A very unhappy birthday dinner

It was supposed to be my "birthday dinner", with just the parental units and me.  Then we added Foodie Wannabe to make it a foursome, which was fine with me as I relished the opportunity to teach him a thing or two and broaden his perspective.  Finally, I got a call as I rode the bus to dinner, informing me of the addition of another person.  My systolic blood pressure probably went above 180 during the split second that the news registered in my brain, and stayed that way for a while.

A few people close to me know that, just like them, I'm picky about who I eat with.  For casual meals I'm not really going to mind, but if it's supposed to be a "gourmet" dining experience, I prefer to eat with foodie friends who know and can talk food.  I don't want to eat with people who can't appreciate what they're eating, as it detracts from my own enjoyment.  Yes, I'm snobbish like that.  I'm willing to shell out big bucks for a good meal, and I want my money's worth.

So imagine how pissed I was upon being told that my birthday dinner, at a restaurant I had never visited but has been wanting to try out, would have the company of someone who has no appreciation of fine cuisine, has practically zero table manners, and who would on any given day rather spend 1/20th of the money to eat at one of Taipei's many night markets.  Why the fuck do I have to spend 3 hours eating with HIM?

I was still livid when I arrived at Justin's Signature - the newest of three outlets operated by Justin Quek.  I had been kinda disappointed by the other two outlets, so I was never eager to try this place out in the past.  Anyway, I sat down at the edge of the long table as I was being anti-social, and tried to calm myself down.

Shame on you, woman!

LONG RANT WARNING

There has been a good amount of public furore during the last few days over a speech made on June 5th by Cherry Tse Ling Kit-ching (謝凌潔貞), the Permanent Secretary for Education for Hong Kong.  The speech was given at the graduation ceremony of a local school, and the fact that it was made just a day after the 22nd anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre obviously hit a nerve.

Looking for the "right" beef

I've got a ton of leftover red wines at home, and decided it was time to use it up in a stew of some sort.  I decided to challenge myself a little by braising some oxtail in red wine, instead of the "usual" bœuf bourguignon.  The real challenge, I soon realized, was in finding the right ingredient.

Ever since Froggie introduced me to the Omnivore's Dilemma, I have been appalled at the industrial machine that raises cattle in the US.  My objection to the US cattle industry extends beyond simply the fact that the cattle are raised in crowded factories, or the heavy use of antibiotics and dietary supplements to lower the risk of disease.  My biggest objection actually lies with the cattle being raised on corn.

Bashing Michelin

Back in December I, along with a few fellow bloggers, journalists and chefs were interviewed for a TV program focused on the Michelin Guide for Hong Kong and Macau.  As some of you are aware, I do have a thing or two to say about this publication, and not all of them flattering. 

Over the last two weekends, Quest For Stars aired on LiTV, which is carried by nowTV here in Hong Kong.  Siren Films, the producer of the show, has now uploaded the two episodes in 6 segments.

Do I need my decoder ring?

While at dinner last night, Amy told me that she used one of my quotes for an article in the Scene Asia blog of the Wall Street Journal.  The subject of the article was cryptic menus and diner's perception of them, and Froggie was also quoted.

How dishes are written on a menu has a large impact on the likelihood of those dishes being ordered by diners.  In addition to telling us which ingredients are used in the dish, it should also give information regarding the method of cooking/preparation.  This helps the diner form an mental image of the dish, which will either appeal to the diner or not.

In general, I don't like cryptic menus where I have difficulty forming an accurate image of the dish in my mind.  It's one thing if I'm at a restaurant whose menu I know well, or if I'm in an adventurous mood and just want the chef to surprise me.  Sometimes I walk into a restaurant and give the chef free rein, like placing yourself in the chef's good hands with omakase in Japanese restaurants.

Most of the time, however, I'm browsing through a menu and trying to see which handful of items jump out from a page among a few dozen.  I need all the help I can get to determine which dishes I'll be most happy spending my money on.  The restaurant won't be doing me any favors by withholding information.  If I order something and it comes out completely different from what I expected, and I happen not to like the dish... well it's gonna affect my desire to come back and spend more money.

The exception for me would be restaurants where they are very creative, and often these would be the guys doing molecular gastronomy.  The chefs at these restaurants are trying to surprise diners with their creativity, by breaking with tradition and playing on texture, cooking method, flavors...etc.  Here I'm happy even not to see a menu at the start of the meal, and just see what playful dishes can come out from the kitchen.  El Bulli, Tapas Molecular Bar, Krug Room and BO Innovation are all places I'd go back to despite cryptic menus, although one can argue that they all serve set meals where diners don't have a choice of dishes.

My other pet peeve is actually menus which are overly descriptive.  Years ago on my one and only visit to Saint Pierre in Singapore, one of the things which turned me off completely was the menu.  When each dish was written with three lines of text, it became difficult at times to figure out which was the principal ingredient...  I don't think it's necessary to know every single little spice the chef used to flavor the broth.  I'm a food lover, not a food geek who's trying to de-construct each dish.  I haven't gone back to the restaurant since that visit more than 6 years ago...

Putting up with poor service and bad attitude

Over the weekend I had a couple of instances where I came face to face with very poor service as well as bad attitude at dining establishments.  It made me wonder why we diners sometimes continue to patronize those same establishments where the staff and/or owners have treated us poorly.

