Bonkers for Bivalves - Oyster Station

Il Vino dei Poeti Prosecco

I really love Oyster Station, and although many oyster lovers know it well, there are many who are oblivious to it's location. It's a tiny little hole in the wall on Bridges Street, just past Oolaa. With about 8 bar seats and perhaps 10 to 12 table seats, the open kitchen takes up much of the establishment.

It's become a staple favorite of a French girlfriend and myself for a quiet tête-à-tête over a light meal. The first time we ventured in was because Yardbird was full and we didn't want to wait the 45 minutes for a table. Next door we had spotted this little gem - the restaurant was full, so Manager Jesse sat us on a small, rickety table for two on the roadside pavement. There we were, with a gold-coloured bottle of prosecco and a dozen oysters, feasting like queens - it was such an unlikely situation and yet so typical of Hong Kong, where every now and then you discover amazing food and incredible ambiance in the least likely of places.

Jesse's selection of oysters for us, served with a classic cocktail sauce and also a cucumber sauce -  quite refreshing! Extra shallots for the red vinegar was available on request

Seeing Stars: 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana

I went to Otto e Mezzo Bombana for the 3rd time this month, the first was for a quick late dinner with PB. We strolled in at 9.45pm with no reservations, and the manager, Mr. A, kindly let us take a seat for the last order at 10.30pm. My mother then made a lunch booking in advance with no one in particular (seeing that reservations are increasingly difficult to get), anticipating that someone would go with her - that someone ended up (gladly) being me! Finally, we went again for Valentine's Day lunch on Tuesday (with PB, not my mum). Each time was a well-rounded and tasty experience.

Otto e Mezzo opened in January 2010 and was awarded two Michelin stars within two months. Dare I say that this new rating was perhaps not 100% due to 8 1/2's magnificence on the global Michelin stage, but also due to the relatively new presence of the Michelin Guide in Hong Kong. But The Guide can give, and The Guide can take - what is more notable is that 8 1/2 has not only kept it's stars, but collected a third in December 2011, making it the only 3 star Italian restaurant outside of Italy.

The lunch set is $360 for a starter and a main. It's not the most affordable lunch on the block but hey, for a 3-star lunch, it's a bargain! You can add an extra $80 for a glass of red or white, and/or $70 for a dessert, there are 3 choices for each course.

The bread basket: tomato focaccia, sour dough, olive bread and my personal favorite, the salty crisp bread.

Starter: Taiyouren organic egg with cauliflower emulsion and roasted herb bread.

Valentine Aphrodisiacs

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those Hallmark Card-pushing, flower-needing, $2500 meal-eating kinda gals. I believe in love, and I also believe that Valentine's Day is more of a treat for flower sellers and restaurants than it is for a couple.

In fact, Valentine's Day has the potential to be a recipe for disaster. On the way home yesterday, I drove past a couple who were pacing on the street, obviously distressed and arguing. She didn't have any flowers in her hands. I then happened to walk past the same spot 30 minutes later ... they were still there, and he was saying in a pleading voice, "can we please just go and eat somewhere??". Obviously, he had not made dinner plans either. That guy was in BIG trouble.

Should love be celebrated specially on one day? Sure, why not? A romantic (or someone who has forgotten to buy flowers) would say that love should be celebrated every day, and so it should - but why not have a day when you REALLY celebrate it WELL. Forget the cards, the flowers, the expensive Valentine's Day set dinners where you sit elbow to elbow with other couples doing the couples thing - do nice things for each other all day just to show them that you care!

I was completely spoiled, and came home on Monday night to a beautiful bouquet of flowers that he chose personally! Naturally, my romantic gesture involved food. I made an aphrodisiac inspired dinner for my Valentine, chocabloc full of ingredients that make you go mmmmm...


