The bar in the 'hood

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A friend is back in town for the first time in 5 years and is eating her way through some of the city's best restaurants. While I would love to join her for every meal, I have decided that I would only do one big meal per day these days, and agreed to accompany her to Neighborhood for her first meal.

The Kitchen Nazi has not let people (translation: me) sit at the bar counter for a while now, but as the restaurant was busy on a Thursday night, he decided to put us there as it also enabled him to have more of a conversation and interaction with our friend.

Of course, with the Kitchen Nazi being himself, he arranged everything for our friend and there was never any question of us ordering what we wanted to eat...

Boiled artichoke / liver mousse / truffle - having this for the second time in a row, and that liver mousse packs a real punch when it comes to richness and bitterness. I do like it, though.

Rainy expedition

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Mr. and Mrs. Locust are back in town for the first time in a year, and as we kinda missed each other a year ago, we've only seen each other once since the borders opened. Tonight was their "free night" away from family, and I was asked to pick a place for us to eat out. Having known Mr. Locust for more than 30 years, I pretty much know which types of places are up his alley. And in spite of the distance we'd have to travel, I really thought Sun Hon Kee Restaurant (新漢記) would be something he'd appreciate.

Unfortunately for us, the presence of a few typhoons and tropical depressions around meant it started to rain in the late afternoon, and ended up with a downpour in parts of town. We changed our original plans of taking the train up to Fanling and ended up taking a taxi to dinner, which ended up costing a pretty penny.

Brother Hon was in da haus and Foursheets immediately struck up a conversation with him. While we ordered a few dishes that we felt were "must try", the boss added a few dishes which were off-menu for us.

Pork tendon with shallot oil and soy dipping sauce (白烚豬前腿筋) - I can't imagine bringing someone here without ordering this up, and as always, the strips were very springy and crunchy. This was also VERY strong in terms of their pork flavor. Perfect with the soy-based garlic dipping sauce on the side.

A good day not to die

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Some 6 months after our last relaxing lunch, my friend pinged me again to arrange another date. He proposed two venues, with one being a private club and the other being Restaurant Petrus. I mentioned to my friend that Uwe usually enjoys killing me and that it's been a while since he last got the chance, so naturally my friend was kind enough to make that booking.

I was really hoping to surprise Uwe so for the first time ever, I didn't tell him that I was coming in. Unfortunately, my friend ended up alerting him without specifically mentioning my name, so the cat was out of the bag.

I had been dining out a lot this month, so I asked Uwe for a reprieve from the usual. Much to my surprise - and perhaps on account of my friend - he agreed. There would only be three savory courses today. My friend did tell Uwe that he would like some mushrooms...

Vegetable waffle with vegetable dip - the acidity from the vinegar and the mild mustard flavor were nice.

Champagne cork - oh yes... I remember this from earlier this year. Love the Comté cream inside this gougère.

Hidden in the clouds

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I have long had a policy of not visiting restaurants associated with people I consider assholes, as they most certainly are not deserving of any of my hard-earned money. Over the years I have heard different stories about a certain chef well-known in town for drinking with customers at his sushi counter, so I've never had much interest in getting another taste of his cuisine.

Years after it opened and rebranded itself, I finally sat down in front of the main counter at Sushi Kumogaku (寿し雲隠) - at the invitation of Mr. Chichi, who owns a share in the restaurant. Truth be told, the boss invited The Great One to dinner but needed a "plus one", so that became my job for the evening. I also had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Giona for the first time.

I actually don't know anything about the current taisho (大将) Kin (健), so I had zero expectations. But I figured that the boss is well-aware of my reputation, so the fact that he extended the invitation means he's got sufficient confidence in the guy.

2013 Dom Pérignon - the nose was really nice and toasty with lots of brioche, and the acidity on the palate was nice, too.

As expected, we started with a few otsumami (おつまみ):

Thread-sail filefish with liver sauce (皮剥ぎ 肝和え) - I jokingly complained to the boss afterwards that instead of serving us "real" caviar, they used the chaper, plant-based substitute that is summer cypress seeds (とんぶり). In reality, I really enjoyed this first course, as the flavors of the liver sauce was much lighter than I had expected. I suppose the use of perilla flowers (花穂紫蘇) also made it a little more elegant.

Oysters and goose

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The King is passing through Hong Kong on his way to sightseeing in China, and asked to meet up over dinner before boarding his high speed train tomorrow morning. I tried to book a few high-end Cantonese restaurants located in 5-star hotels on the Kowloon side, only to find that the first three I checked were all fully-booked for the evening, even more than a week out! After some discussion with our visitors, I decided to take them to our new favorite Chiuchow place Noble Imperial (尚御潮滷居). This seems fitting since I last saw the King at Sheung Hing Chiu Chow Restaurant (尚興潮州飯店) just days before its closing.

This would now be our fourth visit in the last 3 months or so, and Foursheets is now on familiar terms with boss lady so that dishes are being pre-ordered via messaging...

Marinated goose webs (滷水鵝掌) - very nice flavors of master stock (滷水).