I attended a beautiful wedding on Saturday, held at the Repulse Bay.  The banquet was a buffet lunch at the Verandah.  Everyone knows that this is run by the Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels - the same owner as the Peninsula.  One would expect very high standards for food and service, but I was shocked by how poorly trained the staff were.  They looked like part-timers who were called in for a few hours just for the banquet...

There was a series of mistakes committed by several different waiters.  One was trying to serve us Champagne, announcing "ladies first" while putting down a flute on my right hand side - in front of my other wine glasses - instead of together with my neighbor's glasses.  Another tried to remove a duplicate flute of Champagne from a friend... is it forbidden to have 2 glasses of the same wine? 

Waiters in Hong Kong still do not understand that when a diner puts down his/her silverware in a cross pattern, it signifies that he/she isn't finished with the food on the plate.  I had to practically yell at someone so that he would put my plate back down with the last piece of lamb chop still sitting on it.  Then there was the clueless guy who was so eager to pour tea for a guest that the liquid escaped from under the teapot's lid and flooded the table.

A friend of mine joked that this was the training school for the hotel group... and I really did wonder whether all the clueless newbies come here and get trained before being sent off to the Peninsula...

Last night I grabbed a quick and casual dinner at Lotus Garden (蓮園) in my neighborhood.  The boss here is famous (or infamous?) for her attitude.  She has no patience for just about anybody, and if you don't like her hollerin' and her attitude, you know where the door is.  Last night was no different.  I saw customers who walked through the door, got a dose of her attitude, then turned around and walked out.  I know that the boss' bark is worse than her bite, and I just tune her out most of the time while I'm there.  And the place is always packed. 

Another place famous for poor service/attitude yet never short of customers is Da Domenico.  People either love or hate this place, and the hate definitely stems from the perception of overpaying for nonexistent service.  I had have some first hand experience with this.  So what keeps people coming back? 

Are we masochists?  Do we just love being abused, and go back begging for more?  If the food is good - in the case for Da Domenico - do we ignore the service part of the dining experience and keep going back, thereby condoning or even encouraging the bad service/attitude?  Surely we can find other places where the food is equally good but with better service?

Thanks a lot, Michelin!

I've been blogging and recording my dining experiences over the last four years or so, and only started to be serious about it for the last three.  I've gone from writing about only the very top-end restaurants at the beginning, to these days discussing any dining experience I found worthy of an audience.  But my policy has always been not to write about ordinary meals - your quick bowl of noodles at lunch, a slice of pizza, or the sandwich I had for breakfast.  Most people who read this blog on a regular basis are looking for something else, and besides there are plenty of people who blog about those places regularly.

One rule that I had always stuck to was that no matter how many times I've blogged about dining at the same restaurant with the same menu, each dining experience at a Michelin-starred venue deserves a post.  These meals are going to be memorable, and regardless of how many times I've had the same soup at Fook Lam Moon (福臨門) it is still something worthy of some coverage here.

Now thanks to the wonderful team responsible for the HK/Macau Guide, I have given up on that rule.  With the inclusion of regular noodle shops, quickie dim sum joints and what not, I can't honestly say that each meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant will be a memorable affair.

I went shopping in Times Square on Monday, and needed to fill my empty and groaning tummy.  Ho Hung Kee (何洪記) is a place that's nearby and also happens to be one of my regular stops.  I've been going there for years, ducking in for a quick bowl of wonton noodles or stir-fried flat noodles with beef (干炒牛河).  Very good for what it is, but not meals I would remember.  I decided not to blog about my bowl of wonton noodles and the plate of veggies I had.  Millions of people have had the same thing that I had, and it would be like blogging about the PB and J sandwich that your mom made you for breakfast.

I was in the neighborhood again tonight, and the decision was made to have dinner at Mist.  This branch of Japanese rahmen (the restaurant's way of spelling) fine dining establishment has just earned themselves a little star.  It was meant to be a quick meal before doing some last-minute shopping, and I thought a bowl of noodles would do the trick.

I turned down the offer of a five-course dinner set, since this was meant to be a quick stop for me.  I did start with some cherry-smoked Japanese pork shoulder.  Two slices of pork shoulder - cut just like the pork belly "char siu" in the ramen - were served with a thin slice of melted cheese made with buffalo milk.  The pork was OK, although I found the smoky flavors a little on the heavy side.

For my noodles I took a bowl of spicy miso (カラ味噌).  As I already had pork to start with, I didn't order more char siu but added a very well-made soft-boiled egg with a liquid yolk.  Lots of spring onions in the bowl, and the slightly spicy miso made for an interesting broth.

My friends at the Wall Street Journal had just written a piece on whether Michelin stars bring additional business to local restaurants.  In Mist's case I think that was definitely the case.  I had passed by the restaurant on numerous occasions before, but had never seen it as full as it had been tonight.  The place was half full around 8pm but by 8:30 or so there was only 1 empty seat at the counter.

But this will probably be the last time I blog about this place...and others like it.

Third time, but still no charm

Rubberman released the third edition of its dining guide for Hong Kong and Macau yesterday.  For the third year in a row, foodies around town collectively uttered a series of "WTF..." following the guide's publication.  It looks like these guys still have a long way to go before getting it right, in my not-so-humble opinion.

