Four Seasons in Hangzhou day 3: lunch in the garden

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The night was uneventful, at least in the safety of my room at the Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at Hangzhou Centre. There were a few more cars on the road this morning compared to last night, but the city is pretty much shut down since 6 a.m. I was so, sooo full from last night and was in no condition to have breakfast. However, since the hotel left me a bowl of jasmine and lime water chestnut purée (茉莉花柠香马蹄沙) in the room last night, I decided I should give it a try. I love any water chestnut dessert, and this bowl also had the added fragrance of both lime and jasmine. Very nice.

Lunch today was undoubtedly the highlight of our trip. In fact, it was the reason why I joined this little excursion. I had missed out on visiting Ru Yuan (如院) with DaRC two years ago, and it's been an itch I really wanted to scratch. I'd been waiting to bite into the restaurant's signature fishball since then. Now it was finally my chance.

The restaurant occupies a multi-story structure inside the Hangzhou Botanical Garden (杭州植物园), and is actually a short walk away from the Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at West Lake. One can immerse oneself in the tranquility and serenity of the place.

Birthday in the summer

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It’s no secret that Mr. Chichi is a superfan of Chef Vicky Cheng’s, and he’s been to both VEA and Wing (永) countless time… although I’m pretty sure he actually does keep count. He recently asked me to join his dinner table at Wing, and since I was kinda curious about how much more food Vicky gives him on top of a “standard” menu, I said yes.

We started, as usual, with a seasonal drink to suit the 24 seasons. Currently we are in Summer Solstice (夏至).

Early birthday dinner

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It's been quite some time since Pinky Foursheets was last at Caprice, and I also wanted to have a taste of the seasonal dishes from the Hairy Chevalier, so I got us a table for dinner tonight - just the two of us. We told Hairy Chevalier that it's just a simple dinner, and while we didn't want a very short menu, we also didn't need a big, epic meal. Well...

Floriane very kindly started us off with a glass of Champagne. I don't recall seeing this producer on the list, but I'm always happy to sip on some Henri Giraud...

Henri Giraud Blanc de Craie - a nice blanc de blancs with good acidity, with some ripeness on the palate so that it wasn't completely lean. The nose was very toasty, flinty, mineral, and rather fragrant and almost floral. So nice.

As always, we get the boîte à bijoux with 3 little bites to start:

Three more pasta

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Tonight we are back in Estro after a long absence. I had to cancel our last booking nearly 2 months ago, and I knew I needed to make it up to Juve Fan. It's been much too long since I last came to see him, longer for Foursheets, and even longer for My Favorite Cousin.

I know it's been a long time since My Favorite Cousin was last here, because she was not aware that one can now order à la carte instead of taking a set tasting menu. And as I have preferred to do on the last few occasions, I wanted to focus on the beautiful pasta here. So I asked for three of them. In fact, I was really tempted to take all four that were on offer...

But I knew Juve Fan wanted me to take a starter, so I went with his suggestion. Would that be too much food for me?

We started with some sesame crisps and tarali, both of which were fragrant and full of flavor.

No chicken in the 'hood

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It's been quite a few months since I last caught up with the Specialist, and it's been a couple of years since I last sat down with BFF and the others. I took the opportunity to take them to Neighborhood, as I happened to have booked a table, and it's somewhere they haven't been to in quite a few years.

The Kitchen Nazi is still MIA, which means once again, I get to order what I want to eat. As it is still 休漁期 where there's a moratorium on fishing in the South China Sea, we weren't likely to get any amazing seafood specials for the next 3 months. I guess that's why he's off galloping halfway around the world.

Escargot / ramps - I'm so happy to have this again. Love the classic flavor combinations of escargot with garlic, but in a different form.

The Chairman in pain

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Two days after we first met, I'm sitting down with my new friends from Europe again. They had visited The Chairman (大班樓) a few years ago, but that was before the menu format change and the move to the current digs. I seem to be always taking visitors and other friends to dine here, but the good news for me tonight was that for once, I didn't have to order the signature flower crab!

