Six stars in Kowloon

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Chef Sung Anh (안성재) has become a global household name this year, thanks to his part in the Netflix series Culinary Class Wars. Although he was already well-known in the culinary world after opening Mosu in Seoul and receiving 3 Michelin stars, it was only after the airing of the Netflix show that those who don't regularly patronize fine dining establishments became familiar with his name.

Mosu Hong Kong opened in the first half of 2022 while Hong Kong's borders were still closed, and I've had the opportunity to dine there twice - although I've not been back in some time. When it was announced that Chef Sung would be in town for a collaboration with Jimmy Lim of JL Studio - making it "6 stars" in the kitchen - I was pretty excited to see how the menu would look like. I had thought about grabbing a table when booking opened, but hesitated as I was still unsure of my travel plans around this time. Thankfully an invitation came to join a tasting today with other media and "KOLs", and I happily crossed the harbor on a beautiful day for lunch.

I was a little apprehensive about the seating arrangements today, as things didn't work out so well the last time I accepted an invitation to join a tasting at one of restaurants from this group. Thankfully they seated me with the boss man, who got so tired of my company that he started to socialize with guests at other tables...

We started with a few small bites from both kitchen teams:

The welcome drink was a Korean rice wine, with grains of (glutinous?) rice, cinnamon, ginger, and interestingly lemongrass for a touch of Southeast Asia.

The new bastard in town

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The Birdiegolfs have been away on a long trip, and now that they have returned, wanted to meet up to belatedly celebrate Foursheets' birthday. When another restaurant that Foursheets thought we should try didn't have any openings until we hit November, Ahleeso suggested that we do it at Club Bâtard. They've obviously ponied up the membership fee as an early bird, so now we get to piggyback on them.

Now that the restaurant has moved to Central and expanded their operations, it's no surprise that we would run into friends while we were here, but I wasn't expecting to run into the Specialist and BFF.

With Foursheets' new dietary restrictions, we forced everyone to go à la carte instead of following a tasting menu. I think that worked out well for me...

Bâtard's burger - I had been seeing people post about this "duck burger" so I just had to try for myself. It's small and gone in just a couple of bites. The minced duck patty came with slices of duck foie gras, barbecue sauce, and julienned bell pepper. Very tasty for sure.

Singapore in Taipei

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Small Uncle is back in Taiwan for another teaching stint, and wanted to get together before I went back to Hong Kong. Once again I was tasked with picking a restaurant on short notice, once again during the lunar new year holidays. Taking into account mom's dietary restrictions, and remembering that she enjoyed our dinner at JL Studio, I decided to take the family out to Chope Chope Eatery and check out the place.

I didn't read the menu descriptions too carefully, but I figured that Jimmy would not be serving all the dishes in their traditional form. For a young and ambitious chef intent on making a mark - and he has certainly done that - he was, naturally, going to introduce a few twists. I, of course, don't mind new takes on classic dishes at all... as long as they are still tasty and faithful to the flavors.

Gado-gado - as the sweet peanut sauce came on the side, I made sure mom got a good selection of the veggies without the sauce. The tempeh was pretty decent, and everyone liked the krupuk udang.

A day with KOLs: Neighborhood x JL Studio

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So... a few hours after we finished stuffing our faces, a bunch of us are back at it again. As this was an invitation-only event, and on account of me being a nobody and all - at least compared to the others who were invited - I didn't actually know that they had a seat for me until the wee hours this morning. I had resigned myself to the prospect of dining at home and convinced myself that one big meal would be enough for the day, but happy to find out an invitation did materialize at the last minute. This was especially precious because Neighborhood seats far fewer people than the Chairman.

Everyone knows I'm a long-time fan of the Kitchen Nazi Man in White T-shirt, and I really enjoyed taking mom to JL Studio last year. Therefore I was particularly looking forward to this collaboration. Gastronaut was also looking forward to seeing how these two put a menu together, as he noted that he could not imagine two chefs whose cooking styles are more different.