When the second edition came out last year, I already noted that the pendulum had swung the other way, from not enough "local" places to being a little too "local".  In fact Michelin was going a little too down-market, by awarding stars to places like Din Tai Feng (鼎泰豐) and Tim Ho Wan (添好運).  The resulting world-wide brouhaha about "the cheapest Michelin star" just became a little ridiculous...

Things got worse this year.  Both establishments mentioned above have one additional outlet each with a star, and now places like Ho Hung Kee (何洪記) and even a curry joint called Hin Ho Curry (恆河咖喱屋) received stars.  Now don't get me wrong... I looove Din Tai Feng, as my recent posts would attest.  I'm also a big fan of Ho Hung Kee and its cousins Tasty Congee as my neighborhood restaurants.  But these are casual restaurants where one goes for a quick meal, not what people would associate with Michelin stars.  Frankly, if I were Frédéric from Petrus, Uwe from Mandarin Grill or Chef Law from Fook Lam Moon (福臨門), I'd be a little upset that I got ranked in the same category as these guys...  I feel that the rubberman has "cheapened" the value of a star with this move.

I know that the official definition from rubberman of a one-star restaurant is "a very good restaurant in its category", so if a place is the best damn congee shop in town, then technically it qualifies for a star.  But think about it... do boulangeries like Eric Kayser, crêperies like La Crêperie de Josselin, or hot dog joints like Gray's Papaya have stars?  They are all "very good" in their respective categories, but I don't see no stars for them in the Paris and New York guides...

My other gripe concerns the issue of originals and branches.  Last year I bitched about Morton's in Hong Kong getting a star while its US siblings - where you would think the steaks are fresher and of better quality - did not.  Thankfully Morton's disappeared from the list this year, but now we've got Mist.  While I enjoyed my bowl of ramen (ラーメン) at the branch in Hong Kong, I immediately questioned the rationale behind Hong Kong getting a star while the original in Tokyo's posh Omotesando Hills (表参道ヒルズ) - with the presence of founder Yasuji Morizumi (森住康二) - was not deemed worthy.  Are they saying that the Hong Kong chef does ramen better than his Tokyo counterpart?  As anyone who knows anything about the Japanese obsession with quality will tell you, this is a highly unlikely scenario.

Anyway... enough ranting.  Here's the article from today's South China Morning Post where I offered my opinion on the 2011 guide...  Unfortunately the news desk has chosen to edit out a good portion of Susan's original copy, so I didn't really get my point across in the article.  And I sound arrogant by opining on a restaurant's quality based on a single visit, and snobbish by pooh-poohing noodle shops and curry places.  Oh well...

Full article can be found here.  Requires subscription.

Guide's picks panned as 'random'

Susan Jung
Dec 03, 2010


The Michelin guide scores European restaurants pretty accurately, some outspoken Hong Kong foodies say - but its assessments of Asian restaurants?

Puzzling.

Some places got undeserved stars from the latest Hong Kong and Macau edition, local food lovers grouse. Meanwhile it excluded other fine eateries, not even deeming them worthy of the Bib Gourmand category (good food at good value, with a three-course meal priced at HK$300 or less).

"I've said this, for three years in a row, that I agree with the European and Western choices more, but I continue to disagree with the Asian selection," said Peter Chang, who writes the well-regarded Diary of a Growing Boy blog.

"[One-star] places like Tim Ho Wan, Ho Hung Kee and Din Tai Fung I would never expect to be on Michelin's list - maybe on Bib Gourmand, but I don't think they deserve stars. I think they've gone overboard - the pendulum has swung the other way."

When the city's first Michelin guide appeared, he recalled, food enthusiasts complained traditional Hong Kong restaurants got too little exposure.

"But now they're giving places like Tim Ho Wan and Din Tai Fung stars, and even worse, a noodle and congee shop [Ho Hung Kee] and a curry place [Hin Ho Curry]," Chang said.

He does like one of the restaurants that topped the list - the newly anointed three-star Sun Tung Lok - where he has eaten dim sum.

"If that one little sampling of dim sum was any indication," he said, "it beats Lung King Heen", which has had three stars since the first guide in 2008.

However, Josh Tse, better known as the food blogger Chaxiubao, called Sun Tung Lok "decent, but I don't think it deserves three stars. On a scale of one to 10, I'd give the food seven.

"For just food, it's safe to say many Chinese restaurants are better, like Fook Lam Moon [whose two branches received one star each] and Yung Kee [one star]. And for service and setting, Sun Tung Lok is not three-star, especially when compared with [its peers] Caprice or Lung King Heen."

Tse thinks it's "scandalous" that Spring Moon, a Chinese restaurant, and the French restaurant Gaddi's — both at the Peninsula hotel — have been excluded in each year's guide.

"There are a lot of us who want to know why. There must be some secret that only Michelin and the Peninsula know. It's anyone's guess," he said. "I've given up trying to understand what to make of the list. It's so random."

Reaching adulthood, politically-speaking

I got to vote in an election for the first time today, which I guess makes me a pretty late bloomer.  I remember my freshman year in college, when all my friends around me were excited about being able to vote in their first presidential election - Bush vs. Mondale.  I could only watch the action from the sidelines, as I'm not a US citizen.

