. Met my friend JP, he booked a table for dinner at this lovely little bistro called Salade de Fruits Cafe, which was located at Le Centre (the Vancouver Francophone Cultural Centre).

Not until I read the sign of the restaurant then I realised I had in fact searched this restaurant online some time ago, and had shortlisted it as one of those which I'd like to try out during my trip this time around. It's such a nice coincidence that this restaurant is JP's favourite too.

The food is classic French, it's real, basic, authentic, and that's also how I like my food to be the most...

Rabbit terrine: I just couldn't say enough good things about this dish, I can eat this everyday and wouldn't be bored. This is such honest soul food.
I guess the original classic version of 'Terrine de Lapin' would go with bread or toast. This one has an Indian twist to it; it goes with a piece of Papadum. Later I found out that the restaurant is managed by two Indian chefs under the supervision of a French chef, I guess that's the reason why this dish has such an interesting twist. And it's actually a very good twist, because that way I won't be having too much bread and got filled up too early during the meal, plus the crispy Papadum do contrasted the terrine nicely.

Another appetizer: 'Tarte à l’oignon' a French onion tart.
The tart is of course very good, but the French fries on the side is even better. And it's eaten with mayonnaise, the way I much prefer, and the way it should be eaten I think. In fact, there's a sign hanging inside the restaurant saying 'no ketchup' which do crack me up.

My main: 'Confit de Canard'.
I think the French and the Chinese are the only people in the world who truly understand duck as a culinary ingredient, and cook it right.

I ended my meal with this pot of simple chocolate mousse. This again is the most honest chocolate mousse you could get, no tricks done, solid and heart warming.

hundred and ninety-eight

2008-12-07T08:22:00.001+08:00

Rainbow

... in Vancouver.

hundred and ninety-seven

2008-12-05T01:57:00.006+08:00

Puffy

This cream puffs shop chain has been here in Hong Kong for years, I think the first one in Hong Kong is at the basement of Sogo Causeway Bay, and it's still there.

Cream puffs has a special place in my heart among all desserts. When I was a small kid, my grandma liked to buy cream puffs with chocolate on top (éclair) at a cake shop downstairs, and shared it with me. That cake shop has long gone, and grandma had passed away for over 30 years too, but the memory was still fresh.

This shop has a very effective trick to draw people's attention: smell. Each shop bakes their choux pastry on site, and that gives out the very tempting smell of butter and flour baking. I think that's the reason why people still line up for their cream puffs after all these years, because honestly the cream puffs there aren't that great at all.

That day after running at gym, I walked by Mongkok MTR station as usual, smelled the puffs as usual, yet don't know why I just couldn't resist the idea of getting one that day, because usually I'll just walk away for I know the puffs smell much better than they taste.

So I finally got one seasonal special, with crème de marrons and marron glacé.

It's actually not too bad. The filling is totally fine, problem is the choux pastry, I don't like the texture, and it tastes too eggy too.

And I was quite astonished when I saw a Beard Papa's branch in San Francisco last time when I was there. I think you can easily find much better and authentic cream puffs there in SF.

hundred and ninety-six

2008-12-03T00:13:00.004+08:00

The List

Congratulations to Lung King Heen 龍景軒 being awarded 3 Michelin Stars. I think this restaurant well deserves it, the chef was one of the most outstanding Cantonese Cuisine master already when he was working at 麗晶軒 decades ago, food there is delicate and are prepared meticulously, the menu is interesting, service also excellent.

2 star restaurants include Amber at the Landmark Mandarin, Caprice at the Four Seasons, L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon at Landmark, and T'ang Court at Langham Hotel Hong Kong.

1 star restanrants include Fook Lam Moon, Pierre at Mandarin Oriental, Hutong, Yung Kee, some Maxim's Group restaurants like Shanghai Garden and The Golden Leaf, Lei Garden at IFC and TST, and my favourite Ming Court at Langham Place Hotel.

The 3 star restaurant of Macao is Robuchon a Galera at the Lisbon Hotel.

Most of them are really good restaurants, I only have problem with Hutong, don't understand why it can get a star, people who've been there probably share my view I guess, it's nothing but a pretentious place with bad bad food, and services aren't that good too, most important of all, the food is ridiculously overpriced.

hundred and ninety-five

2008-11-27T00:09:00.009+08:00

Minden Avenue

I like the name of Minden Avenue very much, mainly because of its Chinese translation 棉登徑, it sounds exotic. There used to be a Korean restaurant at the basement of a building on Minden Avenue, which my father used to bring all of us to have Korean BBQ. It was a good place, always packed with people. The restaurant was still there in the 90's, it's called 滿拿.

Although the Korean restaurant is long gone, Minden Avenue is still the hidden gem in TsimShaTsui for foodies. Among all interesting establishments, 見城 is probably the strongest. This very authentic Japanese restaurant is owned by a former Japanese baseball player, how sexy that is.

This is a pricey place, not that kind of pricey place where the lighting is dim and the people are discreet, but a hardcore Japanese Sushi place where all your money is paid for the freshness of the catch and the craftsmanship of the chef.

I went there several times for dinner, and usually let the chef decide everything for me. They never failed me, and guided me through a roller coaster of taste with various fruits from the sea. I like to sit at the sushi bar, to have a more intimate relationship with my chef, to look at my sushi being prepared by him with love, care and proficiency.

I heard that 見城 had opened a new branch some time ago. Usually things will start to turn bad when homy business like this expands. So I was visiting the original shop with doubts that day, for a lunch sushi set.

It turned out that, Japanese people are really different, their way of doing thing is something outsiders like you and me could never understand and copy. The shop is exactly like what it was years ago as my last visit. And the food, too, was of the same old good quality.

Chawanmushi before everything. This is a quality example, made with chicken stock, totally silky, full of flavour.

For the lunch sushi set, you can pick any 8 pieces from the list, plus your choice of a maki roll. For a HKD 170 lunch set, I am speechless. This is probably the best you could find in HK.

hundred and ninety-four

2008-11-22T22:38:00.004+08:00

The Swiss Chalet

I've been awaring of the existance of this restaurant for quite some years, hadn't got the chance to visit until weeks ago, walked by the area in an ordinary night, got in and ask for a table, luckily got one.

The owner is also the chef, I guess he's Swiss. Comparing to Chesa, this restaurant is a bit more festive and youthful, yet just as authentically Alpine, and the price is not much lower than Chesa too. Prepare to spend a good 400 to 500 per head with drinks, 100 to 200 more if you're opening a bottle of wine.

The butter is pressed with the name of the restaurant, so old school, I like it.

I chose grainy bread. Taste good.

Möhl Thurgauer Saft vom Fass (Unfiltered Dry Apple Cider 4% vol.). It looks like beer when poured out, tastes like lager, with a hint of apple cider. Interesting drink, goes so well with the creamy food.

Rivella, a lacto mineral soft drink made of milk, tastes like very light cream soda, very nice too.

Walliser Raclette Mit Häpperä (Hot Melted Raclette cheese with new potatoes, pickled onions and cornichons). This is one of my most favourite cheese dish. This one is starter portion, if you order it as main course, you can have at most 4 servings, while back at Chesa, you could have all you can eat Raclette cheese for main course. But I like the Raclette here a little bit better than at Chesa, don't know why, ha ha.

