Coffee in Hong Kong - Class at Rabbithole Coffee

Siphoned coffee at Rabbithole

Rabbithole has been one of my favourite coffee shops of late, and I've been dropping by as often as time allows since they opened. One day, I took two of my geekiest (and probably therefore, closest) friends and we tried one bean made three ways, just to see what it'd be like. (You see what I mean by geeky?) As we were watching the staff at Rabbithole make our coffees, we discovered flyers in the shop for coffee classes. Originally I was only interested in the hand drip class (since that's how I make my coffee at home and am desperate to improve my skills) but Mike, the owner, aka "The Java Junkie" per Time Out Hong Kong's description told us that the introductory class would see us playing with all his shiny machines and trying out different methods. We were sold.

Time Out Hong Kong - Special Food Issue!

Time Out Hong Kong Issue 103 - The special food issue

The Food Issue of Time Out Hong Kong comes out today. The theme is 20 People Changing the Way We Eat and Drink, featuring local organic farmers, restaurateurs, charities, and movers and shakers in wine, baking, coffee, retail and more.

It was awesome to see Mike Fung of Rabbithole Coffee, one of my favourite places to get a caffeine hit these days (read Charmaine's excellent write-up and Tom's great guide to the new wave of coffee bars in Hong Kong), as well as Jonathan So, who's bringing Hong Kong's first craft beer festival, Beertopia, to Hong Kong this weekend. I won't spill all the beans, go out and get a copy! I'm told it's available at 7-Eleven and English bookshops in Hong Kong (but not all 7-Elevens - those in districts with more English readers, I suppose). As of this moment, it's not online yet, but I'm pretty sure it will be soon.

Little old me is lucky enough to be inside, as The City's Best Food Blogger along with the hugely popular KC Koo, who blogs in Chinese. Needless to say, I feel totally out of my league. My new project, a super-fun farmers' market called Island East Markets gets its first proper mention in the media too! More on that later.

On the cover are Matt Abergel and Lindsay Jang from Yardbird, Bertha Lo-Hofford and Alex Hofford from the Hong Kong Shark Foundation, Eddie McDougall of The Flying Winemaker, Chan Siu-Lun of the Agriculture and Fisheries Department, and yes, that is me in the silver gown (and no, sadly it does not belong to me - thank you D!).

Thank you Time Out, and all of you who read my blog - you guys are the ones that make this sort of thing happen, and you're amazing.

(P.S. check out the reviews inside - Dorothy So reviews RyuGin, Charmaine Mok reviews Lupa, and I review Old Street Kobiteh.)

Peking Duck, Kowloon Tang

Carving up the duck!

I know, I know, I've said it before, I get a bit annoyed sometimes when people come to Hong Kong asking specifically for Peking duck. It's not because I don't like Peking duck (au contraire) but it's the same kind of feeling I get when people say, "it's my first time in China, and I'm surprised by its efficiency," when their only stop is Hong Kong. Yes, technically, Hong Kong is part of China now, but you have not seen China by coming to Hong Kong. To that end, I feel weird saying that I had the best Peking duck I've ever had in Hong Kong.

Dim summing it at Lung King Heen, Hong Kong

Siu mai - pork and shrimp dumplings with crab roe

A good friend from Melbourne was in town last week, and if I ever needed an excuse to pig out, this was it. I called about 5 days ahead to book for a weekday lunch but it wasn't good enough for the only three-Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant in the world, so I before I continue, I must disclaim that my booking for this lunch was made through the very kind public relations department, and you may make your own judgement as to how representative this is of an average meal at Lung King Heen (I'd say it pretty much is - oh sorry, what did I say about your own judgement again?!). Needless to say, this is not my usual protocol, and aside from this, we enjoyed and paid for the meal as normal diners would.

Uno Duo Trio, an Italian home to go to in Hong Kong?

Soft-boiled eggs with truffles

I've said most of what I had to say about Uno Duo Trio in my review for Time Out earlier in the year. The time I visited for that review was my second visit; the photos you see here are from my first.

Eater Hong Kong Heatmap - round two!

Eater Hong Kong Heatmap

I was very lucky to have been asked to submit my picks again to Eater for their Hong Kong Heatmap. If you missed the first one from January, it's here.

The main criterion was that they had to be new since the last round. In case you're surprised as to why there wasn't even a single ramen mention, despite there having been so many ramen openings, all I can say is that none of them seemed worthy of an international mention. If you want to contest that - well, that's what the comments box is for!

It's conveniently mapped and all, so get over there and have a look for what's on the list, and thanks for the having me Eater!

So funny that one of the first comments on Eater under that post was why Yardbird wasn't on that list - it was on the first heatmap, silly! Also shows how crazily (and internationally?) popular YB is!

Yarra Valley, a Day Trip

Vines in Yarra Valley

A couple of weeks ago I was back in Melbourne for a few days, playing tour guide and driver to my aunt, who was there partially for work. it was her first time there and I was eager to show her all the things I love about the state I called home for so many years (in many ways, it still is). The weather, being Melbourne, was beautiful one minute and shockingly horrid the next, so when I woke up late one morning (we never adjusted to Melbourne time!) to find that the sky was clear, I called Bella Vedere in Yarra Valley for a table straight away, and off we went.

Aberdeen Wholesale Fish Market - Fresh off the Boat

Salt and pepper squid

This is from a while back - it was a pre-Chinese New Year gathering with friends old and new (mostly new*!) at the Aberdeen Wholesale Fish Market. It's has had a lot of buzz recently, as the media has suddenly "uncovered" a "hidden", "secret" eatery that is off-limits to the general public.