When I became a permanent resident in Hong Kong some years back, I registered to be a voter.  Unfortunately, I moved to Singapore a short time after, and never bothered to change my registered address when I returned to Hong Kong 6 months later.  With the rigged political system in place, I soon lost interest in taking part of the political process.

I finally re-established my residency in Taiwan more than a year ago, which means I missed out on voting in the last presidential election that brought Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to power.  So the mayoral election today is actually the first time I'm eligible to vote.

My residency was moved to Sanchung (三重) following my new apartment purchase, which means my voting district is Xinbei Municipality (新北市), not Taipei Municipality.  My choices for mayor were between Eric Chu (朱立倫), the KMT candidate, and Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the DPP candidate.

Honestly it's choosing the lesser of two evils.  I heard Eric Chu at an investor conference a couple of years ago, and haven't had much respect for him ever since.  I am naturally inclined to vote for a KMT candidate - actually more like inclined to vote against any DPP candidate - but I just can't find a lot of reason to support this guy...

It's almost unthinkable for me to vote for a DPP candidate, although Tsai Ing-wen has, in my mind, been one of the more rational politicians from that camp.  That all changed last night, after the assassination attempt on Sean Lien (連勝文).  In a press conference, Tsai paid lip service in wishing Sean a speedy recovery, then shocked many by blaming the incident on the KMT.  She basically said that the incident was evidence of the poor level of  public safety in Xinbei Municipality, and that the incumbent KMT was to blame for their poor governance record.

She basically turned the shocking incident into yet another political campaigning opportunity.  Was there even a shred of compassion / human decency in this person?  I was furious.  I was determined, more than ever, to cast a vote against her.  We don't need people like her running our lives.

Dad picked me up from the airport and we headed straight for the polling station.  Turns out it's just right next to my new apartment complex.  I spent about 20 minutes looking over the candidates for municipal councilors (市議員) as well as ward chiefs (里長) while riding in the car.  There was a lot of BS and empty campaign promises, and I finally decided to cast my councilor's vote for an old geezer whose political views seemed more agreeable.  As for ward chief... both candidates were poorly educated and looked like thugs - and I know most ward chiefs are incredibly corrupt.  I decided not to cast my vote for either of them.

In the end Eric Chu did win the election, and Tsai Ing-wen was defeated.  I was pretty satisfied with this outcome.  The old geezer did not fare so well... Out of 21 candidates in my voting district, he wasn't one of the top 9 to be elected.

Self-righteous Chowhound moderators

For the last few years, I have developed a close connection to the Chowhound boards.  It's a pretty good venue for discussions about food and restaurants, and I've been both a user as well as contributor, wishing to share my experiences with the world at large.  I check the boards almost daily for new topics of discussions.

I've just returned from a fantastic eating trip in Tokyo, and eager to share my experience with my fellow Chowhounds.  Today I have chosen to post a couple of messages on the Japan board, and have provided links to my blogposts.  As my blogposts can be very detailed and long-winded, I did not wish to repost the text in its entirety on Chowhound.  Posting links together with some additional commentary seem like an efficient way to achieve my goal.

The self-righteous moderators have removed my posts, and sent me a message warning me not to post links to my blog, as they see it as promotion and self-promotion.  There are plenty of others who post links to blogposts, and yet they choose to remove my posts while  other posts remain.

Well, there are no ads you can click on my blog.  There are no sponsors.  I don't receive a penny from anyone when people come and read my blog.  The blog is my diary, which I started for my own benefit as I wish to preserve the memory of my great food, wine and travel experiences.  I've chosen to share it with the public because when you come across something good in this world, it needs to be shared.

I've decided to no longer share my experiences with the users of Chowhound, because my contribution is deemed unnecessary by the bozos who moderate the boards, who see something sinister in what I do.  The same moderators have repeatedly removed posts from some of my other friends, for completely different yet equally ludicrous reasons.  One other friend has already stopped contributing some time ago, and now I'm doing the same.

Those moderators can kiss my big, growing ass...

The intolerant and Islamophobic West

I picked up the latest issue of TIME on my flight back from Tokyo yesterday, with "Is American Islamophobic?" as the cover article.  It's an issue that's been on my mind over the last couple of weeks, thanks to the brouhaha that's been generated regarding Park51, the proposed mosque to be built near the 9/11 WTC bombing site.

The French had already created a stir when they first contemplated banning the wearing of burqas for Muslim women, made worse with the passage of the law by the National Assembly in July.  There are a couple of more rounds of approvals needed before it becomes law, but the domestic popularity of the proposed law means that it is likely to pass.

For a country that gave us Lafayette's Déclaration des droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen this is pretty outright shitty.  Of course, at the time they only contemplated right for men and not women, but I thought we'd come a long way since then.  For a country with an estimate Muslim population of 6 percent (actually lower than I expected), it's also pretty surprising that they're willing to alienate that segment of the population...never mind the international uproar it's causing.

Cross the Atlantic to the United States.  I've long been amazed at the ignorance and stupidity of Middle America, and when it comes to Islam it's downright outrageous.  18 percent of Americans surveyed by TIME believe their president is Muslim, thanks to a smear campaign from the Republicans.  A significant percentage of Americans feel that Islam encourages violence against non-believers.

Many Americans feel that Muslims aren't really fully Americans, that they can't be assimilated into America.  This ignorance and intolerance is perpetuated by right-wing leaders such as Newt Gingrich and Christian leaders like Franklin Graham.  Their poisonous words serve to deepen the chasm between Muslims in America and the rest of the population, and the perceived inability to assimilate soon becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  The hypocrisy of the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish organization which has fought prejudice against the Jewish community, is especially appalling.

Whatever happened to religious freedom granted under the First Amendment?!  Of course people should be allowed to build a place of worship two blocks away from the WTC site! Yes, a lot of people lost their lives in the attack on WTC, and the nation was deeply wounded by the act.  But that doesn't justify trampling on fellow citizens' rights to practice their religion.  Families of the victims - or the nation at large - are not justified in their prejudice against people of Islamic faith, just because the attacks were conducted in the name of Islam.  The good ol' crusaders of generations past also committed countless atrocities in the name of Christianity...or did the Christian majority in America simply choose to forget (or worse, were ignorant of) that little detail?

When Barack Obama was elected President, I was elated and thought that America had taken a giant step towards becoming a more tolerant, less prejudiced society.  I expected greater racial harmony.  Evidently I was dreaming, and the 61 percent of Americans surveyed by TIME who oppose the Park51 project show us that the reality is otherwise.

Unaffordable Hong Kong

The South China Morning Post published an article today titled "Small flats, big prices, bigger disappointment".  I found it interesting as I'd been having some discussions on the very issue highlighted here - the ridiculously high cost of home ownership in Hong Kong.

Of course, Hong Kong's always been an expensive place to live, ever since I stepped off the plane 15 years ago and found it to be New York on speed/steroids.  Rental yields have traditionally been low, so it made sense for many to rent instead of buying their own place.  But then again, this is Asia.  Buying property is something that's ingrained into the Asian psyche, and as I've learned over the years, in the long run you just can't go wrong with being long real estate in Asia...

I bought a place in Taipei at the beginning of this year.  Property prices in Taipei, too, have steadily risen over the years, and new developments in the city center are now trading at levels that used to be considered top-end luxury prices.  As a long-term value play, I decided to go just across the river from Taipei city limits and picked a reasonably high unit in a brand new river front high-rise.

Mention Sanchung (三重) and the reaction you're likely to get from people tend to fall on the negative side of things, thanks to the checkered past of some of its residents.  These days, however, Taipei County - or rather the New Taipei City (新北市) - is considered somewhat up-and-coming.  My development is the tallest high rise in the area, situated on the river front in between two bridges connecting me to the downtown area near Ximending (西門町) and Taipei Station (台北車站) just across the river, which are 5 minutes away by car.

So, I'm on a high floor in a brand new building, with an unobstructed river front view, and 5 minutes away from downtown by car.  How much did I pay for my new nest / pied-à-terre?  About HKD 2,700 psf gross, or HKD 3,800 psf saleable.  That's easily 50% less than what I would pay if I had chosen something in the city center instead.

And what would that money buy me in Hong Kong these days?  To compare like-for-like, we should only look at new developments.  The SCMP article lists a number of new projects all over Hong Kong along with their current market prices.  To be fair, the article focuses on the smallest unit within each project - which may skew the psf number slightly upwards - but it still gives us a ballpark figure.

The most upmarket development covered in the article was Island Crest in Sai Ying Pun (西營盤).  Of course developer Kerry Properties tried to make it more upmarket by saying it's in Western Mid-Levels, even though it's only one street up from Queen's Road West...  Anyway, the reported price psf of saleable area is around HKD 20,000 (mid price) for the smallest unit, pricing it just under a cool USD 1 million for an apartment with gross area of 500 sq ft...  When I arrived in Hong Kong 15 years ago, that was the price for a 1,000-sq ft apartment in Hillsborough Court on Old Peak Road on the secondary market after 2 years!

The cheapest development, which generated a lot of attention when it was launched earlier this year, was YOHO Midtown in Yuen Long (元朗).  The mid price for the smallest unit is priced around HKD 9,000 psf saleable, and that's waaaay out in the boonies!  We're talking about somewhere that's 5 minutes by car from Shenzhen Bay, not 5 minutes from downtown!

I never expected Hong Kong prices to be "reasonable" and comparable to Taipei, but guess what?  With what I paid in Taipei, I can't even buy a new place in Yuen Long...which means there's no place in Hong Kong I can afford at that price.  I'd have to cross the border to live in Shenzhen.

I had lunch with the CFO of a Hong Kong property developer 3 years ago, and at that time he was lamenting about how the white-collar workers were being priced out of the housing market.  A couple earning a combined salary of HKD 100,000 a month could barely afford the mortgage on a 1,000-sq ft apartment worth HKD 10 million on the secondary market.  Prices have only gone one way since then... I guess the trend is irreversible until we stop seeing a big gush of money pouring into Hong Kong from mainland China...

The promotion

I got my long-awaited promotion today, although it has nothing to do with work.  I became a father figure of sorts as I celebrated the birth of my godson together with his father Tigger.

I had been waiting for this day for some time now, ever since Tigger asked me to be the godfather to his son.  Among those of us close to him, there have been plenty of jokes regarding the baby's name.  But all kidding aside, I was looking forward to establishing a close bond with this child.  I never wanted to be a parent myself, so taking on the role of godfather would be as close as I'd get to the experiences of parenting.

