The best dishes I had in 2025

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This is the 10th edition of my "best dishes of the year", and once again I go through my meals to pick out the dishes that were the most memorable, brought me the most pleasure, or evoked the strongest emotions. Needless to say I have had many, many delicious dishes this past year - many happy moments which brought smiles to my face. These were just the ones that made me exclaim "FUCKING GOOD!", "YEAH, BABY!", "PUTAIN!"... you get the drift.

I didn't travel as much this year, and I also dined out less. Maybe that's why the list got shorter this year. But truth be told, some of these dishes were incredibly emotional for me, and were perhaps the best I've ever had.

Luncheon meat and egg sandwiches with peanut butter and condensed milk (炒蛋午餐肉奶醬多士), from Yue Hing (裕興) in Hong Kong - this is my favorite sandwich in the world, and I thought I would never have the chance to taste it again when Dan passed away in 2021. Some 68 months after I last tasted one, Elaine reopened the stall and I made 2 visits within the first week. I was so emotional I almost cried.

Shanghainese peanuts

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The Peanut Gang haven't gotten together for a meal since the start of the year - between members' frequent travels and B Bestie's usual last-minute cancellations - and when we finally managed to grab everyone, we found ourselves back at yet another establishment serving Shanghainese cuisine. Very grateful to have a member who can get us a table at Shanghai Fraternity Association (上海總會).

Of course, we let the resident member do most of the ordering, but we did ask for a couple of items that we really wanted.

Mutton jelly (羊膏) - not sure I remember ever having these here... since I usually ask for the cured pork variety that is more common. Pretty nice and tender, and tasty.

Weekend in Guangzhou: a Gem in Shenzhen

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After a ride of nearly 2 hours on the high speed rail, we got off at Futian Station (福田站) and grabbed a taxi to dinner. I had been wanting to check out Gem Garden (珍庭) ever since my first trip to Shenzhen after the pandemic ended, and finally got my chance tonight.

As was the case with lunch, we had pre-ordered a few dishes for this dinner, then added more after we arrived. Our private dining room had a TV that played a video of the restaurant's signature dishes on repeat, and we ended up ordering some items which looked tantalizing.

Service started with a plate of kumquats (金桔), which was how our lunch ended hours earlier. These were bigger in size, and just as delicious as the ones I enjoyed at lunch. Served together with some wax apples (蓮霧).

Weekend in Guangzhou: lunch at the river

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For someone who didn't get enough sleep the night before, I woke up much earlier than I had wanted this morning. Unfortunately it didn't seem like I would be able to go back to sleep this morning, so we got up for breakfast. While I normally would have preferred to leave the hotel and grab something local like steamed rice flour rolls (腸粉), the most popular places on Dianping (大众点评) seemed to have sanitary issues like having mysterious black spots in their food. That definitey does not work for Foursheets...

Our room at the Mandarin Oriental Guangzhou included breakfast, and we dutifuly rolled down to Tang (堂) so Foursheets could at least get some coffee. It was still before 9 a.m. so there were still empty tables.

There was a whole selection of dim sum available for us to order, so I kinda ordered up a storm. We've got the charsiubao (叉燒包)...

Weekend in Guangzhou: not too spicy

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One of the main reasons of coming to Guangzhou this weekend was to give Foursheets an opportunity to try the cuisine from Chef Zeng Huaijun (曾怀君), who was one of The Man in White T-shirt's partners on Chef of China (一饭封神). We had the opportunity to get a taste of Chef Zeng's cooking at her collaboration dinner at Neighborhood a few months ago, and that really piqued Foursheets' interest. Since her restaurant Song (宋・川菜) is located in Guangzhou, this gave us to impetus to come check it out.

I told Sporty Cousin about this place a few weeks ago, and he actually went on a scouting mission for us. He managed to give it a big "thumbs up", and he was more than happy to come join us tonight so that he could try out more dishes.

The restaurant is inside the Winter Plaza (冬广场) of GT Land Plaza (高德置地广场), and as soon as we walked through the front doors, we were faced with a 7-story high LED display - and it happened to cycle through the point where it advertised about the restaurant. We rode the escalator up and, as Sporty Cousin had booked us a table at 6 p.m., walked in without having to wait in line for more than an hour.

Weekend in Guangzhou: all crows are black

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I've organized an eating trip to Guangzhou this weekend, with the primary aim of hitting 2 restaurants I wanted to tick off my list. Luckily I have managed to rope in a few others to join me, so that we can do some proper ordering at Chinese restaurants. This would be my first time back in the city since I spent an unscheduled day in 1998 on account of missing a connecting flight...

The trip on the high speed rail was pretty uneventful, as it should be. After getting off at Guangzhou East Station (广州东站), we grabbed a 6-seater van to Mandarin Oriental Guangzhou (广州文华东方酒店). Our rooms weren't ready yet, so we dropped off our bags and walked across the street to BingSheng Private Kitchen (炳胜私厨).

