Caprice in August, part 2: Le Pin duo

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It's been exactly two days since some of the MNSC boys last saw each other, and here we are again tonight, sitting around a table blind tasting wines. It's my turn again to play host, and for the second time in two weeks I'm back at Caprice with the Hairy Chevalier. With a smaller group tonight compared to last week, we could comfortably fit into the Chef's Table and hang out near the cheese cellar.

With a bunch of old fogeys at the table who bitch about long menus, I asked my friend for a short service. I was serving Champagne to start plus 3 flights of reds, so 4 courses ought to do it for these guys. Focus on quality, not quantity.

As is the same with every meal, the amuses bouches arrive in la boîte à bijoux:

Foie gras tartlet

Lobster tartlet

Crispy anchovy roll

Beef and Bro Bro

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It's been six years since Bro Bro left us, and we continue to toast him on his birthday. Unfortunately I messed up by choosing to host an MNSC dinner on his birthday this year, so tonight we're doing this a day early. Since we had a pretty good meal a few months ago to remember his passing, I decided to go back to Gyu+bar by Miyoshi for more beef.

For our second visit we chose not to take the set dinner menu, and opted to pick and choose à la carte. This way we could get exactly what we wanted.

This bread has a distinctive shape that looks awfully familiar... Sadly the texture is a far cry from the original I'm thinking of.

Clueless at the club

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The MNSC boys are doing two dinners this week, two days apart. We almost made it three in a row, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. The Ox played host tonight, and we found ourselves back in The Grill at the Hong Kong Country Club.

After a weekend of stuffing myself in Shantou, I was more than happy to take things easy tonight and order à la carte. Soup and salad for me, then... But our host ordered a few starters for us to share.

Jambon persillé - a classic dish I am always happy to see. So nostalgic to see aspic with ham, and the fragrance of parsley just works so well with the gribiche sauce.

Caprice in August, part 1: magnum party

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I'm seeing the Hairy Chevalier two weeks in a row, as I play host to two different crowds. I had been wanting to treat Dashijie (大師姐) for dinner for some time now, and also repay the favor of some others who have very kindly included me among the lucky recipients of their generosity. The advice given to me when planning this meal was to choose a venue where I would have "home court advantage". Well... one of those places is definitely Caprice, so I roped in the Hairy Chevalier for this.

I chose this time to host this dinner because I knew that it would be tomato season, and Monsieur Tomate would be shipping their bountiful harvests from France into the arms of the Hairy Chevalier. I even saw the Hairy Chevalier post on social media with some of those beauties while he was on summer holiday. So I pinged my friend last week and requested that we have a few special dishes based on those tomatoes. Imagine my utter shock being told that it would be unlikely for us to have ANY of those tomatoes, because Monsieur Tomate had lost about 85% or more of the crop, due to the wildfires raging through France. I had been focusing on the events in Bordeaux in advance of my upcoming trip, so it came as a total surprise that the heat had also killed off produce in the Loire Valley.

My "home court advantage" suddenly took a blow...

Nevertheless, I have full faith in the Hairy Chevalier and his team. I also trust them implicitly to tailor a menu to match the wines I had prepared for tonight.

But first, la boîte à bijoux:

Foie gras tartlet

Casual in the hood

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It's been about 10 years since someone last dined at Neighborhood, and a request was made to make a return visit on the back of the Chairman dinner. So I duly made a booking for tonight.

A couple of days ago The Kitchen Nazi pinged me to tell me that he won't be in town tonight, as he will be on vacation. No problem, I said. I've been to the restaurant plenty of times when he's not around. In fact, sometimes I prefer for him not to be around, since I could then order whatever dishes I felt like having. That's not really happening when he's in the kitchen...

I tried to get the group to order what they thought they wanted to eat, because I don't want to keep ordering the same dishes over and over again. I also kept the amount of food reasonable, as we had pre-ordered a large main course.

Fried escargot / basil / garlic - I've always loved this dish, as the combination of garlic and escargot is just so classic.

Brasserie in da 'hood

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It's Saturday, and we're looking to have a nice dinner out without breaking the bank. In Hong Kong, there's a dearth of bistros or brasseries where I would be happy with the cuisine, and feel that it's money well-spent at the same time. Fortunately, there's one not too far from our new home. After three months in the hood, I felt it was time I took Foursheets to check out Chouchou. I, of course, had already had a first taste back in March.

Since it was Foursheets' first visit, I decided to let her choose the dishes. Besides, it would be good for me to try out new items.

Tarte à la tomate - this was a FAIL. The puff pastry was too hard and firm, which made it hard to cut... and then proceeded to break into pieces in awkward shapes. In addition, the pastry was cold so the butter had congealed and just tasted gross in the mouth. Oh and they also added rosemary to the tomatoes, which was another point deduction for me.

Four Seasons in Hangzhou day 2: Jay-Z cooked me dinner

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It was pissing down pretty hard by the time we arrived at Sense for our dinner. We would be the only customers on this rainy night.

