Latin with Spanish

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It was exactly 3 months ago that our Gang of Pfour washed down some Italian food with a few bottles of Italian wines, so we were now due for another meeting. I was surprised to learn that neither Ms. Hurricane nor Wai Gor had ever been to MONO, and it's been much too long since I last saw Ricardo - both of which definitely need rectifying.

I had a panic attack about an hour before dinner started. Foursheets is currently taking some Chinese meds, and doctor's orders are for her to avoid a whole slew of ingredients in her diet. I hurriedly messaged Ricardo, who very kindly promised to do what they can to accommodate her. And they certainly did.

Seeing how it was our friends' first visit, I suggested that they take the Journey instead of the Soul menu, as there was a course that no one should leave without trying.

Mexican infladita / corn / bafun uni / tonburi - I was here for an event last month so I've already had a taste. The purple corn infladita came topped with some summer cypress seeds (とんぶり).

I Want It That Way

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I'm still biased against most "four hands" or so-called collaborations among chefs, as many of them simply showcase signature dishes from the participating chefs. Since many of these events have been hosted by restaurants where I know the chef, the reality is that I'm probably already familiar with at least half the dishes... so these meals become less of a discovery for me. There are exceptions, of course, and over the last couple of years we have seen more and more events feature dishes where all the chefs contribute to each and every dish - resulting in a "true" collaboration.

Historically the collabs I looked forward to the most were ones with Gaggan Anand. As long as I have been going to collaborations like GohGan and others involving him, they have generally insisted that all the chefs work together on all the dishes so that each chef contributes to every dish. I was, however, left a little disappointed at the second GohGaDen pop-up in Singapore last year, where I thought the chefs got a little lazy and a few dishes were simply lifted from the menu at their respective restaurants... but that was an outlier.

Gaggan was coming back to Hong Kong for the second leg of his collab with Vicky Cheng, and this time it was at VEA. My last visit to VEA was some 4 years ago, and this seemed like the perfect occasion to revisit the top floor of the building instead of the floor just below. I quickly messaged both Gaggan and Vicky asking for seats, insisting to both of them that we would gladly pay for our meals. I was glad to be told that seats had been reserved for our usual quintet.

We arrived a little early so I had time to drop off goodies with the boys and do a proper greeting before things started to go crazy. It worked out well that our little gang was seated in the middle of the counter area so it was easy to watch the action going on.

First, a little sip of Champagne. As Vicky is one of the Krug Ambassade, this was naturally a glass of Grande Cuvée.

Krug Grande Cuvée, 172ème Édition, ID 123005 - initially this was served too cold, but after warming up a little using my hands, the nose opened up to show the classic toasty brioche notes that I love so much from Grande Cuvée. The acidity was fairly high, and we had a little tartness and tannins on the finish.

As is often the case, there was no menu given upfront so we didn't know what was coming our way. I did receive word that changes had been made for me when it came to the first bite...

Yogurt explosion 💥 shirako, Champagne - these days the dish comes with pop rocks which, if you had asked me a few years ago, I would have said was "so last decade"... So we now have to pop the yogurt ball on the "lotus leaf" cone immediately before eating. But wait! This version came with a Champagne beurre blanc with salmon roe, but apparently the instruction to hold off on eating came too late for some people, and they popped it into their mouths before the sauce was spooned on top...

Krug x Flower

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This is the tenth anniversary of Champagne Krug's single ingredient program, and as Olivier Krug likes to recount, it all started in Hong Kong with chefs like Uwe Opocensky at the Krug Room. I knew that the theme this year would be Krug x Flower as Hairy Chevalier Saffron Bae had traveled to France earlier this year for a special event. I was looking forward to tasting his creation this year, but didn't get to do so when I paid him a visit last week.

I had already received an invitation to join a tasting event today, so I knew it was just a matter of time until I found out what Saffron Bae had come up with. The itinerary today included just two stops, with the first one being Caprice. A small group of us sat around a couple of tables at Caprice Bar, where Anyss and Floriane made sure our glasses were always filled - if not with Krug, at least our water glasses were never empty!

