HONG KONG FEVER
what a lovely way to burn
I'm dying to cross some off my list. Updated: October 31
hong kong dining
SPOON by Alain Ducasse at
The Intercontinental for French
Go during 6:00-7:00 pm for special
Sunset
Menu,
A la Carte,
Dessert
Vong at the Mandarin Oriental for eclectic ASEAN food
Va Bene in Lan Kwai Fong for Northern Italian
Cafe Pumpernickel in Causeway Bay
Angelini at the Kowloon Shangri-La for seasonal, simple Italian
Petrus at Island Shangri-La for French
Pigeon at Han Lok Yuen, Lamma Island (2982-0608, outside seating is recommended).
Russian at Queen's Cafe on Hysan Avenue in Causeway Bay (2576-2659)
Game at Mr. Rhino restaurant on D'Aguilar Street in Central (2522-2290)
Smoked tea duck at Szechuan Lau restaurant in Causeway Bay (2891-9027)
Snake soup at She Wang Sun snake shop in Wanchai (2891-6639)
Bizou 2-for-1 Mondays, Bohemian Lounge tarot readings
Beggar's Chicken at American Peking Restaurant in Wanchai (order chicken a day in advance)
Seafood in Yuet Wah Hui in Causeway Bay
Egyptian at Habibi in SoHo
Speakeasy at Xi Yan in Wan Chai
The Hong Kong Hospitality Industry Training and
Development Centre, Pokfulam Rd
Where Hong Kong chefs are trained. As with chef schools in most parts of the
world, you can go here for an extremely reasonably priced lunch cooked and
served by the students. I did and was served a five-course meal representing the
major culinary regions of China – exquisitely executed traditional food.They
also run special Chinese cookery classes for the public. Talk to Vicky Lau,
public relations manager, ph: 852-2538 2229 for information.
Wasabisabi in Causeway Bay for Japanese.
A-
I knew Wasabisabi would be an experience from the moment we
stepped onto the backlit catwalk that led to our table. The atmosphere
here is by far the most mesmerizing that I've encountered since being in Hong
Kong. There are multiple seating arrangements that include a bar lounge,
booths, sushi bar, individual tables, communal tables, and floor seating.
The restaurant is divided horizontally by the catwalk and flanked by symmetrical
seating areas on either side. The addition of mirrors
give the illusion of space and
makes the repetitious table settings seem even more endless than they already
are. After being addressed as Ms. Tran and Mr. Li, I knew that we were in
for a very good night.
Everything we ordered came highly recommended by Wasabisabi
and we weren't disappointed. We started with a sun-grilled blowfish
dish that ended up being blowfish jerky with a mayonnaise sauce. I didn't
so much enjoy the first bite, since I had prejudged that the strips would be
fishy. It only took a second bite to change my mind when I realized that
the subtle complexity of the flavor kept morphing itself into something new in
my mouth. We wimped out on the sushi and opted for a California roll
that was the best damn California roll that I've had in a while.
Rather than dousing the confection in mayonnaise, the sushi chef added tamago,
which delivers the same flavor profile minus the messiness. Following our
two appetizers, I ordered the chargrilled cod with miso paste from Japan
while Bryan had the udon noodles in a fish stock with tempura. The
cod was grilled with the skin crisped to a tee and was infused with a strong
savory flavor that accented the natural sweetness of the fish. It almost
had a deep, nutty taste to it. The udon noodles were less than
spectacular, but then again I've never had an appreciation for the art of
noodle-making. The tempura, however, was excellent. The batter was
light, mildly sweet, and completely grease-free.
For dessert we opted for the Earl Grey creme brulee, which
was disappointing--mainly because it was cold. I expected something a bit
more smoky like black tea, but was served the other component of Earl Grey
instead: the bergamot. Our dinner cost HKD 600.
Enoteca in SoHo for tapas and wine bar.
B-
The menu here has an extensive list of tapas (HKD 40-70),
most of which, can be sampled as a part of the tapas platters (HKD 120-150).
My criticism of the restaurant's offerings is that they were economical--meaning
that the artichoke hearts in your salad were the same artichoke hearts you could
order with a side of olives and the same artichoke hearts on your Mediterranean
pizza. The sophisticated bar food offerings were usually either fried,
marinated, or assembled atop crackers or bread. The chili prawns and pear
gorgonzola bruschetta were highlights for the night. Ask for a table on
the patio facing the street so you can people watch.