Orginali Bündner Gerste Suppe (Barley soup with air-dried meat originated from the Swiss Grison mountains), very creamy, very Alpine.

Es Klaars Wachtle Süppli mit Pilzchnöödli und Koriander (Quail clear soup with coriander leaves and mushroom dumplings), this is a surprise, I ordered it of course because it read the most wierd on the soup menu. The soup is clear yet thick with geletine, like turtle soup. It warms your body and heart instantly, a perfect start for a meal up in the sowny mountain. I like it very much.

Züüri Gschnätzlets mit Rööschti Chasches uswähle vom Orginale mit Chalbfleisch gmacht oder Schwiinigs au mit Huhen chames ba (Thinly sliced veal meat with white mushrooms in a creamy sauce served with hash brown potatoes and vegetables, you can choose from the original version with veal, pork or chicken). This one is veal. Though Chesa makes a much better version, this one is ok too.

Chalbsnierli mit Calvados Immene Chrüüter und Calvados Sööseli (Sautéed veal kidney in a herb and Calvados sauce served with fine noodles or hash brown potatoes). This one obviously is with noodles, and this is an appertizer portion. The kidney is very fresh and very well prepared, tastes as good as a kidney dish could be. I was glad that I ordered an appertizer portion, this isn't small and very filling.

Closer look at the kidney pieces. Delicious.

This one doesn't have a Swiss name: Two big Meringue with plenty fresh wipped cream.

hundred and ninety-three

2008-11-21T11:31:00.009+08:00

Late Autumn Shots

Late autumn sky at Mei Foo Bus Terminus, humidity very low these days, and don't know if it's the effect of the economic downfall, which forced many of the factories at Pearl River Delta to slow down their production, the air seems cleaner, we have a bit more blue sky like this lately. Also my N82 phone camera still works very well in this kind of shooting condition.

Pork chops at Dan Ryan's Hong Kong is something I'll go for once in a while. That evening, when RL seasonal sales started, I went to its Ocean Terminal branch, shopped for nothing, then went to the Dan Ryan's next door for early dinner. This isn't the pork chops I order normally, because I was being persuaded by the waitress to try this dish, 'Pork chops with maple and rum glaze'. It wasn't as nice as the plain pork chops and is 50 dollars more! I swear I will stick to my own choice next time around.

After dinner, on the way out, I walked by Jean-Paul Hévin. I've walked by many times but never had the drive to try their macaron. That evening I bought 2, one caramel and one dark chocolate. Just so so, the meringue cookies are fine, but the filling too moist and too much. It's a disappointment.

Then there's this mini log cake from Starbucks Hong Kong, it's one of the special pastry collection for this year's Christmas. It looks so cute, but doesn't taste half as good as it looks. Well, for the sake of Christmas celebration, the look is certainly more important than the taste, so in this case I can't say they're not doing the right thing.

Earlier last week, I tried this new shrimp pattie burger at Mcdonald's Hong Kong. It's another special burger promotion after the double fish burger. Sometimes I just don't understand what's the big deal about Japan to Hong Kong-ers, I can't see anything from this shrimp burger which has something to do with Japan, yet this burger is packaged as 'Japanese style'.

You won't expect gourmet food from Mcdonald's for sure, but this burger just isn't something worth a try. Everything is tasteless and boring. Maybe that's what Mcdonald's impression on Japanese food, and on Hong Kong people.

hundred and ninety-two

2008-11-20T09:43:00.005+08:00

Mei Foo Osmanthus again

It's Sweet Osmanthus 桂花 blooming season again in November, the few bushes downstairs at the podium garden started blooming this week. They smell sweet.

hundred and ninety-one

2008-11-20T08:34:00.004+08:00

Bibendum is coming to town

The Michelin Hong Kong and Macao Guide is coming, on the 4th of December 2008.

hundred and ninety

2008-11-16T22:14:00.008+08:00

Worst photo ever

My Nokia N82 began to act strangely in dim lighting for some time. I had it taking pictures during my solo dinner at Pane Vino, and the photos taken are awful... I've tried every possible setting, still it didn't work.

Anyway, the focus should be on the restaurant. This cozy restaurant at Mosque Junction wins by its setting and atmosphere, it's like you're somewhere in Europe when sitting in their dinning room, though the night I was there, it was the cheap classical music selection which betrayed its endowment.

About the food, well I can't say it's excellent. At least the pasta itself is ok, it's not easy to find 'ok' pasta in Hong Kong in the first place, so I still think this restaurant is 'go-able' (it will be 10 times more 'go-able' if the price is not as high).

Some decent amuse-bouche to make a good start.

Bread was nice too.

This is the thing I like the most about the meal, a plate of complimentary (of course that means it's not reflected on the bill) Pecorino cheese. I finished them all with a glass of house white. The house white was fine too.

I decided to have pasta there. This is Strascinate pugliese con Cauliflower e Pancetta (South ear shape pasta with Cauliflower, pancetta and pecorino). The Strascinate was fine, yet the dish was too salty for me, the pancetta was cut too rough too, not a fine example of any pasta dish. Yet this horrible picture is totally not doing justice to the dish, it looked much better.

The dessert, panna cotta, was not good too. It's too thick and creamy, more like cheese jelly than delightful panna cotta. No good. I couldn't finish it all, in stead I used its caramel sauce to finish the Pecorino cheese.

There was a side story behind this meal. I was sitting next to a table which seemed like a university reunion dinner party. At that table, there sat Ann Hui the film director, 詹德隆 the writer / scholar and Margaret Ng the member of Legislative Council among others of similar age. They were discussing how poor the younger generation are nowadays, how illiterate and irresponsible they could possibily be. Although I somehow agree with them, their attitude towards the problem worried me, because they obviously have no passion and love towards the younger generation, and are only immersing themselves into an almost purely nostalgic embracement of the good old days. I don't think this is positive and constructive, especially when most of them are respectable persons who have power and influences on our society.

hundred and eighty-nine

2008-11-15T23:19:00.005+08:00

Jajangmyeon

Chinese Cuisine has profound influence on the food of many SE Asian countries and areas, in the same way as French cooking has influenced her neighbour countries in Europe. Just the fact that people from Singapore to Korea are still using chopsticks could be the strongest evidence.

Last entry I went for a bowl of Zhajiang Mian on Caine Road, in fact, earlier some time I went for the same bowl, but of a Korean version. It's called Jajangmyeon or 자장면/짜장면 if you can read Korean. The name is literally just the same as it's in Chinese 炸醬麵, but actually the Korean version is quite a lot different from its Chinese origin.

Jajangmyeon could be considered as one of the national dish of Korea, people there eat them all the time, at least that's what I heard of. The one I had was from my most favourite Korean Restaurant in HK, 韓國錦城飯店.

I trust the bowl of noodles I had there is authentic. If so, then this version of Zhajiang Mian is totally disastrous; sauce too runny and too sweet, can't compare to the supposed to be well reduced and concentrated Chinese Zhajiang sauce. Noodles too thick, almost like Japanese Udon, therefore can't absorb or carry the sauce well. These all made a boring noodle dish, what a shame.

