Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Sushi Shin - Omakase


After an almost month-long hiatus, I wanted to write something before y'all forget about me! Sitting here in my New York City hotel room, there is so much to write about - all of the restaurants I visited in London at the beginning for the month for one, and all the ones I will visit in the US of A after that. But I'm going to start with baby steps, and make a special mention of the superb Japanese restaurant that P and I went to in Hong Kong last weekend, at the recommendation of a friend who used to live in Tokyo - AL knows his sushi!

If you haven't been to Sushi Shin, take a trip down foodie lane and check out this superb establishment in Tin Hau - I've been reading so much about all of the great restaurants popping up in the area, but this is the first (of many) that I've checked out. 


We sat at the sushi counter and opted for the omakase (a Japanese phrase which apparently means something along the lines of "I'll leave it to you"), the chef chooses what you will eat, and how much you will eat. When it comes to raw fish, I usually stick to my favorites: salmon sashimi, sweet shrimp and chutoro (the belly area of the fish, tastier than the akami, but not as fatty as otoro). This tasting menu allowed me to test my boundaries, I gave the chef no limitations - I was going to eat what he gave me. 




Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Skype Cook Off - Apple and Olive Oil Cake with maple icing






Yes. I know. It's an ugly cake. And one should never wrap a plate in tin foil.  

I'm sure you also know as well as I do that Hong Kong is a transient city.  Many friends happily come, and then very sadly, leave. Many of my best girlfriends have come and gone in this matter, scattered to all parts of the globe. And while on some days that saddens me, last Sunday was no such day. I was video chatting with VC (my bestest buddy who flew off with her hombre to Madrid), who loves to cook as much as I do (if not more), and we decided that distance cannot stop us from cooking together - OVER SKYPE! 

VC's been wanting to try Ottolenghi's Apple and Olive Oil Cake with maple icing, and as luck would have it, I have Ottolenghi - The Cookbook at home. And thus, the Skype Cook-Off was born!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

The best martini in town - Blu Bar's Apple Martini

I know it's a bold statement, but I think this may be the best martini in this little town called Hong Kong, and certainly one of my favorites. In fact, the rest of the drinks menu may as well not exist at The Four Season's Blu Bar. Every time the bring over the menu, I politely wave it away, give the server a big smile and very proudly say "I know what I want...."


The Apple Martini at the Blue Bar is perfectly balanced, sweet (but I like it that way), flavourful, and fresh. It's not too strong, which actually works in your favour, because it's so morish you want to have at least 3 of them if you can. Made with vodka and fresh apple puree, then topped with a very thin slice of dehydrated apple, one could almost deem it healthy! The puree gives it dimension, and I almost feel like I'm having a snack at the same time!


And for one more special touch, it's served on a barman's tray, together with the cocktail shaker. They pour it into the glass at your table, then leave the shaker with you, which contains almost another full glass of the martini mixture. Talk about two for the price of one!


Please, do me a favour, go have one, and tell me you love it just as much as I do!


P.S. I apologise for the poor quality photo. I forgot my camera at home, and the Iphone 3 picture quality leaves much to be desired!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Oufti! Ca c'etait un bon weekend!

I was at a birthday barbeque on Saturday night and had some great conversations with new and interesting group of people. After half an hour of being there, I'd already explained my background and how I grew up in Hong Kong.  Then the follow up questions came: 

Q: Do you know TST very well?
A: Um...no.

Q: New Territories?
A: Well, we went to Tung Chung today to go wakeboarding!
Q: Isn't that in Lantau?
A: Um...yes you're completely right. Sorry, I thought you said Lantau (....)

Q: Have you been to the Thousand Buddhas Monastery?"
A: You mean the Big Buddha? Of course I have! (internal monologue: YESSSS! Thank goodness, I won't embarrass myself with this answer!)
Q: No....the thousand buddhas in Shatin...
A: Oh....um...ah...no.

