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.

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.

Metropol memories

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I'm overcome with sadness. After 35 years, our friend's family has made the difficult decision to close down Metropol Restaurant (名都酒樓). While business has recovered from the tough years of 2019 through the Covid pandemic, the family is sitting on unrealized gains on the restaurant space and that math just ain't gonna get better. The restaurant's coming closure before the end of September has been announced, and owners and staff can be proud of the institution that together they have built - hence the use of the term 光榮結業.

While I cannot pinpoint the exact date I first dined here, it would probably have been within the first week or two of me arriving in Hong Kong at the end of May 1995. My office was in Pacific Place then, and it was a regular affair to go to lunch at Metropol whenever visitors from other offices arrived in Hong Kong. What I didn't realize until years later is that the restaurant - part of the Heichinrou (聘珍樓) group which started in Yokohama more than 140 years ago - is owned by the family of an alumnus of my high school in Tokyo.

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The space is large, able to host banquets of 100 tables with at least 10 diners per table. Lunch here is alwas a boisterous affair, as the place would be buzzing for a few hours - building up gradually from 8 a.m. when their breakfast service begins. For our visitors from outside Hong Kong, it's a real culture shock and quite an experience.

Cherry-popping 2025, episode 3

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While I was having my worst meal of 2025 a few months ago, I found out that Sporty Cousin had never dined at The Chairman (大班樓) and really wanted to. I wasted no time in grabbing a table so that Sporty Cousin could get his wish, so here we are tonight.

I knew that Sporty Cousin would be bringing a couple of frineds who, like him, were coming for the first time. So I let them choose the dishes they wanted to have, although I made a few suggestions. I also told them about a dish I would not allow to be on the menu tonight.

Crispy taro cake with smoked duck (茘甫鴨盒) - one of the classics here, although I felt that the taro mash tonight wasn't so fluffy on top and didn't look as beautiful as it normally would, and the oil used to fry this tasted a little old. However, the water chestnuts were still nice and crunchy, the smoky flavors of the duck still familiar, and this was definitely better with the aged vinegar on the side.

Funky Aussies

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Monsieur Jamin and the Film Buff have been talking about doing a dinner where all the wines tasted would be Aussie. Not only that, these would include some very off-beat, small production, highly sought-after gems that most wine lovers have never heard of. They invited me to join their shindig and, since the cat's away this week, this mouse decided that he would play.

We took a private room at Ming Court (明閣) Wanchai for the ten of us. I am, of course, aware that there's been a Wanchai outlet for this well-regarded restaurant for a few years now, but this part of town remains largely off my dining map. I'm glad to have had the opportunity to see how it compares with the "original" in Mongkok.

We started the evening with the crispy trio (脆香三疊), which I thought was perfect as a snack to go with some wines:

Fried cashew nuts with garlic salt and black pepper (蒜鹽黑椒腰果)

Fried lotus root chips with salt (鹽香脆藕片) - this was perfect as a snack to go with our wines, as the flavors were relatively neutral but one could taste the oil used in deep-frying... and that's just so satisfying.

Sweetened walnuts (琥珀甜桃仁) - I can never stop eating these once there's a bowl of it within my reach...

Smoked with delicious fat

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One of the restaurants in Shenzhen that I had heard good things about is Fumée (拂鳴). I had yet to pay them a visit as I'm still in the discovery stage with regard to the city across the border, and I have naturally focused on restaurants serving various schools of Chinese cuisine. I figured I'd get around to it eventually. When Mr. Chichi asked whether I'd be interested in joining a group tasting on a Sunday night, it didn't take me long to say 'Yes'.

After taking a detour on account of my stupidity, we arrived at the restaurant just before the appointed time. Our group was seating along the counter facing the kitchen, and I had the good fortune to keep the Kitchen Nazi company. He's always fun with eat with.

Our evening started with some Champagne...

Christophe Mignon ADN de Meunier Brut Nature, dégorgée le 20 Mai 2020 - initially this was served much too cold, a common mistake, so there wasn't much showing on the nose except for a little minerals. Got a little better once it warmed up with a little more depth on the palate.