Puree of Cauliflower Soup with ♥saffron♥-buttered tiger prawn, leeks and ♥caviar♥

Seeing Stars: Tasty buns and tonic medlar @ Tim Ho Wan

To dim sum, or not to dim sum? If it is 1pm on a Saturday or Sunday and you have just woken up with a mean hangover and only a vague recollection of what time you got home the night before - then this question is moot. If there is a reaaally good dim sum restaurant in the vicinity, then the need or desire for a chippy, kebab shop, greasy spoon or hot dog stand simply ceases to exist. Dim sum is not only the perfect hangover cure, it is a great meal to share with family and friends: you can order slowly and gradually to savour the food as well as the company, and try a bit of everything. It's a perfectly balanced meal (a bit of fried stuff + a bit steamed stuff + a plate of green stuff = a relatively guilt-free meal), AND you can drink copious amounts of tea! Have a cup of long jing (Dragon Well) tea - HT recommended it once as the best hangover tea and I have never looked back.

Wild Rose D-tox, Day 11 & 12: Losing steam...

Some say that Day 3 or 4 are the hardest when you are dieting or on a detox. Any sort of limitation always gets you thinking more about exactly what you cannot have.

Lunch on day 11: Pan-fried tofu with African Chicken sauce and baby bok choy with garlic

But I say the hardest days are the final ones. After all the days of hard work, towards the end of it you start making excuses for little cheats, you say to yourself, "There's no harm if there is a little bit of vinegar on my salad, is there? The kitchen made a mistake, and I can't very well send the dish back just because I neglected to mention that my detox stipulates that I shouldn't eat it...?" Or you start getting very confident, and when your friend asks you if you can come to a wine tasting dinner that he's organising, you feel confident that you can sit there and watch everyone drink, talk about, and enjoy glass after glass of wine - "Sure! I've come this far, of course I'll be able to drink Perrier all night!"

Yeah. Right. That would be a big N-O. That's where I lost it last Friday night, sitting in Red Tavern with 5 other people and 5 bottles of wine. 

Wild Rose Detox, Day 9 & 10: African Chicken Stew for the soul

On Day 10, I wanted to try a new tasty recipe. After days of salad and salmon, salad and chicken, salad and salad, I needed something complex, with layers of flavour, something warm for this freezing cold weather, and something comforting. At the same time, it needed to be light, and more Section 2&3, less Section 1 (if you're wondering what I'm talking about, click here) . I came up with African Chicken Stew - vegetable based, with no cream or wine. I found a wonderful recipe that could be played with to adhere to the detox. The main building blocks are onions, tomatoes, chili and cumin. It's a stew that's so healthy, it smiles :-)

AFRICAN CHICKEN STEW

For 4 people, you'll need: 

One medium (1.3kg) chicken

4 tomatoes

4 large chilies

2 onions, finely chopped

4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

5 cm on ginger, finely chopped

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 bay leaf (optional)

Salt, to taste

300ml water (or homemade chicken stock)

3 tbsp olive oil 

Wild Rose D-tox, Days 4,5,6,7 & 8: More slacking, less cooking

 恭喜发财！新年快乐！

身体健康！万事如意！

If I may take a little break from the matter at hand, I'd like to wish Happy Chinese New Year to everyone! May this lucky Year of the Dragon bring happiness and good fortune to you all. I've just been online to try and determine what sort of year this is going to be for me. Despite the fact that I'm half Chinese, I don't really know much about solar and lunar calendars, what my ba zi  element is - I only just found out there is such a thing as a ba zi element when I went online and googled my fortune...! 

If you, like me, are interested in a basic analysis of your fortune this year but the only thing you know is your zodiac sign, this is the website I was directed to. You can use this link to find out what your true element is, and whether it is weak or strong. I'm not sure in the slightest that it's actually accurate, but it turns out that this is supposed to be one of the best years for me, a weak yang Wood Rooster :-)

I must say I feel I've let you down a bit and have lost a bit of momentum in my creativity, in terms of the food that I've been preparing for this blog. I was hoping that I could come out with recipes that made you go "WOW!" every day, but some days, all I feel like eating are a simple salad or a piece of fruit.