The bad news for me was that immediately after lunch, I suffered pain in my digestive system that prompted a visit to a clinic... where I was diagnosed with indigestion and prescribed meds to (hopefully) alleviate the symptoms. That meant I wouldn't be at full capacity tonight, and would be nibbling more than devouring.

I know that my guests have big appetites but I chose to stick with the "regular" or "basic" menu, without adding any extra dishes. I figured that since they are eating their way around town with two big meals a day, this should be enough in terms of calorie intake...

Ginger and vinegar pig trotter terrine (甜醋子薑豬手豬耳凍) - since being introduced in 2023, this has quickly become one of my favorite starters here. I made sure to give the download on the origins of this dish to the visitors, as those not familiar with local customs would never make the connection with birthing mothers. I do love the sweet and sour vinegar, and how the jelly reminds me of what the original dish looks like when I first take it out of the fridge. The signature pickled young ginger of the restaurant has been finely diced and used as garnish, alongside really finely chopped kaffir lime leaf for their beautiful fragrance.

The golden roll

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I'm entertaining a couple from Europe who are eating their way through town. I had been trading messages with one of them for a few years but we had never had the opportunity to meet until now. I did take the last-minute opportunity to check if was an axe murderer by following him on social media, and I felt reasonably sure that he is not.

So I showed up for our dinner at Wing (永). Vicky had very kindly let me book a table early to ensure we get the date my new friend had asked for, and I was initially somewhat surprised that no one had asked us which of the restaurant's two menus we preferred. Of course, I knew we would be in good hands with Vicky.

We started with the seasonal welcome drink, which is designed to work for each of the 24 seasons (節氣). As the start of summer (立夏) was just two days ago, we would be enjoying a cup of loquat, preserved apricot, and hawthorn drink (枇杷杏乾山楂飲). One of the benefits was meant to be coordinate between the intestines and the stomach, and I could only hope that it does that job well.

Before the start of our meal, we were shown a collection of special ingredients which would be used for our dinner tonight. The humpback grouper (老鼠斑) was still alive and breathing, although obviously not happy about being out of the water at this moment...

A night of restraint in the 'hood

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This has been some time in the making. I've tried to organize a few team meals since joining my current team, and this time we managed to get everyone at the same table. I didn't notify The Kitchen Nazi ahead of time that I was coming, although he did tell me a few days ago that he would be in Mexico. Well, as I told my team, there are pros and cons of him not being in da haus at Neighborhood... and I would at least be able to order the dishes that I wanted to have!

Smoked mackerel - smoked fish here is always a good idea, especially when mackerel is on the menu. Just look at the beautiful pattern on the fish! Taken with horseradish sauce tonight and not fish liver.

One last feast

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We're back in Taipei again, this time primarily to celebrate - a few days belatedly - mom's birthday. It had been a more casual affair last year, but I was determined to take the Parental Units out for a nice meal this time. Coincidentally, this would also be the last fancy meal they would have before some major changes in their lives, so this meal would be more significant than usual. In retrospect, had I known earlier, I probably should have chosen a nice sushi restaurant for the occasion... but I already had my heart set on opening a bottle of red this year.

And I needed a competent sommelier to handle this delicate bottle - someone who could do a better job than the person who broke the cork from dad's wine last year. I immediately thought of Kevin Lu from logy, who is a Master Sommelier and received the Asia's Best Sommelier Award at Asia's 50 Best Restaurants in 2024 - after receiving the Sommelier Award from Michelin Guide Taiwan the previous year. I asked Little Rabbit to help pass a message about the bottle I was bringing, and booked us a table at the restaurant. Now that they have moved to new digs and done away with counter seating, the four of us would have a much easier time engaging in conversation while dining.

But there was a downside to the new location. The lighting now was much, much dimmer. Not only did it make it tough to take any decent pictures without jacking up the ISO, it also meant mom had a difficult time seeing her food. This was a real bummer.

As was the case on our first visit, there was no menu presented before service started. We didn't know how many courses were coming our way.

