Farewell, my favorite sandwich

Tonight I am mourning the passing of Dan Yiu (姚有福) - who many of us knew as 福哥 - the former proprietor of my beloved Yue Hing (裕興). He was diagnosed with lung cancer just around 3 years ago, and I was sad to hear the news that he finally lost the battle and is no longer with us.

My first visit to this street stall was back in 2010, pretty much right after I saw my friend KC's post about their sandwich. This became my favorite place for breakfast sandwich in no time, and that was during the days when my life was a little more leisurely and no one batted an eyelid when I strolled in to work past 9:30. Just before what I thought would be a permanent departure from Hong Kong, I made sure to have one last breakfast there before leaving.  It was that important to me.

91 do re mi

Earlier this year I saw an opportunity to acquire two bottles of wine from auction that would make an interesting pair. 1991 was the last year that Joseph Phelps made an Eisele Vineyard bottling, following the sale of the vineyard to the Bart and Daphne Araujo. Similarly, Araujo made its first wine in 1991, so this was the only year when a comparison between the two wines could be made. There were magnums of both wines on offer at auction, and I made sure to place the winning bid for both lots. I was, however, somewhat surprised that the price of the Phelps was nearly double that of the Araujo. Clearly I had overpaid for the Phelps...

When I took delivery of the wines, though, I was shocked to see that the Phelps was actually a double magnum. That explained the pricing, and I felt a lot better. But I was now faced with a unforseen problem: how would I go about organizing a tasting for these? I had initially planned to grab a couple of friends to pop the two magnums, but now with a DMAG, I clearly needed more participants. And with more people, more wines were needed. It would no longer be just the two Eisele Vineyard wines.

Thankfully I do know a few lovers of Californian wines, and we rounded up a big enough group for a horizontal of 1991 Napa cabs. A friend who often hosts wine tastings made arrangements with Beefbar, and chef Andrea Spagoni put together a selection of dishes for us.

Tuna, avocado crunchy taco - tasty, but I probably should have asked for a substitute instead of tuna.

Pata negra ham: 48 month Simon Martin bellota

Cucarachas in the basement

At a dinner a few weeks ago, both DaRC and Sankala seemed unimpressed with the Shunde (順德) specialties delivered by the restaurant.  This prompted DaRC to suggest that we come to Yixin Restaurant (益新美食館) for some of the same dishes - which is how we ended up in a private room in the basement tonight.

My first visits to what used to be Yaik Sang Restaurant (益新飯店) when I first arrived in the mid-90s, back when it was in Lee Theatre Plaza. I visited a couple of times when it briefly relocated to Happy Valley, and I did go with Tigger when it was rebranded in its current form... but it has been more than a decade since my last visit. That's how long since I last had their lemon chicken. So I requested that DaRC add it to our menu tonight.

Roasted gold coin chicken (吊燒金錢雞) - really, really happy to start off with this classic item. I have been missing my favorite "cholesterol sandwich" for years, and although I now have a new favorite, I'm still on the look out for other versions that make me happy. There's something about the combination of a slice of charsiu (叉燒), a slice of chicken liver (鳳肝), and that essential slice of cured pork lard (冰肉) - roasted together on a skewer - that can transform into magic in the mouth.

These slices are large in surface area but relatively thin, so they are kinda impossible to devour in one or two bites - which is usually the way I'd like to do it. I'm glad they didn't skimp on the lard, as it had almost equal proportion to the other two ingredients. Very, very fatty... and pretty satisfying. But not quite up to the level of this near my home.

Moon cake 2021: lighting the domes

Another Mid-Autumn Festival has come to pass while the global pandemic continues, and another year where mom doesn't get her delivery of moon cakes from me. That means another year of me not terribly interested in buying these treats. Between gifts received at work and Sankala's whimsical purchases, I still managed to get a decent variety this season.

The theme from Dang Wen Li by Dominique Ansel this year was Fly Me to New York. Once again the packaging was very eye-catching, with paper cutouts of New York landmarks circling maple trees with autumn leaves. The words "Mid-Autumn in New York", along with the color of the leaves, reminded me of the movie from 20 years ago.