Once again Olivier Krug presided over the day's events, on what would be his last day in town during a short stopver. A few of the ladies were obviously thrilled to meet him, and why shouldn't they?

Pumpkin, corn and saffron - I didn't realize that Saffron Bae's contribution this year would be the replacement to their long-standing pita. The new version is filled with a pumpkin-based purée which also includes some saffron. Then it's garnished with a single grilled kernel of corn along with one thread of saffron.

Scorching Bangkok day 3: an Indian-Mexican romance

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I had a stop to make before arriving at my next hotel in the middle of the city. A few days ago I had a long-overdue catchup up with senpai, and he connected me with two alumni from our school. These guys were kind enough to take time out to grab a coffee with me, so we met at Roast in EmQuartier with my luggage in tow.

Moving from the riverside to Sindhorn Midtown Hotel Bangkok is meant to make it easier for me to get around the city, as it's a few minutes away from the Chitlom (ชิดลม) BTS Station. I did take the BTS after my coffee to get to the hotel, which wasn't too painful with my luggage. I needed to do some emergency shopping before dinner tonight, and as centralwOrld was not far away, I was able to get there on foot and back easily.

When my Grab driver chose to abandon my fare because he didn't want to get stuck on Sukhumvit for a short fare, I took the BTS and got off at the station nearest to the restaurant, then hopped on the back of a moto taxi to get to my dinner at Ms. Maria and Mr. Singh

I was initially slated to dine alone, but discovered that someone I had been corresponding with online happened to be in Bangkok at the same time, so I invited him to join me at my table. By the time I arrived at the restaurant, I realized that an additional place had been set for Indian Hairy Legs and he would also be joining me.

This is a casual restaurant where the whole family is welcome, and there's no set menu. I decided to leave the choice of dishes up to Vlad - and later Indian Hairy Legs.

Golgappa : chole mousse / pomegranate panipurri - golgappa (गोलगप्पे) is Dehli-style pani puri (पानी पूरी), and inside the crispy shell we had a mouse of white beans and seafood which was nice and creamy. On the side we had a drink made with pomegranate and green mango, which was savory and acidic with spices.

Flomorino

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This is the year of collaborations, and I have long ago lost count of them. Ricardo has been doing a whole bunch of them this year, and I figured I should join one occasionally. When it was announced that Kawate-san from Florilège would be cooking at MONO tonight, I figured this should be one of those times. As always, I'm grateful to be able to have a seat at the table.

I'm always happy to see Ricardo, but also very happy to see Mauricio, too! As promised on my last visit to the restaurant, I brought along a special treat for the F1 fan in the house. I think he was pretty happy...

Ka-Kawate - this was a play on words, as the dish was made with peanuts, which is cacahuate in Spanish. The peanut flavors were quite strong in the foam, which was also made with basmati rice.

Chicken.Ass.Taco.

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Chubby Hubby's in town for a few days and wanted to catch up over a meal. He had originally requested one of the toughest tables to score in town, but as I had already asked the chef for a table in 4 days' time, I had to break it to my friend that I could not fulfill his wish on this particular visit. Instead, I suggested that we should lunch at MONO, as Ricardo is doing some pretty interesting stuff. It appears that Singapore is about to have its first fine dining Latin American restaurant, so this visit could, perhaps, offer my friend a glimpse of what may be to come.

As I am about to start my suicide mission at lunch time tomorrow, I was really hoping for a light lunch. Alas, that was not to be...

Mexican blue corn inflatida, mezcal-steamed fine Cadoret oyster, shallot cream and chayote - the flavors of those French oysters were definitely pretty strong, as was the bergamot. Nice crunch from the chayote on top, and there was something in the mix that numbed my lips a little bit...

Meaty Friday

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It's Friday night and Foursheets has a hankering for some meat. Rather than going to a steakhouse, she decided she wanted to check out Rosita, a collaborative effort by the Bromance Twins. Most of our close friends have checked out the place long ago, but yours truly takes a long time to visit new restaurants, per SOP.

