Turks in East India

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I'm back at Nine One for the third time in the two months since the restaurant's opening. A friend who is a big fan of Samaira's has rounded up a few fellow winos for a dinner, with the theme being one of my favorite wines. I had initially hesitated to join this gathering, as I was already scheduled for a lunch today, but eventually the allure of drinking beautiful wines paired with delicious food from a friend proved too irresistible. So here I am...

As usual, we asked the chef to decide what to serve us. With 6 of us tonight including our Indian friend, I looked forward to trying dishes I hadn't tasted on my previous visits.

Khakra, chundo - the khakra (ખાખરા) and chundo (छुन्दो) are always the first order of business.

Corn chips and kachumber - not surprisingly, some of our friends visiting for the first time wondered why they were eating tortillas with salsa in a place serving Indian food...

A different type of boozy lunch

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Louise has a new chef in the kitchen with the return of Loïc Portalier, and Julien Royer came up to Hong Kong for a proper introduction. It has been some time since I was last at Louise - and in fact any of Julien's restaurants - so when the invitation came to join a media lunch today, I accepted without any hesitation.

As the shenanigans surrounding Asia's 50 Best Bars are happening in town this week, we also had a number of people from outside Hong Kong at lunch with us. There was a lot of talk around the tables about all the after parties last night, and it's obvious that all the partying has caught up with some of my friends...

I wasn't in a drinking mood as I have a big wine dinner tonight, so I just accepted a glass of Chartogne-Taillet Sainte Anne, which was toasty and mineral on the nose.

We then started with three amuses bouches:

Angel hair with black truffle, kombu seaweed, and caviar - this was... OK lah... No doubt it will make lots of people happy.

Stretched like a drum

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We have a visitor in town wanting to visit a few restaurants, and one of the places on the itinerary is Flower Drum (鋒膳). I had heard about this place a lot from friends for a long time - in fact one of the owners is a friend - but have only managed a casual lunch visit a few years ago. Now that I've been asked to join a table, curiosity got the best of me... and I wanted to see what the hubbub was about.

Our VIP friend had arranged the meal, so we were seated in the private room that connects to the terrace where one can enjoy a cigar or two after a meal. A "short menu" was already set for us, but little did we know what we were in for...

These candied cashews were pretty nice with all the sesame.

But they were nowhere as popular as the potato chips that were really crunchy and tasted of fragrant olive oil.

Woodcocks in the Valley

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Some weeks ago I found that, much to my surprise, Bong Girl actually drinks wine that are not bongwater. Among the wines she posted was a bottle from Domaine de la Mordorée - a winery I had the pleasure of visiting in Tavel. I feel honored that since my visit back in 2011, Fabrice Delorme has followed my gastronomic and vinous adventures via this blog. On the other hand, I kinda feel bad that I haven't tasted many bottles from them since that visit more than a decade ago. So I decided to schedule a meal with Bong Girl in order for me to add a few more tasting notes to my library.

Locanda is a place I have been meaning to revisit for years. I always thinking about going back but somehow, I end up somewhere else. Well, I finally made it back tonight. I got in touch with Gavin, who I haven't seen in a few years, and got ourselves a table. We agreed to share a few plates to start.

It's always good to start with some carta musica. This was really nicely done, and came with some tomato ricotta.

A little more sheltering

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Everyone knows I'm an asshole. I didn't get called the Arrogant Prick for nothing, and I've got a few ongoing feuds with restaurant groups and chefs. Most PRs in the business have the good sense to stay away, so I'm always surprised when I get approached for an invitational meal. I am always nice enough, though, to remind the PRs of my reputation... and ask them to make sure that they really want me at their client's restaurant.

So this was how I came to be at Arbor tonight. I waited about a year before making my first visit here 5 years ago, and returned for an MNSC dinner a few months later. While I had enjoy some of chef Eric Räty's dishes on those 2 visits, I didn't think I really "got" the cuisine. And the restaurant's corkage policy - at least in the old days - kinda put me off from paying them more visits.

I had asked for the shorter, 6-course menu instead of the full 9 courses. As I'm dining out on a few nights this week, it would be best to keep things simple. And the poor PR would, presumably, spend less time suffering in the presence of my company.

We started with the restaurant's signature brioche, with seaweed inside. Served with some mentaiko (明太子) butter just like it was years ago.