The manager had actually messaged me while we were still at the hotel, and warned me that most of the dim sum items had already sold out. By 12:30 p.m. I'm wondering if they share the dim sum supply with the sister restaurant a few doors down, and they have been taking customer orders since 11:00 a.m. So when we arrived and shown to our private room, we were literally asking for the last portion(s) of less than a handful items still left...

Homemade sachima with olive kernel (超級欖仁沙琪玛) - we did ask for them to serve us the dim sum items first, but HELLO? You serve us the dessert first?! Well, we waited until all the savory dishes had been finished, and this thing had gotten kinda limp. In any case, the flavors weren't very interesting.

All set for Friday

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Foursheets was meeting a business contact for lunch today, and for some reason the person really wanted to meet me. Since Yong Fu (甬府) was chosen as the venue, I happily tagged along as the food was always going to be pretty tasty.

After trying out the set dinner a few months ago, this was my first time having their set lunch - which serves up 10 courses. We collectively made our choices for the dishes.

Homemade fish cake with spicy oil (辣拌自製魚餅) - this is their usual fish cake that I like, but they have dressed it up in a light, spicy oil to tingle the tastebuds.

A good night to die with 3-star food

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Tonight is a good night to die.

'Tis the season for game meats, and one of my favorite dishes from this genre is lièvre à la royale - which I've been lucky to have at a few top restaurants in Europe as well as here in Hong Kong. The dish is pretty heavy, so it's not something I have every year. In fact, the last time I had this was actually 4 years ago!

So once again, I organized a boys' night out at Caprice. Hairy Legs Cookie Monster always serves up a great version of the dish, and while I have tasted other dishes served with hare more recently, I still can't believe it's been so long since I last tasted this classic.

I was grateful that Cookie Monster put us at the Chef's Table, which was where some of us last had this dish together with a huge game menu. We would be having a slightly lighter menu tonight... or so we thought.

I gotta say... I've had these three bites from the boîte à bijoux multiple times by now, and tonight each of them were the best versions I can remember.

Mushroom tartlet - tonight the mushroom flavors were pretty intense... porcini, par hasard? There was the usual Parmesan cookie at the bottom, and a small disc of Comté on top with a bit of tarragon. This was more salty than I had remembered, but the flavors were very, very good.

ChocoFergie

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We were celebrating two November birthdays tonight, and the birthday boys have booked us a table at a place that is new to many of us. Yuet Tung Hin (粵同軒) is a new addition to what used to be my 'hood, and Fergie was obviously very impressed with his prior visits. Since I trust my friend's palate, I didn't do any homework before showing up with bottles of Champagne.

Chiuchow-style marinated goose platter (潮式滷水拼盤) - there were 10 of us so a big platter was in order... and we got the whole shebang! On top of the standard sliced goose meat, we've also got the wing, the web, liver, gizzard, intestines... etc. The masterstock (滷水) used for marinating was definitely not as salty as usual... and maybe even bordering on being a tiny bit sweet.

The overcooked Chairman

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After making sure Sporty Cousin finally got a chance to dine at The Chairman (大班樓) for the first time, I thought it would be nice to invite him for another round. After all, the guys clearly wanted the oppotunity to taste more dishes from the restaurant's repertoire. And I made sure that we would not repeat any of the dishes we had the last time they came.

Ginger and vinegar pig trotter terrine (甜醋子薑豬手豬耳凍) - I really, really love this dish... So happy that they came up with this delicate, refined version of the Cantonese classic. The finely diced kaffir lime leaves on top of the minced pickled ginger really shone tonight. I did notice, however, that the jelly in the terrine had a firmer texture this time, and didn't melt as easily with heat.

Seafood itchy

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Foursheets couldn't wrap her head around it.

She couldn't understand why, for two guys who normally don't eat much spicy food and can't handle the heat, the two of us have chosen to go to Grand Majestic Sichuan for dinner tonight.

I had ended my years-long boycott of Black Sheep restaurants, so there was nothing to stop me from going. The concept of the restaurant was devloped together with Fuchsia Dunlop, who I've dined with a few times together with The Great One and Sweetheart. Here's a woman who knows a shit ton more about Sichuan cuisine - and probably Chinese cuisine in general - than I ever will. So I was naturally curious. DaRC felt the same. So here were are.

Seeing that the restaurant is under the purview of B Bestie, I asked him to book a table for us. The two of us went with an open mind, or at least tried to, but it was immediately apparent that the place is geared towards the non-Chinese community. Our table of two, together with the neighboring four-top, were the only all-Chinese tables I could see. My guess is that there were no more than a dozen Chinese patrons.

Steamed Ping Tung aubergine, scorched green chillies (燒椒屏東長茄子, 燒青辣椒) - not the usual eggplant dish I would normally order, but that's kinda the whole point of coming, innit?! The scorched chilli "salsa" was pretty nice, and while there was some heat here, it was more about the garlic. Very refreshing as a first dish, especially since it was served chilled.