Due to the size of the kitchen, every table waits its turn to receive each dish, and the two chefs would then come and do the introductions. I was seated at Table 3, and when it was our turn to find out what we were being served, the boss simply came and said "bon appetit"... W-T-F?! OK, so I guess we could kinda figure out what the first dish was...

Persimmon / culatello / burrata / Alba truffle - this was a good combo. The creamy burrata balanced out the salt in the culatello nicely, and the really ripe and soft persimmon brought a delicious amount of sugary sweetness to also soften the savory ham. The greens, the balsamico, and the white truffle shavings all played their part to complete the dish.

"Sustainable" cuisine

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I'm pretty free these days due to the fact that I am gainfully unemployed, and one of the consequences of my period of leisure is that I've accepted a few more invitations to freebie events, as long as I found the chefs or themes interesting. PR8 had messaged me two months ago about a so-called "Sustainability Champions Collaboration Lunch" (I love it when he uses big words), and at the time I told him that I was most likely gonna be "picking my nose" today, "so, can".

I didn't bother putting this into my calendar, so imagine my surprise when I received a reminder on this yesterday. After checking old message to confirm that I did, indeed, agree to show up for this event; and double-checking that my presence was, in fact, still desired; and having assured me that I would "sit with the nice people"... I somewhat reluctantly dragged my ass to Roganic for this lunch.

Since the time when I agreed to show up for this event, I had become more wary of all the bullshit around "sustainability". Don't get me wrong, for years I have tried to change the way I live my life in order to be more "environmentally friendly" and "sustainable", and I would love nothing more than having the whole word change their mindset. But I am also keenly aware of businesses - big corporations and small restaurants alike - throwing the word "sustainability" around and not "walking the walk". Cue this recent restaurant visit and this fluff piece on that very same restaurant.

I run into the Man in White T-shirt in his trademark attire on the way in, and pass by a couple of friends sitting together at a table in the main dining room. Today, however, a bunch of us are placed around a long time which straddles two of the restaurant's private dining rooms. PR8 was on hand along with the owner of the restaurant, and soon each of the four chefs participating in this event - Simon Rogan, Richie Lin, LG Han, and Jordy Navarra - delivered a short blurb on their work around "sustainability".

Local figs, whipped ricotta, hazelnut praline, by MUME - the fig from Zen Organic Farm was dressed in a guava vinaigrette that was made with the peeled skin of the guava being used for the pre-dessert later. This was just bursting from flavor. The ricotta was so-so on its own, but worked when all the elements are in the same mouthful. Nice crunch and fragrance from the hazelnut praline.

Four Seasons day part 1: the paper chase

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I got pinged out of the blue last week, asking whether I would be interested in attending a preview tasting. Apparently the First Initiative Foundation is putting on a gala and has invited a few chefs in town to present dishes. The event would be held at the Grand Ballroom of the Four Seasons Hong Kong, which is where I found myself today with a whole gang of KOLs - most of whom I have never met before.

The theme "Paper Poems" is meant to be "an ode to Hong Kong heritage", and I wondered how this related to the choice of chefs presenting dishes at the event. It was explained that, although 4 of the 5 chefs are not native Hong Kongers, each would present a dish from their hometown while paying homage to Hong Kong. This would certainly be interesting.

I was wondering why, at a gala dinner featuring food from chefs helming fine dining restaurants, they would be offering cups of pearl milk tea (珍珠奶茶)… until a little light turned on in my head and I remembered that the local partner of Chun Shui Tang (春水堂) is also behind one of the featured restaurants. Boba tea doesn’t interest me much, but I was happy to take a cup of lemon jasmine tea with fig jelly (愛玉翡翠檸檬茶).

Peanuts for me next time

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The Compatriot is back in town for a couple of days, and we had originally planned to dash over to Macau for a special dinner. Unfortunately our designated driver was facing a crisis, so I made the executive decision to cancel our daytrip and stay in Hong Kong. Well, the Compatriot and I still gotta eat, and somehow we ended up at Whey.