I am a Hong Kong girl, but I should really stop telling adventurous expatriates that I grew up here! It's like the Parisian who has never been to the Louvre, or the New Yorker who has never been to the Empire State Building - it's not going anywhere, so we can always check it out one day
The Dark Side is too much of an effort, and on days where I'm actually inspired to cross the harbour, I consider myself an intrepid adventurer. As for Lantau and the New Territories, as a child I went with my parents to the places of their choosing, with what I consider is essential to really explore - a car.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Roastalicious! Leg of Lamb with roast potatoes and garlic beans.


There is a Sufi proverb that says that food eaten in anger turns to poison.  So surely that means that food eaten in a state of happiness turns to love! :-) There is nothing better than inviting good friends to your home for a catch up over a meal cooked with lots of love. That's why I'm a big fan of roasts - they are simple and easy to prepare, you just bung it in the oven and leave it until it's done. It's a meal that allows you to go out and talk to guests instead of having to constantly run in to check the stove. 

If you're not preparing a starter - I am a huge fan of the appi plate. Just stick a large pretty plate on the coffee table with a selection of olives, bread, cherry tomatoes, and a prepared appi for people to enjoy while waiting for the fat lady to sing. 

This time I prepared ham, a mini mozzarella ball, basil leaf and a cherry tomato :-)

I woke up at 9.30am, made myself a cuppa, and started on my dessert, a classic Victoria Sponge from my current cookbook read, Cook with Jamie. It's a super easy recipe, and very hard to get wrong. I know this for a fact because I don't bake a lot, it's the first time I've made a sponge and it was easy as pie, so to speak.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

My Online Shopping Spree


I've been thinking about writing this post for a couple of weeks, and as a result have gone a bit crazy with shopping online. And before you make any assumptions, no I have not been splashing the cash on Net-a-Porter. Being able to try clothes on, having the satisfaction of walking out of the store with my shopping bag, and rushing home to try things on straight away again are all an integral and important part of the process for me.

But food shopping is a different thing. There are so many seafood and meat items that you simply cannot buy in supermarkets here, unless you want to pay an arm and a leg for them. With a little bit of forward planning, you can have choice cuts on your dinner plate at a fraction of the cost. So yes! I have been a very good customer of online food purveyors this week. 

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Holding onto the summer by a strawberry...

Coco Blanc at Les Halles Market in Avignon
In our modern age of unlimited variety and choice, a stroll around the supermarket allows us to buy whatever we want, whenever we want. Peaches in the winter? Sure! Butternut squash and brussel sprouts in the summer? No problem! Even though choice is convenient, it's nice to be encouraged by the seasonality, to use different ingredients and like a wardrobe switch from light and airy to warm and comforting.  Hong Kong local supermarkets (not the City Super variety) do tend to follow seasonal availability to a certain extent - I for one am waiting with eager anticipation for Wellcome to start stocking pomegranates again! 

But yesterday, after a typhoon and with the air starting to get cooler, I wanted to fool myself that it was still summer. I stepped into my local Wellcome to buy punnets of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries for a summer berry meringue, but there were no raspberries or blueberries anymore! Alas, there's no denying it - this signals the end of the summer, and the start of pumpkin soups and beef stews.

Handpicked blueberries in the forest, Saint Albans sur Limagnole
There were, however, still LOTS of strawberries! Some of them still half green, but if you go through all the punnets like I did, you find a couple of decent ones. So my "Summer Berry Meringue" turned into a "Strawberries Galore Meringue".

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Chocolate Marquise Cake


It was my mother's birthday yesterday, so I wanted to make her a really special chocolate cake! Trouble is, I've never made a chocolate cake before. I absolutely adore the chocolate marquise cake at Starbucks...yes, I know it sounds wrong - but try it and you'll see what I mean! It's super sweet and has insane amounts of icing on it. Eating it by yourself is so bad but oh so good! 