Soymilk / lactic acid / pine nut - this amuse bouche was apparently a signature, although it was new to me. We had a cold soymilk custard topped with a layer of tomato water and acid whey leftover from yogurt, garnished with pine nuts. The acidity from the whey helped to whet one's appetite.

Kolkata, Hong Kong

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I was surprised when Gaggan told me that he was doing a pop-up in Hong Kong during the week of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. He hasn't done a pop-up or collab at Asia's 50 Best since Singapore in 2023. I was even more surprised - pleasantly, of course - when he told me that it will be Indo-Chinese. He knows of my fondness for "Chindian" cuisine, so I was really looking forward to tasting what he and the team would come up with. Now, knowing that he was doing this at the Kerry Hotel - the host venue for the awards ceremonies of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants - I naturally dialed down my expectations...

Due to limits on work visas, Mr. Bongwater wasn't doing service tonight. I had originally planned to take him somewhere and open a few nice bottles together, but I would have a tough time passing up the chance for some fun with Gaggan, so Mr. Bongwater ended up sitting with us at dinner tonight. Foursheets and Bong Girl also joined us to make it a foursome.

The event is called Gaggan Tirreti Bazaar, after the Chinatown neighborhood in Gaggan's native Kolkata. I know my friend loves Chinese food, and maybe one of these days I'll have the opportunity to explore the Chinese restaurants in the area with him.

Henriot Brut Souverain - this was rounded on the palate with good acidity balance.

We started with a series of dim sum bites:

K-eighborhood in Jeju

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Lots of so-called KOLs are in town for the festivities around Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, and many restaurants in town are busy hosting 4-, 6-, 8-, and even collabs up to 14-hands. Unlike previous years where these "50 Best Signature Series" events were by invitation only, this year tickets are available for sale for the many meals. I'm pretty sure most of the events sold out quickly, too, once people were given the opportunity to participate in the fun.

I wasn't planning on going to any of the events at lunch time, since they're happening during my work week, but when the Kitchen Nazi pinged me about his collab event, I figured I could maybe take an extended lunch today. And since Mr. Bongwater had requested that I take him to Neighborhood while he's in town this week - something that was impossible due to the late timing of his request - I asked permission to bring him along, too.

I'll freely admit that I had not heard of Chef Kang Byungwook or his restaurant Last Spring (넘은 봄) on Jeju Island. When I first saw the event being advertised on social media, in the back of my mind I noted that the guest chef was "some Korean guy" and that his restaurant is not in Seoul - since the event was referred to as "K-eighborhood in Jeju". Funny thing was that while talking to a few KOLs who were also invited to the event, none of them knew who the guest chef was... In fact, some actually thought the Kitchen Nazi was doing this solo.

As we found out during the meal, Chef Kang actually worked in Hong Kong for a few years - both at my beloved Ta Vie 旅 and L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon. Apparently he also spent a month in the kitchen at Neighborhood, which is how he is connected to our host.

One of the reasons I don't go to many of these events is, well... I'm an asshole. I'm picky about who I sit with, even when the meal is free. In fact, I'm MORE picky about my dining companions when it's by invitation, because I really only want to share space and time with people whose company I enjoy (or at least don't object to). So with the restaurant filled with KOLs and wannabes, it's easy to guess how the meal went.

First up was what looked like the "dry bouillabaisse" that is often served here as the first dish, but the Kitchen Nazi called this "cold Jeju [seafood] stew". Local spiny lobster, razor clams, shrimp... etc. were poached in a crab broth seasoned with gochujang, then chilled before serving.

Not your average lobster roll

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It's Friday night and Foursheets is at home entertaining some friends from out of town. I decided to take the opportunity to have some "me time", and my initial thoughts were to go check out places I haven't been before - especially somewhere more casual. But it IS Friday night, and many of these new joints were seeing good business... which meant no seats for me on short notice.

I messaged the Hairy Chevalier and asked whether I could just sit at Caprice Bar and have two dishes from the kitchen. I also asked if there were new dishes I haven't had a chance to taste - but of course there were... I figured I would end with a dessert from Brownpaperbagged.

