Hong Kong - Saint-Germain

Happy Valley welcomes yet another new kid on the block.  This time, a casual French bistro that took over from a pub that used to sit a stone's throw from the electric tram depot.  For Happy Valley residents, this adds to the ever increasing and changing repertoire of the food scene in the village, so it's a thumbs up!

I've been there twice since opening, and while I'm not a fan yet, I like the fact that it's in the hood, and provides easy access to a cuisine that's not done anywhere else in the village yet.  The food is decent enough and it's quite a nice place to hang out over casual food and wine (although the last time I was there they hadn't gotten their liquor licence as yet, but you can BYO).  The menu is smallish, although not untypical of bistro menus, so unless you're a creature of habit, you can't go too often.

Summer Truffle Risotto with Beef Jus

This is a pretty yummy way to start a meal here.  If you like the aroma of truffles and the robustness of the essence of beef, you will like this.  There is nothing else except rice and shavings but you feel like there's a lot more ingredients present because the goodness of what's named has been reduced to and infused into a mound of rice with bite.  On my first visit, the rice was a tad uncooked (and I like bite) but no problems on the second.

Home-made Foie Gras Terrine

This was good too.  Great creamy texture and enough livery goodness.  The richness of the generous slab is balanced with a variety of condiments - balsamic vinegar, sea salt and fresh ground pepper, apricot compote, and a little Arugula.  Coupled with country bread, another easy winner.

Crab Salad

Less of a Wow! but great for the summer is the crab salad with wedges of citrus - orange and pink grapefruit.

Grilled Seabass with Risotto

Taste wise, this was good, but a big letdown was the fact that the Seabass was overcooked.  Hate that especially since this was not the Chilean variety, making the cottony flesh a tad rough on the palate.  The deep fried risotto balls were fun to eat and quite yummy when rolled around in the foam.

Grilled chicken breast with Cannelloni

Not a fan of breast meat, but this was pretty decent.  But I liked the Cannelloni stuffed with Ricotta a lot more.  The skin of the Cannelloni was crispy and balanced the creamy Ricotta within.  The sauce was tasty and so overall, a satisfying dish.  But again, I ain't no breast fan so this wouldn't be a first choice for me here.

Finally, a French place isn't a French place if their desserts cannot pass muster.

Chocolate Cake

Chocolate cake was actually pretty good.  Well moist, and not too sweet, given freshness from the real vanilla bean ice cream.

Apple Tart

But the dessert winner is the apple tart.  Very French, very good.  It sat in the oven 10 seconds too long but there are those of us who like it on the cusp of a burn (a deep golden brown).  Very crisp, full of apple goodness, and just yummy.

In all, a nice welcome change to the food scene in Happy Valley.  Hopefully they keep improving on the good work, and that they manage to change the apparently not-so-ideal feng shui in that location, considering the many shop owners who have changed hands over the years.  On my next visit, I look forward to trying their beef dishes and duck fat fries.  Yeah..

G/F, 1A Wong Nai Chung Rd
Happy Valley
Tel: +852 2836-6131

Hong Kong - Rakuen 樂宴

At the risk of incurring the wrath of @e_ting, I am sharing a little gem of a find in Causeway Bay, for those who enjoy an Izakaya style evening, with a comprehensive stock of Sake and other Japanese alcoholic fixes, and decent Okinawan food.

As I said, there is a lot of Sake to choose from...

...In bottles

...In Urns

Then, there are staple snacks from the lovely island of Okinawa.

Peanut Tofu

Unlike the usual tofu texture, this has a chewy bite to it.  This allows the peanutty-ness to come through and is rather quite fragrant.  The spring onions and grated ginger in soy allows a little reprieve from the richness of the peanuts although really quite unnecessary.  Keeps it interesting though.  Nice way to start any Okinawan meal, especially since it is served chilled.

Beef Croquette

This was my fave of the evening.  So I'm a sucker for anything deep fried in fluffy panko (bread crumbs)  but this was really quite good.  The juicy mixed beef contents just made it that much better.

