Three white tees in the 'hood

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Having been away for the last 6 years, S is finally back in Hong Kong on a stopover for her work trip. The last time I saw her, she was trying to keep up with Geruhage and his son in a gyoza-eating competition at 4 a.m. in Fukuoka while I quietly slurped down some tonkotsu ramen (豚骨ラーメン)... We missed each other by a few weeks in Japan last year, so I was pretty happy that she finally found an excuse to come back to Hong Kong.

She chose to make Neighborhood her first stop in the city, and stepped into the Kingdom of White Tee a mere two hours or so after landing. RAW Yeah and I both showed up in white T-shirts to match the Kitchen Nazi, and when the boss came to join us for the latter half of our dinner, we had three white tees around our table. S, of course, didn't get the memo...

I had warned S about the Kitchen Nazi and that we'd end up with stuff that we didn't order. Sure enough, the first three dishes that showed up were all items we hadn't ordered.

Deep-fried sillago / yogurt - always happy to have deep-fried sillago (鱚) here, and tonight this came with a yogurt sprinkled with some spices on top... and reminded S and I of Indian raita (रायता).

Stuffed in the East

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Foursheets and I were crossing the harbor on a mission today, so I came up with the idea of lunching at Nine One. I have paid them three visits since their opening, but have never found occasion to do lunch. After seeing some idiot on social media complain about their thali (थाली), I figured I owed it to myself to check it out. It would be the perfect lunch after a fairly heavy dinner last night.

We rocked up unannounced and, of course, the Bombay East Indian Girl was surprised to see us. What I clearly hadn't planned on was the restaurant serving a different lunch menu on the weekends, which made total sense when one thinks about it. Instead of 1-dish meals like thali, sandwiches, and paos (पाव), the restaurant simply offered a tasting menu for lunch. I guess the lightest option we could choose would be the 3-course lunch, then...

Khakra, chundo - the sight of the khakra (ખાખરા) along with chundo (छुन्दो) at the very start of the meal always feel pretty dramatic, thanks to the size of the chips. Chundo is much more up my alley than Foursheets' so I happily lapped it up.

Seventeen going on eighteen

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Ahleeso is busy going through her birthday month at full speed, being wined and dined just about nightly. Since they were kind enough to take time to help me celebrate my birthday earlier this year, it was only right that we return the favor. Foursheets has been telling Ahleeso about her new favorite Chiuchow place, and taking a Chiuchow girl for a birthday meal out at a Chiuchow restaurant just seemed perfect... so we rounded up a couple of more people for a night out at Noble Imperial (尚御潮滷居). This was, actually, my second visit this month.

Our focus last time out was on the lo shui (滷水) dishes marinated in masterstock, but we had heard that the hot dishes coming out of the kitchen were not to be missed. The task of pre-ordering dishes then went to RAW Yeah, and within minutes of us sitting down, the first dishes started to arrive in rapid fire fashion...

There was a bowl of pickled radish, and I liked the citrus notes coming from the orange.

Chilled razor clams Chiuchow-style (潮式凍蟶子) - very nice and refreshing. Just a little touch of kick from the chili.

Bongwater and old school Canto

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Bong Girl and I wanted to get together for dinner along with her friend who was escaping Paris for the summer, and we had originally planned to introduce a few people to a restaurant I used to love. When I discovered that, for some inexplicable reason, the owner of said restaurant chose to block me on social media, I decided to no longer patronize them and introduce more of my friends. I asked Bong Girl to suggest an alternate venue, and as it turns out, Yung Kee Restaurant (鏞記酒家) is just down the street.

I haven't been back to Yung Kee since the last year of the dragon, as I wasn't too impressed on my last visit. And I certainly don't need to go there for roast goose or anything. But tonight I'm going with a regular, so maybe that makes a difference - as it does in many, many restaurants the world over.

The menu had already been set by restaurant management, so we didn't have to do too much in that department. I did, however, ask for a last-minute addition when I was shown a picture of the dish.

Deep-fried bean curd with special sauce (金鑲脆皮嫩豆腐) - the skin on that tofu looks beautifully golden brown, and I don't think I've ever had this here.

Nippon Italian

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Our foursome has been busy traveling over the last few months, so it's taken us more than half a year to meet up after our last gathering. Ms. Hurricane had enjoyed her meal at Citrino da Yoshinaga Jinbo and suggested the rest of us check it out. I'm always happy trying out recommendations on Italian restaurants in town, as there really aren't too many that I would return to, so I showed up with an open mind and managed my expectations after having spoken to someone else about their experience.

We started with a slight hiccup in service. I brought a bottle of white wine that I placed on our table. For some reason no one came to inquire about this bottle and what should be done with it, while the bottles brought by the others had already been dealt with before I arrived. Of course, by the time someone finally realized that we intended to open this bottle - which, thankfully, wasn't an eternity like what happened here - the wine had warmed up a little too much.

These days it's wonderful to find restaurants above a certain price point that doesn't force diners to take a tasting menu. Not only do we get to choose exactly what we want to eat, we are also able to decide on how much food we take in. I was happy to enjoy this freedome tonight, and we decided to share all the dishes.

Marinated yellow tail carpaccio: avocado and wasabi, lemon mustard - this was pretty nice. Each portion (we added an extra portion on top of the three that came standard) consisted of three slices of yellowtail, including from the belly and the back. While we were told about the wasabi with avocado, the more obvious kick came from the yuzukosho (柚子胡椒) on top. Pretty nice, and pretty, too.