DRC at Petrus

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Ms Hurricane Big Spender Cheapskate has been talking about this dinner for some time now, Ten years after throwing a big birthday bash with great food and lots of fantastic wines, she decided to do another big birthday bash. This time around, though, she upped the ante both in terms of food as well as wine - centered around a highly prestigious case of wine.

My friend needed help arranging a venue, which needed a private room large enough to accommodate her guests. The venue also needed to accommodate her wish to serve the case of wine she wanted to open. The combination proved to be difficult to realize, so she asked for my help. Well, I immediately sought out The Chef Who Tries to Kill Me, as Restaurant Petrus would be a perfect venue. I was grateful that he agreed to make the arrangements for this very important evening.

As this would be a very important dinner, Big Spender Cheapskate wanted to make sure that the cuisine being served would be able to measure up to the wines. So we even arranged to do a preview a few months ago... and I'm happy that my friend was satisfied and gave her approval.

But first, she convened a bigger group of friends for some Champagne and canapés in the Presidential Suite at the Island Shangri-La. We've got smoked salmon and, of course, some caviar.

Then there were the Alaskan king crab legs along with some kueh pie tee.

Since it's actually a Champagne and caviar party, we've also got some Kaviari Kristal caviar to go with our Champagne...

Nordic tempura

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I wasn't sure how I felt about Tempura Tenon (天ぷら 天穩) after my first visit earlier, so I wasn't in a hurry to book a return visit. However, Ugly Shoe Girl asked me if I was interested in going to a collab event between the restaurant and Chef Gabriel Chung, and that got me intrigued. I have a number of friends who are apparently fans of Gabriel, and have gone to his other events or even had him cater meals at home. I knew that Nordic flavors are his gig, and although that doesn't work for me every single time, curiosity got the best of me. I said 'yes'.

Then a few days ago, I realized to my horror that I had signed up for lunch, not dinner. Truth be told, I was pretty slammed at work... so the last thing I needed was a three hour lunch on a work day. But I felt bad about cancelling as I hate being one of those dicks who bail, so I sucked it up and showed up as promised.

Surf clam (北寄貝), fermented wampee juice, fig leaf oil, pickled pine needle, plum - well, the surf clam was that it was, and came with a mix of clarified juice from wampee (黃皮) harvested in July, fresh Nordic pine needle, oil from winter pine as well as autumn figs. There was fruity acidity as expected, and the pine flavors definitely stood out. Unfortunately the flavors of the clam was fairly strong, and all the juices and oils weren't enough to tame them.

Can someone please speak English?

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An invitation to dinner came from My Friendly Neighborhood Prime Broker, on account of their big boss passing through town. I was asked to recommend some places for the occasion, and after looking through a number of restaurants in Central offering menus within their official budget, I sent along a list of 5.

I was secretly hoping that they would choose one of the two places on the list that I've never been to, but we ended up at Plaisance by Mauro Colagreco. My last visit earlier this year was on the day before they received their Michelin star - with Mauro himself in the kitchen - and the food as well as execution was already much improved. I was hoping that they would at least maintain those standards, because we know Konishi Mitsuru (小西充) can cook. The question is whether his team would let him down.

Mindful of the expense budget, and wanting to cut down on my intake, I was more than happy with the four course menu offered.

Green apple and blood sausage macaroon - if you work at a restaurant bearing Mauro Colagreco's name, you should know that this is a macaron (with one 'o') and not a macaroon (with two 'o's) - as they are very different things. The ganache had something refreshing and crunchy inside, which I suppose was greeen apple... As I detected some cumin, I wonder if we had morcilla and not boudin noir.

2.0 of 2.0

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I had the good fortune (or was it misfortune?) of visiting the reincarnated Roganic on its second day of opening, and while that meal delivered some very tasty bites, I wasn't sold on the sharing concept for main courses... and it was also a heavier meal such that I felt stuffed for the first time. Well, they've apparently revamped the format, so I guess it's the 2.0 version of Roganic 2.0... or should it be version 2.1?

Once again, I was seated at a table with the ladies - and B Bestie didn't even show up himself and sent Giona instead. No peanuts tonight, then...

We began with three snacks, which were similar or identical to ones I had last time:

Oolong cured Himalayan trout, beetroot sand carrot and hawthorn - the cured trout came coated in smoked Oolong tea oil with some Oolong tea salt (WTF is THAT?!). The roll was made with dehydrated sand carrot, then stuffed with diced trout belly with salt-baked sand carrot with celeriac. Unfortunately the shell wasn't crispy anymore, but the filling was a little sweet thanks to the carrots.

Fish, shrimp, but no crab

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I haven't seen my friend for 9 years. He lives halfway around the world from me, and for one reason or another - the pandemic among them - we just haven't traveled to each others' cities since I last saw him in Hong Kong. He's taking an East Asia tour this month, and I finally got a chance to catch up with him and his wife.

