Stars for peanuts - Wing Lei, Wynn Macau

Wing Lei

We got to Macau at around lunchtime, and our first meal was here, at Wing Lei. (The second meal was dinner at Golden Flower, which I posted just before. Please see that post for an intro to why this trip was made). Wing Lei is the romanised pronunciation of Wynn's Cantonese name, and fittingly, it serves Cantonese food. If you're the star-chasing kind, you might also like to note that Wing Lei has 2 Michelin stars in the 2012 guide.

Celebrity Cuisine - Quintessential Cantonese Luxe

Chicken wings stuffed with birds' nest

We've all heard stories of misguided visitors looking for chop sui in Hong Kong (hey you, the guy looking for Peking duck in Hong Kong, don't you dare chuckle either), but sometimes even locals don't know where to find good, classic Cantonese food. Restaurants like Celebrity Cuisine and Manor are the last bastions of traditional Cantonese fare in Hong Kong. This is one restaurant that the Hong Kong Michelin Guide was finally right about - Celebrity Cuisine is a star-worthy restaurant (although whether it should have 2 stars is arguable). For a restaurant that specialises in the traditional, it's relatively new - didn't open till 2007 - but the chef, Cheng Kam-fu, has been in the biz for more than two decades; he was the private chef of late Hong Kong tycoon, Lim Por-yen.

Second time (still) lucky - Amber

This is a repost from my old blog, back from Nov 2008. I thought it appropriate to add it today, seeing that Amber has finally made it onto The World's 50 Best list (ranked 37). Oh, it's also Michelin 2-starred - not that rankings and guides mean much. Many people don't feel the same way as I do about this restaurant, but hey, food is personal and I happen have loved it long time.

Amber, the Landmark Mandarin Oriental's signature restaurant, has always suffered from a bad rep. Food and service have been substandard for everyone I've spoken to who's eaten there. I, on the other hand, have been twice in the space of perhaps 1.5 years and have always left wondering why no-one likes it.

Memories of my first time there are now quite faded, but I remember my main course of roast pork was beautifully executed - tender, juicy, in perfectly cooked light pink cubes, served with a syringe of red berry sauce that was more like a freshly pressed puree. A magical combination. From then on I subconsciously labelled Amber as a modern European restaurant with signature berry use (yes, these were the exact words that came to mind that day).