Coffee in Hong Kong - the neverending quest

Good coffee is hard to come by in the SAR (sorry *bucks just doesn't cut it for this ex-Melburnian), so whenever I hear or come across a place that offers the prospect of decent coffee, I'm there in a flash. I was in Mong Kok over the weekend - MK? Coffee? Hmm... I gave it a shot anyway, 'cause (I'm desperate and) I already love this place for its cool selection of magazines (French Archi Digest, Monocle, Jalouse etc.), so I thought maybe the gods of caffeine will pity this deprived soul.

They did not. Maybe they're punishing me for not praying more?

The cakes were fugly too, but I guess I'll give the gelati a try next time...


Lucky I have that primitive Vietnamese coffee dripper thingy at home and Nespresso at work (yes, that is how low I have stooped - actually, Nespresso pods aren't that bad all).

Slowly by Da Dolce
B2/F Langham Place
Mong Kok

Over the moon

mooncakes, literally!

a close up of the "full moon collection":

god.com.hk

A false start - Caprice

Caprice and Pierre - both signature restaurants in HK's top hotels that I hadn't tried, until recently. I'd heard more good things about the former, so I chose it when the opportunity to go haute came along. I don't know what I was expecting - too much, as usual, perhaps - but I didn't come away too satisfied. My first course was amazing - a crab leg salad kinda thing served just a little below room temp. Fresh, yes, but it had a bit more done to it to enhance, heighten, meld (whatever) all the flavours into one lyrical whole. Maybe it was this perfect entree that made me expect too much from my main - a dory bouillabaise. I was expecting a hearty, clay-coloured dish with chunks of fish among some ratatouille-like veg, but it turned out to be a boring hunk of fillet in a fishy consomme. To its credit, the consomme actually tasted quite similar to that clay-coloured thing I'd imagined, but the fish was relatively taste and texture-less and frankly it was just visually boring. Apparently the cheese platter is a must, but unfortunately we had other commitments (in the form of puff pastry, cream and strawberries) so I guess I'll come back next time for an entree and the cheese, if at all.

I also thought the sommelier was a bit pretentious and the chandeliers a bit much... Views are rad though.



Caprice
Four Seasons Hotel
Central
Hong Kong
+852 3196-8860

Milan

where sunglasses are worn on the underground, and...
where old men wear the coolest aviators

Lawry's The Prime Rib - Steak a Break

'American' food to had always meant everything on the menu at Dan Ryan's or Ruby Tuesdays - ribs, huge sundays, and burger-heights reminiscent of the Empire State Building. ('New American' is a different matter entirely). So when Lawry's opened in the SAR, I wasn't exactly in a rush to get there, if at all.

A phone call comes from mother in the middle of a rainy week (we've had a couple of those recently), declaring she was in no mood to be home for dinner, and that we should go to Lawry's. Both were weird requests coming from my mother, who finds every opportunity to frown whenever I tell her I won't be home for dinner and has made 'almost vegetarian' a lifestyle choice. Regardless, who was I not to submit to her majesty's demand?

I wasn't exactly expecting much (Dan Ryan's being the only portrayal of American 'cuisine' I grew up with), but was very pleasantly surprised. Everything we had - lobster bisque, crab shell, 'spinning' salad, beef (Cali cuts) - bar one - apple pie - was genuinely delicious. I don't think it's 'fine' food in anyone's books, but it was mad tasty.

Probably the best 'traditional' American (as opposed to 'New American') restaurant export around. A big thumbs up for the crab shell - which was filled with chunky strands of crab meat, as well as the uber crisp lettuce in the spinning salad - especially in this town where we've sadly become accustomed to limp mesculun with browning edges.

You'll be licking the plates clean and full to the brim by the time you're done with the steak and yorkshire pud, so rest assured that skipping dessert here is no biggie (rather, that would be my suggestion).

lobster bisque; crab shell; spinning salad; cali cut with mash and yorkshire pudding; yorkshire pudding; apple pie

(Apologies about the low quality photos - I took them on my phone - though I must say, my phone seemed to have done a pretty good job despite the low lights)

Lawry's The Prime Rib 
4/F Lee Gardens
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
+852 2907 2218

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Melbourne - Giuseppe, Arnaldo & Sons

Sad to inform y'all that it's been more than a week after I've left Melbourne (in which I stayed for a whirlwind 7 days). One of the highlights of my trip (apart form my cousin's wedding, of course) was an excellent dinner at GAS, the new Terzini place at Crown.

Firstly, they don't take reservations, so my advice would be to go earlier or later (dinner service begins at 6pm) - we went at 9pm.

Location: where one of the Warner Bros. stores were - the space is hence pretty big, and the decor is quite industrial meets retro, with 50s-style tiling all round. Not exactly to my liking, but the salumi glass case just behind the bar area is an ace gawping opportunity.

