A turkey by Curry

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The MNSC boys were overdue for a gathering after a near two-month break, and eagerly anticipated tonight's dinner.  Four of us would be upgrading to four-handle this year, and the Ox was the first to kick off the celebrations.  It's been nearly two years since I first tried out Amuse Bouche, and I was pretty happy to have occasion to return.

After a pretty big lunch that kept the hunger pangs at bay, I was pretty glad to discover that the menu wasn't set tonight.  We had the flexibility to order à la carte, and most of us ended up keeping it relatively light.  Funny that all of us ended up ordering the same two dishes to start, and half of us had the same main course... Guess it did turn into a set menu after all...

We started with some jamón ibérico Lampiño de bellota from Juan Pedro Domecq, which has been aged for 42 months.  A nice way to start, but personally I found that jamón doesn't go well with Champagne... or Chardonnay for that matter.

A reunion of sorts

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Two nights after my last visit, I'm back at Fook Lam Moon (福臨門) for dinner.  No, I did not choose the venue, and I didn't pick it for Friday, either.  I am, however, always happy to come here as the food is of fairly high quality in general.  And there are a number of my friends who are regulars, so I end up coming here probably more than any other high-end restaurant in Hong Kong.

I was getting together with a couple of friends as I haven't seen them in quite a while.  They, in turn, invited a few of their friends in the name of drinking some good wines, and before I knew it we were a party of eight.  As it turns out, all but one of us used to work at the same sausage factory, although in different departments.  Not surprisingly, none of us remain at the factory today (well, one of my friends is serving his notice period...) so this was an interesting gathering...

Dinner here for many of us would traditionally start off with the roast suckling pig (大紅片皮乳豬) - if there are enough people.  This is still hands down one of the top 2 pigs in town for me, given the quality of the crackling.  However increasingly I have noticed that the underside of the pig has gotten over-seasoned, and so my enjoyment of the remainder of the piggy has gone down somewhat.

Fly airplane, New York-style

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Early this morning I received an invitation to dinner from a couple of friends I haven't seen in a few weeks.  They were having dinner with a certain wine personality from New York, and asked if I was interested in joining them.  Since it would give me a chance to see them and undoubtedly involve some good wines, I didn't hesitate to say "Yes".

Upon my late arrival at Fook Lam Moon (福臨門), I discovered that said wine personality had cancelled on my friends.  I think jet lag may have been used as an excuse but in reality the guy had simply chosen to go hang with some other people.  No matter.  I was more keen on seeing my friends anyway, and we were gonna drink some nice wines with or without this guy.  Not having him around simply meant that we were able to yap away in Canto or Mando at will…

Deep-fried tofu cubes (椒鹽豆腐粒) - something simple to start us off.  The chopped chili peppers added just enough flavor without destroying my tastebuds for wine.

Pink and raw

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I don't have many occasions to do business lunches these days, as I normally just get something really simple and (often) local for a quick bite.  Actually, these days I'm likely to be found sitting at my desk having salad for lunch... but that's another story.  Well, I didn't want to have the task of choosing the restaurant, so I was quite happy to go along with the choice of Carnevino.

I hadn't been to Carnevino before.  I haven't been to Mario Batali's other Hong Kong outpost Lupa, either.  Lupa has been panned by every single foodie friend whose opinion I trust - as well as other friends who aren't foodies - and that is no mean feat...  Carnevino fared somewhat better in terms of feedback, but given it's another Dining Concepts restaurant... I was in no real hurry to check it out, at least not on my own dime.

I decided to check out the menu online before my visit.  I had decided to forgo ordering à la carte in favor of the set lunch, and curiously the first thing that caught my attention was... duck confit!  On second thought, though, I figured I should order something with beef... and the choice was between the flat iron steak or the burger.

Poodle kitchen

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It's been a while since I caught up with a friend over a proper dinner, and I miss opening up some interesting wines with him.  For convenience's (and old time's) sake we ended up at The Legend Concept.  My friend is very friendly with the owners of this private kitchen, and has been playing with the resident poodles for years.  And it really has been years since my last visit...

We started out with a couple of White Pearl oysters.  These were kinda briny in the middle, but also sweet and creamy at the same time.