March 16, 2024

B's detour day 3: Macanese family-style

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One of the main items when I convinced B to make a detour to come visit me was a visit to Macau. While Hong Kong has always been a great destination, I've always felt that fine dining in Macau is a better deal - and it's easy to understand why. So I booked us a car to cross the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge and, thanks to some unscheduled stops, checked in to the Grand Lisboa Palace more than an hour later than expected.

Which is how we arrived at La Famiglia on Taipa around 1½ hours later than the time of our original reservation. I had asked for recommendations for restaurants which are more Macanese and not just serving Portuguese cuisine, and I decided to check out this one.

Pastéis de bacalhau - these were pretty decent. On the dry side but still tasty.

Chamuças de porco - these samosas were also pretty decent.

March 15, 2024

B's detour day 2: three years late

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It's B's second and last night in Macau, so this is when I choose to bring out the big guns for her. At the beginning of the pandemic, we were all foolishly hopeful that it would be over soon, so we discussed getting her to detour to Hong Kong so that I could open up a special bottle of wine for her. Well... Hong Kong's borders remained effectively closed for almost 3 years, and it took until now for my friend to return to Hong Kong.

During this time, I managed to acquire another special bottle of wine that I thought I could share with my friend. The bottles are so special that I would want a competent sommelier to handle them, and given that I want to go to a Cantonese restaurant, there are only 3 in Hong Kong whose sommelier I trust. So... it's back to Forum Restaurant (富臨飯店) we go... the day after they retained their 3 Michelin stars.

I've been told not to order too much food, but I still want to showcase a few classic Cantonese dishes to my friends.

Pan-fried cuttlefish cake (黃金墨魚餅) - the texture was very soft yet very springy. Fantastic dish to start with.

March 14, 2024

B's detour day 1: that spicy kick

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B was very disappointed when I delivered the news last year that Sichuan Moon (川江月) had closed. She had been looking forward to visiting André Chiang's restaurant ever since it opened, but the pandemic got in the way. To make it up to her - in a roundabout way - I decided to take her to Mián (紅棉). This is a restaurant that Foursheets and I like very much, because while it delivers some very good Cantonese dishes, Chef Ronald Shao (邵德龍)'s background in Sichuanese cuisine adds an interesting dimension to the dining experience.

We normally would have asked for a table on the terrace under the pink and white shower tree (節果決明樹) and take our CC Dogcow along, but not tonight. We ended up sitting inside next to a table of ladies celebrating someone's birthday, and this had a negative impact on the service level. Oh well.

Boiled sliced pork ∙ garlic ∙ chili oil (蒜泥白肉) - I had forgotten how spicy the sauce was, and almost choked on my first bite. This was juuuuuust at the edge of my tolerance, which is to say that I wouldn't be able to have more than 2 slices before my tongue gets lit on fire. I do like the julienned celtuce wrapped inside the pork.

B's detour day 1: that roast goose

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Some 15 years after her last visit, my friend B and her husband have decided to do another detour to Hong Kong as they vacation in Asia. I haven't seen them since visiting them in Switzerland on the back of a business trip just 3 months before the pandemic began, so I'm really looking forward to this catch up.

After doing a quick tour of Tai Kwun (大館), it was time to choose a place for lunch. I gave my friend a choice of two of my favorite places, and she picked the one with a Michelin star without knowing.

I was very surprised to see the Boss Lady in the house, as it's the day of the Michelin star revelation, and they were certain to get a star for the 10th year running (they did). After attending the ceremony last year, I think they probably felt a little out of place... This is understandable, as they are a small shop without a big PR team, and it's not like Mr and Mrs Chu are so recognizable to the crowd in attendance. It's only a small group of people like me who could pick them out of a crowd of hundreds - and that's becos I've been a customer for nearly 20 years. That's a shame, because I'd totally hang out with them at the festivities.

Barbecued pork (叉燒) - this was pretty decent, and even though part of our serving was lean, it was still pretty tender.

March 9, 2024

Peachy fishies

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It's time to celebrate mom's birthday with her once again, and this year due to scheduling conflicts, I had to take her out to dinner on a day that is neither her birthday according to the lunar calendar nor the Gregorian calendar - which is unusual for us. Nevertheless I made the trip back home with Foursheets to spend time with the Parental Units, because all of these memories with them are precious to me.

During the last few months, mom hasn't been as excited about going out to fine dining establishments as she had been, and even though she had told us that there is no need to go somewhere nice, I decided to take her out for a sushi dinner. Knowing that she is likely to balk at the prices charged by the top places in town, I chose to book us seats at Sushi Momo (すし桃) in the Sheraton Grand Taipei - a collaboration between the hotel's Japanese ryotei (料亭) Momoyama (桃山) and Sushi Akira (あきら鮨), which holds one Michelin star. It can't command the high prices as it doesn't have the accolades, yet I felt there would be a certain minimum standard in terms of the cuisine given its pedigree.

One of the rituals for these celebrations with the Parental Units would be the opening of birth vintage wines. I'm not inclined to pop open a claret to go with sushi, which meant the only thing I have available is a bottle of very old Sauternes. How well would they pair? I had an inkling that the sweetness in the wine would work well with some of the neta (ネタ), while the acidity would integrate well with the vinegar in the shari (シャリ), but one never knows until one tries...

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