Avant voyage

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I must admit to being a little surprised when I received an invitation to a "6-hands collaboration" in Shenzhen. Chef Alessio Durante of Opus 388 at the Mandarin Oriental Shenzhen and Chef Jerry Tian of Avant were taking turns hosting dinners at their respective restaurants, and they've invited Chef Paul Marcon - son of Regis and the latest winner of Bocus d'Or - to come all the way from Restaurant Marcon. I've never had the pleasure of visiting Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid, and I thought this would be an opportunity to get a glimpse of what one could expect at the mothership. Similarly, I was also a little curious about Avant.

Everyone else was already in Shenzhen eating their way around town, so only two of us got picked up by the car at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong. The trip across the border was quicker than expected, and we arrived at Avant with plenty of time before our dinner was due to start.

Well... the others did eventually show up, and I got to hear all about the drama from someone's trip to Yunnan with the three chefs...

We started with the sourdough bread from Avant and a tomato and rosemary focaccia from Opus 388.

Mushroom butter - made with a variety of mushrooms the chefs had brought back from their trip to Yunnan.

One last dinner at Metropol

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When my friend announced the impending closure of his family's Metropol Restaurant (名都酒樓) after 35 years, one of the first things that popped into my mind was to organize a dinner for a group of our school alumni. We've had a few gatherings there over the years, since the boss is one of us. I managed to round up about a dozen of us whose classes spanned 32 years, and even invited Kutsuyama along since Sacred Heart and St. Mary's are kind of sister schools.

The boss very kindly arranged a menu for us, and as a classic Cantonese banquet meal, it included shark's fin. I was happy to give my portion up.

Roasted whole suckling pig (鴻運乳豬全體) - it's pretty common for banquet feasts to start with roast suckling pig, so I was pretty happy to see this.

Ro ro e vino

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We took advantage of DaRC being back in town for a few weeks to catch up with him and Ro Ro over dinner, and this time I proposed going somewhere that Foursheets has wanted to try for some time - Carna by Dario Checcini. Foursheets has always liked a good piece of steak, and of course Ro Ro would not have any objections to having lots of ro ro (肉肉)…

The ride up to the restaurant on a high floor at The Mondrian in an observation elevator provided a nice view of Victoria Harbour, and instantly puts one in a good mood.

One is offered a choice of welcome drink at the reception area, and I chose the house cocktail over a glass of Chianti poured from a traditional fiasco. We are not at Dario’s place in Panzano, and I was saving my palate for the wines we had brought ourselves.

I left the ordering to DaRC, as he has been here before – and has visited Dario’s in Italy. Every now and then, it’s nice to not have the responsibility of ordering for the table.

First up was the focaccia and the [squid ink] carta da musica. This was accompanied by some pickled vegetables.

Louise et maman

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I've been dining out a lot this week, with a total of 4 big dinners out, and I have a brutal schedule starting the latter half of next week, so I was kinda looking forward to having a quiet night at home by myself this evening. My digestive system and waistline could definitely use a break. But things don't always go according to plan, and Hairy Legs messaged me today to see whether I would be free for his collaboration with Jan Hartwig.

Well, I would have answer a foodie call like this from very few people, and Hairy Legs happens to be one of them. So the plans of staying home to eat my Nissin Mapo Tofu Cup Noodles went out the window, and I dutifully trekked over to Caprice for another big night out...

I played the part of the solitary gourmet tonight, sitting at a table all by myself. Meanwhile, a bunch of big shot chefs strolled in to the private dining room... so that's where most of the senior staff were tonight.

We started with the presentation of amuses bouches from both chefs, as Jan came to introduce his little bite:

Ah yes… the second ang mo chef to serve me kueh pie tee this week… The pie tee shell was made with poppy seeds and black garlic. The wagyu tartare filling came with slippery balls of sago that had been cooked in 2-year-old soy sauce, which explains why this tasted a little on the salty side. But the little dose of acidity from what may have been finger lime provided a nice balance to that, and there was also crunchy cashews in the mix. The chef also added Japanese leek oil, fresh coriander, wasabi, pickled ginger, and fresh myoga – although I wasn’t sure the last couple of elements were necessary. There certainly seemed to be a lot of elements packed into one bite, and many of those are very Asian flavors…

Casual Friday

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It has been a LONG time since the Specialist and I last dined together, and since we would be at the Penfolds Re-corking Clinic tonight, we figured we should catch up over dinner. We would also crack open a pair of decent wines, naturally.

I could not have been more surprised when she suggested that we go to Yong Fu (甬府), since all of her friends know she doesn't spend money on high-end Chinese food. Fortunately the restaurant has been doing set lunches and set dinners since earlier this year, and this provided me with the perfect opportunity to try out the set dinner for the very first time.

Gemma remembered how much I loved their mahua (麻花) on my first visit earlier this year, so she made sure I got a plate of it before our food arrived. And just like last time, I had difficulty stopping myself from reaching for it again and again...

Pickled cauliflower (泡製菜梗) - this is always a good idea. I love how they jazz up cauliflower with a little vinegar and a mild level of chili.