Incidentally, he's one of the people who bailed out on my booking at the Chairman (大班樓) earlier this week, despite the fact that his wife has never been. As both of them are staying in New Territories, I figured I would pick somewhere that involves less traveling on their side. Much to my surprise, out of the two options I presented, they chose the one that involved significantly more trekking...

I last trekked all the way to Fanling (粉嶺) for dinner at Sun Hon Kee Restaurant (新漢記飯店) on account of another visiting friend. We grabbed a bigger group of people and had Brother Hon come up with the daily specials. For our casual lunch today, though, there's no need to bother the boss.

Pork tendon with shallot oil and soy dipping sauce (白烚豬前腿筋) - this is an absolute must. I have never not loved this dish. The meat is so bouncy and tasty... and so much fun to chew on.

Having a ball

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This would sound incredulous to many, but I had not one, but two groups of people bail on me for my dinner booking at The Chairman (大班樓) tonight. Thankfully I haven't run out of friends who would be excited to have the opportunity to dine here, so I managed to rope in a few more thanks to the Zhongmeister.

I was lucky we didn't have people with voracious appetites, so no extra dishes for us tonight. But on this visit, I insisted on getting the one dish I wasn't able to order on my last visit. A dish that was new at the time, which took me almost four months to be able to taste.

Crispy taro cake with smoked duck (茘甫鴨盒) - pretty tasty with that nice, smoky flavor in the filling. I wished the taro mash was more fluffy on top, though. That would have been even better.

Birthday on the mountain

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We're back in Taipei because, among other things, it's Dad's 85th birthday. I wasn't able to celebrate with him last year, so I was determined to do something nice this year. I had read about Noma's pop-up in Taipei at YMS by onefifteen, which had opened this year on Yangmingshan (陽明山), just next to the Parental Units' home. I figured the location made perfect sense for the Parental Units.

But YMS by onefifteen had been touted as a members-only club, with price of membership reported to be TWD 600,000. Well, I wouldn't use the membership often enough to warrant shelling out that kind of money, so I put that idea aside.

Then I saw Hairy Legs and Victor post about the place, and mentioned to Hairy Legs about the proximity of the restaurant to the Parental Units' home. I did not realize until then that onefifteen (初衣食午) is the group behind 1929 by Guillaume Galliot in Shanghai, so he offered to make a booking at YMS for me. I also didn't realize until recently that a good friend from high school was the interior designer behind both YMS and 1929 by Guillaume Galliot - which would explain why my long-lost friend has been posting pictures about both restaurants on his social media account.

I received an email from the group's F and B manager about my booking, and since he asked about dietary restrictions and preferences, I sent back a list of what we prefer to do without. I also mentioned that mom is sensitive to many chemical additives, which include MSG but much, much more. While fine dining restaurants serving western cuisine are generally less of a risk in this area, but one can never be too careful.

It's been raining on and off today, and although we left the Parental Units' home under a very light drizzle, it wasn't a surprise that the higher up we got on the mountain, the wetter it became. When we arrived at the entrace to the compound, there were staff with umbrellas on hand to escort us inside. But we had just reached Lab 10 - the casual dining / tea salon within the compound. We would need to trek a few more steps next door to Restaurant 12, where the fine dining restaurant is located.

Our table was right next to the wine cellar, and I had a good view of the open kitchen from my seat. Chef Jonatan Motos Ferrán came to greet us, and since Hairy Legs had recommended his cuisine, I felt assured we would be in good hands tonight. The menu is long with 14 courses - 17 if you count the 4 mignardises individually - and it's been a while since mom sat through a long, fine dining dinner... but I hoped she would still enjoy it.

We started with a series of four canapés:

Tomato ⁃ burrata ⁃ olive - not surprisingly, the meringue made with tomato water was a little sweet. The filling in the middle was made of burrata along with diced tomatoes and olives.

Turks in Taipei

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We're back in Taipei for a few days, and the Parental Units were very understanding about us spending some time away from them. This gave us the opportunity to catch up with Little Rabbit, which we needed to do in order to exchange some gifts. I asked her to suggest a place for us to meet, with the overarching criterion that it shouldn't be fine dining. To my surprise, most of the places she suggested weren't actually Taiwanese - or Chinese, for that matter...

Eventually Foursheets decided that she wanted to have Turkish cuisine, so we ended up all the way across town at Izmir Turk Kitchen. They had literally just re-opened a few days ago, so Little Rabbit was kinda excited.

There is a selection of mezze to choose from, so I let the ladies go and pick them out...

Deep-fried in a hurry

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I haven't seen a business associate for quite a few years, and he very kindly offered to treat me to lunch while he's in town. I was a little taken aback when Ippoh (一宝) was suggested, but I figured this was a good opportunity to return and see how I feel about the place after a few years.