I had never had the chance to taste Barry Quek's cuisine. I wasn't much interested in Beet, and I'm never one to rush to a restaurant in its opening phase and risk stepping on landmines. Over time I have heard some interesting and mixed feedback about Whey, and I did manage to congratulate Barry the day Whey received their first Michelin star. So I guess this visit was somewhat inevitable.

I was surprised to see Dino, who I first came across at Caprice. He was quite surprised to see that I hadn't brought along any alcohol, and even more surprised when I chose to stay dry for the evening. Not wanting to see me drinking just their Nordaq water all night, he very kindly poured me a glass of sparkling jasmine tea.

The restaurant offers just one set tasting menu, with a choice of dessert. We were informed about some optional toppings of truffle and sea urchin, but I turned those down as I feel those "add-ons" are often unnecessary.

Scallop - the crispy tartlet came bearing cubes of diced scallops, with kaffir lime, finger lime caviar, and elderflower.

Not the 50 Best tour day 6: laksa day

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It's my last day in Singapore, and last chance to check someone off the list, so it was laksa's turn. I met up with HaoKouFu again for breakfast this morning at Sungei Road Laksa (结霜桥叻沙). It was a short walk after a one-stop MRT ride for me, so that was perfect.

The broth of the laksa is still cooked in a pot over charcoal, and they still pour the broth into the bowl of cold noodles and strain it back to the pot multiple times before it is finally served. Cockles and slices of fish cake are still standard, as is the generous heap of laksa leaf chiffonade. Noodles are cut short Katong-style so only a spoon is given. I asked for extra broth.

Not the 50 Best tour day 4: breakfast noodles and old friends

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Two days ago PR8 blasted out a message to a whole group of people, inviting everyone to have breakfast at Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle (大華豬肉粿條麵). This is, of course, the famous hawker stall that got themselves a little macaron, and I have heard stories of people lining up on weekends for more than an hour for a bowl of their noodles. Well, I have no interest in lining up for an hour for just about anything, so I hadn't planned on coming here. But the promise was that we would 'skip the line' by special arrangement, and suddenly my curiosity got the best of me.

Word was that this outing was "limited to 15 people", but I know how PR8 works, and sure enough, I counted more than 30 people spread out over at least 4 tables. Even Wakuda Tetsuya (和久田哲也) showed up...

Of course, my day in Singapore can't begin without kopi C... Others, though, took advantage of the offer of beer at 10 a.m.

Not the 50 Best tour day 3: a day of disappointments

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The Man in White T-shirt pinged me last night about breakfast at a hawker stall, and we agreed to get some grub this morning. Unfortunately the skies were a little wet this morning, which made a proper food crawl a little more difficult than usual. Nevertheless, we headed over to Joo Chiat for a few bites.

Mr. Mohgan had sadly passed away since my last visit in late 2019, but I still went to Mr and Mrs Mohgan Super Crispy Roti Prata for my prata fix. But first, a proper start to the morning with a kopi C.

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.

Not the 50 Best tour day 1: I'm with Emma

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I'm back in Singapore for a few days, on my first trip since that short weekend just before the pandemic hit. A certain segment of the world's population are in town for a few days for events surrounding this year's edition of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, but I won't be going to the festivities or the numerous collaborations and pop-ups. I'm in town to catch up with friends, and to taste the local food that I've been missing so badly.

I did happen to be on the same flight as the Great One, Goldfinger, and Giona, and as some of us were staying in hotels near the Great One, we were offered a ride into town by the Great One. We temporarily parked our luggage at the Raffles Hotel as Giona was intent on getting some coffee and grabbing some bak chor mee (肉脞面).

Our first stop was Pinhole Coffee Bar, where they thought it would be cool to have different names for their coffees. This is how I came to have a csold brew...