I arrived to find, much to my surprise, a mostly-empty bar. Hairy Chevalier had very kindly arranged a table by the window for me, and said he would send me a couple of seasonal dishes. Meanwhile, I had requested the services of Floriane, who had received the Michelin Guide Sommelier Award only yesterday. I asked her to pick out the wines which would pair well with the dishes that the kitchen would be sending my way... whose identities I did not know.

Green asparagus with verbena and citrus cream, spring jelly - we had asparagus gelée with diced asparagus, verbena cream and citrus cream, and of course asparagus spears and slices. So refreshing, so pure. It's just the taste of spring inside one's mouth. As it turns out, I was the guinea pig for the dish. They had been testing it in the kitchen but had not put it on the menu, and since I was around they decided to send it to me. And I happily lapped it up.

The asparagus from Vallée de Loire was paired with a wine from the same region:

Aussie neighbors

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After I missed out what looked like a fantastic dinner hosted by my Aussie friend a few weeks ago, the host suggested that we meet up at Neighborhood over a few bottles. As it was a bunch of rare and old Aussies I had missed out on, I thought we should have the same wine theme. With that in mind, the Film Buff would be a perfect dining companion on account of his collection of Aussie wines. I also ended up roping in Fergie because, well, surely he is up for drinking just about anything.

I didn't tell the Kitchen Nazi that I was coming, figuring that Shirley would let him know if necessary. He was geuinely surprised to see me as I tapped him on the shoulder. I was kinda hoping that this meant we could do the ordering ourselves, but no such luck... So we prepared ourselves for an onslaught.

Strawberries / burrata / caviar - I was surprised to find that there were two types of strawberries here... I thought the white chunks were potatoes, but they were actually white strawberries - which were just as delicious as the red ones. The salinity of the caviar worked very well with both the creamy burrata as well as the sweetness of the fruit.  Pretty refreshing as a first dish.

The team Chairman

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It's been a few months since my last trip to The Chairman (大班樓), and this time around I brought along people from my team - who normally don't have the opportunity. As some of them are visiting for the first time, once again I proposed a menu suitable for first-timers...

Crispy taro cake with smoked duck (茘甫鴨盒) - this was pretty good today. The smokiness was nice, and the diced Chinese celery inside was very fragrant.

Deep fried crab meat and mushroom dumplings (金錢蟹盒) - Danny very kindly offered us an extra appetizer. This is old school, and very tasty. Unfortunately it was also a little greasy... but I know it's not easy to get this one just right.

Beijing trip 2026 day 2: plant-based lunch

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Considerating that I went to bed around 3 a.m. this morning, I definitely woke up too early. I had spent a little time yesterday researching for potential breakfast spots around Conrad Beiing, but I simply had zero appetite this morning. My dream of an authentic jianbing (煎饼) breakfast would have to wait until tomorrow, then...

One of the reasons why I chose our hotel was that it was only a short walk to our lunch venue today - and I would be able to avoid sitting in the notorious Beijing traffic. With the sun being out and it not being a windy day and all, the 20-minute walk to lunch was leisurely and nice. We even passed by one of the breakfast spots I had found on Dianping (大众点评).

I was kinda excited when our tour guide announced Lamdre (兰斋) as our lunch venue for today. Having earned a couple of Michelin stars as well as a place on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, Chef Dai Jun (戴军) must be doing some seriously good plant-based cuisine. Foursheets and I are always happy to explore restaurants that offer fine dining experiences in this genre, and the lighter nature of this meal would be a welcome break from our packed dining schedule.

Since we're in China and it is lunch, Mr. Chichi suggested that we take the restaurant's tea pairing.

Sweet osmanthus Oolong, Anxi (桂花乌龙, 安溪), 1996 - this was pretty nice and elegant. Very soft and very fragrant.

The first course of our tasting menu - entitled Rooted in the Autumn (京归秋根) - came with a trio of bites:

The best dishes I had in 2025

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This is the 10th edition of my "best dishes of the year", and once again I go through my meals to pick out the dishes that were the most memorable, brought me the most pleasure, or evoked the strongest emotions. Needless to say I have had many, many delicious dishes this past year - many happy moments which brought smiles to my face. These were just the ones that made me exclaim "FUCKING GOOD!", "YEAH, BABY!", "PUTAIN!"... you get the drift.

