Expectation vs. reality

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It's been a couple of months since the three of us met up for a meal, and given the current strict restrictions in place, we chose a place that would still allow us to dine together. Duddell's (都爹利會館) is a place I haven't been to in years, so I guess it provided me an opportunity to, as our fearless leader recently proclaimed, "killing two stones with one bird".

The boys left the ordering up to me, and I don't think I did a very good job in the end. I tried not to over-order but in the end, I'm pretty sure we didn't have enough food.

Shrimp spring roll, bacon, cheese (芝士煙肉蝦春卷) - this was pretty good. I really liked the smoky bacon thrown into the mix.

A golden finale

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A few hours after my big lunch, I joined some friends at a private residence for a dinner that I wasn't hungry for. This was our last MNSC gathering for the cycle, and thanks to the government restrictions it could not be held in a restaurant. The upside surprise was that our food was catered by Woo Cheong Tea House (和昌飯店), the relatively new Cantonese restaurant I had visited at the end of last year.

I was pretty amazed at how extensive the menu was tonight, and I'm glad my friend's home kitchen is properly set up for this... because what we had tonight was pretty close to what we would have experienced had we dined at the restaurant.

We started with a plate of appetizers which, much to our surprise, were four different types of shellfish:

Pan-fried crispy honey glazed oyster (蜜餞金蠔) - this was indeed a little sweet. I also spotted a little bling.

The tiger king

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Mrs. Big Mac is in town for a few weeks, and I had to make sure to roll out the red carpet for her. She has, apparently, never paid a visit to Caprice, so we must make sure that she gets a proper pampering. Thankfully Hairy Legs was kind enough to save us seats at the Chef's Table, so my guests can watch the action in the kitchen.

This was the fifth day of the Year of the Tiger, so we made sure we brought a few lai see and passed them out to the staff for good luck. It is, after all, the holidays... and they're still working hard for us.

Oyster ⟪Gillardeau⟫ celeriac puree and green apple jelly - this was a nice way to start. We've got sweet Hokkaido sea urchin to go with the salty and rich caviar, and then the acidity from the green apple to work with the oyster. Refreshing and whets the appetite.

The new new Nordic

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I have always enjoyed my visits to Frantzén's Kitchen over the last few years, and I felt that the restaurant and its cuisine has been underrated, although they do have a legion of devoted fans. Well, the team left the Frantzén Group fold last month, and Embla is now born in its place. I'm a big fan of Jim Löfdahl's, and I'm happy that he's chosen to stay in Hong Kong and continue to serve up his Nordic cuisine. When I was asked by a friend to join him at the restaurant today - the the day of its official opening - I didn't hesitate to say "Yes".

The location remains the same, but there has been some added touches to the space, which made it feel more welcoming. It has been almost exactly one year since my last lunch in this space, and it was good to see some familiar faces including Jim's as well as Gary's. We were given a choice of the short or the long menu, and of course our group of six took the long option.

Sour milk bread and home churned butter - this was definitely not enough butter... not when The Great One is sitting across from me and "sharing" the butter. Of course we ended up asking for more. The bread was on the sweet side and came with bits of walnut, and I really liked the crust.

Lunar New Year puddings: 2022

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Another year of not going home to Taipei for lunar new year means I didn't spend too much effort in buying seasonal puddings for mom.  Sankala had requested that we get a couple of savory puddings from a restaurant with 3 Michelin stars, while we contemplated getting our usual favorite sweet ones from a neighborhood shop.  What ended up happening was that we were given quite a few of them from friends and hotel/restaurant PRs...

Let's start with the savory ones:

Turnip pudding with ibérico ham and preserved meat (西班牙火腿蘿蔔糕), from Forum Restaurant (富臨飯店) - this was purchased on January 21st, with a "best before" date of February 3rd. Well, it had spoiled by the time we removed it from the fridge and opened the vacuum seal on February 1st, the first day of the lunar new year.

Taro pudding with preserved meat (臘味芋頭糕), from Forum Restaurant (富臨飯店) - same thing as the turnip pudding. Both of these had spoiled. I suppose the silver lining is that they didn't use preservatives, but seriously... these didn't even last until the new year! I want my money back...