We didn't have a lot of time, so I suggested we switch from the special menu that had been booked to the short course Yuki (雪) - cutting the restaurant's revenue in half. I felt bad for the chef, but we would not have finished lunch in time otherwise.

I know I was 10 minutes late to lunch, but I don't think that warranted the lack of explanation for the appetizer. We have some broad beans, Chinese yam (山芋), and a soft-boiled egg together with ponzu (ポン酢) jelly.

No baseball bat tonight

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One is meant to give a gift made of wood to one's spouse on the fifth wedding anniversary. I only remembered about the tradition of anniversary gifts some time this morning, and briefly contemplated trying to buy a small, wooden mallet as a joke to give to Foursheets. When I told her about it later in the day, she scoffed at the idea of a mallet and suggested that I get her a baseball bat instead, since it's much harder and would do much more damage thanks to its mass. Well... I'm glad there isn't one around the house.

My day actually started with me singing the Bee Gees' hit Stayin' Alive - my anthem for having survived another year of marriage. Besides a little celebratory dance with me tryin' a little move from Tony Manero, the main celebration would be dinner at Caprice. It was, in fact, where we exchanged our vows and got married... and Hairy Legs had very kindly moved our booking to the Chef's Table - the actual place where it all happened 5 years ago.

2025 mooncake roundup

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We had just celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節) earlier this week, and that meant I'd been munching my way through a few mooncakes. As was the case in the last few years, I mostly chomp on mooncakes I buy for myself - and for mom - and I'm actually grateful that I don't receive the flood of mooncakes that I see my friends getting. The reality is that I'm the only one in our household who consumes them - well, other than the occasional bits for CC Dogcow - so the only ones I want around the house are ones that I actually want to eat.

This year mom has requested that I bring her some Suzhou-style mooncakes (蘇式月餅) with flaky pastry, specifically with jujube paste (棗泥) filling. This isn't something I buy often, and I don't even have a regular supplier for this... so I figured I would try some and buy them for mom if they passed my taste test.

Jujube paste mooncakes (棗泥月餅) from Siu Ning Bo (小寧波) - I remember buying these a few years ago and they were pretty decent, so I bought them again.

Wagyu in the Valley

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Due to scheduling conflicts, I wasn't able to meet up with my Korean Kohai while we were in Seoul last month. Luckily he and his family were coming back to Hong Kong for a few days, and we managed to meet up over dinner tonight. As it's a very busy week for Foursheets and I in terms of dining out, I chose a place we like very much which doesn't force us to take long set menus... which takes me back to Locanda.

When I asked about pre-ordering dishes, someone practically circled half the menu... orz. We ended up picking 2 main courses ahead of time, and figured we could order the rest after we arrived.

Hokkaido scallop, crispy potato, broccolini purée, fennel salad - this looked a little more charred than I was expecting...

...but turned out pretty well.

Birthday is better without bluefin

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We haven't had good sushi in a while, and part of the reason was Kaki-san leaving Shikon by Yoshitake (すし 志魂) to return to Japan. Foursheets finally got her sushi craving and asked for it for her birthday, and she requested a return to Sushi Fujimoto (鮨ふじもと). We've enjoyed our previous visits there, so it made sense as her default option.

Not everyone arrived on time as instructed, so a few of us had to wait for 10 minutes or so before Fujimoto-san gave up and started service. At some sushiyas (鮨屋) in Japan, these late comers would not be given a scolding or not be allowed to book again, as tardiness is a cardinal sin - especially as sushiyas where the guests are served the same pieces together.

We first started with a cup of abalone soup. This was lovely with lots of flavor.

Moon over Wellington Street

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Tonight we celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival, but not in the company of our families. I haven't seen much of Kutsuyama since she moved back to Hong Kong, and we decided to catch up after spending some time together in Seoul last month. Foursheets heard about the lunch I enjoyed last week at Medora and decided that she wanted to check out the place for herself, so I dutifully booked us a table for dinner.

As I was being shown to our table, I managed to see a big paragraph of text next to my name on the pad carried by the staff. It quickly dawned on me that these would have been notes from Chef Vicky Cheng, maybe in the same way that someone had entered the words "prima donna" in the system at Amber under my name all those years ago. Uh-oh...

We were informed that Vicky had instructed for the staff to pour us glasses of Champagne to start, and there would be a few dishes coming our way. Well... maybe I should have had Foursheets make the booking so no one would need to make a fuss about us, and I did get dirty looks from the wife that I had rebuffed her original suggestion. Anyway... as we already have brought Champagne ourselves, I declined the generous offer so that I wouldn't get too toasted tonight.

We started with some bread selection.

The last dim sum

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We have an alumnus back in town for a few days, and since our beloved Metropol Restaurant (名都酒樓) is closing its doors in 2 days, our friend requested that we do lunch there today. We are grateful that Mamo grabbed a table for the three of us, because we would have had to wait a pretty long time for a table!