Yet, don't be discourage by the noodles, all other dishes of this restaurant are very good, such as these Banchan飯饌; and their 炆牛肋骨 is divine.

hundred and eighty-eight

2008-11-10T23:50:00.001+08:00

1. Suddenly Winter and a bowl of Zhajiang Mian

Winter came suddenly last night, temperature dropped, humidity also dropped. I woke up with very dry lips and throat this morning.

Well, it's nothing to do with weather, just longing for a proper bowl of 炸醬麵 lately, so I went to this restaurant on Caine Road called 京香餃 for a try. This' supposed to be a place for 餃子, I still hoped its noodles would be as good. It turned out to be much of a disappointment; noodles was fine, the cucumber was authentic, but the meat sauce was not thick and strong tasting enough, making the bowl of noodles a 3rd class one.

Maybe I should just order 餃子 and not taking the risk after all. I will go back there for 餃子 some time later, and won't touch their noodles anymore.

2. Good-bye once more

My farewell to KK last week wasn't perfect indeed, because they didn't have the twisted cake. Our friend Eddie and Siu Ding went there again the past weekend, and brought us a few boxes, they were lucky because that day KK had the Napoleon, which is of their twisted cake style doughnuts. I had one, and that finally made my farewell to KK perfect.

hundred and eighty-seven

2008-11-09T23:17:00.006+08:00

The Hong Kong Spirit II : Create prosperity

With an auspicious name "創發", this restaurant couldn't be wrong in days as dull as present. It's cheap, good quality and reminds me of the good old HK in the 70's.

Went there once some weeks ago, it was closed to celebrate the birthday of some local god. Good sign indeed, for only very carefree restaurants can close the door whenever they feel like to, carefree also means they don't need to please their customers, everybody is happy about their food already.

This meal for 2 costs only HKD158.

small "welcome" dishes. The tiny shrimps are just blanched in water and cool, simple and good.

It's chestnut season, this braised pork knuckles with chestnut and mushroom 栗子炆豬手 is just lovely.

Ate the arms, now the legs, ordered this cold pig hind legs in its own jelly 豬腳凍. Not as good as it used to be.

普寧豆腐 deep fried tofu Puning style, I think here is the only place in HK you can still get it authentic and good.

韮菜粿 Chinese chives pocket Chaozhou style.

Dessert: 慈壳粿, this might looks awful, but trust me, it tastes very nice, made with rice flour, black sesame seeds and peanuts.

hundred and eighty-six

2008-11-03T22:36:00.004+08:00

The Hong Kong Spirit I

This certainly isn't quite the best steak house you could find, but 金鳳 do have its special place in the food scene of Hong Kong. It's cheap, efficient, no-frills and down-to-earth. This somehow reflects the quality of Hong Kong people, and it's these qualities which saved us from crises and unrest in times.

There are three 金鳳 to my knowledge; one in Causeway Bay, one in Jordan, and the original one should be this one on Lai Chi Kok Road, which I've visit tonight.

I arrived just past 7 pm, the restaurant was already full, people were waiting outside, holding tickets with number given to them by a waitress. I got number 20. Don't assume that I'll have to wait for an hour or so before I could get in because there were 19 tables ahead of me, mind you that this is a very 'efficient' restaurant, it's almost fast food. I was inside in just less than 15 minutes.

This is a small establishment, less than 20 tables. The place was smoky from the hotplates which they served their steaks piping hot, with different kinds of sauce sizzling around.

I ordered T bone, my friend sirloin. They all come in sets, with roll and butter, soup and tea or coffee. I hate those hotplates, so I requested my steak to be served on ordinary plate, so that I won't be splashed by the sizzling sauce on it.

Old fashioned Hong Kong style western dinner are like this, soft bun with 'winner' butter, very local, cheap and not bad.

I chose Cream of Chicken soup. It's far from creamy, it's more like Chinese soup.

Sirloin steak with minced garlic on top. They usually tenderised the steak too fiercely, like this one. It's totally not like what you'll normally get from an 'authentic' steak dinner place anywhere else. Yet, it's something of its own kind, it's unique. It do me no harm having this kind of steak dinner once in a while, plus it's really cheap, a set dinner is only 60-70 Hong Kong Dollars.

This is my T bone, I think it's much better than the sirloin, not as fiercely tenderised, more like 'normal' meat. In fact, it's quite good... :p

And the portion was very generous.

And I really had to take a picture of this jar of mustard, so old fashioned and carefree. I like that.

I finished my bun, soup, steak and milk tea in less than 20 minutes, then I still have a night to do whatever I want after dinner, how nice.

hundred and eighty-five

2008-11-03T01:22:00.001+08:00

Good-bye Krispy Kreme

The world wide financial crises might be the immediate cause of the closing down of KrispyKreme in Hong Kong, but it wasn't doing good since some time earlier this year, the paper wrote about how unhealthy a doughnut could be. It's said that one doughnut would cause you to go beyond the safety line of your trans fat and sugar intake per day.

which kill Anyway, people were scared away, and the rent was too high, yet to me it's the common loathing of truly sweet food here, and the total manipulation by mass media over Hong KongerKK. Come on, if you don't know this kind of food is bad to you, then I must say that you're just nothing but ignorant. And a doughnut is only dessert, which is meant to be something you shouldn't have too much in the first place. I don't see doughnuts are going to do much more harm to you than food at Mcdonald's, where people still flocking in every day and night.

So I and 4 friends went to the last branch which is still opening until all its raw ingredients are used up. This branch located at the airport.

hundred and eighty-four

2008-10-31T01:07:00.002+08:00

1946 and 2008

Johnson sent me a pile of old photos of Hong Kong in 1946. This one above shown the devastated main Hall of Hong Kong University during the Japanese occupation. The roof top of the Hall was gone. Back then, the Victoria Harbour and Kowloon is totally visible from there.

This photo was taken about 2 weeks ago at Hong Kong University when I was doing a site visit there. The main Hall is now totally blocked by high rises in front of it, you can't see even a tiny fraction of the Harbour or Kowloon side, plus the clock tower has some ugly paint on it, making it fake and full of disgrace. This is so typical Hong Kong style.

hundred and eighty-three

2008-10-29T00:23:00.001+08:00

1. My Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X lens

I'd been waiting for this lens for almost a year, finally I got it at Mongkok earlier last week. Thanks to the recently economic crises, the Japanese Yen went up crazily, and made this lens much more expensive than it was 9 months ago.

Here are some tryouts. The lens feel quite good on my camera, it's much more solid than what I thought it would be.

2. Double Fish

I heard of this sandwich long time ago when it first appeared in Japan, since then I had been wondering when it will come to Hong Kong, because we're just so much a bunch of loyal and pathetic copy cats of all things Japanese.

Finally the double fish burger comes to Hong Kong, and with no surprise being packaged in a totally Japanese theme. The good thing is the wasabi mayo in the bun, sounds interesting. And together it comes the separate order fish fingers too. So it's fishy month for Mc.

The mayo which goes with fish fingers, this one without wasabi.

The fish fingers, the one I had that night was totally no good, very dry and tasteless.