The best thing, though? The dome lights up!

Mini Earl Grey tea custard mooncake (伯爵茶奶黃月餅), from Dang Wen Li by Dominique Ansel - this was what they did last year, and I was very happy to taste these again. Very fine and smooth filling, which was fragrant and lovely with the bergamot oil. The flavors were just right.

Mini egg custard mooncake (奶黃月餅), from Dang Wen Li by Dominique Ansel - the "new" flavor this year was the standard stuff, and really wasn't anything special.

When Sankala found out about this box of Gudetama moon cakes - Gudetama八月十五的月光 - from Twinkle Baker Décor, she wasted no time in placing an order. She actually didn't care about the moon cakes... she just wanted to keep the stuffed Gudetama.

And guess what? This one lights up, too! And projects twinkle, twinkle little stars all around!

Tieguanyin moon cake (鐵觀音茶味月餅), from Twinkle Baker Décor - the paste was thick and dense, with some iron buddha (鐵觀音) flavors. But somehow the filling was more similar to red bean paste.

Earl Grey moon cake (伯爵茶味月餅), from Twinkle Baker Décor - the paste was softer, more loose. The bergamot from Earl Grey was more fragrant. Not as refined as the one from Dang Wen Li but surpassed my expectations.

My favorite egg custard moon cake from last year was from Pâtisserie La Lune (望月), and they put out a Kumamon edition that was kinda cute.

Lava custard mooncake (流心奶黃月餅) Kumamon Limited Edition, from Pâtisserie La Lune (望月) - I failed. The instruction calls for heating these in a rice cooker for 30 minutes, but I decided to pop it out after "only" 20 minutes. The result? The filling didn't get the "molten lava" stage.

Each year I make it a point to buy some traditional moon cakes from Dashijie, epecially when I can get the ones made with lard...

Old style lard yellow lotus paste mooncakes with olive seeds and triple egg yolks (古法豬油三黃欖仁黃蓮蓉月餅), from Dashijie (大師姊) - this was really, really good. The lotus paste was very fine and smooth, and the lard was definitely noticeable and added that wonderful fragrance to it all. The addition of Chinese black olive kernels meant the overall flavor of the lotus paste wasn't as sweet, which appeals to some. The yolks were more fluffy and oozed a little oil after heating. My favorite from the "traditional" bunch.

White lotus seed paste mooncake with double yolk (雙黃白蓮蓉月餅), from Four Seasons Hong Kong - this was clearly a notch below the ones from Dashijie. The lotus seed paste was decent but just not outstanding. The oil oozing from the yolk after heating ended up dripping on my shirt...

Sankala was walking past Happy Cake Shop (快樂餅店), an old school bakery with a history of more than 40 years, when she saw that they were selling moon cakes individually. She decided to get me one, but for some reason she misunderstood my simple instruction... which resulted in her making a second trip to get me the one that I really wanted.

Tangerine peel and red bean paste mooncake with double yolk (雙黃陳皮豆沙月餅), from Happy Cake Shop (快樂餅店) - this was on the rough side, and the red bean paste definitely wasn't as smooth as could have been. But the little chunks of tangerine peel - which I doubt have been aged enough to qualify as 陳皮 - were nice and fragrant.

Tangerine peel and red bean paste mooncake (陳皮豆沙月餅), from Happy Cake Shop (快樂餅店) - much, much happier with the "pure" version without any distraction from yolks.

Mao Shan Wang durian moon cake (貓山王榴槤冰皮月餅), from DKing (帝一榴) - very, very strong durian flavors. Loved it. So did CC.

What the fuck am I doing here?

"So what the fuck are you doing here??"

Those were the words coming out of the mouth of Antimo Maria Merone - the chef of Estro - as he sat and chatted with us after service finished this evening. I had just finished telling him that I normally don't visit new restaurants within the first 3 to 6 months - something that is well-known among my friends - because usually either the kitchen or the front-of-house (or sometimes both) aren't ready. On the rare occasions that I have chosen to make exceptions - such as this group gathering or this restaurant review - I have come away disappointed or worse, wasted my hard-earned money.