Our friend apparently brought a ferocious appetite with him, so he was out grabbing anything and everything - ignoring the fact that there were only three mouths at the table... and one of them was at half capacity.

Steamed spare rib in black bean sauce (豉汁蒸排骨)

Spicy typhoon dinner

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Some of us have been lucky enough to follow the career of the Kitchen Nazi Man in White T-shirt for quite some time - since 2010 in my case - and watch him gain popularity and recognition over the years. His current restaurant Neighborhood first appeared on the Asia's 50 Best Restaurants list in 2018, and he received the Inedit Damm Chef's Choice Award in 2022. Although we were never quite sure that he was gunning for it, friends were nevertheless ecstatic when Neighborhood was awarded its first macaron in 2023. Those in the know have been flocking to his restaurant for years, but truth be told, he remained relatively anonymous outside a relatively small culinary circle.

But things have completely changed this year. Somehow this seasoned chef stumbled onto the Chinese TV cooking competition show Chef of China (一饭封神) - as a contestant, no less!. After the show began airing, our friend became one of the most popular participants and gained millions of fans. Suddenly half of China wanted to come to Hong Kong and dine at Neighborhood. On my last visit, I witnessed first hand how first-time guests gushed in front of him and asked for cheffies. There were even people who didn't have a booking but simply wanted to come by the restaurant and get a look at this celebrity chef. Yes, our friend has turned into a celebrity in the most populated country on the planet.

One of the rounds of the competition involved our friend teaming up with two other chefs - Chef Zeng Huaijun (曾怀君) of Song (宋・川菜) in Guangzhou, and Chef Tiffany Tung (董嘉琪) - where they were asked to cook something spicy. Chef Zeng took the lead on creating the flavors (her restaurant serves Sichuan cuisine and does have a Michelin star), while The Man in White T-shirt made the call to confit the fish. This team received the most votes from the judges in this round of the competition, and soon there were 6-hands collaborations set up here and there.

So this is how we got here tonight... a collaboration of this team at Neighborhood. On a evening where the Hong Kong Observatory hoisted the Typhoon Signal 8 for Typhoon Ragasa. On a day where I was suffering from gastroenteritis... when the last thing I needed was putting spice into my digestive system. But I knew Foursheets really wanted to come because she really loves spicy food, and this was obviously one of the hottest tickets in town. So I sucked it up for her.

20 years of Caprice

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I've been privileged to have developed long-term relationships with a number of restaurants which have remained in business due to their delicious cuisines. It seems easy to take for granted that the restaurants we love will always be around, without realizing that - especially in a city like Hong Kong with its excruciatingly high cost of rent, among other things - it's quite something for them to achieve any sort of longevity. It is therefore really something that Caprice in the Four Seasons Hong Kong is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

I don't know exactly when I first visited Caprice, as it probably happened in 2006 - before I started being regular with recording restaurant visits in this here diary. I do remember that I became a fan very quickly, especially of Chef Thierry Vincent and maître d'hotel Jeremy Evrard. My friendships with them would carry on to their future posts and last until today, well beyond their long tenures at the restaurant.

I was ecstatic when news broke in 2017 that Hairy Legs would relocate to Hong Kong and takeover as the third chef of Caprice. I had been a fan since I first visited Tasting Room by Galliot in early 2014, and eventually got to meet him in a social setting thanks to Mrs. Hairy Legs. He was on a clear upward trajectory - having taken the restaurant from earning its first Michelin star in the first year of operation (and one of only seven restaurants with stars in Macau at the time), to being promoted to two stars in its third year. Meanwhile at Caprice, after its fourth year of being demoted to two stars, I could see why management was looking for someone to take over the kitchen... and Hairy Legs seemed like a good choice to me.

He accomplished the mission he was hired for - getting Caprice promoted back to three stars in his second year running the kitchen. I remember watching the awards ceremony live on my phone while waiting for the ferry to Macau so I could attend the gala dinner, and screen-capping a few moments - including when he pumped his fists in the air on stage and receiving the plaque. I was so happy for him.

I am grateful he considers me a friend, and I've never not had a great meal since he took over at Caprice. I am therefore so, so happy to come back to the restaurant during the period when they celebrated its 20th anniversary. I was especially happy that my old friend Vincent Thierry was invited to return to the kitchen for the festivities, so that's why I'm here tonight.

The Candidate had previously considered dropping out from tonight's dinner, but later realized it's such a hot ticket that there were hundreds of people on the waiting list. I'm happy she decided to join us.

For the occasion, Valrhona created a traditional junk out of chocolate. I hope the staff get to eat it when the celebrations are over.

9 courses in 90 minutes

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For a variety of reasons I have neglected Goldfinger this year, and that's not a nice way to treat a friend. Thankfully B Bestie extended an invitation to a dinner at Andō for their collaboration with the team from August in Jakarta, giving me the opportunity to at least show my face...

