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!

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.

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.

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. 

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".

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!