Three 3-stars in France day 1: transit through Doha

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I'm off to France for a week, and unlike previous trips, I've chosen to transit through the Middle East rather than fly direct. While look at airfares a few months ago, I realized that Business Class fares on Cathay Pacific were just shockingly expensive. All of the major Gulf carriers were charging fares which were 50-65% less, but of course it comes with a layover. And given what happened in March of this year, there is concern about flight disruptions resulting from the US-Iran war. Nevertheless, I chose to fly with Qatar Airways and transit through Doha. I figured the savings was worth the extra hours I would have to endure.

I finished checking in for my flight just before midnight, and since Qatar Airways is a member of the Oneworld Alliance, I was given access to the Cathay lounges at Hong Kong International Airport. There are A LOT of flights departing Hong Kong late at night, and The Bridge lounge was very, very packed. So as I headed waaay to the back of the lounge and settled there, I discovered that "The Nook" was not serving the usual noodles but a completely different menu.

They had scallion pancakes (蔥油餅) and even Shanghainese rice rolls with pork floss, fried dough stick and pickled vegetables (上海粢飯), but I was more curious about the spicy lamb pastry (香辣羊肉肉夾饃). Gotta say it was pretty good! The pastry was nice and flaky, and the filling was juicy with a nice kick. And yes, the lamb fat tasty goooood!

Dim sum for a short visit

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Mikacina's back in town for a short stopover, and The Great One organized a dim sum session for lunch. After rotating through some of the usual suspects over her last few trips, today it was Seventh Son (家全七福)'s turn. The quality of food here has had its ups and downs over the years, but my last visit here earlier this year yielded a good meal.

Even though we're here for dim sum, it's difficult to walk out without being tempted to order "the pig"... so RAW Yeah put in an order for half a piglet.

Barbecued whole suckling pig (大紅乳豬全體) - instead of the usual version where the crackling is separated from the meat, today the whole pig has been chopped up into pieces.

Clueless at the club, part 2

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We're having our third MNSC gathering in a month, and tonight it was Curry's turn to play host. After debating whether he could live with the poor stemware at his favorite Seventh Son (家全七福), our host ultimately opted for the more serene settings of the Derby Room at the Hong Kong Jockey Club. It's been nearly five years since I last dined here, when Francky Semblat first started his stint with the club. Word is that the menu has shifted back to a more old-school, "clubby" offering, without much semblance to the refined nibbles from Oncle Joël...

Corn fritters - these were pretty sweet.

Tomato sorbet with pickled cucumbers and crème fraîche - nice acidity to whet the appetite.

Party like it's 1990

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An invitation came to join a group for friends to dinner, ostensibly to help celebrate Giona's birthday. The chosen venue was somewhere the birthday girl has never been, and one that I have also never been. I had heard about SẾP when it first opened some time ago, but while I was somewhat intrigued, I had never heard friends rave about the place. I did join a dinner where Chef DoBee Lam collaborated with other chefs, but as it was a joint effort, I didn't feel it was indicative of what the "true" flavors would taste like.

We were in the large private dining room, so we were not in a position to watch the chefs work over wood fire in the open kitchen... which was supposed to be the attraction. Oh well...

123!! Dzo - there were three appetizers:

Bánh tráng: Phú Quõc dried shrimp, quail egg rice paper - the sakura shrimp here tasted pretty nice.

Mực ống: yobuko no ika basil tartlet - the tartlet came with diced spear squid (槍烏賊) from Yobukocho (呼子町) in Saga Prefecture (佐賀県). The squid flavors were pretty nice, with just a bit of heat and fish sauce, while the pomelo pulp provided a good contrast.

Hokkien in da haus

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We have known about Mr. Chichi's new project for some time now, and a number of us have been looking forward to having a fine dining Hokkien restaurant in town. We know he has high standards and doesn't compromise too much, so the cuisine offered should be fairly authentic. As a (fake) Taiwanese, I must admit that my understanding of Hokkien cuisine (閩菜/福建菜) isn't very deep... although, admittedly, it should still be better than your average Cantonese person. So I'm pretty interested to get myself educated.

We know he has been asking close friends to join him in multiple rounds of taste tests to get things right, so when the invitation came for dinner tonight, I knew they felt ready.

We were led to one of Hokkien House (福上)’s private dining rooms for what would undoubtedly be a feast. There’s no meal with Mr. Chichi that doesn’t involve my stomach being on the brink of explosion, but I was surprised to find ONLY 13 dishes on the menu before fruit and dessert.