As friends sharing my table were late, I had some time to chat with Chef Hans Christian and partner Budi Cahyadi. I admitted that, amazingly, I have never made it to Jakarta... as I followed the advice of Indonesian friends to go elsewhere. I've transited through the capital city's airport on my way to more remote parts of the country, but not made my way through the infamous city traffic...

A few days ago, I discovered to my horror that I had a board meeting to attend tonight. I suggested to B Bestie that I would just pass up dinner as I would have to leave the restaurant early, but he promised that the kitchen could speed things up for me, and there was plenty of time as long as I started at the appointed time of 6:30 p.m. Well... some people were pretty late in getting to the restaurant, and by 7 p.m. I decided I needed to start without them.

This "welcome drink" was apparently a "cold brew tea" based on lemongrass and ginger along with some grapefruit juice. Unfortunately I didn't like it... as it tasted medicinal.

Then came four snacks:

No meat

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It's been some time since my friendly neighborhood prime broker took me out to lunch, and I was pleasantly surprised when they booked us a table at Arcane. I had only visited the restaurant once for lunch, and that was many years ago. For some reason the place just isn't on my radar screen, even though once in a while I'll rememeber that it exists and make a mental note to find time to visit. Well, here's my chance!

I decided to forgo ordering à la carte and stuck to the three-course lunch set. I sometimes do this when others are paying, and try to see if I would consider the set as offering good value. Since I had returned from a week-long eating fest in Seoul with lots of beef and pork, today I chose dishes without any meat in them.

Salad of pickled plum, radicchio and chayote with burrata, sherry vinegar dressing - there's plenty of acidity in them pickled plums, which was somewhat tempered by the burrata's creaminess.

Chefs with Hair, 2025 edition

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Just five days after seeing Handsome Chef in Seoul, I was invited to join a collaboration with him and Juve Fan at Estro. These two guys have cooked together quite a few times now, and I did have the good fortune of joining them at their event in Hong Kong last year. I wondered what the dishes would be like this time...

This would be the first time I dine inside the Music Room, equipped with KEF speakers, McIntosh amps, and other goodies. Graziano asked those of us who arrived on time - which generally does not include Your Highness - to pick out something we wanted to hear. I jokingly requested AC/DC, and for the next hour or so that was what we got...

2019 Ca' del Bosco Franciacorta Vintage Collection Extra Brut, discorged in 2023 - very lively, toasty and yeasty nose with a little bit of flint.

Gimbap, tuna, smoked caviar, finger lime - the presentation here immediately reminded me of the gimbap (김밥) at Jungsik, because it also featured a hard tube of laver, caviar, and fatty tuna. There was the addition of a seaweed-flavored emulsion on the side.

Korea wedding trip day 6: once more into the pig

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It's our last day in Seoul, and we have a couple of stops to hit before flying off. Coffee is usually the first order of the day for Foursheets, and I honestly felt a little lazy this morning. Since there's a branch of A Twosome Place right in the lobby of voco Seoul Myeongdong, I figured we should just get our coffee and breakfast right here.

I got myself some kind of a bacon and cheese bagel, which was OK. I don't expect amazing bagels when I'm in Asia...

...but this coffee... This was REALLY SHIT. Totally bland and tasteless. This was most definitely the blandest coffee I can remember ever having. Together with our experiences over the last few days, it makes us wonder... do Koreans actually know to make coffee? I don't remember the coffees I had in Seoul last year being anywhere nearly as bad, and I know that this is a chain and all... but still!

Korea wedding trip day 5: my kind of Sunday roast

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I knew that on this trip, Foursheets' first return to Seoul since 2017, I would have to take her to Born and Bred. We were lucky enough to have been introduced to Sang on that trip when he was still personally cooking at the old private counter inside Majang-dong, and we've been fans ever since.

Shortly before the pandemic struck, Sang opened his Kingsmen-inspired new multi-story building. I wasn't able to join a group trip in late 2019, but did get to come with The Man in White T-shirt last year. This was the first opportunity for Foursheets to come see it for herself, and I roped in Kutsuyama for our Sunday dinner.

Chef Min had moved to the original counter back inside the market, as the place has been rebranded Born and Bred Original. The place is closed for a private event tonight, but he was very kind to spending some time here tonight to make us feel welcome. Sang had told me last night that the big building still serves up his menu, but the new menu at the "Original" is all Chef Min... and he admitted that Chef Min's menu may be better than his own. I guess we'll need to come back to Seoul for that!

As we were the last people to be seated, we were at the far end of the semi-circular counter. The chef started by presenting the two best cuts of beef to us as he began to cook them over the charcoal grill.

Korea wedding trip day 5: Pyeongyang in Dongdaemun

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After spending the first few nights in our spacious room at Hotel Sunbee Insadong, we decided to check into voco Seoul Myeongdong to be closer to heart of the city. The room was definitely smaller, but now we have a view of Namsan and N Seoul Tower.