In response to the question, I pointed in the direction of Hairy Legs. After all, Hairy Legs and I had agreed months ago to come see Antimo together once the restaurant is open. I was simply accompanying my friend.  And no, I never worried for a second that Antimo and his team wouldn't be ready.

I kinda wish the dinner had happened 2 months ago, because I would have worn something completely different to dinner. I would have been twinning with Hairy Legs and there would be not one but two assholes looking like zebras at the table. That photo op would have been phenomenal. But an incident on social media around 2 months ago changed my mind about dressing up like a zebra, so I chose to play second fiddle and - for one night only - ceded the title of biggest asshole to my friend seated next to me.

Bad company

The MNSC boys found ourselves sitting around the same table again just 3 weeks after our last gathering.  Since a couple of us will be out of town for the next few weeks, we decided to notch up one more tasting before the end of the year creeps upon us.  I was ever so happy that our host Curry Jayer chose to bring us back to Megan's Kitchen (美味廚), a place I have not visited for a few years.

The food has always been pretty good here, and I've always enjoyed my experiences on the few occasions I have been here. Glad to get another taste tonight.

We started with a sextet of appetizers:

Marinated jellyfish (蔥花拌海蜇)

Braised beef shank (鹵水鮮牛腱)

Save the worst for last

Ever since I saw someone post a picture of a certain popsicle, I have been wanting to come back to Forum Restaurant (富臨飯店) just so I could get a taste of it. For one reason or another, things just haven't worked out with scheduling, and I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't be able to come before this seasonal summer item is taken off the menu. Thankfully, though, I was able to grab a couple of friends to join us for dim sum today.

From my visits earlier in the year, I have always been suitably impressed by the service level here, which I felt was appropriate for a restaurant carrying 3 Michelin stars. It would prove no different today, as the service staff asked us whether the kitchen should arrange to serve dishes in portions of 4 where there would originally be only 3.

Braised goose web with mushroom (北菰炆鵝掌) - pretty good, and I had some collagen sticking to my lips. There was so much sauce leftover that The Great One insisted we save them so that we can use them for other dishes.

Jang jang jang jang

I was really happy with my first visit to Hansik Goo, Chef Mingoo Kang's outpost in Hong Kong. That was during the early days, when we were forbidden to dine out after 6 p.m. and lunch was the only available option. Since then the restaurant has become so popular that it seemed to be booked out weeks in advance, and I tend to shy away from places which takes me too much effort to secure a booking. So I haven't been back for over a year.

I did try to get myself a table a few months ago, but alas, nobody bothered to reply to the email request I sent. Since they were obviously too busy with other customers to take care of me, I just let it drop.

Well, it was now Sankala who wanted to go, and apparently the staff were much more responsive to her request... so I let her run with it, and she managed to get us a table exactly a month in advance. Not too bad nowadays, I suppose.

I was happy to see that the restaurant is serving Nordaq filtered water, because it means that we're reducing the number of bottled water that's being shipped around the world - reducing carbon emissions as well as waste.

Our meal began with a quartet of Korean starters:

Angelica and shrimp dasik (다식) - this had an interesting texture, like it was made of dried minced shrimp that's been compressed into a cookie.

Gone in 60 minutes

Champagne Krug is doing their annual ingredient pairing, and this year they have chosen the onion.  After being anti-social during the pandemic, I was most surprised to receive an invitation from PR8 for the event surrounding the launch of Krug x Onion.  For all the crap I've given PR8, I gotta be thankful that he has always been very, very accommodating when it comes to these types of events.  He knows exactly who I wouldn't want to be caught dead next to, and generally makes sure that those people are never in my presence.

So it was suggested that I join this particular tour this evening, even though I would be missing the chance to visit some of my favorite chefs. I was ever so grateful that I was in the company of one of the few people in this clique who I could actually have meaningful conversations with... without wanting to choke the person or rip off his/her head.

The first of our two stops tonight was MONO. I've grown to become a big fan of Ricardo Chaneton's over the last few years, and these days an evening out at MONO is always fun... especially towards the end when the playlist changes from jazz to disco - at least when I'm in the house. I was kinda looking forward to that tonight.