Taichung hop 2022 day 1: sedap Singapura

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The real reason for dragging the Parental Units to Taichung is dinner at JL Studio. Jimmy Lim (林恬耀) is, of course, now a familiar name on the food scene in Asia - having climbed the ranks of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants and also bagging himself 2 macarons along the way. I was first introduced to him a few years ago in Macau, but as his playground is not in my hometown, it was never convenient for me to go check it out. Well... I'm in Taiwan for a whole 3 weeks this time around, so I figured I could plan a trip. Since Little Rabbit is a regular customer, I asked her to join our little gathering.

The young side of our table took the alcoholic beverage pairing while the old fogeys took it easy. But first, Jimmy very kindly offered us an extra bottle of Champagne so the Champagne Monster could start the meal with a smile on her face... and the old fogeys got to drink it, too!

2012 Huré Frères Instantanée, dégorgée le novembre 2019 - pretty lean on the palate, since it is, after all, extra brut.

Taste of home: Kueh pie tie - in a variation on the classic, we have botan shrimp (牡丹海老), cuttlefish, and shredded carrot and radish... toppped with a ton of herbs like chervil and flowers like chrysanthemum. The dried shrimp flavors were pretty strong.

Taste of home: Rose kueh - the achappam came in a savory variety with green soy beans and pea shoots - the latter delivering very green flavors along with coriander seeds in the sweet pea cream on the deep-fried dough.

3-star trip to Singapore: local food crawl

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While the main purpose of our trip was hitting the two 3-star restaurants, we also wanted some simple, local food to balance things out.  I could have taken The Dining Austrian to a few of my old favorites, but it's always more interesting for someone local to show you places you've never been to.  So I roped in Gastronaut to show us around.

Our first stop was Da Dong Prawn Noodles (大东虾面) in Joo Chiat.  I have been hearing about this place so I was glad this was on our itinerary.  But first, my friend brought us some otak otak...

Singapore hop 2018: the hot new club

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I'm meeting up with Chubby Hubby while I'm in town, and he very kindly invited me to dinner at the brand-spanking-new Straits Clan.  The building used to house the New Majestic Hotel until it closed down and was converted to the private members-only club that it is today, and the official opening was less than 2 weeks ago.  So I changed my original plans for tonight to get an early peek.

We started with a drink upstairs, and ordered a cocktail that triggered something in me.  I think this was an old fasioned, but it had the words "gula melaka" in front.  And I'm like Pavlov's dog when it see those words...  Don't think the chocolate was necessary...

The satays were pretty good.

Singapore hop 2018: ModSin tasting

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For a long time now I have been enamored with cooking which tries to modernize traditional cuisines by bringing new twists to classic dishes while keeping the familiar flavors, and they are often among my favorite restaurants to discover.  Over the last few years in Singapore, more and more chefs have emerged who are planting the flag for modern Singaporean cuisine - or "Mod Sin" - and I'm slowly getting around to try them.

Labyrinth has been on my hit list for the last couple of years, as I found the pictures being shared on social media intriguing.  My interest level only went up after Chef LG Han's restaurant earned a coveted Michelin star.  So I made sure to allocate a slot for dinner on this trip, and asked my friend L to join us.

We were running a little late, and didn't have much of a choice except to walk brisky from Marina Bay Sands across the Helix Bridge to the Esplanade Mall.  We were the last table to seated, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the restaurant was full.

There's a map on the table showing the source of the ingredients for dinner.  This I like very much, as it demonstrates the chef's commitment to sourcing locally.

Singapore hop 2018: hawker center hopping

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In addition to all the nice meals I planned with friends on this trip, I left a little bit of time to explore some local eats.  I was determined to check out a few dishes that I had been sorely missing while being away, and did a little research to figure out where the popular stalls serving the respective dishes are.

I started by going back to Tiong Bahru Market (中峇魯市場).  This is one of the more famous - and touristy - hawker centers.  When we arrived, we were greeted by the not-so-melodious vocals of an uncle playing on keyboards - right in front of the escalator.  Later on we would realize that he wasn't the only uncle busking today...

Our first order of business was coffee, and I ordered up a cup of kopi for Hello Kitty and a kopi-C for myself from 238 Coffee.  I do have to admit that the roast was noticeably heavier, but this resulted in lovely aromatics once you add in the evaporated milk.

Singapore hop 2018: Naked and delicious

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It's Saturday night in Singapore, and that usually means dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Ho.  Mrs. Ho, as always, requested we avoid any fine dining venues.  Hello Kitty, for her part, requested we check out The Naked Finn - which had been recommended by our friend Chubby Hubby the last time we were in town.  So off to Gillman Barracks we went...

But first, we visited the kiddies at the Ho residence, and even managed to pet the bunny again... all the time snacking on some charcuterie Mr. Ho brought back from France and sip on some bubbly.

2005 Louis Roederer Cristal - floral nose.  Easy to drink, but otherwise unremarkable.

Singapore hop 2018: bongwater hit

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After taking a break last year, I'm back in Singapore again for an annual conference.  As usual, I am spending the weekend meeting up with friends and hitting a few dining spots.  Thanks to my flight getting delayed, my original plans to meet up with a friend for drinks had to be rescheduled.

This morning as I was catching up on Instagram stories, I saw that my friend visited a new bongwater natural wine bar.  Naturally (pun intended) I got curious, and since she posted a picture of their list, I decided to scan through it to see if I recognized any names.  Lo and behold (pun not intended originally), there was something listed whose production is pretty small - and the price being charged was somewhere around a 30% premium to the wine's retail price.  I knew immediately that I had to hit this place tonight.

After dropping off our luggage, we grabbed a taxi and headed to Le Bon Funk.  We were lucky to grab a well-lit table - one of only two, I believe - as it had just been vacated.  I asked for the wine list and immediately pointed to the bottle I wanted.

Sommelier Josée Yeomans brought over the bottle and extracted the cork.  I asked her to pour the wine into a decanter, knowing that the wine needed lots of help to aerate.  She also brought us an ice bucket, and left the decision of whether to ice the decanter up to me.  Thumbs up.

2004 Ganevat Les Vignes de Mon Père - a little flinty, dusty, and a little pungent at first.  After 20 minutes in decanter, a hint of honey emerged on top of citrus.  More than an hour later, toasty notes started to come out.

We were also a little peckish, so a couple of small plates were ordered up:

Plus 1 trip to Singapore day 4: remembrance of things past

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I didn't have any firm plans for lunch today, as I was expecting to be by myself while Hello Kitty spent her day working.  I was kinda thinking of getting my hae mee tng (蝦麵湯) fix, but the lunch place suggested by Chubby Hubby wasn't open today.  When Hello Kitty decided to join me for lunch, and mentioned Chatterbox in passing, I figured we could get two birds with one stone...

Chatterbox at the Mandarin Orchard Singapore (formerly the Mandarin Singapore and subsequently renamed the Meritus Mandarin) is a Singaporean institution.  The hotel was brand-spanking-new when I first arrived in Singapore as a young child, and the cafe was famous for its Hainanese chicken rice during my early years.  By the time I was back in Singapore during my teenage years, the Mandarin was a place for us to take our dates - both to Chatterbox and also to Top of the M.  I continued to patronize Chatterbox as an adult, even though my palate had developed and newer outlets had popped up serving better versions of Hainanese chicken rice.

It's been more than a decade since my last visit, and I figured I'd walk down that memory lane again.

But things are no longer the same.  The hotel has undergone yet another renovation, and Chatterbox has been relocated from its street level location facing Orchard Link to Level 5 in the Mandarin Gallery.  The surroundings were no longer familiar to me.

The menu also went through changes - and the prawn noodle soup had been taken off.  I was disappointed that I wouldn't get my fix today.  So I dutifully ordered up the cafe's signature dish...