Chef Jay Zhao - who stylizes himself as "Jay-Z" on his chef's whites - hosted us in the restaurant's private room, whose decoration tonight reflected the feminine touches of Chef Jay's Korean wife. We would also be able to see some Korean accents in Chef Jay's cuisine, along with influences from Chef Jay's past - given the time he spent the in kitchens such as Restaurant André and Eleven Madison Park.

Four Seasons in Hangzhou day 2: journey to the Centre

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It's Saturday morning, and despite waking up in the luxurious, tranquil surroundings of my room at Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at West Lake, my first order of business was to do some work. Thankfully there were still some berries left on my fruit platter from yesterday, so I nibbled on those while staring at the screen.

Given all the calories I took in last night, and am due to consume later today, I honestly didn't need any hotel breakfast. However, we were told to try the dim sum items coming from the kitchen at Jin Sha (金沙厅), so I went down to West Lake Bistro (西湖餐厅) to check out the spread.

Hangzhou is well known for two things - Longjing tea (龍井茶) and osmanthus flowers. I've long loved the combination of both into osmanthus Longjing (桂花龍井), and happy to see it on offer here.

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:

Journey to the mansion

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I felt like a lucky boy tonight. I had the privilege of being invited to a dinner where Ta Vie 旅 - one of my favorite restaurants - collaborated with Yong Fu (甬府), another one of my favorite restaurants in town. I know PR8 is constantly pushing his clients to put together these 4-, 6-, and whatever hands events. Often they feel contrived, and all you get is different chefs presenting their own dishes. Then there are some collaborations that truly live up to the name, where the chefs actually spend time creating dishes where each one adds their own input. Tonight ran a little different.

I have been looking forward to this meal ever since I found out about it. While I have had the privilege of attending a few collaborations involving chef Liu Zhen (刘震) of Yong Fu, sadly I can't say the same for Sato-san. I had no doubt, though, that any dish these chefs put together would be totally delicious.

We started with some appetizers, where the chefs chose two main ingredients, and each chef created their own expression with them.

Ningbo-style pickled and cooked winter melon with sea urchin, fermented crab, celtuce (雙味冬瓜咸蟹), by Yong Fu - the first main ingredient was chosen by Sato-san, and it's the "white winter melon (白冬瓜)" from Ningbo (寧波). These get covered with powdery wax that gives them names like "wax gourd" or "ash gourd" in English. Yong Fu's dish came with two squares of the winter melon cooked with different methods. The bottom layer was cooked by slowly feeding chicken stock, while the top layer was the traditional fermented winter melon (醃冬瓜) from Ningbo. Topped with sea urchin from Zhangzi Island (獐子島) off Dalian (大連), and some fennel flowers that came through with their anise-like scent. We were asked to make sure that we taste all the ingredients together, which led some of us to do it all in one bite. Well... if you do everything in one bite, then there will be a couple of flavors dominating and drowning out the others. In this case the winter melon won.

North, South, and something else

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It's been a while since I was last in the Hong Kong Room at the I Hate the Handover Club, since I haven't joined Pineapple for his annual birthday MNSC dinner for the last few years. I would be dining here tonight at the kind invitation of Christies and the Specialist, tasting through a line up of wonderful wines in advance of an upcoming auction. The consignor - an uncle with a colorful past who went from Shantou to Canada via Hong Kong, and eventually settling down in Bangkok - was in attendance.

Tonight the crowd was a little different from the usual, as there was not a single bottle of Burgundy around. The lineup was dominated by wines from the Rhône Valley, which was right up my alley. We started with some bubbly for the pre-dinner drinks:

Jacquesson Cuvée N°748, dégorgée en Mars 2025 - this was actually very floral and elegant, with a nice little yeasty nose.

Years of the Horse

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It was five years ago that the Gang of Pfour got together for dinner and brought out bottles from different Years of the Ox. That was a fun and successful tasting, so tonight we decided to bring out bottles from Years of the Horse. This dinner should have happened 2 months ago, but unfortunately I had to postpone. Thankfully Goldfinger was very understanding, so we reconvened at Andō tonight.

We had a choice of two welcome drinks, and I picked the one made with roselle and chocolate. Definitely different!

We started with the bocaditos:

A wine emergency

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Mama Bear is in town for a short stay, and I managed to catch up with her for coffee a couple of days ago. She was apparently at her wine cellar today checking up on her collection when she sent me some pictures. A couple of bottles from her birth vintage were showing ullage that were on the low side, and she wondered whether the wines were still drinkable. I assured her that the wines were probably still fine, but it would be a good idea to drink them up sooner rather than later.

That was when she suggested that I help her open them up, and she wanted to do that TODAY. Well, I could open them up at home, but with this pair of wines... they should be given the proper respect by being drunk over a nice meal. So I asked for a last-minute table at Ta Vie 旅, along with a couple of menu changes, all the while apologizing profusely to Takano-san for the imposition.

It's been far too long since we were last here, and I was glad to come and taste Sato-san's new creations. Of course, I also love me some old favorites.