We scanned the QR code in front of us to find out the menu for the evening, and I was pretty shocked to find not one, not two, but FIVE dishes listed. WTF? The format of these events used to showcase one dish per chef/restaurant, so I was expecting to get two dishes by the end of the tour and head off to Mickey D's to finish off the evening. Looks like that plan just went out the window...

Krug Grande Cuvée, 169ème édition, ID 120003 - good ripeness on the palate, with lovely toasty notes on the nose.

Of course, we actually got even more food when this avocado and lobster arepa showed up before anything else... Very creamy, very delish.

Third time lucky

We're back at Sushi Saito (鮨 さいとう) for another Saturday lunch. In order to accommodate both My Favorite Cousin and myself, it has to be lunch on Saturdays - which in this case meant booking about 4 months in advance... just as we finished our last lunch here. I have been back for dinner twice since that last lunch, but My Favorite Cousin was happy to wait patiently for this.

We were, once again, seated in front of Kubota-san. Word has it that he will depart in 2022, so I guess we won't have too many more chances to see him here.

As usual, we started with three items of otsumami (おつまみ):

Japanese horsehair crab (毛蟹) - nice acidity from the vinegar to go with the sweetness of the crab.

Make mine a 99

I have long heard good things about Legacy House (彤福軒), the restaurant in the Rosewood Hong Kong serving up specialties from Shunde (順德). But I have resolutely stayed away from the restaurant, and in fact from all restaurants located in the hotel, because of my two disastrous experiences with dining inside K11 Musea. The shopping mall is pumped full of disgusting, fake vanilla scent, and I have sworn not to go back there for food. I figured that the Rosewood Hong Kong would suffer from the same situation. While some people have told me otherwise, I refused to believe them.

After DaRC and RoRo came back to town, we decided to check out a few places together, and this was one of the places chosen. I figured it was time to see what the brouhaha was all about.

I have to say that my first impressions weren't great. OK, so I didn't get any of that yucky vanilla smell anywhere in the hotel. Yes, the restaurant has great harbor views. But the lighting was just so incredibly dark, so much so that we needed to read the menu with the help of the tiny lamps on the table. I just don't get this at all.

Seeing that this place is known for famous Shunde specialties, we decided to order up a few well-known dishes to see how they compare with similar establishments in town.

Wok-fried milk, mantis shrimp, crabmeat, caviar, egg white, Daliang style (黑魚籽鮮蟹肉大良鮮奶炒瀨尿蝦) - ordering this was a no-brainer, as it's one of the representative dishes of Shunde cuisine. We've got yellowed chives, Chinese black olive kernels, and mantis shrimps in place of the original "lion fish (獅頭魚)".

Four-month wait

At one of our gatherings earlier this year, my high school friends and I were discussing Japanese eateries in town. As it turns out, most of them have never been to Hidden (秀殿), my favorite kushiage (串揚げ) joint in town. For many friends and I this has become somewhat of an institution over the last few years, and as its popularity has grown, it has become increasingly difficult to secure a booking. But for those with Japanese roots or connections, the food here is just a little piece of home.

There are five of us, and for a group this size, dinner was booked nearly 4 months ago. And yes, they have long ago run out of available seats for dinner for 2021. Likewise, one needs to get on a waiting list for lunch on the weekends. This has become the new reality in times of Covid.

While I waited for the gang to arrive, I ordered up one of the many fruit-flavored drinks here. For tonight, I started with some melon plum wine (メロン梅酒).

Initially the gang asked me to choose the food, and I picked out a number of them for round 1 - knowing we would be doing multiple rounds tonight. The others soon started to chime in with their own requests...

Last toast at the Porn

I was pretty impressed with the food when I last visited the Porn Pawn earlier this year, and have been thinking about going back when the time came for a casual meal. When I found out that they were making big changes starting the middle of this month, I decided to book a table to try their current dishes one more time. I also managed to rope in Mr. and Mrs. Birdiegolf for a night out.

Calamari: sautéed calamari, red vin sorrel, basil, pesto - I confess that I didn't look at the menu carefully, and I really wanted fried calamari hahaha... But this was nicely done.