Bittergourd Tempura

This is a winner for anyone selling the concept of downing alcohol at its establishment.  You'd need quite a few drinks to finish this since the salt content here is very high.  But it is an interesting way to serve bittergourd (another Okinawan favorite vegetable) and it is battered and fried to a dry crisp, with negligible traces of oil on the paper it's served on.

Akin to Snapper!

Don't usually order sashimi at drinking places but this one came highly recommended, and was really quite good.  Naturally sweet although it was quite a big fish for just 2 people.

"Snapper" Soup

Of course, the second course of serving up a soup made from the bones and fins of the soup was a nice way to finish the meal.

Cool place to relax the evening away if what you want are high quality snacks with your Sake.  No wonder @e_ting wants to try and keep this a secret.

12/F, 28 Tung Lung Street
Causeway Bay
Tel: +852-3580 8858

Hong Kong - Tai Wing Wah Village Cuisine 大榮華圍村菜

Once in a while, we crave the old.  Most of us are suckers for nostalgia.  Or perhaps I shouldn't generalize.  I am a sucker for nostalgia.  While I can't be stuck in time, I like traveling backwards, once in a while, to a time that once was.. when life was simpler, unfussy, innocent, and you get the point.

豬油撈飯 Rice drizzled with lard

It wasn't so long ago that many of our families were still living close to or below the poverty line.  During that time, meat was not an everyday occurrence at the dinner table, and often times, people resorted to using pork lard as a fragrant drizzle over a steaming bowl of rice, made savory with soy.  A simple indulgence which kept us warm through cold winters.  Tai Wing Wah brings this bowl of simple goodness back with decent quality liquid lard and soy.  They also use a good grain, keeping each separate and distinct, but not hard.  The combination was sinfully good.

To be honest, the rest of the grub isn't going to blow you away.  But hey, it is good ole fashioned stuff that is going to bring back vivid memories of the way we were.

脆鱔 Crispy Eel

Yup, crispy. Couldn't necessarily tell it was eel, except that it's a little crunchier than most fishies.  Good with a cold beer.

南乳蓮藕扣肉 Fermented Tofu braised with lotus root and belly pork

Of course, you could have bowls and bowls of rice with this one!  Sucker for fermented tofu.  For those unfamiliar with this, do NOT confuse this with stinky tofu.  This one has a sweet alcoholic fragrance to it.

蓮藕片 Stir Fried Lotus Roots

A nice way to have lotus root.  Crunchy, juicy and tasty from a good sauce which lightly stains it.

黃金蝦 Dry Fried Shrimps Stained with Salted Egg Yolk

This one is always sinful but good.  It's easy to forget the piles of cholesterol you can pick up with this one when the fragrance of a sea shrimp intermingled with a salty eggy-ness is delivered via a crispy texture.

馬拉糕 Steamed Malay Cake

This is one of the more famous versions in Hong Kong.  And it is good.  Fluffy, not too sweet and of course, the aroma of the lard that went into kneading the flour with...

奶黃水晶包 Steamed Crystal Dumplings with Custard

This was interesting but ordinary.  Custard was ok in taste although a tad clumpy.  I take the Malay cake over this one any time.

If you miss the good old days, this is a quick fix.  Just make sure you have enough people with you to reminisce.

2/F Chevalier Centre
8 Wan Hoi Road
Kowloon Bay
Tel: +852-2148 7773

Singapore - Caffe B

I finally stepped into the behemoth structure known now as Marina Bay Sands.  Not without being first unimpressed by parking facilities though.  The fact that there is insufficient parking underground in a facility of this size is just bewildering.  And it didn't even seem like a night where much was going on, except the much touted show, The Lion King.  And the fact that you have to pay double ERP charges over a 100 meter stretch to double back to parking beyond the worker dormitories just made the driving experience there frustrating to say the least.  Good thing I wasn't at the wheel..

The inside of the mall is massive, and thanks to the young man at concierge who could not discern left from right, we ended up taking a tour of the mall, or was that on purpose??