Chef Reina Chen explained that she was serving us a spring menu, with ingredients reflecting the flavors she associates with the season. We would start with something refreshing:

We were shown some of the 9 ingredients used to make our welcome drink, including cardamom and "leaves from the forest".

This smelled of guava and pine or cypress... definitely very green. Nice and refreshing.

Rush, rush

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My friendly neighborhood prime broker wanted to take me out to lunch in order to celebrate my new job, and also as an early celebration of our birthdays. She was rambling about some restaurant she'd never been to... when she suddenly lamented that she hadn't been back to The Chairman (大班樓) in a long time. Well... I decided to grow some thick skin and begged for a table - which was how we ended up here today.

Lunching at The Chairman is something I have seldom done, unless it's a weekend or I'm not working. Imagine showing up here today and immediately recognizing people at a few neighboring tables. I guess I don't live the same leisurely life as those people... but that's OK.

I left the choice of dishes entirely in the hands of my broker a.k.a. the Landlord. I thought she would consult with her colleagues before making the choices, but I was wrong. There were a few dishes that I would not have picked, that I didn't care for, but I bit my tongue. This lunch was about making someone else happy, and it had nothing to do with me.

Cold squid noodle and lily bulbs with pine nut gazpacho (魷魚涼麵百合配松子凍湯) - no, this isn't Cantonese cuisine. It's more Japanese and Korean, and that chilled pine nut cream is just so refreshing on a warm day. Those petals of 9-year-old lily bulb from Lanzhou (蘭州) is just so crunchy with incredibly high sugar content.

Redemption, one week later

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I was less than impressed with my dining experience at Hong Kong Cuisine 1983 (壹玖捌叁) last Friday, as the experimental tasting menu delivered a few head-scratchers. At the time, though, we already knew we would be coming back for lunch today. I had seen positive comments posted by friends about the dim sum here, which was why my dinner last week was so shockingly disappointing. Anyway, we got a different group today so we could try lots of stuff from their menu.

I was pretty excited looking at the dim sum section of the menu during my dinner last week, so I opened it up and started scanning for the goodies. That's when the staff came and told us not to order anything from the big menu... as the kitchen had come up with a new list of dim sum items, and those were presented on a totally different menu. So... one of the items I was most excited about trying is no longer available. Now I was disappointed even before we started ordering.

Someone was pretty excited about checking out as many dishes as we could with the five of us around the table, and it did turn out to be a big lunch...

Diced peppery Black Angus beef puff (胡椒安格斯牛肉餅) - I was a little surprised that this was the first item that arrived, but I suppose they had been pre-baked and could be heated up quickly?

40-year-old Fortune

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We last saw DaRC and Ro Ro a few weeks ago before they jetted off, and they're about to do that again for a European tour, so we arranged to meet up for a couple of bottles. I asked for a place with decent glassware and decanters, where corkage wouldn't break the bank and, naturally, air conditioned. The decision was made to book us into the Fortune Room (幸運閣) at the Hong Kong Jockey Club, a place I haven't been back to in more than a decade.

This was a rare opportunity for me to completely step back from ordering. In fact, I didn't even look at the menu. At all. Members who know the menu well call the shots.

Crispy Bombay duck fish • fermented tofu (醬豆腐炸九肚魚) - thicker batter than expected, and the batter also had more flavor thanks to the fermented tofu.

Disappointment in the valley

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I find it hard to believe that it's been half a year since I last saw Ms. Hurricane, but such is her busy schedule traversing the globe. We managed to set up dinner for tonight, and she suggested we give Hong Kong Cuisine 1983 (壹玖捌叁) a try. I've tried the cuisine here a few times, but it's been quite a few years... and Chef Silas Li has since taken over the kitchen. I was very curious, then, to see what updates he would bring.

