K-eighborhood in Jeju

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Lots of so-called KOLs are in town for the festivities around Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, and many restaurants in town are busy hosting 4-, 6-, 8-, and even collabs up to 14-hands. Unlike previous years where these "50 Best Signature Series" events were by invitation only, this year tickets are available for sale for the many meals. I'm pretty sure most of the events sold out quickly, too, once people were given the opportunity to participate in the fun.

I wasn't planning on going to any of the events at lunch time, since they're happening during my work week, but when the Kitchen Nazi pinged me about his collab event, I figured I could maybe take an extended lunch today. And since Mr. Bongwater had requested that I take him to Neighborhood while he's in town this week - something that was impossible due to the late timing of his request - I asked permission to bring him along, too.

I'll freely admit that I had not heard of Chef Kang Byungwook or his restaurant Last Spring (넘은 봄) on Jeju Island. When I first saw the event being advertised on social media, in the back of my mind I noted that the guest chef was "some Korean guy" and that his restaurant is not in Seoul - since the event was referred to as "K-eighborhood in Jeju". Funny thing was that while talking to a few KOLs who were also invited to the event, none of them knew who the guest chef was... In fact, some actually thought the Kitchen Nazi was doing this solo.

As we found out during the meal, Chef Kang actually worked in Hong Kong for a few years - both at my beloved Ta Vie 旅 and L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon. Apparently he also spent a month in the kitchen at Neighborhood, which is how he is connected to our host.

One of the reasons I don't go to many of these events is, well... I'm an asshole. I'm picky about who I sit with, even when the meal is free. In fact, I'm MORE picky about my dining companions when it's by invitation, because I really only want to share space and time with people whose company I enjoy (or at least don't object to). So with the restaurant filled with KOLs and wannabes, it's easy to guess how the meal went.

First up was what looked like the "dry bouillabaisse" that is often served here as the first dish, but the Kitchen Nazi called this "cold Jeju [seafood] stew". Local spiny lobster, razor clams, shrimp... etc. were poached in a crab broth seasoned with gochujang, then chilled before serving.

Big guns for big friends

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Hong Kong is hosting the awards ceremony of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants for the very first time, and we are being flooded with chefs, restauranteurs, KOLs and wannabes. Naturally, our friend Gaggan would be coming into town with his crew for the festivities. So Fergie and I arranged to catch up with him on the day of his arrival.

We know our friend is seldom in Hong Kong, and has asked for Cantonese food for this visit, so Fergie and I decided to take him to Man Ho Chinese Restaurant (萬豪金殿). Both of us are fans of Chef Jayson Tang (鄧家濠)'s cuisine, and although he's no spring chicken, we feel that he's pretty underrated and "undiscovered" - especially when it comes to the KOL crowd. If the visiting horde were all rushing to the same handful (or less) of restaurants for their fix of "Cantonese" cuisine, then we would be better off somewhere else.

I made arrangements with Jayson for a special menu for tonight, and also made arrangements with Keith - the restaurant manager - regarding glassware for the wines I would be lugging to dinner. Everyone was incredibly helpful and accommodating.

Hours before dinner, Vlad sent me a link to verify the restaurant's location. Much to my horror, I discovered that there were TWO restaurants in Hong Kong named Man Ho Chinese Restaurant!!! The place I know at the JW Marriott Hong Kong is known as 萬豪金殿 in Chinese, but there is another - with the same name in English but known as 萬豪中餐廳 - at the Hong Kong SkyCity Marriott Hotel near the airport. I quickly let my friend know the correct location to make sure they don't take a long ride in the wrong direction.

Well... despite having been warned by his trusty partner, Gaggan still put in the wrong location into his ride-hailing app... Thankfully he discovered it halfway and turned around. We would start our dinner a little late, then...

Indian Hairy Legs did manage to make it to dinner, and I'm really happy to catch up with him again after missing a couple of opportunities over the last few months. Of course, it's nice to see Mr. Bongwater, too!

We started with the current amuse bouche, which was a little abalone with some slices of pickled cucumber, together with a sweet, spiced plum gelée. A nice and refreshing bite.

Signature barbecued pork with honey sauce (萬豪貴妃叉燒) - always good to kick off a meal with some char siu, and the Ibérico pork collar (脢頭) is so, sooo tender. Soooo tasty. I'm always happy to chew on this and taste the juices.

Not your average lobster roll

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It's Friday night and Foursheets is at home entertaining some friends from out of town. I decided to take the opportunity to have some "me time", and my initial thoughts were to go check out places I haven't been before - especially somewhere more casual. But it IS Friday night, and many of these new joints were seeing good business... which meant no seats for me on short notice.

I messaged the Hairy Chevalier and asked whether I could just sit at Caprice Bar and have two dishes from the kitchen. I also asked if there were new dishes I haven't had a chance to taste - but of course there were... I figured I would end with a dessert from Brownpaperbagged.

I arrived to find, much to my surprise, a mostly-empty bar. Hairy Chevalier had very kindly arranged a table by the window for me, and said he would send me a couple of seasonal dishes. Meanwhile, I had requested the services of Floriane, who had received the Michelin Guide Sommelier Award only yesterday. I asked her to pick out the wines which would pair well with the dishes that the kitchen would be sending my way... whose identities I did not know.

Green asparagus with verbena and citrus cream, spring jelly - we had asparagus gelée with diced asparagus, verbena cream and citrus cream, and of course asparagus spears and slices. So refreshing, so pure. It's just the taste of spring inside one's mouth. As it turns out, I was the guinea pig for the dish. They had been testing it in the kitchen but had not put it on the menu, and since I was around they decided to send it to me. And I happily lapped it up.

The asparagus from Vallée de Loire was paired with a wine from the same region:

Cheesy Wednesday

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I have not been a good friend. My old friend Jeremy Evrard returned to Hong Kong with his family, and opened up Roucou to continue pursuing his love of French cheese. Plenty of friends have raved about the "cheese omakase" he is serving up, but other than a last-minute decision to drop in, I never made any serious plans to check out the offerings. Until tonight.

Foursheets and I were catching up with an old friend after quite some time, so I figured we could just come and have some bites with a couple of bottles of wine. Our friend did not want to have the cheese omakase, so I figured I'll save that for a later date.

Saint Felicien: hamachi carpaccio, daikon raddish herbal oil and cheese dip - this was a little meh, as the fish was still a bit frozen.

Saved by the sticks

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It was a little more than 2 years ago that I last saw Egon Müller IV in Hong Kong, at an amazing tasting featuring wines from his family estate Weingut Egon Müller - Scharzhof as well as those from Domaine Trimbach. When DaRC asked whether I would be interested in joining a tasting of his wines that is being organized by ORD Fine Wines, I immediately said "Yes". I do recall, with much fondness, the previous time I attended such a tasting just before the pandemic. This time, though, there would be some red wines at the tasting so it won't be just riesling.

The three of us showed up at the new home of Palco inside Heritage 1881. I know the restaurant only by name, but I figured simple Italian food would be fine... I would be wrong.

We started with a glass of welcome drink while waiting for everyone to arrive. As I sat in my seat while others mingled, I received a message from the Zhongmeister that he was here, too, together with some mutual friends. So I, too, got up and mingled. That was when I realized that Egon was not here. Apparently he needed to be at the estate, so his daughter Isabelle came in his place.

2021 Château Belá Štúrovo Riesling - nice, classic nose of petrol and white truffle. A little sweetish on the palate but still got the acidity.

We finally sat down and started dinner more than 40 minutes late... and I was starving.