Taj Mahal in Chunking Mansions for Indian food.
B
Set menus are a good deal if you have enough
people. Four people at HKD 360. Our meal included three types of
naan, two appetizers (chicken chaat and calamari), three curries, four beers, and
some malaitikka (delicious and then some). The curries seemed arbitrary
and they all tasted similar (although I have no basis for comparison with Indian
good).
Olive for Mediterranean food in SoHo.
B
Entrees and appetizers are good on the whole. Desserts are
creative and make good use of yogurt. Entrees range from HKD 100-200
M at the Fringe for Continental cuisine.
B+
The food had a very European feel to it and
was pretty good. The menu is imaginative, but makes extensive use of puff
pastries and deep-frying, which makes me feel that it is generic. Desserts
are good, but assembly-line.
I was thoroughly
impressed my second visit to M, especially since the summer menu didn't
tantalize my taste buds like I thought it would. This time, we ordered two
entrees: Three things done with salt cod ~ chargrilled black cod on creamy
brandade with crunchy baguette; and "bolinhos a bacalhau" with a Macanese curry
sauce, served with a tomato and onion salad ($236) and the veal and
liver in a red wine sauce with potatoes and a mint-pea mash. The cod
combination amounted to a grilled filet, three fish sticks, and mashed -cod
potatoes. The dish was well-executed, but fairly standard for a cod
preparation. The veal, on the other hand, blew my mind. It was
cooked to a medium-rare perfection with the mint and peas adding a
refreshing sweetness to the tang of the sauce. I thought it was going to
be your standard meat and starch dish, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Come to think of it, M's claim to fame is its magic with red meat--the beef
wellington we had last time was also pretty good.
Morrocan food and hookah at
La Kasbah in SoHo.
B
Chicken tangine, pastilla (w/pigeon!), Moroccan mint tea, strawberry or apple
hookah. Entrees range from HKD 100-150
Shanghai Hairy Crabs at Shanghai Lulu in Wan Chai.
I have a coupon if you'd like. The crabs are only in season
October-November. 3-course meal (small crab, cold appetizer, hot entree,
shark fin soup) for HKD 268. Hairy crabs differ in texture--the meat is
similar to a flaky fish and has a slightly sweet taste to it.
Top Deck
dining aboard the Jumbo Floating Restaurant, Aberdeen. B-
Good ambiance and atmosphere. Italian, Indian,
Japanese, and grill items priced between HKD 100-200. The food is average
with nothing standing out. Creative
Fresh Mex at Taco Loco in SoHo
Baja-style Mexican food. Mostly tacos and burritos with a
few fajitas in between. Good place to reminisce about Wahoo's fish tacos.
All entrees under HKD 100.
Pacific Rim at
Felix in Kowloon.
Special early
dinner menu from 6:00-7:00 pm
I quickly lowered my expectations after that
and was even less thrilled when management emailed me their menus for Sunday.
Although every major class of seafood and meat was represented, the preparations
sounded like they would be sauce-heavy, falling prey to glazing often found in
fusion food. Fruit preparations were also abundant on the menu. Although they
used to be a huge draw and novelty when I first started dining out, I soon
learned to become wary of savoury-sweet combinations. They would often leave me
unstatisfied because I would feel like I had just ordered dessert rather than my
main course. Felix was a pleasant surprise.
We were served three types of bread: baguette, sesame bun, and some sort of herb
crisp. All three were fairly good and set the tone for an excellent dinner to
come. We started with lobster/scallop/prawn potstickers that were fairly average
at best.
Lobster, Prawn and Scallop Potstickers
with a Spicy
Korean Sauce 170.00
They tasted like Thai food, which I seldomly associate with high cusine. Not to
be snobby or anything, but when you're paying that much for an appetizer, you
expect it to be damn innovative--not something you could get for $5 off the
street. They were good nonetheless, but not excellent.
We also took the opportunity to order wine [a first for me!]. I have been
officially devirginized. The choices by the glass were limited to two whites and
two reds, both from a winery in New Zealand and another in Austrailia. We
ordered two glasses of the whites and I still prefer my meal with flat water.
But to be fair, Damien said the wines weren't very good. We also concluded that
the flavors in Asian cooking (especially in fusion food) were too jumbled for an
appropriate wine pairing. It's harder to build a flavor profile for wine when
you have food that is both sweet and spicy or sweet and sour or all three at
once. That was my food lesson takeaway for the evening. I can't wait to get
friendly with sommeliers when I get back home.