Ms. Hurricane suggested that we take the restaurant's tasting menu, and we thought it made sense to follow the recommendations of the person who knows the restaurant best. The staff then recommended we add the optional fish course, which we readily agreed to. My focus tonight was on the wines, so I was happy to just follow lah...

Right off the bat, we are getting some tableside service. It's been a few years since I last saw a restaurant dip stuff into liquid nitrogen in front of the diner, so this would be interesting...

Frozen salted kumquat parfait with sweet dried tangerine powder (冷凍鹹柑桔芭菲配香甜陳皮粉) - MEH. I was a big fan of molecular gastronomy, and still love it when it's done properly. This was not it.

Salmon roe celeriac purée tart with pickled Buddha's hand (三文魚子西芹頭蓉撻配老香櫞) - this was more interesting because, in the middle of all the cured salmon eggs that I love, we've got a few chunks of pickled Buddha's hand rind adding some sweetness. Quelle surprise!

Goose after wine

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We started drinking around 12ish, and continued past 7pm. Although we had a pretty big lunch, the skies were getting dark and it just felt like dinner time. Having mansplained to Champagne Diva and her daughters about how Cantonese typically chooses roast goose over Peking duck, it was time for us to show her. So we grabbed a couple of taxis and headed to my favorite Yat Lok (一樂燒鵝).

Boss lady is surprised to see Foursheets and I for the second night in a row, and we had a party of five. Thankfully we didn't have to wait too long for everyone to arrive, and we got seated pretty quickly after that.

Half roast goose (燒鵝半隻) - many Europeans never gets the opportunity to eat goose, and this is one of the best places to do it. With this many mouths to feed, half a goose was just about perfect. After all these years, I still love the spices I taste on the skin... and of course the meat, too.

Goose is it

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It's been MUCH, MUCH too long since Foursheets and I last stepped foot in Yat Lok (一樂燒鵝), and as she was in the 'hood this evening, we decided to pay a visit to the boss lady.

Lower quarter of roast goose (燒鵝下庄) - our usual order. Gotta get that leg in there... It's been far too many months since we tasted the spices in the skin.

Rice flour noodles in soup (瀨粉) - love me some MSG-laden soup. Bring it on.

The hunt for Peking duck

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While enjoying our lunch today, the visitors were asking me where they could go and have - you guessed it - Peking duck. I explained to them that duck - especially Peking duck - isn't classic Cantonese fare... and that the go-to item is actually roast goose. Nevertheless, the ladies had a hankering for this classic dish that seems to be at the top of every visitor to Hong Kong, so I scrambled to find one on a couple of hours' notice.

No, Peking duck isn't really difficult to find in Hong Kong. For one thing, just about every Chinese restaurant in a 5-star hotel would offer it. The trick was to avoid a few restaurants that I had little interest in going to... Unfortunately for us, the places which offered some of the best ducks in town were either fully-booked or would require us to start dinner fairly late. That wasn't gonna work when there's a baby in tow...

And that was how we ended up at Spring Moon (嘉麟樓) at the Peninsula Hong Kong. They were able to fit our big group in, and I was grateful that we didn't get stuck by the restaurant entrance. We were conveniently placed in a spot that could accommodate the baby stroller. Big plus.

Just after we managed to finish ordering - which turned out to be a collective effort of the table, and inevitably resulted in too much food - Executive Chef Xavier Boyer came over to say hello. Despite not having returned to the hotel is close to a year, and not alerted anyone about coming, the CRM system probably flagged my booking and alerted him. I'm pretty sure Sébastien is to blame for this...

Our amuse bouche was a deep-fried milk custard coated batter with bamboo charcoal, on a bed of rice crispies and some salmon roe.

Dim sum with Champagne Diva

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Geruhage pinged me a couple of days ago, asking if I could help out one of his friends. Champagne Diva is coming to town for a few days, and she would appreciate a few introductions to industry people who may have interest in taking a look at her bottles. When my good friend asks for help, I try my damndest to deliver. Thankfully I managed to line up a meeting for her with one of my favorite restaurants in town.