Caffe B's restaurant entrance is in the basement, a little odd but I guess that's to make room for their bar at promenade level which overlooks the water out to where the Fullerton Hotel is, which I have to admit is rather pretty.  Service was very professional and efficient with our waiter refilling our water glasses ever so often, and the serving staff dropping a "bon appetit" when each course is served.  Professional but stoic and impassioned - they seem to be low in energy, and overworked...

The food was decent and competent but really nothing to write home about.  The Japanese chef ensured there were spots of the crossover coming through but overall, it wasn't spectacular.

Bread for the table

Fluffy bread although toasting it made it crumbly and not the chewy kind I like.  But decent and went well with the quality olive oil and balsamic.

To start, we had the Caffe B Antipasto Selection to save us the trouble of choosing an appetiser.  And we thought it would be a good representation of what they have to offer since it was our first time.

Wagyu Beef Carpaccio

Starting with the carpaccio, this was actually a pretty good slice of beef.  Although thin, it was very beefy and melts in the mouth.  The use of an onion aioli was an interesting deviation from the norm and for those who like onions, they will like this, but I thought it might have stolen a bit of thunder from the beef itself.

Millefeuille Eggplant

This was deceptively blah looking but turned out to be quite tasty.  A stack of thinly sliced eggplant infused with what we thought was bits of eel or fish of some sort was good.  Topped off with a little raw fish in soy marinade, the bite-sized portion was a burst of different flavours and textures.

Iberico Ham

Interestingly, for an Italian place, the Chef decides to use Spanish Iberico.  Though a tad salty, each piece went well with the 3 different fruit of melon, kiwi and grape in each roll-up.  And balanced off with a good piece of Parmiggiano Reggiano.

Stuffed Tomatoes

This was a bit blah for me.  One was stuffed with a Ratatouille - not my favouritest way to do vegetables.  The other was a crab meat mayo - tasty enough.

Spaghetti with Iberico Ham in Tomato Herb Sauce

Going into the main event, the spaghetti was very well done - good quality pasta with bite and stained appropriately with a pretty robust tomato based sauce.  The use of Rosemary was a little overpowering but acceptably so since the Iberico was man-enough to match it.

Fish of the Day in Clams and Mussels Broth 

Catch of the day was Garouper.  Interesting since it's more associated with Chinese style steamed fish dishes, but it went pretty well since I do like Garouper anyway.  The sweet, cottony flesh was fairly good in taking up the broth made with our shellfish friends.  White wine and butter made the broth a little more rounded but not greasy.  Would have drunk a few more spoonfuls if it wasn't a tad salty.  The shellfish was fresh but not ultra so since they didn't come off the shells so easily and were overcooked.  But one can overlook it since the main event was the fish, and there was a lot of it even between 2.

Gelato

To end, 3 ginormous scoops of ice cream.  Each scoop was the equivalent of about one and a half normal scoops, so even between 2 people it was a bit much, after a 3 course meal.  The vanilla and sesame were ok but I really digged the green tea one since the Matcha came through very well, with a hint of what I think is honey.  Sign of the Japanese chef's roots coming through.

The overall experience at Caffe B was enjoyable enough although it won't be one of the places people rave about.  Perhaps a pit stop for ladies who shop and do lunch.

The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
2 Bayfront Avenue
B1-15 or 01-83
Tel: +65-68873311

Hong Kong - Sun Tung Lok Chinese Cuisine 新同樂魚翅酒家

Finally hit the highly touted newest 3-star Michelin Chinese restaurant in the latest version of the Hong Kong/Macau guide.  Oddly located in a mass-market mall in TST, decor was comfy, and reminiscent of a brighter T'ang Court.  Comfy chairs and tables that aren't too close to each other like in most Chinese restaurants.  Service was efficient and professional even if impersonal.  And the food?