One always starts the meal here with the signature nukazuke (糠漬け) bread, which I have loved ever since my first visit back in 2015.

More cheese and more Japanese

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We've been meaning to catch up with Kutsuyama for a few weeks now, and we finally managed to catch each other tonight. As we didn't need a big, heavy meal... we thought we would catch up over a couple of bottles and nibble on some cheese. Roucou seemed like the perfect enue, and I really wanted another opportunity to check out the many other dishes I didn't get to try yet... especially ones with a Japanese touch.

Foie gras and poppyseed crème brûlée - I had this on my first impromptu visit after a gala dinner, and I was happy to have it again. Tough to resist a foie gras dish like this...

Beefy anniversary

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I'm back in Taipei for a few days as we celebrate the Parental Units' anniversary. The last time we were together for a celebratory meal, the mood was pretty different... there was a lot of trepidation about what was to come for our family. Seven weeks have passed, and while the future remains uncertain, we are more optimistic than where we were the last time out.

In a break with the past where I chose restaurants that would appeal to mom, this time around dad was the focus. A recommendation was needed for another restaurant with a sommelier capable of handling an old bottle, and A Cut was what came up. As famous as the restaurant has been over the years, I had simply overlooked this hotel steakhouse when searching for dining options in the past, and never got around to checking it out. Well, it was time to hit this steakhouse with a Michelin star.

My first impression upon entering was one of disappointment. I chose not to return to Tutto Bello tonight because I felt the dining room was too dimly lit, and that wasn't good for mom. Well... this dining room was practically like a dungeon, and we could barely read the menus even with the help of these tiny lamps on the table. I didn't evem bother taking out my 360 camera for the usual group shot. Sigh...

We decided to make it easy on ourselves and chose the set menu rather than trying to order à la carte. I took time to explain all the available options to mom, while making sure dad ordered enough beef for himself.

The bread selection was pretty decent.

Aus. wagyu beef tongues: kale • red wine sauce • piri piri • wasabi - I was pretty surprised by how thick cut the tongue came. Interesting that it came topped with a marinated kale condiment. We've got a nice dose of acidity thanks to pickled radish on the side.

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.

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.

Baked in Wanchai

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V is back in town for a few days, and since I happen to be free tonight, I decided to catch up with him over dinner. As our other friends were either out of town or deathly ill, it came down to just the two of us again. Wanting something casual but wanting to check out a place that was new to both of us, I suggested we hit Chouchou - the slightly more upscale sister restaurant from the people behind Babette.

While I really relish being pampered at fine dining restaurants, what Hong Kong really lacks is a collection of bistros and brasseries that serve straightforward French fare that taste good, without burning a hole in one's wallet. Unfortunately Jean May - a crowd favorites which rose to fame during the pandemic years - closed down recently. So I'm kinda on the hunt for more places where V and I can just bring a couple of bottles and chill.

The menu here offers a number of classics often featured at brasseries, and I was pretty happy to start ticking them off tonight.

Tarte fine aux champignons - 'tis the season for mushrooms, and I love having a pile of them in a puff pastry. Would have been even better if they did it as a vol-au-vent but I was still very happy.

Foie gras au torchon - doesn't get much more classic than this... and I could never say 'no' to toasted brioche. There was a condiment of pear and cocoa that was rather interesting.

Tourte - we were trying to see which dish to share, and felt this would be more interesting than côte de boeuf. When this arrived, I initially feared that it wasn't big enough and that we would need to order up more food. How wrong I was...

So this may not be the venison dartois from Hairy Legs, but it's still damn respectable with layers of Comté, jambon de Paris, potato, truffle sauce, and smoked pancetta (what? not lardons?) Very hearty and satisfying. And most important of all, went very, very well with our wines.

The tourte came with some sucrine lettuce on the side. Was that Marie Rose sauce on top?

Jardinière de légumes - always a good idea to have some veg for balance.

Île flottante - one does not often see this classic show up in Hong Kong, so I jumped at the chance. Fluffy meringue with a nice vanilla sauce. Happy.

V and I each brought a "casual" bottle, and as usual I was happy to pay the corkage. Originally we were meant to give up our table for the next seating, but seeing that we were paying HKD 1,000 for corkage that was pure profit for the restaurant, the manager told us we could take it easy and finish our wines.

2008 Gourt de Mautens Rasteau - popped and poured. Pretty nice and floral on the palate, and a little soapy. There was also a hint of funkiness, but pretty enjoyable.

2006 Jean-Michel Stephan Côte-Rôtie Côteaux de Tupin - started drinking more than 1½ hours after opening. This was definitely showing very well, with plenty of fragrant, woodsy notes. Drinking beautifully, and exactly how I was hoping it would be.

Well, we didn't finish the second bottle at the brasserie. We adjourned to V's Whiskey joint and hung out there. I was within 2 minutes' walking distance from a bunch of the afterparties for Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, but tonight, I treasured time with an old friend a lot more.

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.