I felt it would make sense to actually meet up with our visitor over a meal, so I booked us a table for lunch at Forum Restaurant (富臨飯店). It was a shame that Jacky was away this week studying for his MS exam, otherwise I could have introduced our visitor to him, too.

Due to a work commitment, I arrived a little late to lunch... much to my chagrin. By that time the ladies had already put in the first round of orders based on recommendations from the staff. As we found find out soon enough, some of those items were rather repetitive...

Pineapple bun with barbecued pork (菠蘿叉燒包) - this is something that is popular at many places around town, although I don't think I've ever ordered it here.

Shenzhen tour day 2: the tide is high

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I decided to do a little bit of work in my hotel room after getting up this morning, which was why I missed grabbing breakfast with the family. Funnily enough, I ended up going to the same shop they visited nearby to have some Cantonese-style steamed riceflour rolls (腸粉). My Favorite Cousin and I had done some research on breakfast joints near the hotel while we were sipping on our whiskies last night, and Hong Li Cun (红荔村肠粉) in Times Square Excellence (卓越时代广场) seemed like a good idea.

Steamed riceflour roll with mixed vegetables with egg (罗汉斋肠粉加蛋) - once in a while I enjoy having the classic dish of mixed vegetables and fungus known as 羅漢齋, and it's not common for me to see it as the filling of steamed riceflour rolls. This would have qualified as a vegan breakfast... until I decided to add some egg to it. Pretty big portion for breakfast, and I didn't have reason to complain.

Fatty pork and more

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I felt I needed to catch up with The Great One, as a lot has happened since Mikacina was last in town. A scheduling conflict prevented me from joining her at dinner last night, so we agreed to meet up for lunch today at a place neither of us had been to before. Fat J Char Siu (發達叉燒) had opened with great fanfare and has become immensely popular. The owners have built quite a reputation with Flower Drum (鋒膳) - especially when it comes to charsiu (叉燒) - so it made sense to open up an outlet focusing on Cantonese barbecued meats (燒味).

As it happened E was also here for lunch, and decided to order up a storm for the two of us. I guess we'd be taking a good amount of this home with us!

Our daily soup (例湯) was ching bo leung (清補涼) with lean pork.

My worst meal of 2025

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Yes, I'm well aware that only 3 months of the year has passed... but I very much doubt that any meal I will have during the rest of 2025 will be as bad as my dinner tonight.

Sporty Cousin has been working in Foshan (佛山) for a few years now, and used to visit 102 House (壹零貳小館) during the initial pandemic years when they still operated solely out of Foshan. As he was a frequent guest of the restaurant, I was planning to go and visit him 2 years ago, just after the borders reopened between Hong Kong and the rest of Mainland China. But before I had the chance to do so, it was announced that the original restaurant would cease operations - apparently due to the village house being scheduled for demolition.

I first heard about the restaurant in January 2018, when they did their first collaboration with The Chairman (大班樓). I remember being so impressed with the passion shown by Chef Xu Jingye (徐泾业)  as we were told stories about their research into classic Cantonese recipes. Everything at that meal was new and tasty, so I had a really good impression of the team.

While a number of friends subsequently took the trip to Foshan during the following 2 years - before China's borders closed in January 2020 - I never made the effort. I also missed some opportunities to check out their Shanghai location, which by now has 2 Michelin stars and had just taken the No.29 spot on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. So when Sporty Cousin messaged me a few days ago and asked whether I'd be up for dinner in Foshan tonight, during the week-long "private kitchen" stint when Xu Jingye and manager Yao Min are back in town, I didn't hesitate. I immediately booked my train tickets, and even arranged to buy a few bottles from a wine shop in Guangdong to be shipped to Foshan for this dinner - given that Foursheets and I could only carry 2 bottles of wine across the border without paying duty.