I didn't travel as much this year, and I also dined out less. Maybe that's why the list got shorter this year. But truth be told, some of these dishes were incredibly emotional for me, and were perhaps the best I've ever had.

Luncheon meat and egg sandwiches with peanut butter and condensed milk (炒蛋午餐肉奶醬多士), from Yue Hing (裕興) in Hong Kong - this is my favorite sandwich in the world, and I thought I would never have the chance to taste it again when Dan passed away in 2021. Some 68 months after I last tasted one, Elaine reopened the stall and I made 2 visits within the first week. I was so emotional I almost cried.

A good night to die with 3-star food

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Tonight is a good night to die.

'Tis the season for game meats, and one of my favorite dishes from this genre is lièvre à la royale - which I've been lucky to have at a few top restaurants in Europe as well as here in Hong Kong. The dish is pretty heavy, so it's not something I have every year. In fact, the last time I had this was actually 4 years ago!

So once again, I organized a boys' night out at Caprice. Hairy Legs Cookie Monster always serves up a great version of the dish, and while I have tasted other dishes served with hare more recently, I still can't believe it's been so long since I last tasted this classic.

I was grateful that Cookie Monster put us at the Chef's Table, which was where some of us last had this dish together with a huge game menu. We would be having a slightly lighter menu tonight... or so we thought.

I gotta say... I've had these three bites from the boîte à bijoux multiple times by now, and tonight each of them were the best versions I can remember.

Mushroom tartlet - tonight the mushroom flavors were pretty intense... porcini, par hasard? There was the usual Parmesan cookie at the bottom, and a small disc of Comté on top with a bit of tarragon. This was more salty than I had remembered, but the flavors were very, very good.

The overcooked Chairman

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After making sure Sporty Cousin finally got a chance to dine at The Chairman (大班樓) for the first time, I thought it would be nice to invite him for another round. After all, the guys clearly wanted the oppotunity to taste more dishes from the restaurant's repertoire. And I made sure that we would not repeat any of the dishes we had the last time they came.

Ginger and vinegar pig trotter terrine (甜醋子薑豬手豬耳凍) - I really, really love this dish... So happy that they came up with this delicate, refined version of the Cantonese classic. The finely diced kaffir lime leaves on top of the minced pickled ginger really shone tonight. I did notice, however, that the jelly in the terrine had a firmer texture this time, and didn't melt as easily with heat.

Having a ball

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This would sound incredulous to many, but I had not one, but two groups of people bail on me for my dinner booking at The Chairman (大班樓) tonight. Thankfully I haven't run out of friends who would be excited to have the opportunity to dine here, so I managed to rope in a few more thanks to the Zhongmeister.

I was lucky we didn't have people with voracious appetites, so no extra dishes for us tonight. But on this visit, I insisted on getting the one dish I wasn't able to order on my last visit. A dish that was new at the time, which took me almost four months to be able to taste.

Crispy taro cake with smoked duck (茘甫鴨盒) - pretty tasty with that nice, smoky flavor in the filling. I wished the taro mash was more fluffy on top, though. That would have been even better.

No baseball bat tonight

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One is meant to give a gift made of wood to one's spouse on the fifth wedding anniversary. I only remembered about the tradition of anniversary gifts some time this morning, and briefly contemplated trying to buy a small, wooden mallet as a joke to give to Foursheets. When I told her about it later in the day, she scoffed at the idea of a mallet and suggested that I get her a baseball bat instead, since it's much harder and would do much more damage thanks to its mass. Well... I'm glad there isn't one around the house.

My day actually started with me singing the Bee Gees' hit Stayin' Alive - my anthem for having survived another year of marriage. Besides a little celebratory dance with me tryin' a little move from Tony Manero, the main celebration would be dinner at Caprice. It was, in fact, where we exchanged our vows and got married... and Hairy Legs had very kindly moved our booking to the Chef's Table - the actual place where it all happened 5 years ago.