After days of traveling everywhere by taxi, we switched to public transport today since there is a bus stop right in front of our hotel entrance. It wasn't long before we got off at the designated stop, with a short walk to our lunch spot.

Pyeongyang Myeonok (평양면옥) is an institution in Seoul, with a history that apparently goes back three generations. The original location is too far south and even the second location in Uijeongbu (의정부) is a little out of the way, so we visited the one in Jangchung-dong (장충동) for the convenience. We didn't get here as early as I wanted to, so we ended up waiting in line for just about 10 minutes.

Korea wedding trip day 4: missed it, again

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We missed the wedding.

Yes, THAT wedding. The one we flew into Korea for. The one we planned this trip around. The whole point of this trip. We missed the ceremony.

We didn't realize traffic would be so bad on Saturday afternoon, and it took us an hour to get from lunch in Gangnam back to our hotel. After quickly changing into something more formal, we called a taxi to take us to the wedding venue. That's when the downpour started, and it really was coming down hard. It took the driver 50 minutes to get to our hotel to pick us up. We got into the car just around the time that the ceremonies began in the rain.

We were more than a half hour late in arriving at King Sejong Memorial Hall (세종대왕기념관), and the ceremony had just finished minutes earlier. The bride and groom were starting to take group photos with the guests, and I guess at least we made it for that! This was pretty much what happened to another wedding in 2001... when I flew across the Pacific Ocean, met up with the bride and groom before the wedding, only to arrive in time for pictures post-ceremony. Oh well.

Korea wedding trip day 4: back in the Garden

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We decided to sleep in this morning. After a few stressful days of working from my hotel room while on vacation, we finally got to relax a little last night... and needed to catch up on a little sleep. So... we arrived at Starfield Coex Mall about an hour later than I had originally planned. And also too late for Foursheets to sit down for a cup of decent coffee, wherever that may be.

The first order of business, though, was for Foursheets to see Starfield Library. More than 90% of people passing through here at any given time are tourists just looking to snap some photos and videos, and that is also true for us. While strolling around the library, we ran into an elderly couple who traveled from Taiwan with their bichon frisé. Pretty amazing that they brought their dog on their travels with them, and we couldn't help but think of how much we miss our asshole Kuma while playing with the doggo...

Korea wedding trip day 3: spicy pork

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It's the night before the wedding, and Mikacina has very kindly invited those of us flying in to dinner. Sancheong Charcoal Garden (산청숯불가든) is a small chain of restaurants specializing in black pork grilled over charcoal, and it's not too far away from our hotel. I looked forward to catching up with friends - and of course the bride-to-be - before tomorrow's festivities.

The first thing one notices is the central pits where the charcoal would be. Every once in a while there would be someone carrying a try of hot charcoal passing by...

Korea wedding trip day 3: a day with jang

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Thanks to a combination of need more sleep and working in my hotel room this morning, we didn't get out for breakfast until fairly late. For someone who doesn't care much for eggs, I was surprised that Foursheets wanted to see what the Korean breakfast sandwiches are all about. Well, there's an Isaac Toast near our hotel, so we grabbed a couple of them and headed back to our room.

Foursheets had the grilled bulgogi (그릴드 불갈비), but couldn't escape eggs in her sandwich.

Korea wedding trip day 2: not quite heaven

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For those of us who don't frequent Korea, Dan Kim first came on my radar screen when Toc Toc was named "One to Watch" by Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. Mikacina's been singing his praises for a few years, so when it came time to look at places to try out on this trip, I decided 7th Door would be one of them, especially when we thought we would be staying in Gangnam. When we later decided to book our hotel on the north side of the river, I knew I needed to budget enough time to get to the restaurant. Well, we ended up being a few minutes late, which wasn't too bad.

We were the last to be seated, at the far end of the U-shaped counter. Before we had time to settle down, though, waitstaff came over and rushed to start service immediately. We were shown a collection of jars to highlight the chef's work on fermentation.

Korea wedding trip day 2: Sung Si-kyung's favorite

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After a late night of working from our hotel room, I woke up to find the city wet from light rain. The first order of business was to recover my lost wallet, so we rode the same Airport Limousine back to Incheon, somehow letting the driver know that instead of getting off at either Terminal 1 or 2, we wanted to follow him all the way to the depot.

Neither Foursheets nor I got enough sleep, so coffee was more essential this morning than usual. Unfortunately this "cold brew" I picked up from the convenience store last night didn't cut it. It was pretty tasteless... just a little better than the water that is used to rinse a cup with some leftover coffee...

After being pointed in the right direction, we arrived at the office and mentioned Jay Essu's name to reference my case. Yes, they did find my wallet, and I took out my ID card from the wallet to show that I was, indeed, its rightful owner. The staff suggested that we ride the free shuttle bus that runs between airport terminals as the best way to leave the depot. We then managed to ride the same bus route back to the city to our hotel.