Falling asleep at dinner

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I ran into a couple of ladies at Catalunya a few weeks ago, and during our brief conversation one of them mentioned that she had never been to On Lot 10.  Now for some reason I am seen by some of my friends as an unofficial ambassador for On Lot 10… so it seemed natural when it was suggested that I arrange a dinner for us to introduce Chef David Lai's cuisine.

As usual, I asked David to decide what he wanted to serve us.  He chose from his new menu, and thankfully kept it to a reasonable number of dishes…

Steamed gooseneck barnacle 'en papillote', samphire, sea kelp and lemon - this wasn't the first time I've had barnacles here, but it was the least enjoyable experience… This batch was just wrong… way too difficult to get to the flesh inside.  We gave up halfway.

Blanche-Neige and the 7 macarons

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The Fat One is in town.  After years of yearning, he's finally opened up a shop here, and we were graced by his presence for a few days.  There was a signing event where people (including a number of my friends) lined up to get their books, macaron boxes and who knows what else signed.  Not wanting to wait around during office hours - and what would I do with a copy of his Macarons book, anyway? - I decided to ditch my friends and head back to the office.

On the way back, I decided to stop by the shop and check it out.  I had heard about the limited number of parfums at the moment, and sure enough there were only 10 on offer.  Well, it was high time I checked out the quality myself, after getting all the negative feedback recently.  So I dutifully picked out 7 to fit in a small box.  In all honesty, I was more excited about having a local supply of the confitures made for the Fat One by Christine Ferber…

After a light dinner of veggies, it was time to inhale.

Half empty

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About a month ago, ILoveLubutin decided to book a table at Caprice for a gathering.  The Fat One was gonna be in town for an event, and a few of us worshippers were gonna meet up for it.  It made sense for us to have a nice little meal together before going.

The trouble with booking meals so far ahead is that plans often fall apart.  People get distracted, often by work, or even travel out of town.  The table went from 8 to 6, and down to a lonely threesome.  As the cancellations were last-minute - and this includes ILoveLubutin having to travel out of town for business - the three of us found ourselves sitting at a table meant for six…

I realized halfway through lunch that I had sat in the wrong seat.  There were two seats at the table which afforded their occupants with a view of the giant rubber duckie - or at least of the duckie's ass, but I chose to park myself somewhere else.  Oh well…

Our amuse bouche was a cube of deep-fried pork knuckle with sea urchin and lentils, sitting on a bed of lentil mousse and topped with fresh sea urchin.  The lentil mousse was incredibly smooth, and had a smoky flavor along with a sprinkle of piment d'espelette powder.  The pork knuckle was lightly flavored with some curry powder.

Friends don't let friends explode

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Don't get me wrong.  I'm blessed to have so many friends around me, who like me enough to want to see me and eat with me.  Some of them are generous enough to treat me to fantastic meals.  But sometimes it does get a little too much, and I have the urge to be anti-social and go into hiding.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, in reality) there are some people I can't say no to...

The Growing Boy has grown too much lately.  I seriously need to cut down my intake, and restart my exercise regime.  I've been trying to go back to eating simple, small meals, but the powers that be couldn't let that happen.  The last 2 days have seen 3 unscheduled meals pop up in my schedule, and despite all intentions to the contrary, I ended up on the brink and stared into the abyss tonight…

Grandma Bear is someone who I cannot say no to.  I no longer remember the original reason for tonight's dinner, but it had something to do with an offering expiring by the end of the month.  Dining at the Mandarin Oriental with Tigger is dangerous, and nowhere more so than Mandarin Grill + Bar.  I should have known that Uwe would not neglect his VVIP.

We started with a string of nibbles, some of which I had already sampled at my dinner here three weeks ago:

Ketchup cookies with shaved Parmigiano

Gougères

Spherical olives

Grand setting, simple food

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A couple of my ex-colleagues were in town today, and wanted to meet up for dinner.  No surprise that the task of picking a restaurant fell on my shoulders, even though one of them used to live in Hong Kong and know the town pretty well.  After some arm-twisting to at least give me some direction, I ended up picking Cuisine Cuisine (國金軒) in IFC.  My last visit was a few years ago, and I wanted to see what things are like nowadays.  After all, these guys have themselves a little macaron… and it's always interesting to see if these places deserve them.

I was flipping through the menu, and some the first things that caught my attention were actually dishes that are classically Cantonese, yet very much favored by gweilos…  I joked with my friends about ordering stuff like lemon chicken, sweet and sour pork…etc.  They seemed to let me order whatever I wanted…

Deep-fried taro silk with Chinese vinegar (金絲珠豆) - a last-minute decision to order something "interesting".  This looked a little different from the picture on the menu, but never mind.  I figured the ladies would enjoy the taro… Basically this was a tower of shredded taro, together with some raw onions and peanuts, drizzled in a light vinegar sauce.  Pretty yummy, actually… but I seemed to have enjoyed it more than the ladies, which I find a little odd.