Deep-fried nobodies

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Another month, and another review for the South China Morning Post.  Interestingly, when I received the list of suggested restaurants for me to check out, there was something from my hood.  Since very few of the other restaurants looked interesting, and the chance of reviewing something else in my hood in the future is likely to be slim, I jumped on this rare opportunity.  I also roped in my neighbor e_ting, who had just returned from a prolonged absence from our hood.

Jin Cuisine (晉薈) in the Holiday Inn Express Hong Kong Kowloon East (that's a real mouthful!) isn't exactly a new restaurant, but it qualifies for a new review as it changed from serving Shanghainese to Cantonese cuisine.  So off we went!

Not wanting to monopolize things, I asked e_ting to share the ordering duties with me.  Many of us tend to order very specific items when visiting restaurants for the first time, which we use as "litmus tests" to gauge whether a kitchen can deliver on the basics.  I got to see what her tests were.

Sweet and sour pork (菠蘿咕嚕肉) - yes, boys and girls, your eyes aren't deceiving you.  Two Chinese people, who aren't gweilos, walked into a Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong and voluntarily ordered sweet and sour pork.  This is her test, and to be honest, it's a pretty good one.

Flavors of Niigata

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The latest victim I chose to skewer review for the South China Morning Post this month was Ebi-no-Hige (海老の髭) - the first Hong Kong outpost of a hospitality group from Niigata (新潟).  The izakaya features a good selection of dishes that includes regional specialties, which both No Fish and I found interesting, so we picked this place over a couple of others.

The set menus didn't look too interesting as they didn't feature much in the way of Niigata specialties, so I decided to order à la carte instead.

Our server came and plopped the appetizer onto the table and left without any word or explanation.  I guess this is what we should expect from izakayas... or is it?  As it turns out, this was pretty much the case throughout the entire dinner - just about every dish came without any introductions.  I guess since I had ordered every single dish off the menu myself, the staff figured that was no need to point out the obvious...

Anyway, one quick glance and it's obvious why we got this as the appetizer.  After all, the name of the restaurant literally translates to "shrimp's beard", and those are some long antennae!

The Asian Western

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Picking out one new restaurant each month to review for the South China Morning Post isn't as easy as it seems.  I'm only doing it 1 out of 4 weeks each month, so most of the heavy lifting is already done by the regular staff.  Trying to find a restaurant that I would be interested enough to eat in (since I'm putting calories into my body, it'd better damn well be worth it!), and which would be just about brand new around the date of my column requires some juggling.  Sometimes you end up with a coveted choice, other times not so much.

For this month I ended up picking Chef Stage, which is run by local chef Eddy Chu.  I must admit that I was a little confused... because I thought this was run by the same Eddy behind Chef Studio by Eddy.  As it turns out, that place is run by Eddy Leung... so not the same.  Aaaaaaanywaaaaay...

I stepped into the restaurant and found myself alone (other than the three staff) in the dimly-lit dining room.  We were apparently the only table for the night, and in fact Chef Eddy himself decided to step out for dinner. The staff had reserved the corner table for us - with nice views of Victoria Harbor - but I found the space too dark.  Yes, one of my biggest pet peeve is dark dining spaces - both because it's hard to me to take decent pictures of the food, but also because at my age with my deteriorating eyesight, I can't even freaking read the menu!  I asked the staff to turn the lights up as much as possible, and in the end decided to sit somewhere else with more light.

The menu was very short and simple, with a total of less than 15 items spread among starters, soups, mains and desserts.  A quick glance told me that the selection was very "Asian" - meaning the dishes were very mainstream and, honestly, looked boring to someone with a jaded palate (yes, that would be moi...)  Well, I knew this was gonna be a little more "local", but let's see how the food tastes!

Prawn tartar with black truffle - the mottled-looking quenelle may not look like much, but it was surprisingly delicious.  The prawn had been diced and shredded, so there were different textures here.  They've mixed in a little bit of black truffle sauce, which added just enough fragrance to accent and compliment the flavors of the prawn.  Quelle surprise!