The burger wasn't any better. The wasabi mayo was fine, just that the staff didn't put an effort in spreading it evenly onto the fish fillets, making it one bit too dry, another bit too spicy. So, this is also no good. What a disappointment.

hundred and eighty-two

2008-10-22T12:05:00.005+08:00

The MG

I went to the Mandarin Grill yesterday with Winnie, for a PR lunch with ladies from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. We all had a four course lunch set. Under the supervision of executive chef Uwe Opocensky, the cuisine now at the MG has a touch of molecular gastronomy. Yet we're not eating all sort of foam and jelly, they're all real food with a pleasant twist.

I didn't write down the name of every dish, so I'll only try to describe the dish according to its ingredients.

The first course is all spider crab, on sushi rice and in jelly. But the most interesting thing from the dish is the leaf on the left, which is an oyster leaf. When you chew on the leave, it does give out a very intense flavour of fresh oyster. Mr. Opocensky might have got his idea from El Bulli since oyster leaves are presented on some of the dishes there too. I don't exactly know if the flavour is a natural phenomanon or it's something a result from the way these leaves are cultivated, I do heard of using crushed oyster shells in soil to grow these leaves, don't know if this is a true story or not though.

The second course is about lobster. The interesting thing is the gel underneath, which is made with lemon and other acidic agents. It provided a very good kick to the lobster meat, which was also cooked very well. The coffee colour foam on the bottom right is a lobster bisque foam, which allows you enjoy the flavour of the bisque without being filled up by a real bowl of soup. And sorry for the shadow of my hand in the photo, I just couldn't avoid it when taking close up pictures there.

The third course is the main I suppose. It's all beef and mushroom, set on a white mushroom and meat jus 'paper'. Everything on the plate were cooked with care, tasted fantastic with excellent textural feel. Just that the portion was maybe a little bit too much, which made me feel a tiny bit overwhelmed. The other girls at the table all didn't finish it too. I think it'll be just right if there were only two pieces of beef tenderloin instead of three.

The dessert is a delight by its presentation. It's called 'bread and butter', how playful and clever. Yet, the actual taste of it just wasn't as impressive as its title. It's not bad at all, very well made like all other dishes, only not a quite a surprise as its name.

I do hope to try their dinner some time, to see how they balance the old and the new within a much revolutionalised menu designed by the new executive chef.

hundred and eighty-one

2008-10-21T00:19:00.005+08:00

The First Crab

It's the peak of hairy crab season again. Last week I went to Langham Place Hotel to do a shooting and tasting of their hairy crab menu this year. This dish, 蒸原隻酒釀大閘蟹steam hairy crab in sweet ferment rice sauce, is sure to be one of the best hairy crab dish I've ever had. The flavour from sweet ferment rice marries with the crab seamlessly, and acting like a taste booster to enhance the wonderful flavour of the crab. This crab is also of top quality, making the dish a memorable one.

Indeed it is so memorable that I decided to go there again for it, this time with a few friends, to try other dishes there too.

This is 九製陳皮牛肉braised beef dice with marinated and aged tangerine peel. This is such a clever dish, the 九製陳皮 are just those junk snack you could bought anywhere, yet it becomes the crown jewel of the dish here, a very good example of using cheap and junky ingredients to make an upscale dish.

This is another very very impressive dish, 菊花蓮子蜜汁雲腿片Yunnan dried ham slice braised with honey, lotus seeds and chrysanthemum. This is a very 'autumn' dish because of the chrysanthemum, and it adds a lot of character to the dish. The three things go so well with each other. Most people when talking about Chinese ham, they just go for 金華火腿 Jinhua ham, and don't know that 雲南宣威火腿 Yunnan 'XuanWei' ham is actually more prestigious, they're less salty, have a better texture than Jinhua ham. The lotus seeds here are also very well made, they're softy-crunchy鬆化.

It is served with a piece of plain steam bread, by putting the slice of ham together with a bit of sauce, some lotus seeds and a few chrysanthemum pedals inside the pocket like bread, and eat it like eating a sandwich.

Even the plain fried Gailan is very good.

For staple, we had this 乳豬炒飯 fried rice with roasted suckling pig, we all suspected that this dish might have got its idea from similar dish found in Macao. Very good too.
The name of the restaurant is 明閣 Ming Court.

hundred and eighty

2008-10-17T14:15:00.006+08:00

Two more trashy drinks

A: Deluxe from Pepsi

The first one is this 'Deluxe Pepsi'. I'm never a fan of pops, I drink an average of 6 to 10 cans, per year, yes, per year, not per week or per month. But that night I was back from a big dinner, and was longing for something fizzy. I went to the 7-11 downstairs and looked for something inspiring from the fridge, there I found this slim Japanese standard can.

This drink is said to be of zero calorie, strawberries and cream flavour. I don't care much about the calorie, but the strawberries and cream is for sure a big temptation. It tastes really like strawberries and cream, though synthetic, yet still a happy drink. I'd recommend it, especially to people who appreciate Cherry Coke like myself. This is a good answer to Cherry Coke And Vanilla Coke from Pepsi.

B: Sugary Liquor from Italy

There is a bit of disgrace calling this drink 'trashy', yet from the label on its bottle to its super sweetened nature, it just couldn't be not trashy. I got this bottle from Rome, at a place you least expected.

This is the I think 'official' Liquor from the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-wall, which was built at the site of the tomb of St. Paul. There are actually 2 kinds of liquor which you could buy from the shop at the Basilica, one is lemon-yellowish and murky, one is clear amber colour like this one I bought. Though I call it trashy, it actually tastes not bad, and its sweetness is good to go with soda, making it an alcoholic Italian soda, yum!

hundred and seventy-nine

2008-09-26T01:18:00.010+08:00

Something Trashy Something Cheap

I found this very ridiculous cigarette at work days ago. How creative is it to name a cigarette brand with a kind of prestigious and expensive Chinese medicine herb.

Then one day between assignments, I went to snack out at Mcdonald's in Wanchai, to try the newbies there, which will only be there for a limited period of time. The McRib with pork ribs in the centre is just okay. The potato wedges were nice.

The thing I wanted to try the most is this Softie Chocolate Pie...

Yet it turned out to be a total disappointment. The pastry shell is greasy, the filling's awful. I'm just so glad that it'll only be there for a limited time.

The packaging was okay though...

hundred and seventy-eight

2008-09-23T15:33:00.007+08:00

Snaky Rice in Taipei

Last month when I was in Taipei for 2 weeks, I sneaked out one day at a dinner break from work, and went to this renowned Japanese layman style restaurant for its famous 鰻重 Unaju.

This restaurant is located at an area full of small allies, which is very much a replica of those found in Japan, particularly in Kyoto. These are I think the marks from Japanese rule in the first half of the last century. Nowadays, these allies are full of Japanese eateries, as well as adult entertainment premises, more or less in Japanese style.

The restaurant's name is 肥前屋, and its speciality is of course Unaju as mentioned earlier. This is a restaurant where you have to cue up for its food. I went there at 5 pm to avoid the dinner crowd. When I arrived, there were only I and another two customers, but within 15 minutes, the place was filled with people, locals and tourists, Chinese and Japanese.