But... I did had some reservations in the back of my mind. V has been a regular over the last few years in Shanghai, and told me that the cooking has gotten significantly worse in recent days. Apparently it has been so poor that he was bitching out Chef Xu during his visits, and then stopped going altogether. Another fellow foodie has also warned me that the kitchen in Shanghai is on a downward trajectory, has also bitched out Chef Xu during their visits, but didn't think that I would have a bad meal in Foshan.

Unfortunately for the six of us, we all left the restaurant fuming. I had heard from my friends that Chef Xu no longer cooks in the kitchen - which isn't a problem if the kitchen team can deliver. Saffron Bae a.k.a. Hairy LS is often galloping around the world taking after his idol Monsieur LS, but the kitchen team at Caprice still delivers impeccable dishes without him. Well... I saw Chef Xu out and about in the courtyard, so it's doubtful he spent much time in the kitchen tonight.

Pan-fried Chinese white shrimp (干煎大明蝦) - we were all a little surprised that there were no "starters" and the meal began with these giant shrimp. The use of tomato ketchup in the preparation is a familiar one, if not quite traditional Cantonese.

A disappointing Table

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V's back in town for a few days, and we decided to catch up over a few bottles. I didn't have any ideas of where we should go, and I didn't think there were any places that I had wanted to check out, so we were all set to get ourselves a table at a familiar Italian spot... until I suddenly remembered Table by Sandy Keung. They have recently moved to their posh new digs, so I figured it gives me a good excuse to visit.

I've only tasted Sandy's cuisine once, more than 8 years ago. While not everything was to my liking back then, I remember being impressed by their Hanwoo - at the time, they were one of the few places in town to offer that breed - and that crab roe and garlic rice. Somehow I've never been back, although I've thought about it a few times. Well, I got my chance tonight.

What was to be a romantic date between V and I turned into a threesome when Monsieur Jamin decided that he'd like to come join the fun. While I had made the booking online, I had to call the restaurant to change it to a table of 3. No big deal. As there were initially just the two of us, I figured we'd do everything à la carte and not take a tasting menu. I also didn't think we needed to pre-order anything, even if I remembered the garlic rice with fondness.

Our welcome drink was a warm cup of chamomile and fig leaf tea.

We had some foccacia and grissini, both of which were oily to the touch...

Dim sum Sunday

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Mikacina is swinging through town for a couple of days, and I finally found the chance to catch up with her very briefly. Since dim sum was on the wishlist, I decided to book us a table at Forum Restaurant (富臨飯店). It's really become our go-to place for dim sum, or even just when we are looking for some solid Cantonese fare. For our visitor, it's a chance to check a 3-star restaurant off her list.

Steamed vegetarian dumpling with mixed mushroom (雲南野菌餃) - I'm not sure why I don't order this more often, because they really do a fantastic job with their vegetarian dumplings. These were filled with mushrooms from Yunnan Province that were just packed with punchy flavors.

Not exactly star worthy

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While in Taipei two days ago, I found out that Uncle Last Minute was going to be in Hong Kong with Sporty Cousin this weekend. Since Sporty Cousin had mentioned some time ago that he really wanted to dine at The Chairman (大班樓), I figured I would grow some thick skin and ask Danny if there was any possibility of fitting us in. Well... the answer was, not surprisingly, no.

Since Uncle Last Minute was already expecting dinner with me, I had to find another restaurant quickly... and it had to be in Tsim Sha Tsui as they were staying in the neighborhood. After getting no joy with my top choices, I settled on Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine (御寶軒). I'd gone to their restaurant in Causeway Bay a couple of times for dim sum in the last couple of years, but I haven't been back to TST since before the pandemic. This seems like the perfect opportunity for a refresher.

We got ourselves a table by the window, with views overlooking the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and, of course, Victoria Harbour. I tried to get Sporty Cousin and Uncle Last Minute to do the honors of ordering, but somehow the menu came back my way.

Marinated beef shank with five spices (五香滷牛腱) - I ordered this to start because Uncle Last Minute used to make it at home himself. This was pretty good and worked well with the reds I brought, and I noted that the flavors of 5 spices were present, and this was a tad on the sweet side.