Freedom in da 'hood

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I was meeting up with the Tiggers again, and this time they requested a dinner at Neighborhood. The Kitchen Nazi is eating his way through the Land of the Rising Sun, which meant I was free to order whatever I wanted off the menu - with input from the family, of course.

French Aquitaine beef tartare / abalone / sansho pepper - there was never any question that we would order this. We loved the chewy texture of the hand-chopped beef, and the abalone slices also delivered a good amount of bite. The sansho (山椒) peppers tickled the tongue very nicely.

This is always better when taken with some sourdough bread.

Occupy Amber: vegan.brown.butter

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Another year has passed and we once again find ourselves back at Amber. It's a vegetarian day for us, and after the lovely time we had last year, we were very much looking forward to see what Richard and his team have on offer. As was the case last year, we chose to go "light" and took the 6-course menu, but of course Richard wouldn't let us off so easily...

Our host generously started us off with a complimentary glass of Champagne.

2013 Legras Présidence Vieilles Vignes - a blanc de blancs meant this delivered a good hit of acidity, lively and full-bodied, with marmalade on the palate and some bitterness on the finish.

Our first amuse bouche was sliced asparagus and asparagus mousse with watercress purée, topped with pomme soufflé and Australian winter truffle. The asparagus was nice and crunchy.

The tiger Chairman

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The Tiggers are back in town after a long absence resulting from the pandemic, and I arranged to meet up with them as soon as I got out of my hotel quarantine. First up? The Chairman (大班樓). I did not realize until during the meal that none of them have ever been here. So my decision to let them choose the dishes - partly based on my recommendations, of course - was correct.

Cherry tomatoes pickled in basil reduction (九層塔甜醋醃漬小番茄) - the basil flavors in the tomatoes were really nice, and the accompanying Korean pear was marinated in wine. Very refreshing way to start our meal.

Diary of a Quarantined Boy part 2, day 7

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Today is the day! The last day! We get out at midnight!

Scrambled eggs ∙ pork banger sausages ∙ cherry tomatoes ∙ hash brown ∙ croissant ∙ sliced fresh fruit - croissant OK, and no real complaints about the other items.

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.