Our entrees arrived soon thereafter.
Coriander-dusted
Sole Fillet
w5th Caramelised
Onion, Corn and Quinoa with a Smoky Maple BBQ Sauce
220.00
//
Macadamia
Nut
Rack of Lamb
with Fingerling Potatoes, Buttered
Asparagus, Apricot Compote and Braised Cherries
in Vanilla Bean-Port Sauce
340.00.
We spent about half an hour deciding, but we managed to make excellent choices.
Both my sole and Damien's lamb were cooked to perfection. My fish was moist
throughout and the lamb was mostly medium rare (the first rack was perfect, the
second a bit overcooked). My inklings proved to be completely wrong and the
flavors on both items were fairly mild and well-balanced. The cherries managed
to complement the flavor of the lamb without masking its savoury undertones. My
sole was very mild and the bbq sauce was quite thin, allowing the sweetness of
the fish to still shine through. My only complaint is that the dishes were
lacking in presentation. They were served on white plates in tower formations
without any sort of attention to the perimeter of blank space surrounding the
food.
Playing a game of slow elimination, we decided on the poppy seed creme brulee
for dessert. Although it sounded pretty standard, we were pleasantly surprised
when it came out in a tart form, resting on an apple-pear crisp crust. There
were blueberries on the side and a creme fraiche ice cream, which tastes sour
like Vietnamese yogurt. I was only sad that the shell wasn't harder, but I think
that they sacrificed the shell when they removed the creme brulee from its
cooking apparatus to set it upon the dish in its free-form presentation.
Our meal ended pleasantly with a chocolate pretzel and macadamia nut, jasmine
tea truffle. Using my expert VR tasting skills, we ended with the truffle, which
left our palettes cleansed and ready for drink across the street at Aqua.
Overrated, non-recommended restaurants: Good Luck Thai, Tokio Joe's,
the great outdoors
Indoor snowboarding on
a carpeted treadmill
Carpet was never intended for carving.
You might have more luck if you skied.
Jog Bowen path, the trail that stretches 4 km from Stubbs Road on the east to Magazine Gap Road on the west
Hike Dragon's Back . This 6.5-km trek starts behind the Chai Wan MTR station and ends just above Shek O Village.
Duk Ling Chinese Junk Charter
Kayak Sai Kung
A very worthwhile, though expensive trip (HKD 800).
Island views and remoteness apart from hustle and bustle of Hong Kong make for a
good escape. Pictures.
sight-seeing
Wanchai's Hopewell Centre in a glass elevator
Fortune telling sticks and readings at Wong Tai Sin
nightlife
"multi-functional entertainment complexes"--in this case, a 9,000-sq. m. nightlife extravaganza called Lost City in Tsimshatsui. True to its name, you might just lose yourself in the maze of karaoke rooms, dance floors, cafes and zebra-striped sofas. Half film set, half Vegas ballroom, it's a monument to excess that's setting the night on fire.
Punchline Comedy
Club.
Performances for $260 at the Viceroy
The Blue Door. Jazz every Friday and Saturday night in an intimate bar near SoHo. Good acoustics and performers thus far have been pretty good. HKD 80 for the cover plus one drink.
After School (2/F, 17 Yun Ping Rd.; 852/2983-2130), procrastinating stylists and writers gather around old grammar-school desks for citron tea and gin-and-tonics
resources
BC Magazine. Live music, food, theatre, art. bi-monthly calendars of HK happenings
HK Weekend. Highlights for the weekend
Speakeasy Guide. in Mandarin
Fringe Club. Hong Kong's alternative arts venue offers theatrical performances, live music, movie screenings, art exhibitions, and other special programs. A student membership will cost you HKD 100 and allows you to attend most music performances for free and plays at a discount.
HK Vegan Society. This one's for you, Hazel
HK Dining Guide I haven't really personally explored the site, so I can't say if it's reliable or not. I've browsed a bit of it and I find that it has some glaring restaurant omissions, so that makes me think twice. Supposedly, it has a very extensive database, though.
Time Magazine. Good articles on travel in general. Well-researched information on the entire region
97 Reasons to Love Hong Kong. Time Magazine feature. A bit dated, but you'll find useful information if you look hard enough.