I adapted this from a Japanese cookbook recipe I found online, so I had to do a trial of this cake before serving it to my mothers friends. My family will always forgive me if I do something wrong, but dinner guests will never forget! It's a good thing I did too, because so many things went wrong ... the cake was flat, not moist, and can you believe it - I forgot to add the butter!! 

Madame Sixty Ate

After discovering that Linguini Fini doesn't take reservations, we decided to go to Madame Sixty Ate for dinner on a Tuesday night. I dined with 3 girlfriends, and a colleague of one from Bangkok who was in town for a few days. This lady looked amazing, has two children (the oldest 13!), runs marathons, and she doesn't look a day over 32. I'll eat whatever she's eating, thank you very much!

The restaurant is nicely laid out with good space between tables so you don't feel like other people are intruding on your conversations - great for a catch up dinner or an intimate date. The kitchen is open and you walk past the chefs busying away on the way to your table. I'd heard about this restaurant many times, and each time was a raving review - however, I couldn't for the life of me remember what the tag phrase was that everyone mentioned. So when asked our very attentive waiter where the chef was from, he explained that he used to be culinary director at the W Hotel (Ah! That's what it was!"). "You mean the guy with the crutches in the kitchen?", one of us asks. Turns out that he was in a serious bike accident where his bike collided with a minibus (bleeping minibuses!!), and he'll be in recovery for 6 months. Anxious to get back to it, he left the hospital after 5 days and went straight back to the restaurant, where he sits on a bar stool conducting the kitchen likes it's an symphony orchestra. Now that's what I call a dedication to food!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Drink wine


When writing a blog, there is a little bit of hesitation when it comes to how much you reveal about your personal life. After all, a blog is essentially a diary with a theme, one can't help but talking about their life, friends and family along the way. At the moment this is just the beginning, and of my 10 blog members :-), 9 of them are close friends. I woke up this morning to find a new member, someone who I don't know (hi, Dang Minh!!), and that is quite exciting in the fact that I realise that perhaps I may be reaching out to a wider audience then just my lovely friends! But it also makes me think about how I'm going to mention them in this blog without outing them by name. After last weekend (which involved LOTS of alcohol), I had a lightbulb moment of inspiration and thought it would be fun to name my friends after drinks and cocktails. I seriously put a lot of thought into them! Then I thought that's a little naff.... so I'm sticking to the boring initials until I think of a less-naff idea.


What an incredible weekend of excess it has been! It was spent with lots of different friends, in varying settings, doing all sorts of things - it was all spread evenly across the board. Really and truly a great 2 days. It has made me think of a poem that VC (I was going to a.k.a her as 'Veuve Cliquot'...) mentioned to me, from an adaptation of poems by Omar Khayyam, called Persian Love:

Drink wine, it's what remains of the harvest of youth - the season of roses and wine and drunken friends. Be happy for a moment, that moment is your life.







Tuesday, September 13, 2011

I LOVE financiers!

And no, I don't mean the types that work at IFC. I mean the sweet, almond-buttery French teacakes that are so versatile and so easy to bake that I almost feel like I'm tricking people when I make them. I've read that they were first made in the late 19th century by a pastry chef whose shop was close to the Paris Stock Exchange, and originally financiers were baked in rectangular molds that were said to resemble bars of gold, hence the name.

Monday, September 12, 2011

I cheated last night...

I did something on Saturday night that made me feel like I should hide my head behind a menu...I cheated. I went out with P for a dinner/movie night, and we had a craving for Korean food. Now, when it comes to Korean food, I am true to only one restaurant: Arirang Korean Restaurant in Times Square. Believe it or not, having lived in Kong Kong for 15+years, it's the only Korean I've ever been too (not including a cheapo all-you-can eat place). I have my reasons, namely that it's one of my best friend's mothers restaurant and I grew up eating bulgogi, bibimbap, banchan and panjeon at Arirang. And another being that it's truly amazing food.

But to my horror, Arirang was fully booked!! So I had no choice but to try something else, and we went with Kaya, right across the road.