As this is meant to be a "casual" spot, the attraction for us is the ability to order à la carte, according to our mood and our appetite. We swiftly shut down our server as he suggested the "menu del chef".

Rosita signature ceviche - with splendid alfonsino (金目鯛), spot prawns, Hokkaido scallops, strawberries, chayote, and watermelon radish. As the leche de tigre was poured on top in front of us, this meant there wasn't a lot of "cooking" time.

Not the 50 Best tour day 2: pandan day

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I got up this morning and pondered what to have for breakfast. Surely I would go grab a cup of kopi C, but the question is where. Do I go back to an outlet from one of the established chains, or do I wander into an unknown local shop and try my luck? In the middle of checking out the area around my hotel, I remembered that Goldfinger was staying nearby, so I pinged him and asked him about breakfast. This is his first trip to Singapore, so I figured I could take him to one of my favorite places for breakfast.

I have been coming to Killiney Kopitiam for about 25 years, and it was a ritual for me on my frequent trips to Singapore back in the day. It may not have the best coffee or kaya toast in town, but I'm a sentimental guy and a loyal customer, so I've never batted an eyelid about paying more for the taxi ride there than the cost of the actual breakfast.

I started us off with a couple of soft boiled eggs, adding a few drops of soy sauce, of course.

Yonomoto

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I'm not the most alert when it comes to special events at restaurants, as I often miss the email announcements that come into my various mailboxes while I'm busy at work. I've been lucky a few times in the past, but more often than not I just let these things pass me by.

I was moping around the house on New Year's Day, enjoying a lazy Sunday morning when I saw the email announcing the MONO X Toyo Eatery collaboration. I sent a message to the restaurant, fully expecting that no one would reply on a public holiday. When Hong Kong went back to work two days later, a reply did come and I managed to grab 2 seats for the event.

I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Jordy Navarra from Toyo Eatery before, although he has certainly received a lot of attention over the last few years. So I was really looking forward to seeing what he brings to the table. The good thing is that I knew this would be the kind of collaboration/four-hands that I like, where the chefs actually put their heads together to create each dish incorporating flavors from each team. The dishes are then unique to the event and not previously seen at either restaurant.

We had good seats at the counter for our meal, which allowed Ricardo and Jordy to come over from time to time during service. We also chose the wine pairing, and Mauricio was kind enough to offer me a couple of extras...

Krug Grande Cuvée, 170ème Édition, ID 221042 - more toasty on the nose than I remembered, but that's very, very classic Grande Cuvée. Pretty popcorn. Wonderful.

Oh Sherry

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A few weeks ago while I was sipping on a glass of 1929 Toro Albalá Don PX Convento Selección - a wine I absolutely love and finally had a chance to introduce to mom - the sommeliers at Caprice told me about a special dinner featuring wines from the Toro Albalá winery. Unfortunately that dinner is scheduled for tomorrow, at a time when I have a previous, unavoidable work engagement. I was pretty disappointed upon hearing the news...

The following evening, I was serendipitously served another glass of the 1929 Don PX at the end of dinner at MONO. I was lamenting about not being able to join the dinner at Caprice when Mauricio informed me that they would be hosting a lunch today. I immediately put my hand up, and I'm grateful that my name was added to the list.

Lunch today was an intimate affair, and we were sequestered away in the private room at the bank. We had a representative each from the winery as well as the local agent. The list of wines was, alas, shorter than what would be served at the Caprice dinner, but I was glad to be in attendance nonetheless.

Inflatida sea urchin - the shell of the inflatida today was made with purple corn. Topped with some tongues of sea urchin and nasturtium.

Stuffed with Hokkaido sea urchin and botan shrimp (牡丹海老), so this was rich and creamy, a little sweet as well as a little sticky from the raw shrimp. This worked well with the dry fino as the acidity and oxidative characters balanced out the stuffing.

Mom's HK Michelin tour day 5: Latin evening

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For her third dinner out, and to continue the theme for today - which is "something exotic" - I've decided to take mom to MONO for a taste of Latin America. This would not be something that mom often comes across, and I was pretty confident that many ingredients would be new to her.