Miso soup and pickled daikon radish, home made.

My Unaju, there are two sizes to choose from, I ordered the large one, which is with two pieces of nicely and freshly grilled eel fillet. The small size Unajuu is with only one piece of eel fillet.

It's not really 'delicious', but very satisfying. The eel is fresh, and that made all the difference.

I was very happy with what I got, cheap and nice. This isn't a place for fine food, this is every day food, and the food there certainly serves that purpose honestly. There is always a reason when you see people cuing up for food.

hundred and seventy-seven

2008-09-21T10:16:00.013+08:00

1. A&R

As a technical term of the industry I'm working in, A&R is the short form of Artist and Repertoire. Here, it's an Italian restaurant Agata e Romeo, one of the finest in Rome, where I went to have lunch just before my departure last week.

5 different styles and kinds of bread.

amuse bouche, more like a proper course. This is as described by the waiter, salami on a piece of bread fried and stuffed with green pepper sauce, with tomato, zucchini flowers on the side and dusted with Paprika. Very nice, it's something like a 鬼佬官財板.

1st course: since this is a serious restaurant, I will try to put the 'serious' Italian name before the English name of the dish here.
Budino di Pecorino di Fossa di Sogliano con salsa di pere e miele di castagno (Flan of aged pecorino cheese from Sogliano with pear sauce and chestnut honey). This is a high standard dish, the flan is smooth and just the right amount of flavour from the cheese. The honey (sweet) and pear sauce (sour) give you the momentum to continue on enjoying the cheese flan. Very sophisticated.

2nd course: Risotto con crema di peperoni rossi e Taleggio (Risotto with red peppers and Taleggio cheese cream). The green dot in the centre is the same green pepper sauce in the amuse broche. The risotto is again very well done, you can taste everything in it in one bite. just that it has the same problem as with many pasta dishes, the portion is too large, so that you get bored with the taste before you could finish it. Of course, I finished it all.

3rd course: Filetto di coniglio su purea di melanzane (Rabbit filet laid on eggplant puree). Well to pick on this dish, the filet isn't exactly 'laid on' the eggplant puree. But before I had this one, the night before I thought I had had the best rabbit dish ever at Taverna Angelica. This one is a notch higher than the one I had at another restaurant called Taverna Angelica, which was made with Colonnata lard. It's simply because in this dish, the rabbit has excellent texture and flavour without the aid of the piece of lard, and the eggplant puree is much finer than the panzanella alla Romana. Though, as a whole, I like this dish just as much as I like the one from Taverna Angelica, it's just technically this one wins.

pre-dessert: water melon jelly.

dessert: 'Apricot Medley' with apricot mousse, apricot sorbet and dried apricot with chocolate, accompanied by apricot jam. The sorbet is very good, on the whole refreshing, but not really making you jump up from your chair with joy. And my personal taste, it's not sweet enough.

the way they orginaise wine is impressive.

2. More on the Biennale

The Guardian of UK has an article about the 10 things to see in this year's Venice Biennale, and the Hong Kong Pavilion is amazingly on the list. The reason according to the writer, seems to be that post-British Hong Kong still has its own pavilion while China has to be just part of a big garden. Anyway, it's still not too bad to be on the list, I suppose...

hundred and seventy-six

2008-09-19T06:44:00.007+08:00

Bar City

In Italy, there are Bars on almost every corner of the street. These bars serves alcoholic drinks, like this glass of orange colour liquid called 'spritz', but their most popular drink must be different forms and styles of coffee.

Too bad I'm not a coffee drinker, not because I don't like it, I'm a bit allergic to caffeine, it makes me feel dizzy. Yet, I could still enjoy the fun of Italian bars by trying out their pastries, and their very thick and dense hot chocolate drink.

Faggiani, a typical Italian cafe bar from the Prati, Rome.

Their pastries are famous.

My breakfast: hot chocolate drink and budino di riso

Its budino di riso is arguably the best in Rome.

see how thick and dense the hot chocolate is, it's a fulfilling experience.

hundred and seventy-five

2008-09-18T00:24:00.004+08:00

1. Starlight, Starbright

My last trip to Venice was to attend the opening of HK Pavilion at the Biennale of Architecture. Speaking of the Biennale, there is one project which is flamboyant and bold enough to literally be the 'star' of all the exhibits. This 'Star' is by MAD Ltd, a Beijiing based architectural design company. They're being invited by the curator of the Biennale, to design a city within city for suburban Rome. This is what they came up with, a China town which took the shape of star, and is self contain and mobile. You can read more about the star here.

2. Premium Economy

Cheap doesn't mean bad, like pricey doesn't necessarily means good.

I went to this 清粥小菜 in Taipei twice for breakfast during my last stay, simply because it's so good and so cheap. A filling breakfast including a bowl (or two) of very authentic Chaozhou style congee 潮洲粥 and a few small dishes, costs just around HKD20. It's impossible to have this quality spending in Hong Kong nowadays. The congee and the dishes are all simple, straight forward and very good. I especially like their braised bitter gourd with black soy beans, yet I think the star is still that humble bowl of congee.

This kind of small family run restaurant is the guardian of traditional food culture, we shall cherish. This little store opens at 6 am and finishes before 10 am, such a devoted breakfast joint it really is, and I respect that very very much.

hundred and seventy-four

2008-09-15T23:43:00.007+08:00

Casoncelli

This is my second time to Rome. Last time I was a bit disappointed on food I had in Rome, maybe I had hope too high, maybe I didn't go to the right place, or maybe it's sheer bad luck.

This time, traveling alone, it's actually more difficult to dine around. Yet, I've had much better food than my last visit. Can't say why, maybe it's the season and weather.

I've tried as many restaurants as I can during my very short stay in Rome, will post more food from this trip and from Venice later on. This post is about the first meal I had, just after I checked in my hotel in Rome, and before I headed to St. Peter's Basilica to climb the dome. The restaurant is called Velando (Ristorante della Val Camonica), is a restaurant serving regional food from Bergamo, a Northern region of Italy. The main dish was so so, but this pasta dish called Casoncelli was stunning. It's stuffed with breadcrumbs and sausages ground up, very flavourful and full of character. The Casoncelli were tossed around with Sage infused oil, perfectly accompanied the Casoncelli. Excellent dish, and it gave me the strength I needed to climb 302 steps to the top of the dome of St. Peter's Basillica.

hundred and seventy-three

2008-09-14T14:57:00.013+08:00

I was in Venice

I was in Venice two days ago, to play music for the opening of the Hong Kong Pavilion of the Venice Biennale Architeturra.

The opening is a story to tell, for example the whole time we were in Venice, the weather was very nice, until just before the opening ceremony, sky darken and there were thundering, followed by heavy rain. We were supposed to play in the open air courtyard of the pavilion, and the organising people seemed don't have a contingency plan for wet weather...

When the ceremony was over, the sky opened up again.

Anyway.

On food, one time we had this rolled up pizza called Rotolo Pizza, with ham and cheese.

And we had a very satisfying meal at this seafood restaurant.

And then I went to Rome, again... and I climbed the largest dome in the world, the dome of St. Peter's this time!