The best pigeon in Hong Kong

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Now that the powers that be have decided that they'd like to see me continue skewering reviewing restaurants for them, it was time to pick another one.  Fortunately for me, one of the new places which has just opened up around here happens to be ON Dining Kitchen and Lounge - where two of the partners are people I've known and admired for a long time.

This being a review and all, I didn't want to alert anyone to my presence, so I had my dining companion make the reservation.  As we rounded the corner on the lounge level just before slipping quietly down the staircase, I caught a glimpse of my good friend Jeremy Evrard... and kinda hoped that he didn't see me.  Truth be told, any attempt to be incognito here was always bound to fail miserably, because before I even sat down at our table, Chef Philippe Orrico saw me and came over.  Ahhhh well, I tried...

Soon Jeremy came over to greet us, and wondered why he hadn't seen my name on the reservations list...  I'm glad to see my old friend, looking very chic and relaxed without his trademark suits.  The place is buzzing and I have no doubt they will be even more successful here than at Upper Modern Bistro.

We each got something to drink to start us off.  While my friend asked the sommelier to recommend a glass of red, I decided to try out the ONegroni that I've been reading about.  How many places have you been to where the barman (or shall we use the more chichi term of "mixologist"?) serves you a drink made from his own liquor (vermouth in this case)?  This was made with Mancino Vermouth, and left in clay pot to sit for a day.  This is said to allow the different elements to mesh together, and I gotta say... the result was stunning.  It really was much, much smoother than your average negroni - which could be aggressively bitter.  I didn't want to get buzzed quickly, so I nursed this over the course of dinner.  Very satisfying...

Another salty evening

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Another month, another gem to unearth victim to skewer.  It's been a challenge trying to find the right restaurant that has just opened so that it's pretty much brand-new, yet interesting enough both to me and the general public.  It was harder this month than the last two, as timing changes meant I couldn't try a couple of the really interesting spots.  In the end I settled on Chez Didier Bistro - a reincarnation that has sprouted up in an alley in North Point just a stone's throw away from the MTR station.

There were only two tables occupied when I arrived at the door.  And I stood in the doorway for perhaps up to a minute, wondering if anyone would bother to come up to greet me, while the chef's wife decided that she would much rather keep chatting with the customers at one of the tables.  Eventually a waitress emerged from the kitchen and led me to a table.

It's pretty obvious from the menu that the chef comes from Provence, since Provençal specialties dotted the menu in addition to the "French classics".  Had I done a little more research on the background of the chef, I probably would have ordered a little differently and chosen.  Years ago a friend had introduced me to the chef at Cafe des Artistes, but I had never had the good fortune to taste his bouillabaisse before the restaurant's demise.  And I decided not to order it tonight.  Oh well...

Escargot persillade - my dining companion went for the "safe" choice, and this was pretty decent.  Lots of garlic, parsley and butter.

Classic Continental offerings

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Almost a month had passed since my first review meal for the South China Morning Post's First Served column, so it was time for me to pick out a new victim to skewer venue to try.  The hot new opening of the moment seemed to be The Continental, which took over the space previously occupied by Domani.  Swire not only brought in famed Rowley Leigh of Le Café Anglais as chef consultant, they also brought in the design team behind the Wolseley.  And Da Jam from WOM even punched out an interview with Chef Leigh last week... So definitely worthy of attention, then...

...except... the restaurant was due to be officially open on the 13th, and my column was due in the morning on the 13th.  I called the restaurant to make a reservation, only to be told that they are in their "soft opening" period and everything was "by invitation only".  Having turned down an invitation to join a group of fellow winos for a preview last week, an invitation was something I was clearly lacking.

What was one to do? It was suggested that I simply try to walk in.  Well, I suppose that could work, but I'd need a backup just in case I was refused entry.  So I made a booking somewhere else, trekked over to Pacific Place and hoped for the best.