生磨杏仁露 Fresh-ground Almond Broth

It's not often I start a review with dessert.  But this was actually the star of the show.  Possibly the best bowl of almond broth I've ever had in my entire life, and believe me I've had quite a few since it's my default dessert of choice.  The quality of the almonds used was undeniably high.  And just like all good Chinese restaurants, dessert was prepared table-side.  And as the broth heats up, the aroma of the almonds fills the room.  The broth itself was extremely smooth, and with none of that chalky taste of lesser versions.  Pleasantly sweet but not cloying, it made for a nice finish to an unspectacular lunch.

梅菜扣肉包 or Stewed Belly Pork with Preserved Vegetables

This is a classic dim sum special.  I do love 梅菜扣肉 or belly pork stewed with preserved vegetables Hakka style.  So I never pass up on an opportunity to eat it, not even if it's just one serving slipped into a steamed bun.  Taste was pretty authentic, although I would have been happier with a smoother piece of pork.  This was a tad dry, and the separation of the fat from the meat too distinct.

鵝肝芋角 Yam Pastry with Goose liver

As far as dim sum went, this was by far their best performance of the meal.  A smooth yam paste with a piece of liver enveloped in a fluffy pastry and deep fried without a trace of oil.  So important especially since it could have gone really wrong and turned out a be a whole grease bag.  Deserving of applause here.

鮑魚批 Abalone Pies

Decent but nothing to write home about.  Bits of abalone visible on the inside but without much abalone taste.  Pastry was mediocre so overall, it made for a forgettable course.

鮑汁鵝掌意粉 Linguini with Goose Web in Abalone Sauce

This was by far the biggest disappointment.  The goose webs were tasty enough but for some reason the noodles were as tasteless as tasteless can be.  I think their choice of a linguini was flawed since it could not pick up the supposedly abalone-based sauce.  So I ate the goose web and left the noodles.  And split by 4 people, I was surprised we barely got one goose web each...

黃橋燒餅 Northern Style Yellow Bridge Meat Pasties

These pastries weren't bad but by no means the best.  Even Victoria City's version was comparable if not better.

My conclusion: Sun Tung Lok is probably just not a yum cha place.  Perhaps I gotta do the un-PC thing and just have their sharks' fin and suckling pig dishes.  Maybe I might agree with the 3-star rating then.  Otherwise, it's just a very comfy place to have above average Cantonese food.

Shop 4D, Miramar Shopping Centre
132 Nathan Road
Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852-2152 1417

Hong Kong - Sing Kee Seafood Restaurant 勝記海鮮酒家

For city folks, it's not often that you get a chance to get out to the New Territories to enjoy a touch of nature and eat by the water.  Saikung isn't far from the madding crowds since it's become such a popular weekend destination for local families, especially those with dogs.  I swear there are more canines than humans walking on the Saikung promenade.

Of course, Saikung also promises some of the best hiking trails in the territory, and of varying levels of difficulty so there's something for everyone.  You can also take the boat to Kau Sai Chau for a game of golf on the 2 scenic courses a mere 10 minutes away on the water, if you can secure a booking, that is.

Late risers that we are, and it being Easter Monday, gorgeous sunshine beating down with a subtle breeze, it was a brilliant top-down drive day and perfect for a late and lazy seafood lunch and stroll (perhaps dodge since the crowds were out in full force).

View from sitting outside of Sing Kee

All these years, I've only tried the crowded restaurants along the promenade and was no longer impressed after the first experience more than 10 years ago.  This time, we decided on the far end of the promenade, supposedly where Sai Kung's promenade should have started decades ago.  Sing Kee looks out onto boats docked in what looks like a makeshift marina, but it is all rustic and set the backdrop for a lovely al fresco experience.

白灼蝦 or quick blanched Prawns

This is almost the quintessential starter to any seafood meal in Hong Kong.  It may look boring (and it is if executed poorly or if prawns are not as fresh as they should be) but Sing Kee's version was actually very good.  The meat of the prawns left the shells with one flick (sign of ultra freshness) and the quick blanch did not age the meat, retaining a fresh, natural sea-sweetness that was very enjoyable.  So good that it was easy to forget the usual soy dip that accompanies the dish.