... more on Rome and Venice later.

hundred and seventy-two

2008-09-06T09:18:00.007+08:00

I'm in Taipei

I was in Taipei the last 2 weeks for performance. I'm still in Taipei now indeed, and will be back to HK tomorrow.

Not much free time as schedule was packed, still managed to sneak out for some very quick eats. This breakfast place is just next to our hotel, it's so good. Packed with people and long cue is a good indicator.

The lady at counter made the savoury soy milk for me.

This is my savoury breakfast soy milk 鹹豆槳, made by putting dried small shrimps, sichuan pickles, soy sauce and some vinegar in the bottom of the bowl, then pour in hot soy milk. The vinegar will make the soy milk curdle and separate. This one is very authentic and delicious.

This is 鹹酥餅 savoury bun made with puff pastry and the filling is just salt and spring onion. Classic.

This is 燒餅油條, so fresh. Together with plain or sweeten hot soy milk, it's the Chinese answer to Latte and Croissant for breakfast.

The shop still use charcoal oven for making all these delicious pastries.

See the plain 燒餅 and being cooked inside this traditional charcoal oven. It's impossible to find something like that in HK nowadays.

hundred and seventy-one

2008-08-25T08:04:00.007+08:00

1. Olympic in HK

The 2008 Beijing Olympic closed last night with a quite cliche (in my opinion, though I didn't watch the whole ceremony, just part of it). But this shop in Mongkok decided to keep the memory of the game by mimicking the 'bird nest' stadium.

2. Double Happiness

Everybody knows Mcdonald's produces no good food, but it's just like a curse or something, just once in a while there's still a strong craving for Mcdonald's inside most of us. I'm so excited to discover this new creation - double flavour sundae. This one is strawberry + chocolate, the passionfruit mango + chocolate is even better.

3. The Remake of Thai Basil

The restaurants at Pacific Place all shuffled earlier, and reopening one by one. Thai Basil reopened this month. I went and tried it out, the menu changed a bit, and there're some quite exciting new dishes too.

This is hot and sour rock lobster, with shallot, onion and ginger in spicy broth. I like the cup.

Char-grilled vegetable, I chose pumpkin and mushroom. Nice.

This is the star of the night, baked whole fish fillet with prawn mousse in banana leaf.

The fillet is totally deboned, prawn mousse filled the cavity, very well presented.

A slice of it, with ginger and spring onion paste on top. Despite a novelty, it tastes really quite good too.

The new Thai Basil at Pacific Place

hundred and seventy

2008-08-22T11:34:00.006+08:00

Direct Hit
This is from the Hong Kong Observatory at this moment:

Here is the latest Tropical Cyclone Bulletin issued by the Hong Kong Observatory.

The No. 8 Northwest Gale or Storm Signal is in force.

This means that winds with mean speeds of 63 kilometres per hour or more are expected from the northwest quarter.

At 11 a.m., Typhoon Nuri was centred about 100 kilometres east-southeast of Hong Kong Observatory (near 21.8 degrees north 115.0 degrees east) and is forecast to move northwest or west-northwest at about 16 kilometres per hour towards the Pearl River Estuary.

According to the present forecast track, Nuri will be rather close to Hong Kong this afternoon and tonight with a chance of direct hit.

Direct hit, it will be the first one since 1999's Typhoon York. There is a quite vivid record from someone living in Cheung Chau when York hit HK back then. You can read it here. Typhoon signal #9 or even #10 may hoist later today. The wind is already blowing crazy outside the window of my flat, scary.

There's a quite good and comprehensive slide show on the history of wind damage in Hong Kong which I found on the net this morning, click here to download the pdf file and have a look if you're interested.

hundred and sixty-nine

2008-08-19T14:22:00.006+08:00

O.K. Burger

Another burger experience this week. This is a much 'normal' one, since the place is a no thrill fast food establishment upstairs in Central, burger is meant to be eaten like this, casual and carefree.

The name of the restaurant, however, is somewhat extravagance comparing to its humble outlook. 'Gourmet Burger Union' sounds like a big big name. Their selling point is 100% grass-fed beef, chicken and lamb meat, which is the right tactic for attracting the growing population of health conscious eaters.

They have this very user friendly 'build your own burger' form to fill in, but we've decided to order their signature burgers instead.

Together with me was Ellen, who's a vegetarian. So obviously her choice was 'The Happy Cow', which is 'premium vegetable soy protein burger with grilled onions, lettuce blend, roasted garlic aioli and sweet katsu sauce' as described. She said it's one of the best fake burger she'd ever had. The tofu burger deep fried did look good.

I've ordered the first on the list, 'G.B.U. Old Skool', which is '100% grass-fed New Zealand Angus Beef, with lettuce blend, red onion, relish and tomato sauce'. It's not a great burger, but it's for sure up to certain standard. The thing I like about it is its seasoning is mild, on the other hand the bun was a bit lack of temperature.

Our side order is Poutine. I usually won't order poutine because most of the time, they're awful. But I wanted to try this to test the restaurant, and surprisingly the poutine was surprisingly good! The best I've ever had (I haven't been to Quebec so I can't say if it's authentic, most poutine I had in Vancouver are awful). The gravy isn't gluey at all, it's real meat juice. I don't care about the cheese too much, and the chips are decent, though a bit too soft and mushy, but it's ok for poutine like this, the meat juice compensates all.

hundred and sixty-eight

2008-08-15T06:09:00.008+08:00

N.G. Burger

This high end burger joint opened just under a year time, is located at the corner of the hip district of SOHO (south of Hollywood Road) up the hill in Central, just one block behind my office.

I'm not a fan of burger, yet occasionally a good burger won't hurt my feeling at all. That night I planned to work late at office, so I reckoned maybe I could give it a try. I wish I didn't.

The place is decently managed, clean and sleek, with a few table occupied by expatriates and wannabe looked alike. There were even people dressed up; just can't imagine dressing up for a burger, the world has certainly changed a lot.

Sorry for the quality of images here. This home made lemonade is too sour, maybe it's made this way intentionally, to cut the fat from the meat.

We ordered 2 sides: this sweet potato chips are just so so, a bit dry, and poorly seasoned provided that the sweet potato itself doesn't have much flavour.

And this 'rocket salad simply tossed' is literally simply tossed. My 7 year old niece could make it, even make it better. Also, from the view of the stems, you know the rocket is old.

This is rabbit and fried sweetbread burger with sauteed spring veggie and rabbit jus.

I ordered this because I think it's interesting to have rabbit matched with sweetbread on a burger. It turned out that the rabbit burger is nothing too extraordinary, the tiny piece of fried sweetbread here is probably the best thing of the whole meal, but it's really tiny...

The veggie is quite alright though, especially the mushroom, fresh and flavourful.

The other one we ordered is the most expensive item on the menu - the HKD 220 braised Wagyu oxtail and Iberian Chorizo burger with manchego cheese and saffron onion.

The cheese has no contribution to the burger whatsoever.

I totally understand the use of cheap joints from pricy Wagyu beef, and I have had wonderful dishes using Wagyu cheap joints before. But this burger is a major disappointment. If they didn't tell you that it's Wagyu, maybe they won't brow your expectation away. The beef has no flavour, very amateur texture. And the addition of Chorizo dices to the beef mass doesn't help at all, plus the Chorizo is tasteless too.

