Friday, July 27, 2007

What Happened to Chez Patrick?

Monsieur Patrick was great, got famous, hired and trained chefs, opened a second outlet, and food became mediocre. No...... come back monsieur!!! Stop socialising and get back in the kitchen! (Not that we don't like seeing you, but since we leave late anyway, we can wait till service is finished to speak with you...)

Speaking of service, allow me to divert your attention to the servers. Actually, try your best not to pay attention to the servers when you're there. We were a party of only six and yet they never, ever got our dishes right. Hello, ever heard of a memory, or even some note paper? And you they not pour our wine from tremendous heights? This isn't Indian milk tea, you don't need to pour from afar and create an infinite number of bubbles in my glass. I could go on. But I must remind myself that I'm not in a western country. Servers here were not brought up under western cultural influences. They don't think it's a problem, for instance, that they plonk things on the table and slide it across to you, or suggest a dish to you (which you end up ordering) and then serve it to the person across the table, or bring an amuse-bouche and not explain what it is to you before rushing away... *sigh* Eating out well is so bloody expensive in this city that they should really stop thinking about hogging hefty profit margins from us and start thinking about investing some of that margin into t-r-a-i-n-i-n-g.

Anyway. I still like Chez Pat, but it's no longer what it was...


For more photos and comments, click on a photo or here

Chez Patrick
26 Peel Street (near intersection of Gage St)
Central
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2541 1401

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

My new 'hood - Sheung Wan

Sheung Wan - the first/last stop on the Island MTR line, an 'old' district, the new SoHo, best place to get Chinese delicacies (the likes of dried abalone and frog's ovaries)... it's different things to different people. To me, it's where I work and increasingly, where I hang out after it (though its proximity to Central/SoHo means I'm heading that way a lot too).

Sheung Wan is full of eateries, some famed (such as Kau Kee beef brisket), others just your average local Canto roasted meat place. There are some in between, and those are the ones I've been visiting. Sadly, I haven't found anything that catches my breath yet...

L-R: Laksa at Katong Laksa; sandwiches, salads, coffee etc. at ubiquitous Graze; Duck w blueberry sauce at Palate; Panna Cotta at Palate.

Katong Laksa
8 Mercer Street
Sheung Wan
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2543 4008

Graze
Bonham Strand
Sheung Wan
Hong Kong

PalateG/F 35-37 Gough Street
Central
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2815 6963