豉椒聖子 or Steamed Bamboo Clams with Black Bean Sauce

Again, the clam was very fresh and cooked to the perfect point that is crunchy without being chewy.  The sauce was very tasty although the consistency was a touch heavy.

椒鹽鮮鮑 or Salt/Pepper Baked Abalones

This was the favorite of the afternoon.  A huge dilemma whether to stuff ourselves with more than 2 each.  Any fears that the abalone would be tough was quickly put to rest.  Our teeth sank into a crunchy, sweet sucker from Dalian, China, that had layered on textures of tasty crispiness from the deep fried bread crumbs laced with salt and pepper.  So easy to pop into the mouth, chew and savor.  This alone, would be good reason enough to visit again.

豉油皇炒麵 or Dry fried egg noodles with Premium Soy

To finish, one of my favorite Hong Kong carbo dishes.  This is definitely all about execution.  Sing Kee's version was tasty but paled in comparison to Yuet Wah Hui in Causeway Bay.  It was definitely tasty, with hints of the smoky wok it was in, but a tad greasy.  Perfection should leave the base of the serving plate dry, and only slightly stained from the dark soy.  Still enjoyable though, just had to leave the base layer untouched.

Original Flava with Mochis and Cookie Crumbs

And in the spirit of the froyo movement, we went to Mr. Froyo to pick up dessert.  Original flavour with toppings of mochi balls coated in sawdust, and cookie crumbs.  Not bad, but not as good as Yogo.  Still made for a sweet ending to a relaxing afternoon.  Perhaps next time, we might think about doing the hiking thing first before stuffing our faces...

Sing Kee
G/F, 33-39 
Sai Kung Tai Street
Sai Kung
Tel: +852-2791 9887


Mr. Froyo
Shop 65, Sai Kung Villa
Fuk Man Road
Sai Kung
Tel: +852-2388 7848

Hong Kong - Kenjo 見城日本料理

Teacup with Kenjo san's caricature

It's an old name on the Sushi scene in Hong Kong.  And it still commands a crowd.  Despite the recent backlash on Japanese restaurants from the earthquake and resulting radiation disaster in Japan, the Kenjo name doesn't seem to have suffered.  And the jolly ole Sushi chef is still a friendly personality to have moulding your rice into perfect mounds in front of you.  Unfortunately, he didn't do all of our courses, and our overly serious chef wasn't up to Kenjo san's standard.  Still decent nevertheless.

Sashimi was decent and fresh but not spectacular. Hana Sakazuki wins there.  The Baby Tuna was good though, and very pretty....

Baby Tuna

But when it comes to Sushi, Kenjo is by far the most enjoyable.  It really is the rice...  The consistency of each mound of rice, deftly moulded into the same shape for each and every piece, well balanced in stickiness and acidity, complemented each piece of fish, crustacean or shellfish perfectly.

Here are some memorable pieces:

Mackeral

Seared Tuna Cheek

Sea Urchin

Grilled Sea Eel

Edge of Scallop Muscle

Botan Shrimp

Yellow Tail

Cooked food wasn't too bad also, and it's always nice to have a break between all the raw so you enjoy it that much more.  Some might say it detracts from the palate but I have a short attention span, and really don't think the intermission counts against much except to bring a pleasant change.  And all the gurus say, Change is Good.

Grilled Squid with Roe

This was by far the most spectacularly executed grilled squid I've had in a long while, and carefully done to leave all the creamy roe intact, this was something to savor slowly, especially with a cold Sake.  I can almost still taste the memory..  Sauce was also very good.  Sticky enough to cling but not overly gooey nor sweet, as with some lesser places.  Brilliant piece of work.

When we started the meal, we were asked if we chose Sashimi or Sushi, and unbeknownst to us, the pricing is based on course rather than amount consumed.  So although we chose to have more variety but less pieces, and mix the 2, we were whacked hard without concession.  However, I am told that if you just choose the Sushi, it's a very reasonable price.  And seriously, that's really what Kenjo is famous for, and at that quality, quite a steal to eat for dinner.  Strategy for next visit done.

G/F, 30 Minden Ave
Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852-2369 8307