Dinner under the stars, HK edition

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I was pleasantly surprised by the dishes I enjoyed at Mian (紅棉) a couple of months ago, and I thought I would find an opportunity to take Sankala here as the mix of spicy Sichuan dishes with regular Cantonese fare would interest her. We had also heard about the outdoor seating available at the restaurant, where diners could bring their dogs along. That appealed to us very much, and we made plans to bring our CC so she could meet up with Piper and Winnie the Chew. We knew that our booking was highly dependent on the weather and that the table would be cancelled in case it rained. It didn't matter. It was dinner with the doggies or bust.

The weather had been a little unstable over the last couple of days, and even during the day I received messages from the restaurant showing me that some of the outdoor furniture was still wet from the rain. Thankfully it stayed dry from the afternoon till evening, and we were enjoy to enjoy having dinner under the stars. Thanks to the weather which led to the recent spate of rain, the evening turned out to be pretty breezy. We sat outdoors in mid-August with no fan or aircon, and didn't even break a single drop of sweat.

I had gone through the menu and chosen a few dishes I thought we should try, which did not include anything requiring pre-orders.

Boneless silky fowl and chicken fillets ∙ spring onion ∙ dan dan sauce (擔擔鴛鴦雞) - I thought this was pretty decent the last time I came, and I thought the presentation was certainly interesting. Sankala wasn't impressed, and thought it was just designed for Instagram. Of course, she doesn't like most chicken dishes in Hong Kong...

My first taste of Chindian

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I have been a fan of The Bombay East Indian Girl ever since I tried her cooking at a pop-up last year. That meal gave me some good exposure to Indian dishes normally not found in typical "Indian (read: Punjabi)" restaurants here in Hong Kong. I've been trying to find opportunities to show up at more of her pop-ups, but timing didn't always work.

When she announced that she was doing an evening with Indo-Chinese cuisine I got so excited that I responded right away. Having worked for Indian bosses, I spent years hearing about dishes with unfamiliar names such as chicken Manchurian. Needless to say, I had zero interest in trying these out when I actually travelled to India. I was too pre-occupied with having "authentic" Indian food while in country - which resulted in two sleepless nights and a house call from a doctor, but that's another story. Sometime over the last few years, though, I became intrigued with the idea of trying Chindian food.

The pop-up is done at Le Chefeteria, with wine pairing for each course. I was happy to be supporting her efforts, but alas she was probably a little too busy to come and explain the dishes to us. So we had to do some guessing as well as some research...

Chinese chaat: prawn bhel - OK, so I've never had bhel before and didn't know what to expect. This didn't seem very Chinese to me, other than the presence of diced spring onions along with the prawns. It was more like a mix of coleslaw, ceviche, and creamy guacamole. Chilled and refreshing, with some acidity and a little bit of kick from chili. I did like the deep-fried prawn cracker on the side.

An Olympics like no other

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The Tokyo 20202021 Olympic Games was always gonna be different.  Having been delayed from 2020 due to the global pandemic, it was finally held over the last 2 weeks in spite of the pandemic still being in place.  In fact, many countries around the world - Japan included - were experiencing a resurgence of Covid-19 cases at the moment.  Yet both Japan and the International Olympic Committee have invested way too much to call this thing off, and I think many of the athletes would probably not want to wait any longer.  So we had the opening ceremonies on July 23rd, and I dutifully made sure I got home on time for the broadcast.

Based on the portion that Tokyo showcased at the end of the Rio 2016 closing ceremonies, I had very high hopes for the Tokyo show. That segment showed a lot of energy, creativity, and infused elements of popular Japanese culture known the world over - including popular anime characters. After all, who could forget former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo (安倍晋三) dressed up as Super Mario?

Saturday night sushi

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Over the past few months, we have gotten into the habit of pre-booking our next meal whenever we dine at Sushi Saito (鮨 さいとう) - just as one does at the Tokyo honten. We figured that we could always find friends who wouldn't mind joining us, and that's generally been true. When our friends who were originally slated to join us tonight had to cancel due to a change in travel plans, we didn't have to work too hard to find others who put their hands up for the seats.

As there were 4 of us tonight, we had the entire front counter to ourselves. So, naturally, there wouldn't be any weirdos nearby I would want to bitchslap - unlike my first 6 visits to this establishment. This has been such an amazing streak since last October, making it 5 visits in a row where I dined in relative bliss!

Salmon trout roe (鱒子) - seasoned with yuzu (柚子) zest. Definitely smaller than salmon roe.

No sushi Friday

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One of the phenomena which has happened in Hong Kong during 2021 under the pandemic is the (somewhat limited) resurgence of the dining scene.  The whole food and beverage industry is, of course, still hurting from the prolonged period of social distancing measures imposed by the government, and some have been hurting since the mass protests of 2019.  However, due to the inability of many diners to travel elsewhere to satisfy their food cravings, the resulting pent-up demand has been redirected to a number of restaurants in town - and this is especially evident towards the higher end.  Certain restaurants are now so popular that a number of them no longer have availability within the 2021 calendar year, and others fill up their available slots as soon as they are offered out to the public, often a few months in advance.

One of these is my beloved Godenya (ごでんや), where bookings open for an entire 1 to 2 month period a few months in advance, and generally fill out within the first day or two. I have gotten into the habit of booking seats in advance just so I can lock-in a date that works for me, and subsequently syndicating out extra seats to friends. I booked tonight's dinner 3 months ago, but somehow I forgot to ask anyone to join us until about 2 weeks ago. Thankfully Fat Donkey and company are available, and it's been a while since this group last got together.

Botan-ebi, shiro-ebi, peach, sea asparagus, shiso-flower (牡丹海老  白海老  白桃  シーアスパラガス) - both botan shrimp from Hokkaido along with its green roe, and glass shrimp (白海老) from Toyama Prefecture (富山県) were sweet as expected. The salicornia and sauce made with shrimp tomalley provided some salt and umami, while the Japanese white peach was really cold and refreshing, with nice sugary, fruity flavors.