If it's a HKD 80 burger, or even up to HKD 150, it's acceptable. But for HKD 220, I certainly expect a lot more than this.

So probably won't go back there again. After the meal, I do miss the little news stand and the lovely French crêpe place located at the exact location, before this restaurant took over the place. Good things never last.

By the way, the restaurant is called Duke's Burger.

hundred and sixty-seven

2008-08-12T19:54:00.006+08:00

For the love of sausage

Don't know why I recently have an abnormally strong craving for sausages, maybe the vegetarian eating during Hua Yen Sutra performance has made me hungry for meat all of a sudden. Yet, I really shouldn't eat too much meat and animal fat, I'm getting rid of them on myself now...

I came to this German beer joint & restaurant this afternoon for a "Teanner" ( I had an interesting talk with Mr. Kam today, and he suggested me to create a term for a light meal before dinner, something you'll eat right after work because you're too hungry to wait for dinner to start, I decided to call this "Teanner"). This restaurant is called King Ludwig Beerhall, just located at the ground level of East Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station.

There's no reason to not drinking beer when you're in a beer house, and I'm not sick or on medication, so I ordered half liter Weissbier.

a "Teanner" must consists of some food for sure. This first food item is a soup, chicken broth with maultaschen.

The maultasche here is cut up, you can see the formation of it clearly. It's quite delicious, which I didn't expcet it to be at all. Well, anything resembles wonton I'll probably like I guess.

Then I had this Gold Medal Award Winning Bockwurst with pickles / potato salad. Though it's 'award winning' , I prefer sausage with real meat bite to it. This isn't bad at all, just not 'rough' enough for my mood today... :-)

hundred and sixty-six

2008-08-10T23:40:00.011+08:00

1. Seasonal fruit

This is 鳳眼果燜齋 braised assorted vegetables with Sterculia nobilis Smith nuts. There are only 2 weeks in the 7th month of the Luna calender every year, when this very special nut is available in the market. 鳳眼果 got its name from its out look; when the fruit ripen on trees, their black nutshells brust out from brownish pods, and because it's high up the tree, when you look up, it's like an eye looking down on you.

We are in an era when people have already forgotten that farm produces are seasonal by nature. Different times of the year, there should be different produces in season, and they're always at their best by then. Nowadays, we can get almost anything in supermarkets, they're canned, farmed in green house, or genetically engineered. The payoff is they're much less tasty and flavourful then if they're naturally farmed.

So these 鳳眼果 are precious, they remind us that there's a time for everything.

The texture and taste of 鳳眼果 is very similar to chestnut, but much less mushy, with more delicate flavour and not as filling. A very delicious and precious food item, and it's originally from South China and Indonesia, Hong Kong still has a lot of 蘋婆樹 now, mostly at Yuen Long as I'm told. They could be use in both savoury and sweet dish.

This is how it looks like when it's ripen on the tree.

2. Stanley Sports Centre

I went to this centre for a drama rehearsal today. I've been here once before, and had marvelled its out look already. This time, I got inside the building, and the interior is just as good as it's out look. I don't know why we can't have other sports or community centres in Hong Kong built to the same standard. Shame on the Hong Kong Government.

Some shots from everywhere inside the centre, day and night.

hundred and sixty-five

2008-08-10T01:43:00.006+08:00

Upstairs and Downstairs

It's not easy to find a place here in Hong Kong with 'look like real' German food, though we see 'German style pig knuckle' in almost all menus of Hong Kong style Western restaurants out there, and they're actually very popular.

So just recently I went downstairs to this not quite noticeable restaurant at Holiday Inn Golden Mile at Tsim Sha Tsui for some German fares, twice. The first time is a try out, the second time is solely for the pig knuckle.

This place is called 'Delicateseen Corner' , it is a real Delicateseen, with a section selling cold cuts, sausages and cheese, and a 'sports bar' alike restaurant section. The menu is small, only 2 pages, with 80% German dishes. It's not an expensive place, and not too crowded too, so it's actually a nice choice for dinner when you're in busy Tsim Sha Tsui.

This Grilled Nurnberger Sausages with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut is just ok, the sausages were fresh, but the meat was a bit overdone. This time the sauerkraut is losing flavour and taste. Yet the portion was very generous.

This is from my second visit, the boiled pork knuckle was quite good, or at least authentic, but this time the sauerkraut was a bit too sour for me.

I like the open kitchen of the restaurant.

Then the other day I had a sudden craving for pasta. I was in Central near Lan Kwai Fong, so I went to this upstairs Italian restaurant, which I've walked by a thousand times when I travel back to office, but have yet to try.

The name of the restaurant is 'Il Padrino', very Italian, in fact I guess the owner and the chef are both Italian, I saw them talking when I was sitting waiting for my pasta.

Then my pasta came. I ordered lobster on pasta with a cream base sauce. And let me tell you, it's awful. The lobster is obvious frozen ones, and not being defrost and cook properly. It is dead meat. The sauce is kindergarten level. I was so disappointed. Will not go there again...

hundred and sixty-four

2008-08-09T16:04:00.005+08:00

8 8 8 8

It was the opening night of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. There is a count down clock at Central MTR station, just less than half an hour before the opening ceremony, I walked by and saw a crowd of people taking pictures and blocking the traffic there. I overheard that they're arguing among themselves whether they should take the picture now or should wait for the counter to become 0000 and take picture then.

I immediately thought, of course you should take a picture before the counter goes zero, because when it goes zero, it'll just stop there and that doesn't mean any specific moment anymore. So i took this picture, at 27 min 33 sec before the opening.
Then I went to have dinner at 茶餐廳 before work, and watch the first 30 minute of the opening ceremony with fellow dinners. It was better than I expected, actually quite good at the beginning, but went cheesy with Chinese Opera puppet when I was leaving to work.

Anyway, it's finally started, and there's already several fake bombs at MTR stations this week. Just hope we could get through this safely.

To prove my thought, I went back to Central station after work, and see if the count down clock stops at 0000, it did.

hundred and sixty-three

2008-08-08T14:38:00.010+08:00

Typhoon holiday at Time Square

Everybody got an extra day off this Wednesday when Severe Tropical Storm Kammuri visited us. It's relatively a small typhoon, but its force was great, the whole morning I heard strong gale wuthering outside my window. Scary.

Then when the wind died down, I went out to dinner with friends at Time Square since everybody was boring at home. I walked by city'super and saw this Canadian food festival. Not many people there, maybe because of typhoon (hope it's not because no body is interested in food in Canada).

And I saw some familiar products there, like these raincoast crisps. Never tried them when I was in Canada, don't know if they're good or not. But they have attractive packaging.

Then we went to 798 Unit & Co. Gastropub for supper. It's an honest little bistro pub. I was in mood for a drink, so I ordered a Fuzzy Navel. The first sip wasn't good, but it became better and better.
We weren't hungry, so we just things to share. This deep fried Camembert cheese on a bed of caramelised onion is just so so. I guess they used Japanese breading and made the dish a bit strange to me.

