Chefs with hair

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One of the best meals I enjoyed during my trip to Seoul earlier this year was at Eatanic Garden, where I was briefly introduced to Handsome Chef and also had been tasked with introducing Kutsuyama to him. I was pretty impressed with my experience and a little bummed that Foursheets didn't get to go with me. So I was pretty happy to be able to get a table when Handsome Chef came to cook with Juve Fan at Estro.

I'm usually not a fan of most "four hands" events, but I was happy to discover that the two chefs are having a little fun for this event. Each chef has chosen a set of dishes from the other's repertoire and re-interpreted them. Now THAT is pretty cool, because it requires both chefs to actually put in some real effort for this event, developing new dishes and doing some testing.

So... we started with some aperitivo, some of which were instantly recognizable.

This was described as a 'toast' with fillings of black truffle, Robiola di Bufala, and Mortadella. This was, of course, tasty as one would expect. Pretty classic combo... simple yet satisfying. From Juve Fan.

Occupy Amber: vegetarian prima donna

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It's that day of the year when we go out for a nice vegetarian dinner. For the fourth year in a row, I defaulted to Amber for the special occasion. We have always enjoyed our meals here, and I didn't think there was any reason for us to change this tradition.

While we have opted for the lighter, 6-course option in previous years, Foursheets feared that I would go home hungry - something that has never happened on any visit here. So 8-courses it is...

It has been too long since I last saw Richard Ekkebus, and he seemed very excited about the upcoming expansion of the hotel and the new additional outlets they have planned. We look forward to trying them in the not-so-distant future.

Shiso sherbet - with perilla leaves on top. Unfortunately I was clumsy and squeezed a little too hard, which split the sphere into two halves... leading to the liquid center to leak all over the place. Sigh.

The DEI Olympics Opening Ceremony

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It's that time again. The Olympics are back, and ever since the closing ceremony almost 3 years ago, I have had high expectations for the show that the French would put on for the world. In fact, the short clips from Paris 2024 that aired during the Closing Ceremony of Tokyo 2020 was the best part of that show.

I went to bed after dinner tonight, and got up a few minutes before the 1:30 a.m. start time of the Opening Ceremony of Paris 2024 to watch it live. This time around the Hong Kong Government had purchased the broadcasting rights for the Games, and we are able to watch events via the city's four free-to-air broadcasters.

The show started with a humorous clip of Jamel Debbouze carrying the Olympic flame into an empty Stade de France with no one in sight... except for Zizou tapping him on the shoulder and offering to take the flame from him. After Zizou buys a ticket to hop on a Paris Metro train but gets stuck, he passes the flame to three kids who run through the underground tunnels, catacombs, and gets invited to hop into a rowboat on a canal - probably Canal Saint-Martin - by a figure in period costume. This was the first appearance of the Mysterious/Masked Torchbearer - and we would see them run through famous sights in Paris as well as on Parisian rooftops à la Arsène Lupin - one of four inspirations for this character along with Belphégor, Fantômas, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, the Phantom of the Opera, and the Man in the Iron Mask - hence the fencing mask obscuring the identity.

From early on, it's clear that the show would have both light-hearted as well as dark, brooding elements. It would also be obvious that with the national motto of Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité included as chapters along with Sororité, this would be the "DEI Olympics"... at least when it came to the Opening Ceremony.

Turks in East India

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I'm back at Nine One for the third time in the two months since the restaurant's opening. A friend who is a big fan of Samaira's has rounded up a few fellow winos for a dinner, with the theme being one of my favorite wines. I had initially hesitated to join this gathering, as I was already scheduled for a lunch today, but eventually the allure of drinking beautiful wines paired with delicious food from a friend proved too irresistible. So here I am...

As usual, we asked the chef to decide what to serve us. With 6 of us tonight including our Indian friend, I looked forward to trying dishes I hadn't tasted on my previous visits.

Khakra, chundo - the khakra (ખાખરા) and chundo (छुन्दो) are always the first order of business.

Corn chips and kachumber - not surprisingly, some of our friends visiting for the first time wondered why they were eating tortillas with salsa in a place serving Indian food...

A different type of boozy lunch

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Louise has a new chef in the kitchen with the return of Loïc Portalier, and Julien Royer came up to Hong Kong for a proper introduction. It has been some time since I was last at Louise - and in fact any of Julien's restaurants - so when the invitation came to join a media lunch today, I accepted without any hesitation.