I got to see my godson about 2 hours after he was born.  All 8.9 pounds of him.  Like many newborns, he was red and wrinkly, as if someone had been squishing his face real hard.  He had a ton of hair, and people were quick to crack jokes about the kid not taking after his balding father.  My first impressions tell me that he looks like his mother, which is not a bad thing...

The guys went off for a late dinner at Tasty Congee & Noodle (正斗粥麵) near the hospital, as we were all pretty hungry by then.  I inhaled a plate of stir-fried rice noodles with prawns and egg (滑蛋蝦仁炒河).  With my stomach full, I lit up the Romeo y Julieta Robusto Tigger passed out and smoked my first cigar in months as I wandered around my 'hood.  On this warm summer evening, as a godfather, the cigar tasted especially sweet.  The cigar itself was very well-made - I burned through about 40% before the ash finally dropped.  I was a happy man.

As Tigger said to me, I will have many adventures with my godson that I can look forward to.  And our journey together started today, even though the boy is sound asleep and doesn't know it yet...

The culturally insensitive American and the new Middle East

I finally got around to watching Sex and the City 2 this past weekend.  I have no issues with admitting that for years, I was an ardent fan of the TV series.  I liked the fashion, although sometimes it got to be a little too much.  I thought it was great that women could get past 30, be single and independent. 

While I found the movie to be very entertaining, this time Samantha really got on my nerves.  For years I'd been a big supporter of this successful career woman who doesn't take no for an answer and flies in the face of convention.  Not this time.

Samantha was the stereotype of the culturally insensitive American.  Loud and brash, they walk around the world expecting everyone else to speak English, mainly because it's the only language that they themselves are able to speak.  They don't bother to study the local customs or language, and feel that they can do as they please anywhere.  While I haven't met many of these people in real life, especially in recent years as I tend not to move in those circles, anecdotal evidence suggests that they do exist.

I may not speak the language of every country I visit, but I take pride in the homework I do on the customs and culture of the people of those nations.  I dress modestly when I visit temples around the world.  I take care to point the soles of my feet away from people in Thailand, and I don't pat children on the head.  I don't extend my left hand to greet others while in Muslim countries, and PDA is the furthest on my mind.

I'm not sure what kind of message the writers were trying to send the audience.  For me, I always knew that while the Middle East has "modernized" over the last few years at a breakneck pace, it doesn't mean that the people have thrown away their culture or morals.  So while Samantha may scream "The new Middle East, my ass!" I would attribute her mistake as a combination of arrogance and naïveté.

One should always be aware of the legal and moral boundaries wherever one goes, and cross them at one's peril.  I have zero sympathy for people who cross the line, plead innocence, then decry the local laws as being "barbaric" and "outdated".  I always thought Michael Fay deserved the caning he got, and that Bill Clinton was wrong to plead for mercy.  Same with drug traffickers who got caught and were hung in Malaysia.

I hope that while the audience got a few good laughs at Samantha's antics, it also served to remind them how not to behave.  It really doesn't pay to act insensitively in foreign countries, as it could only ruin what would otherwise be a pleasant experience.  Next time you're in a country like France, instead of hollering in English, try a couple words of your broken French.  My guess is that you'll find a much warmer reception than you were expecting...

Yet ANOTHER fake from China

News surfaced over the last couple of days about yet another fake/copied product out of China, although this time I'm not sure it was done with the full knowledge and blessing of the officials.  I'm talking about the theme song to the 2010 Shanghai Expo - 2010等你來.

The song was supposedly rolled out to count down the last 30 days before the start of the Expo, and the video featured well-known celebrities such as Jackie Chan, Yao Ming, Andy Lau, Lang Lang and others.  The composer of the song is Miao Sen (繆森).  There was an earlier controversy where some members of the public questioned the similarity of the song to Welcome to Beijing (北京歡迎您), the song used for the 100-day countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  Mou refuted that claim, saying he composed the song back in 2004, way before the Olympics.

Now it has come to light that the song is basically a copy of Sonno Mama No Kimi De Ite (そのままの君でいて), originally released in 1997 by Okamoto Mayo (岡本真夜).  There is enough similarity between the two songs to cause real embarrassment to the authorities, who have stopped using the song and removed it from the official website.

I've attached a video on YouTube, where someone has done a composite to show the similarities.  I invite you to see for yourself.



This is yet another egg on China's face, and will no doubt raise more questions about the authenticity of things coming out of China.  In the age where some Koreans seem to claim as their own everything/everyone from Confucius to Qu Yuan (屈原), the figure behind the origins of the Dragonboat/Tung Ng/Duan Wu Festival (端午節), this is the last thing we need...

Wannabe ==> Reality

Today marked a milestone in my professional career.  Our firm Chater Capital Advisors launched the Chater Asia-Pacific Event-Driven Fund (yes, it's a mouthful...) on April Fool's Day.  No, this is not a joke.

More than 7 months in the making, this has been the combined effort of a small group of people who worked hard together to follow through on their dream to create a business.  They believe that they have the ability to create a product that offers value to clients, and they are fortunate to have the support and guidance of their friends throughout this long journey.