The mains were all good. Ox tongue in broth with cabbage packet. The ox tongue just a little bit tough but totally acceptable.

This pork chop was very nice too. The caramelised pineapple add a lot of fun to the dish. I don't like the dipping sauce though, too much honey... for a piece of chop as good as this, I just don't need any sauce to go with it.

Then there I found public art display again at the space in front of Time Square. It can't get away from the Chinese and the Olympic theme these days. At least, this is not an ugly one.

And the artist's name is Sui Jianguo 隋建國. His famous piece 'Jurasic Age' is here.

hundred and sixty-two

2008-08-04T01:38:00.009+08:00

There are grapes and cloud in the sea of Okinawa

Planned to go to とん吉 for lunch last Saturday. When arrived ( I wasn't arriving late, it was just past noon ), there were a crowd there waiting for tables. It is quite abnormal. Later I found out that Mr. 蔡瀾's TV programme had とん吉 last week. No wonder.

Sometimes it's a dilemma to me; on one hand I really want people to know more good places to eat instead of going to tasteless shameless restaurants all the time; but on the other hand, I want my favourite places to be as private as possible too.

Anyway, I gave up my desire for pork chop cutlet to privacy. We went to the restaurant next door named ちゅら.

The specialty at ちゅら is Okinawa cuisine. I always think that in my past life I must be living in Scotland, for my irrationally attracted to their music, their folklore, and their Tartan and Kilt. If I hadn't been Scottish, then I must be living in Okinawa.

The music of Okinawa has a strong Chinese flavour, yet with a very distinctive colour of its own. I can relate to their music as well as to Celtic tunes. That day when I sat down, the music made me calm and easy.

I chose to eat there not only because of the line up next door, but also that I saw two items I've always want to try. The first one is this もずく酢 (水雲醋物) Mozuku Seaweed in Japanese Vinaigrette. It's nice, little bit crunchy and slimy, typical seaweed texture.

The other one is 海ぶどう(海葡萄) Sea grapes. I only know that this is a kind of seaweed, looks like tiny grape vines. It doesn't have much taste, a hint of the ocean, I don't know if it's supposed to taste like that, or it has lost most of its flavour during transportation. Anyway, it's an interesting try.

I ordered a lunch set 麦とろ定食 (山藥泥麥飯定食). This is the sashimi which came witht the set, only so so, fresh though.
my set, the pickle was nice.
The sushi bar of ちゅら.

hundred and sixty-one

2008-08-03T01:02:00.011+08:00

Hunan Garden in Central

This Hunan Garden Restaurant is there at Three Exchange Square forever. I remember my father brought me there with a super foodie uncle when I was still in secondary school, and that was my first Hunan cuisine experience. That evening I learnt that Hunan cuisine is peppery, and learnt what is 豆酥魚(which now I know it's actually a Sichuan dish), 左宗棠雞 (although this isn't a local Hunan dish at all, like there's actually no Singaporean fried rice noodles in Singapore. Read the story about it here) and 富貴火腿 (this one is really a Hunan dish). Back then there was almost no Hunan restaurant here in Hong Kong at all.

More than 20 years later, Hunan Garden is still there at Exchange Square, they even opened a new branch at Time Square. Yet, other than Hunan Garden by Maxim group, you can still hardly find any Hunan restaurant out there in Hong Kong. Whereas in every city in mainland China, you could almost always find a great variety of restaurants serving different regional cuisines. I don't know why Hong Kong people while appeared to be so kin on trying out hype international cuisines, never thought of learning a bit more about the great food culture of China. What a shame.

Well, I want to write about Hunan Garden not because it's an unbeatable restaurant ( it was not bad at all 20 years ago, then it declined for quite a while, last year it seemed come back. Now I think it's an ok restaurant ), but because I found this dish very interesting. This is called 向陽菊豆汁茄子 fried egg plant with vegetable in peas sauce.
The dish looked odd when it arrived our table, you just can't image how it tastes by its look. When I put a piece into my mouth, it was indeed quite a surprise. The surprise was from its texture and taste; everybody knows egg plant is a sponge, so it's actually not easy to deep fried without it all soaked up with oil. This egg plant is totally light and dry after being deep fried, and absolutely not greasy at all.
Then the sauce is very delicate, I think it's made by 豌豆 garden pea, but dried ones, that's why it's yellowish. It's a bit sweet, with a bit of sandy texture which is the characteristic of Chinese dried pea dishes, and had a very subtle fragrance from pea. There seemed something inside the egg plant chunk too, but I couldn't figure out what that was.

This is a very interesting combination of taste, and the look is strange enough to be memorable. The only down side is you'll be quite fed up with the taste after one piece, and won't want to have another one.
Some other dishes from Hunan Garden:

This little greeting dish from the restaurant is always good; peanuts, cucumber and wheat gluten in chili oil, I like to go with a bowl of plain rice.
This 鮮臘鴨 smoked duck with spicy sauce is very nice, juicy and flavourful.
This isn't good, 老干媽金勾涼瓜桂魚片 stewed sliced fresh water fish and bitter gourd with spicy black bean sauce. This isn't spicy at all, plus soggy and very dull in flavour. So when the waiter came by and asked how's the food, I told him that this dish isn't good. He then told me that they had to make it like this because most Hong Kong people can't take too spicy and salty dish, he said if I want it authentic, just tell them next time when ordering, they'll do the dish its good old way. I felt sad after hearing this, shame on Hong Kong diners.
This is called 烙饃, a kind of sear bread. Very nice.

hundred and sixty

2008-07-31T01:39:00.010+08:00

1. Guangzhou builds

Apart from eating, I did went to a 'tourist spot' too during my last GZ trip. It was 广州大学城东南隅古村落, located at what the sign called 'Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Centre Museum'. It is a mixture of some preserved old village house, some replicas, and some historic village buildings from around the area moved and reconstructed at the site. This made something like a 'Universal studio' shooting set, because all the buildings are empty.

The buildings are of Lingnan style, original to the Guangdong province.

These ancestral temples 祠堂 are moved from other villages (I heard that those villages were being demolished to give way to this vast High Education Mega Centre, where almost all Universities in GZ are now located) and rebuilt here. It's strange because normally you will never find 2 ancestral temples of different clan located side by side.

Yet, the place is a delightful one to visit. It's very scenic.

Almost from anywhere in central Guangzhou city, you'll see these 2 enormous constructions standing out above the other rooftops. The thin one is going to be the future 廣州電視塔 Guangzhou TV & Sightseeing Tower, which is scheduled to complete in 2009. The closer one is 廣州西塔 Guangzhou West Tower, the future tallest building in GZ city, in fact it'll be the tallest building in the whole China, and is the first to be built of a twin commercial towers project.

Another shot from different location of the TV & Sightseeing Tower in construction.

Underground, GZ is also rapiding building its mass transit railway system. It looks very much like the Hong Kong MTR.

Especially these Chinese calligraphy station signs on the platform, an honest copy of the HK MTR Island line.

2. Newbies

I finally made up my mind and bought the AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D lens today. This is the first shot I took tonight. It's a sharp lens, as you can see! (And the pair of blue and yellow Nike Dunk, and the black and white plus red AF1 in the photo are also my newbies too, he he...)