I told Ricardo what I wanted for mom, and asked him to create an exotic experience for us. I had no doubt that he would deliver in spades.

Given that there were four of us tonight, we were seated at a table away from the counter. Mauricio and the team took very good care of us, making sure to bring us the special ingredients for each dish and making the introductions.

Purple corn Mexican inflatida / fresh king crab / Taiwanese organic avocado - nice flavors from the purple corn. Didn't manage to distinguish the flavors from the paracress on top...

Diary of a Quarantined Boy part 2, day 6

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Second-to-last day of quarantine, and it's Friday! Breakfast this morning was an interesting mix, which involved a little DIY:

Boiled eggs ∙ bacon ∙ tomato salsa ∙ guacamole ∙ tortilla ∙ croissant ∙ sliced fresh fruit - the croissant was OK.

So I sliced up one of the boiled eggs, laid it out in the tortilla along with the smoky bacon and added some salsa and guacamole. Not too bad.

Some last minute fun

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I had been away from Taiwan for far too long, and even before the pandemic I was mostly spending time eating at home with the Parental Units, or doing the occasional meal at a place with the ability to order à la carte. Tasting menu was a tough ask for mom, so this pretty much ruled out taking her to most of the newer fine dining establishments which have popped up over the last few years. As a result, I am pretty unfamiliar with the hip places in my hometown.

Thankfully Little Rabbit came to my rescue, and helped me book a couple of meals at places I've been wanting to try. Tonight we hit Impromptu by Paul Lee, which is in the corner of the Regent Galleria. Chef Paul Lee (李皞) wasn't in town tonight, but hopefully that didn't matter much.

The restaurant has an open kitchen, and this, plus what seems to be their policy on aircon, meant that the space was a little warm. Maybe that's why the guy at the neighboring table came in shorts. I was also grateful that my friend did not book us seats at the counter, since neither the heat nor the loud conversation from the neighbors would have been pleasant.

Buckwheat tart, cantaloupe, sausage - with diced cantaloupe, cantaloupe sorbet, and saucisson. A little lime zest shaving brightens things up.

Seaweed, melon, scallop, finger lime - using crispy laver (海苔) as tart base was perfect, as the flavors worked well with the diced scallops and Oriental melon (香瓜). We also have acidity coming from finger lime as well as jalapeños marinated in lemon.

Funky disco orgasm dinner

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It's that day of the year again, and I needed to choose a friend's restaurant for my birthday dinner. I actually haven't been back to MONO for quite a few months, so it seemed appropriate that Sankala and I pay Ricardo a long-overdue visit. He does, after all, deliver something unique in Hong Kong.

Ricardo is busy doing a special event tonight, but was kind enough to come back to the restaurant to greet me and serve up a couple of dishes before running off. Knowing that it's my birthday, he also arranged something a little special.

Venezuelan corn arepa / red crab / sweet peas - the arepa was nice and warm, filled with a mix of crab, avocado purée, and crunchy green peas. A little more acidic than expected. With some avocado leaf powder. A familiar dish that's become a nice way to start our meal.

The best dishes I had in 2021

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Five years ago I decided to browse through my posts for that year and recount the "best" dishes I had eaten during the previous 12 months. I have kept it up each year since, and this year things would be no different. I've certainly dined out more this year compared to last year, as social distancing was no longer as strict thanks to vaccination.

The "best" dishes are the ones which elicited the most excitement, the largest outpour of emotion (usually accompanied by something along the lines of "FUCKING GOOD!!!" in my notes), and the ones which I wish I had endless stomach space for ("I'll have 3 of these"). So here they are in chronological order:

Tuscany veal rack, from MONO - a beautiful bone-in piece which was grilled with glaze from tendons, which made it crispy on the outside along with flavors from herbs. And that was before lathering it up with mole. Chomping down on it on the second day of the year, during my first fine dining meal of the year, made me so, so happy.