I have joked about being a wannabe hedgie for some time.  Well, I'm not a wannabe anymore.  I AM a hedgie.  This has become reality.

Let's see what the future has in store for us... prodeo quod victum!

Clueless and incompetent

I met up with two friends for dinner on short notice.  Although both of them are good friends whom I've known for years, dinner with the two of them together can be quite an affair.  SOP calls for Korean, and ordering way too much food so that we leave the restaurant totally stuffed.

We went to ChumChumMi, which was supposed to be Korean with a fusion bent.  The menu was extensive, and while there were many traditional-looking dishes, there were also a few which raised an eyebrow or two.  There were also a selection of "Korean Royal Cuisine" but honestly I didn't see anything special about the dishes.

This sorry excuse for a restaurant failed so badly right from the start, and the hole just kept getting deeper.  The whole restaurant was empty - we were the only table.  The staff decided that the three of us only needed 2 menus, so we had to ask for another one for me.

We spent some time choosing the dishes we wanted to order, and called over a waitress.  After listening to us ordering three dishes, she turned to leave us as she assumed that we were done with our ordering.  We informed her that we were not finished, and asked whether she needed to write down the names of the dishes.  No need, apparently.  A manager came over, and he also confirmed that they would be able to remember all the dishes we were going to order.  We pointed to the names of the dishes on the menu while placing our order.  Nothing was written down despite our repeated requests.

Minutes later the manager returned and asked us to confirm a dish that we had ordered.  We informed him that we did not order that particular dish, and proceeded to reconfirm each dish once again.  He went away.

While waiting for our food, I decided to pick up a bread roll and spread some butter on part of it.  I almost spat it out.  The butter was stale and racid - it probably had been sitting out in room temperature for who knows how long.  I asked my friends to stay away from the butter.  I've never had a restaurant serve me stale butter like this.  Ever.

Food started to arrive and things started to calm down, sort of.  The chives mandu in small portion were OK, like Japanese gyoza. Samgeobsal kochoojang was pretty spicy, but I was a little disappointed in the three-layered pork - it was a little too shredded and there was not much fat.  Sea whelk in spicy sour sauce with noodles also came as a small portion, and was pretty decent.

So daechang gui was by far our favorite dish.  The ox intestine on the hotplate was just soooo yummy... I could have had the whole plate myself.  The fried spring onions worked well with the intestine. Mini kimchijuns were disappointing - doughy and flabby when they should be more dry and crispy.

Seafood ddeokbokgi was from the "Korean Royal Cuisine" section.  Now I'm no expert on Korean food, but my travels to Seoul tells me that ddeokbokgi is actually street food most popular on cold winter nights.  Calling street food "royal cuisine" is an oxymoron.  Instead of just rice cakes and simple fish cakes, the restaurant decided to make a "premium" version by using real seafood - like crab, mussels...etc. This was pretty spicy, too, as expected.

Pineapple bulgogi wasn't what I expected at all.  It was nothing more than simple slices of stir-fried beef (perhaps tenderized with pineapple juice) with a few chunks of pineapple on the side. I'm left scratching my head trying to figure out why this dish was created at all...

We were also brought a plate of spicy seafood noodles.  For some reason the restaurant thought we ordered this - yet another confusion thanks to their refusal to write down our orders.  We sent it back, but they decided to give it to us anyway on a complimentary basis.  After all, they had no other customers to give it to.  It was bland and uninteresting.

For dessert we chose the preserved persimmon stuffed with mixed nuts and dried fruits. This was pretty good - stuffed with walnuts, black sesame...etc and garnished with pine nuts and jujube.  The yuzu sauce was nice.

We were stuffed.  On average the food was OK, although there were only at most two dishes which we liked.  But what was up with the service?!  These people - and there were at least four of them - were just totally clueless!  If you don't know the names of the dishes, or can't remember the names beyond three dishes, use your pen and paper to write them down!  How can they not understand something so basic?!

And what's with the manager's uniform jacket?  The name of the restaurant was embroidered on the left sleeve of the guy's pin-stripe jacket, in the same spot where the mainland Chinese people used to show off the brand names of their jackets.  Dude, I don't care about how cool your uniform is...I care about how good your service can be...

Three months after opening, at 8pm on a Wednesday night, in a busy shopping mall in Tsim Sha Tsui, the restaurant served three customers out of a capacity of about 60.  The Japanese ramen shop next door is doing brisk business, so the restaurant is empty not for lack of traffic.  Frankly, there's absolutely no reason for me to go back - not with uninspiring food and clueless staff.  My friends and I give the place another three months...

Fake wills and signatures

The big news in Hong Kong today was the verdict on the lawsuit between the Chinachem Charitable Foundation and Tony Chan the fengshui master.  At stake is a fortune reportedly worth between HKD 10-100 billion.

The case has dragged on for a long time, and Tony lost.  The judge declared that the will presented by Tony - supposedly signed by Nina out of love and unbeknownst to anyone else - was fake and the signature was forged.  He is appealing the verdict, of course.

For those of us who have been in Hong Kong a while, we remember an earlier lawsuit between the late Nina Wang and her father-in-law, over the same fortune (albeit somewhat smaller in size) that her late husband Teddy Wang and left her before he got kidnapped and was never seen again.  The debate was also over a will that was signed without the knowledge of other parties, and expert witnesses on signatures were produced by both sides to dispute the authenticity of the will.  That lawsuit had just ended in 2005, not long before Nina passed away.