Health check for wines

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I had long heard about the re-corking events held by Penfolds, where customers bring in older bottles of wine to be checked and re-corked, but I guess I never thought I needed to do something like that. I love drinking old wines and I'm used to seeing old corks, and also used to the mature profile of older wines. Recorking would, in general, involve topping up the bottle with a new vintage - which would damage the purity of the original wine... so I haven't been too eager to do something like that.

This time, though, one of the sessions was for clients of Christies, so the Specialist invited me to the session. She knew, of course, that I do have a small collection of old Grange that may fit the bill. After giving it due consideration, I figured I would see what this was all about.

I haven't stepped foot inside The Upper House for a few years, and certainly have not been to the top floor where the restaurant is located. As soon as the elevator doors opened, there was a full frontal assault by the intense perfume that permeates the room. Not sure who picked the space for this event, but there was no way I could smell anything from a wine glass...

So when I was poured a glass of Penfolds Champagne Cuvée Brut as a welcome drink, I very quickly gave up on trying to enjoy the nose. It was all perfume.

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Penfolds Chief Winemaker Peter Gago presides over these clinics, and he started by explaining how the process works, and the different treatment they give to bottles judged to be in various conditions. They first check the level and see whether it is low enough to warrant re-corking - something Peter described as a "last resort" - as it is preferable not to interfere with the wine.

A Cristal clear evening

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It has been months since that relaxing Friday lunch at Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic, and once again an invitation came from B Bestie - for dinner this time. The vibe would be totally different at night, and with memories of how the room is decorated, I worried whether my camera would get enough light in the romantic setting to deliver good photos.

I need not have worried. The restaurant has these light stands ready to make sure diners can see what they're eating, and for anyone wanting to showcase the dishes on social media to have all the help they need.

Different kind of Night Vibes

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Monsieur Jamin has been talking about doing a massive Champagne night, which he decided to call 夜檳紛 after the laughable campaign Night Vibes Hong Kong (香港夜繽紛) by the Hong Kong government. Our friend had amassed a collection of Champagne which are rare by virtue of their small productions, and being the teetotaler that he is, needed a few more mouths to be able to taste through the collection. I requested Mrs Film Buff's attendance so that Foursheets would have someone to talk to during the long session, and eventually we grew to a group of 13.

Dinner arrangements were made at Tempura Tenon (天ぷら 天穩), a place whose cuisine a few friends had praised for some time. I have been really curious, as Chef Wing's work at his former establishment also got great reviews from friends. There is, of course, a dearth of decent tempura restaurants in Hong Kong, and I have long given up hope of having nice tempura in town. So I was kinda excited about the food at dinner.

Cold chawanmushi (冷やし茶碗蒸し) - the custard was actually made with corn, together with both white and yellow corn on top. Very sweet and refreshing.

The preview

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I had been helping Ms. Hurricane plan her big party, as she needed an "in" with Restaurant Petrus. Well... The Chef Who Tries to Kill Me always whines that I don't love him, that I only love Hairy Legs... blah blah... so I took the opportunity to introduce Ms. Hurricane to him. It is totally reasonable that my friend needed a "taste test" before committing to hosting her big party at the restaurant, so we came for a preview tonight.

I was the first to be seated, and since my lunch wasn't that filling, I had arrived with stomach growling. I mentioned to The Chef Who Tries to Kill Me that "I hesitate to tell you that I'm hungry..." because, well, saying those things in his presence has consequences. I also advised him to keep things reasonable on account of my friend, and he promised to "let us off easy."

I was pleasantly surprised to see Nicolas in the house, as he had just joined the team mere weeks earlier. I felt instantly at ease having a familiar face look after us.

Most of the dishes tonight would come from the current "Summer Dinner" menu, with the addition of a special dish designed to match the wines which would be opened at the upcoming party. I was brimming with excitement and couldn't wait for the food to arrive.

We started with a series of nibbles:

Truffle and beef tartare tart - we've got some acidity with the tartare along with some crunchy shallots. I could taste the umami and flavors of the sea from the tart shell thanks to the presence of kelp.

Don't let them decant your wine

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The Compatriot is making a rare overnight stop in town so he could have dinner with me, and asked for Cantonese food. We could hit one of our regular haunts for that, but I decided to try something different. Having been stuffed with lots of goodies at a lunch organized by a VVIP last year, I have been wanting to return to Flower Drum (鋒膳) on my own. I finally got around to that tonight.

My friend wanted to try more dishes, so we opted for the Omakase menu. Not the more expensive one, because that includes shark's fin that I wouldn't touch. Yesterday I saw the boss put up a post on social media about a special dish, and I was hoping that it would show up on our menu tonight.

We start with antipasto platter (三喜碟), which wasn't actually a platter but three different starters:

South African abalone with Bannou negi (南非鮑魚配萬能蔥) - the chilled abalone was fine, and came with some condiment that seemed to resemble 薑蓉, except in addition to spring onions, ginger, and sesame oil there were also fine bits of Chinese ham. The sauce made with Bannou negi (万能ねぎ) purée, though, was not that great as it left a bitter aftertaste.