Latin evening

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Despite what Ms. French Rocket may believe, I have been a long-time fan of Ricardo Chaneton's. I love that he cooks up dishes where humble ingredients get to shine, and my dining experiences at MONO have introduced to many ingredients which are new to me. I was a little bummed to have missed the first edition of MONO Unplugged due to a conflict, so I was pretty happy to be invited to the second round.

I figured I would run into friends tonight, but it turns out I was practically surrounded by them. Ricardo chose to seat me next to Ms. French Rocket who, upon seeing me, recounted the first time she encountered me. Naturally, it was an episode where I was being the Arrogant Prick, so she told me something along the lines of "I will always remember you". Well... I could have told her that... Everyone knows that I AM UNFORGETTABLE!

The menu tonight was meant to be different from the restaurant's usual offerings - hence the term "unplugged". It would be an education (for those of us who aren't already familiar) into the varied cuisines across the Latin American world.

Avocado and erizo infladita - this was very creamy, of course, since both ingredients of the filling inside - avocado and sea urchin - have creamy textures. A little acidity in the "guacamole".

91 do re mi

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Earlier this year I saw an opportunity to acquire two bottles of wine from auction that would make an interesting pair. 1991 was the last year that Joseph Phelps made an Eisele Vineyard bottling, following the sale of the vineyard to the Bart and Daphne Araujo. Similarly, Araujo made its first wine in 1991, so this was the only year when a comparison between the two wines could be made. There were magnums of both wines on offer at auction, and I made sure to place the winning bid for both lots. I was, however, somewhat surprised that the price of the Phelps was nearly double that of the Araujo. Clearly I had overpaid for the Phelps...

When I took delivery of the wines, though, I was shocked to see that the Phelps was actually a double magnum. That explained the pricing, and I felt a lot better. But I was now faced with a unforseen problem: how would I go about organizing a tasting for these? I had initially planned to grab a couple of friends to pop the two magnums, but now with a DMAG, I clearly needed more participants. And with more people, more wines were needed. It would no longer be just the two Eisele Vineyard wines.

Thankfully I do know a few lovers of Californian wines, and we rounded up a big enough group for a horizontal of 1991 Napa cabs. A friend who often hosts wine tastings made arrangements with Beefbar, and chef Andrea Spagoni put together a selection of dishes for us.

Tuna, avocado crunchy taco - tasty, but I probably should have asked for a substitute instead of tuna.

Pata negra ham: 48 month Simon Martin bellota

70s disco boogie night

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Sankala had an itch she needed to scratch. Having left in the middle of our lunch to attend a work meeting on a Saturday, she felt she hadn't gotten a full taste of what Mono has to offer. We finally decided to pay Ricardo another visit after more than 4 months.

Hokkaido sea urchin / tree tomato / causa - in addition to the tamarillos, we've also got dicd potatoes from the causa delivering some grainy textures, and slightly bitter flavors.  The creamy sea urchin worked very well with the acidity of tamarillos.  Razor clams added some sweetness, and some kiwicha on top provided a little crunch.

Breakfast, brunch, and dinner

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I'm chillin' out at the Rosewood Sand Hill over the weekend, and there's really nothing much in the 'hood.  Pretty much gotta get a ride to go anywhere or do anything.  So it kinda made sense that we would stick around the hotel for most of the day.

I went over to Madera, the hotel restaurant with a macaron, to grab myself some breakfast.  I figured I couldn't go wrong with the challah French toast, which came with some walnuts.

Jack of all trades

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Sometime during the first month when I started to hang out with Hello Kitty in Jordan, we walked past a curious pair of restaurants in her hood.  Both advertised themselves as 'fusion' but the cuisines listed ranged from Indian to Mexican to Italian... and more.  We were curious, but didn't have the cojones to walk through the door.

Months later, over a meal with Rickachu - who happens to live mere steps away from the restaurants - we learned that they had previously tried to eat at V. Dimpal Fusion and Pizza House... but had not succeeded without booking a table in advance.  They had to settle for dining next door at Mala's Fusion Cuisine, but clearly V. Dimpal was the more popular (and presumably serves more delicious food) of the two.  So we made a pact to dine there together.  Somehow we never found the opportunity to make good on our promise.  Until tonight.