Scratching a rare sushi itch

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I have only been to Sushi Kumogaku (寿し雲隠) once, at Mr. Chichi's invitation. After enjoying the delicious osechi (おせち) from the restaurant on New Year's Day, Foursheets decided that she would like to check the place out. And when she developed a hankering for sushi over Chinese New Year, I decided we would take care of her itch sooner rather than later.

I arrived more than 15 minutes prior to the start time, as one does for Japanese restaurants where the itamae (板前) service to all customers is done at the same time. We were seated before the appointed time of 7 pm - which is the same for everyone - and found ourselves to be the only ones. We didn't see anyone else until 10 minutes AFTER service was supposed to start, and finally at 7:15 pm Chef Kin finally started serving the first otsumami (おつまみ) to those who were already seated... Then a few Kong girls strolled in just before the cut-off time of 7:30. These people are lucky they're dining in Hong Kong, because they'd be fucking banned from booking again in Japan.

Japanese snow crab chawanmushi (松葉蟹茶碗蒸し) - the fragrance from yuzu was lovely.

Tandoori, tandoori, tandoori

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My friend's sister, who I haven't seen in more than a decade, is spending Lunar New Year in Hong Kong. We decided to catch up over dinner, and after she expressed interest in Indian cuisine, I made a booking at Leela. It's been some time since I last went to see what Chef Manav Tuli, and one always leaves his restaurant happy and full...

I was hoping to fly under the radar - even though I knew that B Bestie scans the booking logs - so I wasn't surprised when James greeted me... as I strolled in through the doors while on a work call. We placed our orders, and my friend and I proceeded to take turns ducking out for more work calls.

First up was a serving of khakra (ખાખરા). Always a nice snack to tingle one's palate.

Sichuan jasmine

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For the last couple of years, Mr. Chichi has been hell bent on getting me to eat spicy food with him, despite having been told that my tolerance level for heat is not very high. I've flat out turned down invitations to Hunanese cuisine, even though they were invitations from restaurants and I wouldn't have to pay. I kinda pushed my limits last month at Chef 1996 Restaurant (1996川菜•主厨餐厅) in Beijing, and I know that meal made Foursheets pretty happy. So when Mr. Chichi extended an invitation to Deng G (鄧記), I relayed it to wifey... who promptly said 'Yes'. Having tasted Chef Deng's cuisine a few times over the years, I know that his style isn't all about red chili oil, so I figured I could do it.

The only problem is that the original location in Wanchai closed, and we now have to cross the harbor to the remaining outlet in K11 MUSEA. Travel distance aside, I really hate dining inside this mall - because the whole place reeks of that fake vanilla scent that's pumped throught the entire complex. Not only does it interfere with the food, it also kills any decent wine I bring to my meals. So I very, very rarely willingly go and dine in any establishments there. But I now have to do it for Foursheets.

Well... these digs are certainly a lot more grand than the old shop, and since our host is a VIP, we got ourselves a private room with harbor views. Foursheets even thought that the fake vanilla scent in the mall wasn't as bad as she remembered...

...but unfortunately, vanilla has been replaced with jasmine, which was pumped into our room mere moments after I sat down. Is that better? Perhaps, since jasmine tea is at least part of Chinese cuisine while vanilla isn't really used much. But the periodic spray into the room did annoy me, especially since there were a couple of bottles of wine on the table.

As always, Chef Deng Huadong (邓华东) put together a special menu for the VIP, and unfortunately it included one of my dietary restrictions. Sigh.

Once again, we started with Deng G six appetizer combination (鄧記六小碟):

Spicy seafood medley (鮮椒海鮮匯)

No snake no problem

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It's our annual team dinner tonight, and for a number of reasons I decided that Man Ho (萬豪金殿) would be the most suitable location. I've always enjoyed Jayson Tang (鄧家濠)'s creations, and truth be told, it's been too long since I last showed him some love. So I was pretty happy to ask him to put together a menu based on our budget.

I was pretty happy to see that we would be served mostly dishes I've never has before, which involves Jayson pushing the boundaries of Cantonese cuisine as he adds flavors which aren't considered "traditional" or "classic". I'm always happy to see chefs doing this, as long as they're not being flippant - or "taking a piss", as the Brits would say.

We had an amuse bouche to start, featuring a little abalone with pickled cucumber, and a sweet gelée that tasted of five-spice (五香).

Next came a trio of chef's specialties (萬豪金殿獻萃):

A night with raw shellfish

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A well-known foodie who happens to be a compatriot of mine is eating her way through town, and DaRC had originally invited me to join them for dinner tomorrow at my favorite private dining facility. Unfortunately I had to schedule a team dinner for tomorrow, so DaRC very kindly made room for me at Yong Fu (甬府) tonight. I know that the restaurant is launching the spring banquet later this week, and I was secretly hoping that some of those dishes would show up tonight...

It's been some time since I last saw Ms. Yu, and when I arrived she was already in the room along with Chef Liu chatting with our guest of honor. I sneaked a peek at the menu, and it was obvious that I hadn't tasted most of these dishes. Yay!

I love these snacks! Mahua (麻花) is something I loved since childhood, and the other puffed rice cracker kinda reminds me of hineriage (ひねり揚げ), or kali-kali (卡哩卡哩) as they're called in Taiwan. I couldn't stop eating these throughout dinner, despite all the delicious dishes we had in front of us.