A friend of mine remarked that he had hoped for Tony Chan to win.  He saw Nina Wang's fortune as ill-gotten gains that she took away from Teddy's family, and it was only right  that someone would take it from the Kungs (Nina's family).

As for me... I shake my head in disbelief at how much time and money would have been spent over the last 13 years on the two lawsuits - with the aim of grabbing the vast fortune.  I'm not saying that I would have given up on it had I been in the situation.  But just imagine the sums of money paid to the lawyers and the signature experts over the years... and what that money could do in terms of social programs for the city.  One source states that the foundation has donated over HKD 1.1 billion since its establishment in 1988.  What fraction of that sum has been squandered on the two lawsuits?  One estimate put the legal fees of the last lawsuit at HKD 500 million, and this time around the legal fees are estimated to be more than HKD 200 million for both sides.

Now that the foundation has won the lawsuit, will it really use the fortune to benefit society, as Nina's 2002 will stated?  Reportedly the foundation was in talks with Tony Chan to settle the lawsuit and split the vast fortune, before Hong Kong's Secretary of Justice - as one of the "guardians" of the foundation - discovered what was happening and denounced it.  The foundation's 5-member board includes 3 members of the Kung family and two long-term Chinachem employees.  Does anyone seriously think that they will put a significant amount of the funds for charitable use?  If your answer is yes... have I got a bridge to sell you...

Michelin gets it wrong - again

So the town is abuzz yet again over the stars handed out by the cute and chubby Bibendum, as the press release came out yesterday and some of us have been poring over the list ever since.  There are a lot more restaurants on the starred list, but once again I think that these people still got it wrong in terms of the Chinese side of things.

OK, let me start by talking about the improvements - a few things that they got right this year in my opinion:

Caprice - now elevated to the only 3-star French restaurant in town, shoulder-to-shoulder with its Cantonese sibling Lung King Heen.  Caprice has long been my favorite French in town, and I think this is fully justified.  Kudos to Chef Vincent, Jeremy and the team.

Fook Lam Moon (福臨門) - the flagship Wanchai restaurant now has 2 stars.  The food here is excellent, and I shouldn't complain so much about how often my friends want to go there...

Bo Innovation - lost a star and now has 1 left.  I do like Alvin's creativity, but a 2-star restaurant it is not...and no way should it rank ahead of Pierre!

Mandarin Grill + Bar - Uwe deserves to be recognized for his creativity.

Yan Toh Heen (欣圖軒) - historically one of my favorite places to take tourists, with impeccable Cantonese cuisine (some of the best steamed fish) and a unbeatable view of HK's skyline.

But here are a few "WTF" moments:

Farm House (農圃) - I think I've been here enough times to say that they don't deserve a star.

Island Tang (港島廳) - I've generally been a fan of this place, but star-worthy? It's basically another Hutong - decent food in a nice setting that tourists would like.

Morton's of Chicago - HELLLLOOOOO????!!!!  WTF?! A chain steakhouse in HK gets a Michelin star???!!!  Not even the Morton's in NY, LV or elsewhere get stars, so why should the one in HK get a star?  What were these people thinking?!

Din Tai Feng (鼎泰豐), Hung's Delicacies (阿鴻小吃), Tim Ho Wan (添好運) - the Bib Gourmand section of the guide was created just for this type of establishments, where the food is good (for what it's supposed to be) and everything is cheap and good.  I've always loved DTF but never thought it star-worthy.  Susan and I just went to THW last week with a group of friends, and none of us thought it was THAT special.  This is a clear example of the halo effect from the chef having been the dim sum chef at Lung King Heen...

I think I'll save my money for the WOM Guide instead...

The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize...WTF?!

I was busy working on a project at home today, so I didn't have my eyes glued to the TV or the internet.  Imagine my surprise when, later in the evening, a friend told me that US President Barack Obama had won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

My initial reaction was very straight forward - WTF?!

Not that I don't like Obama.  He's a very likeable guy.  Is he a good President?  He's certainly making a lot of effort in many different areas, and I have high hopes for him.  But in all honesty, it's too early to tell.  He's only been in office for less than a year.

My understanding - being a layman - is that Nobel Prizes are awarded based on the achievements of the laureates.  So what, exactly, did the people at Norwegian Nobel Committee think Obama has accomplished since his rise to fame in the last couple of years?  I'm still scratching my head on this.

Out of 120 laureates awarded the Peace Prize - 97 of them individuals - 15 of them have been heads of state, including 4 US Presidents.  Most awards were handed out while these heads of state were in office, and we can easily point to specific achievements for most of the awards - Teddy Roosevelt for negotiating the end of the Russo-Japanese War; Woodrow Wilson for establishing the League of Nations; Anwar al-Sadat and Menachem Begin for the first Middle East peace treaty...

What has Obama done?  Well...he's extended the olive branch to numerous enemies and estranged allies of the US.  He has shown the world that he wants to talk, which is a hell lot better than Dubya's attitude towards the rest of the world.  But there's still nothing concrete that we can point to.

Hong Kong TV interviewed a few local "scholars", and one of them used to phrase "the biggest joke in the world (天大的笑話)".  I can't say I disagree...