Executive lunch for busy executives

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It's been a while since My Friendly Neighborhood Prime Broker and I had a catch-up session, and a kind invitation came for lunch at Duddell's (都爹利會館). I haven't been back here in YEARS, so it's always nice when someone gives you an opportunity to revisit a place like this.

Neither of us wanted to make decisions on what to order, so my host decided on the Executive Lunch set. There won't be any upside surprises, since these usually play it pretty safe.

We started with a steamer of the dim sum selection (點心拼盤):

Scallop siu mai (帶子燒賣) - nice to have the scallop on top, which added a nice jolt of seafood flavors.

Years of the Horse

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It was five years ago that the Gang of Pfour got together for dinner and brought out bottles from different Years of the Ox. That was a fun and successful tasting, so tonight we decided to bring out bottles from Years of the Horse. This dinner should have happened 2 months ago, but unfortunately I had to postpone. Thankfully Goldfinger was very understanding, so we reconvened at Andō tonight.

We had a choice of two welcome drinks, and I picked the one made with roselle and chocolate. Definitely different!

We started with the bocaditos:

Classic claret for classic dim sum

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I've been a terrible friend. I had promised to attend a gala dinner with my friend last year, but had to cancel on account of family obligations. We were trying to catch up again a couple of months ago, and again I had to postpone because of family. I'm very grateful for my friend for being so understanding, and really happy that we finally found the time to grab lunch together. It's been more than a year since I was last at Forum Restaurant (富臨飯店), and I was thrilled when he suggested it for our catch up.

I'm a cheapskate when it comes to lunch, and usually just stick to dim sum at places like this. Service is always great here, and today they offered to serve just one piece of each item for each of us, so that we can taste a larger variety of items.

Forum steamed premium shrimp dumpling with pork (富臨蝦餃皇) - pretty much the standard for me.

6-nen buri

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We still can't believe it's been 6 years since we sent our Asshole across the rainbow bridge. Foursheets and I still go out for dinner each year in his memory, but unfortunately our regular place for this ritual is no longer around. We decided to look for another place where we could enjoy some beef over a bottle of red, and since Miyoshi (肉の匠 三芳) opened a more casual outlet in Hong Kong, we decided to check out Gyu+bar by miyoshi.

We were seated at the counter right in front of the charcoal grills, so we saw all the beef and the seafood being grilled over open flames. We were also not far away from this giant-ass charcoal oven, which was where the protein goes to get finished.

I took the 6-course menu so I could have two main dishes.

Three more pasta

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Tonight we are back in Estro after a long absence. I had to cancel our last booking nearly 2 months ago, and I knew I needed to make it up to Juve Fan. It's been much too long since I last came to see him, longer for Foursheets, and even longer for My Favorite Cousin.

I know it's been a long time since My Favorite Cousin was last here, because she was not aware that one can now order à la carte instead of taking a set tasting menu. And as I have preferred to do on the last few occasions, I wanted to focus on the beautiful pasta here. So I asked for three of them. In fact, I was really tempted to take all four that were on offer...

But I knew Juve Fan wanted me to take a starter, so I went with his suggestion. Would that be too much food for me?

We started with some sesame crisps and tarali, both of which were fragrant and full of flavor.