Menu: large, very reasonably priced (mains come in approx. under $30), split into various sections - antipasti, zuppe, pasta, meats, crudo (raw), seafood, offal (yes, offal is a category), dolci etc. The style of food is casual, hearty Italian - think ragu, braised meats, veal, simple steamed fish etc.

We started with veal polpotte (pls excuse any spelling mistakes) from the antipasti cat., and "hand dive" hervy bay scallops plus sardines from the crudo section. The scallops were mind-blowingly fresh and was perfectly paired with its slightly tangy dressing + lemon juice. veal meatballs were good too, deep golden brown and piping hot from the deep fryer, v. tasty.

         

pig's trotter, scrumalicious scallops, sardines

Mains - two of us had pastas, which were very well done, but the highlight was the stuffed pig's trotter from the offal section of the menu. It was stuffed with lamb sausage, celery, majoram etc. and cooked till the pork skin was translucent and jelly-like. It was delicious, if not a bit too salty - though it does come on a bed of veg (watercress? silverbeet?)

Dessert - portions were pretty big, so we could only fit one dessert in - it was a fresh raspberry, mascapone and vanilla tart. Perfect tart base (like a tuile - crisp, yet cookie-substantial), runny mascarpone mixed with grappa for a slight twang, and juicy berries. Simple yet totally yum!
So all in all I was very impressed (not so much by the sparse/capricious decor, but anyway, I'm not here to eat tiles), esp. for the price. Dinner for 3, incl. a glass of vino each came to A$150, which is a bargain at Crown, and for food and service of that calibre. (Service by the way was swift, though not always perfect, but never annoying).

Giuseppe, Arnaldo & Sons
Crown Promenade
+613 9694 7400

The Landmark Mandarin is NOT owned by the Mandarin Oriental Group. (Thank goodness)

Coz it sucked.
And I love the 'original' Mandarin Oriental.

A scone wannabee that turned out to be more like a tasteless, springy muffin with too much fat rubbed in. Um, they definitely don't share the same cake shop...

Like most 'traditional' afternoon teas in Hong Kong, this came in three-tiers. Except this stand stood on the ground rather than the table. Pretty cool, but unfortunately being cool doesn't make your food taste any nicer. Speaking of cool, the hard surfaces in the 'hip' interior didn't do noise levels any favours either.

The pannacotta on the right, however, was right on the money. Tart berry coulis, light jelly at the bottom and vanilla bean-packed cream in the middle. The only thing worth eating again.

Service was sloppy and uninspiring and coffee was weak. I don't need to spell it out right? Ok fine, B.A.D. (but it was packed! Another HK phenomenon I will never fathom).

MO Bar
Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hotel
Hong Kong
+852 2132 0188

Borgo and Wunsha's Kitchen - SO Hong Kong

I make that sound like it's derogatory. Why do "That is SO New York" or "That is SO Parisian" sound instantaneously better?

Many people are critical of large cities, accusing them as uniform, lacking in individuality, losing its charm in favour or multinational hooha, and so on. To some extent, this is true - starting first and foremost with the almighty golden arches, then to Starbucks and even Krispy Kreme. But then again, like its inhabitants, constantly finds itself in the battle between assertion of individuality and societal acceptance. (Dear anthropologists, psychologists and sociologists, please excuse my naive use of terminology)

Nonetheless it is within this struggle, or perhaps with this struggle as a backdrop, that there breeds another identity that is unique to that city.

What makes Hong Kong Hong Kong? I'd be here till next year if I were to go on with this ethnographic analysis, but there is one kind of cuisine that is "SO Hong Kong", actually, make that "SO Hong Kong, right now".

HKers are increasingly skeptical of 'authentic' Chinese cuisine in HK, as many are now frequent travellers to China and have tasted 'the real thing'. They usually come home with exotic stories about how they saw a snake skinned alive before their eyes, or how the chicken tasted real, unlike the fleshy chilled crap we're being fed from supermarkets. Actually, I'm one of them, but the thing is, do all these people realise that as a result, HK is steering away from what is traditionally believed to be 'authenticity', and doing just as well?

At WunSha's Kitchen, we were served a mushroom sautée in a Korean stonepot (dolsot), soy sauce chicken infused with tea, five spice poached pork with xo sauce, raw turnip and cucumber, and almond sweet soup with white fungi in a baby papaya. All of these were pretty fantastic, though hardly traditonal.

Borgo, one of the earliest in this 'genre', has an awesome signature dish of vinegar marinated fish (fish depends on what's good that day), served cold - shock and horror in the Cantonese kitchen. But it's awesome. Did I just say awesome twice? (now it's thrice...)

And that, is nothing to be ashamed of.

WunSha's Kitchen
33 Wun Sha St
Tai Hang
Hong Kong
+852 2890 1230

Borgo
GB01-02 Tai Hong St (aka Soho East - man I detest that name)
Lei Yu Mun
Hong Kong
+852 8100 8446