As the shenanigans surrounding Asia's 50 Best Bars are happening in town this week, we also had a number of people from outside Hong Kong at lunch with us. There was a lot of talk around the tables about all the after parties last night, and it's obvious that all the partying has caught up with some of my friends...

I wasn't in a drinking mood as I have a big wine dinner tonight, so I just accepted a glass of Chartogne-Taillet Sainte Anne, which was toasty and mineral on the nose.

We then started with three amuses bouches:

Angel hair with black truffle, kombu seaweed, and caviar - this was... OK lah... No doubt it will make lots of people happy.

Stretched like a drum

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We have a visitor in town wanting to visit a few restaurants, and one of the places on the itinerary is Flower Drum (鋒膳). I had heard about this place a lot from friends for a long time - in fact one of the owners is a friend - but have only managed a casual lunch visit a few years ago. Now that I've been asked to join a table, curiosity got the best of me... and I wanted to see what the hubbub was about.

Our VIP friend had arranged the meal, so we were seated in the private room that connects to the terrace where one can enjoy a cigar or two after a meal. A "short menu" was already set for us, but little did we know what we were in for...

These candied cashews were pretty nice with all the sesame.

But they were nowhere as popular as the potato chips that were really crunchy and tasted of fragrant olive oil.

Woodcocks in the Valley

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Some weeks ago I found that, much to my surprise, Bong Girl actually drinks wine that are not bongwater. Among the wines she posted was a bottle from Domaine de la Mordorée - a winery I had the pleasure of visiting in Tavel. I feel honored that since my visit back in 2011, Fabrice Delorme has followed my gastronomic and vinous adventures via this blog. On the other hand, I kinda feel bad that I haven't tasted many bottles from them since that visit more than a decade ago. So I decided to schedule a meal with Bong Girl in order for me to add a few more tasting notes to my library.

Locanda is a place I have been meaning to revisit for years. I always thinking about going back but somehow, I end up somewhere else. Well, I finally made it back tonight. I got in touch with Gavin, who I haven't seen in a few years, and got ourselves a table. We agreed to share a few plates to start.

It's always good to start with some carta musica. This was really nicely done, and came with some tomato ricotta.

A little more sheltering

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Everyone knows I'm an asshole. I didn't get called the Arrogant Prick for nothing, and I've got a few ongoing feuds with restaurant groups and chefs. Most PRs in the business have the good sense to stay away, so I'm always surprised when I get approached for an invitational meal. I am always nice enough, though, to remind the PRs of my reputation... and ask them to make sure that they really want me at their client's restaurant.

So this was how I came to be at Arbor tonight. I waited about a year before making my first visit here 5 years ago, and returned for an MNSC dinner a few months later. While I had enjoy some of chef Eric Räty's dishes on those 2 visits, I didn't think I really "got" the cuisine. And the restaurant's corkage policy - at least in the old days - kinda put me off from paying them more visits.

I had asked for the shorter, 6-course menu instead of the full 9 courses. As I'm dining out on a few nights this week, it would be best to keep things simple. And the poor PR would, presumably, spend less time suffering in the presence of my company.

We started with the restaurant's signature brioche, with seaweed inside. Served with some mentaiko (明太子) butter just like it was years ago.

Teammates in the 'hood

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It's been a looooong time since I last shared a meal with my old team, so I decided to take them to my favorite restaurant. That would be Neighborhood, for anyone who doesn't know me well enough. I cannot claim to be the restaurant's most loyal customer, but I think this being my 76th visit since the restaurant first opened in 2014 surely counts for something!

I was glad to see the restaurant being reasonably busy on a Tuesday night. This is one restaurant which I must support to ensure its continued operation, as I would be lost without it. For tonight, as everyone else is coming for the first time, I pre-ordered one of the signature dishes, then left the rest up to the Kitchen Nazi. As usual, I asked him to not kill us with food. I mentioned that a mutual friend had recently visited and came away relatively unscathed, only to be told by The Man in White T-shirt that in that instance, there had been a dish which suffered catastrophic failure... hence a significant reduction in the amount of food being served. So... we shall see!

We were served plenty of sourdough bread together with our first two dishes, but I was a little late in warning my friends about the perils of enjoying too much bread too early in the meal. But how could I blame them when the bread is so irresistable?

Kuruma prawns - these days a meal here inevitably starts with these babies, seasoned with some piment d'espelette as well as some fennel, as the sweetness and anise flavors really showed.