Smoky Champagne Day

Pin It

We enjoyed our first trip out to Koji Charcoal Grill (菊志炭燒) a lot, so when it came time to meet up with Mr and Mrs Birdiegolf, we figured that this was a good place. They liked grilled food on sticks, and this place does a pretty decent job.

Four Sheets and I decided to rehash some of the menu items from our first visit, and with more mouths to feed tonight, we were able to try other items, too.

I introduced the dipping sauce to our friends, and someone was very, very happy... Honestly, it's better than most XO sauces available on the market.

Soy-marinated neon squids (ほたるいか沖漬け) - I chuckled at the literal Chinese-to-English translation... These had nice, fermented flavors which brought out the minerality in the Bollinger.

Occupy Amber: stuffed like a chicken

Pin It

As is often the case these days, it all started with a picture on social media. I saw a picture of the cross-section of a sausage under development at Amber by Richard Ekkebus, and I sent a reaction to the poster. Chef Terry Ho then sent me a picture of a stuffed chicken neck, complete with the head of the chicken. From that moment I knew I needed to try this dish.

I checked with Richard, and was told that it would be part of a menu called Second Life, featuring dishes which have previously appeared on Amber's menu but which have been "re-worked". It was to be presented in conjunction with the launch of 2004 Dom Pérignon Plénitude 2, and available in October. So I roped in Mr. and Mrs. White T-shirt and booked ourselves in for lunch today.

I knew Richard would be off-site today so I got in touch with Terry about the menu. I was more than happy to just have the Second Life menu, but apparently Terry had other ideas... which would be detrimental to my waistline.

I was very happy to have this vegan butter again. I really loved it when we first tried it on our last visit, as it tastes very much like beurre noisette.

The sourdough bread was the perfect substrate to carry the butter, as the acidity and the richness together made for a great combination.

The first-timers

Pin It

I'm pretty boring when it comes to sushi. Unlike many people around me, I actually don't get cravings for sushi. I won't die if I don't eat sushi for months, or even an entire year. And I definitely don't need to have sushi at any price just to have sushi. What this means is that I tend to stick to the same couple of places which can deliver the goods that measure up to my standards. For the past 5 years or so that meant I've mostly been to just 3 sushiyas (鮨屋).

Given Hongkongers' restricted ability to travel during the pandemic, apparently many, many restaurants - especially those serving all times of Japanese cuisine - became booked out months in advance. This is especially true for sushiyas, which are by far the favorite genre of Japanese cuisine for Hongkongers. Places which hitherto were unknown to me were suddenly impossible to book, and one of these was Sushi Mamoru (すし 衞).

A couple of months ago, I finally got curious enough about the place to ask a friend to bring me along. At the time we were told by the chef that the next availability would be "next year", which wasn't unexpected. So I shelved the idea in the back of my mind.

While chatting with a chef at a dinner last week, word was that many Japanese restaurants in town had been experiencing cancellations. I quickly pinged my friend and asked her to check with Sushi Mamoru and see whether there were any openings, and we heard back almost immediately that there were, indeed, seats available for dinner on both last Friday as well as today. So here we were at the first seating...

There were only two other diners present for this seating besides the four of us. Chiba-san started by showing the other guests the grey mullet roe (唐墨) that he was curing, but I was disappointed at the end of the meal when I realized that we were not having any...

Chiba-san had been informed prior to our arrival that Four Sheets and I do not eat tuna as well as any fish cum, and I am grateful he accommodated our request.

We started the meal with some otsumami (お摘み):

Barfin flounder (松皮鰈) - from Hakodate (函館). The wings (縁側) were nice and crunchy.

Night of bony fish

Pin It

I haven't seen the Specialist since some time before the pandemic started, so we are looooong overdue for a catch-up. I wasn't the least bit surprised when she suggested that we go to Neighborhood, as it has been some time since her last visit. Roping in Little Monkey makes this a fun night for our threesome.

I had, once again, asked Shirley to tell the Kitchen Nazi a.k.a. the Man in White T-shirt to give us a free hand when it comes to the food. There were only three of us and we really just wanted a casual meal. As usual, Shirley said that she would relay my request to the boss, but reminded me that she has no control over what he may do.

On our arrival, we were told by Shirley what dishes would be coming our way, and we were asked to choose between two main courses. Well... after we made our choice, our choice was then vetoed by the Kitchen Nazi... So we were given the illusion of choice without actually having one. Kinda fitting for the Hong Kong of today.

Smoked pacific saury / liver sauce - WOW! This looked BEAUTIFUL! I love the smoked fishies here, and I haven't had smoked Pacific saury here before.

White Night

Pin It

The Zhongmeister pinged and told us that there was an opening in a private room at Wing Restaurant (永) for tonight, and asked whether we would be interested in joining. As the restaurant is notoriously difficult to book, and I haven't been back in a few months, I figured we could join them and grab a few more friends for a night out.

We were offered 3 different menus, but with a minimum spending amount to meet, we opted for the one whose price fell in the middle.

I didn't tell Vicky that I was coming to dinner because, well, there was absolutely no need to. I'm neither a loyal customer of the restaurant nor a VIP. And the booking wasn't under my name. Unfortunately, though, I was recognized by Swiss Sung... who even remembered the date of my last visit. So... I spent the whole of the meal wondering whether there was gonna be a little something extra coming my way...

Our seasonal drink tonight was made with red jujube, apple, and hawthorn (山楂蘋果紅棗茶).

We began with four starters: