Tomahawk Time at Grand Hyatt Steakhouse, Hong Kong

It was G's birthday and there are few things my personal anti-foodist loves to eat more than steak. The Grand Hyatt Steakhouse has been on my to-try list forever, but like the many other lists in my life, I don't often refer to them (cue self-help guru).

It's notoriously popular, but it being a Sunday night, I decided to give them a call and try my luck. After I gave them my contact phone number, it appeared that they had me on the system (freaky, but cool) and I was told that there are normally two sittings but I could get a 7.30pm booking bang in the middle of them. I guess I'm on the special pain-in-the-backside or those-idiots-they-call-bloggers list. It was awfully nice of them, and I think they have me on the system because I've been a Hyatt Gold Passport member for a while and stayed at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong recently (a junket), but to be honest I'd be just as happy either way.

Disclaimers done, let's get onto the food.

Be-juiced - a Juice Detox from a Foodie's Perspective

Bejuiced's six juices (one day's worth of juices)

I did a 3-day juice detox recently. Not the hardcore kind where you make juices at home out of kale and wheatgrass all day, every day. I went the lazy convenient and curious first-timers route of purchasing 3 day's worth of juice from a juicing company. The three companies on everyone's lips are The Genie Concept, Punch Detox and Be-juiced. I chose the latter simply because they were at Island East Markets, and I convinced some friends to taste the juices there before we decided to take the plunge. We managed to get 10 people, and got a group discount, hurrah (so Asian).

I should explain why I was interested in juice detoxing in the first place. Some people do it to clean out the toxins in their system, others do it to lose weight, for better skin etc. etc. I don't really care about these things, and don't really believe in the concept of "detoxing" per se*. I did it because I was told that a juice detox cleans out your palate - that by the end of it, your tastebuds would be able to taste everything. (Nb. this is not a claim that the juicing companies make, I got this idea from other detoxers). That was enough to get a foodie interested.

Eat Your Words - Food Critics Cook for Charity!

5 Food editors
5 Chefs
5 Course dinner
125 Critics
All for 1 fantastic charity

You've read our reviews, now see if we're actually worth our salt!

For 1 night only, 5 food writers will be paired with 5 chefs and put to the ultimate test – serving a 5 course dinner to 125 critics at The Salted Pig!

Who are the critics? Well, you, the public of course.

You will be invited to “crit” each course on its merits - a turning of the tables so to speak - and a challenge for our favourite food critics to eat their words!

It is all for a bit of fun, of course (you can even watch us bumble about in a commercial kitchen from live cameras in the restaurant), and, most importantly, it's to raise money for local food charity Foodlink, to alleviate food wastage and hunger in Hong Kong.

The 5 teams are (in order of course/dish appearance):

• Alicia Walker of Foodie Magazine with James Black of The Salted Pig
• Janice Jann of Time Out Hong Kong with Arturo Melendez of Chicha
• Janice Leung Hayes (that's me!) of e_ting with Anthony Fletcher of The Pawn
• Adele Wong of HK Magazine with Jason Black of Shore
• Ale Wilkinson of The Dim Sum Diaries with Gregoire Michaud of Bread Elements

And check out the fantastic auction prizes, including:

• A pastry and bread master class for 10 people with Gregoire Michaud and his team at Bread Elements
• A rooftop dinner cooked by Anthony Fletcher at The Pawn 
• A meat cooking class for 10 people with Jason Black at Pantry Magic, with a little goodie bag for each person from Pantry Magic
• A HK food tour led by me, as part of Little Adventures in Hong Kong
• A cheese and wine pairing for four people at the Caprice Cheese Room at the Four Seasons Hong Kong
• A $1000 gift voucher for dining at Yardbird
• A two-night stay for anyone visiting HK at the J Plus Boutique Hotel in Causeway Bay
• A custom-made chef uniform by Chefworks
• A blind date with the gorgeous Ale Wilkinson of The Dim Sum Diaries

That's me in my Chefworks uniform! (Just trying it on for size, not my team "colour" hehe)

Tickets are $888 for the 5 course dinner, including a matched beverage with each course, it's communal seating, and you'll also get an Island East Markets tote bag filled with goodies!

Tickets are available for purchase from today onwards exclusively at The Salted Pig, 2/F, The L Place, 139 Queen's Road Central, Central.

Proceeds from the evening will go to Foodlink.

Additional beverages will be available for sale during the evening to the thirsty!

Date & time: Monday June 24, 2013, 7pm
Location: The Salted Pig, 2/F, L Place, 139 Queen's Road Central, Central
Tickets: $888 each, including a matched beverage for each course (you can buy additional beverages at the restaurant) All proceeds will go to Foodlink.
Buy tickets at: The Salted Pig, 2/F, L Place, 139 Queen's Road Central, Central.

Tickets are limited, so purchase now now for a communal evening of food and fun!


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Standing Chicken, and More Cantonese Calories at I Delicious

Standing Chicken, or Gentleman's Chicken (or really, crispy skinned Chicken)

When I was shown a picture that was very similar to the one above, I said two things. 1) Where is it? and 2) When are we going? The first question was actually unnecessary because I honestly don't care if I had to be taken there blindfolded, that chicken was too cute* to miss.

Ta Pantry - A Private Kitchen That's Worth It

Petite fours on tableware in Esther Sham's signature pink

After whining continuously about the private kitchen scene in Hong Kong (and how really, people shouldn't get so excited about them - they shouldn't be differentiated from regular restaurants), I figured I should be a good sport and write about a private kitchen that is worth your trouble (and cash).

Ta Pantry was opened by Esther Sham, who, when she first started the private kitchen, was a very good amateur chef. Her old location in Wanchai could only sit one party a night, and it was often full, which also meant she had plenty of chances to perfect her cooking. She also staged at Amber, and took a few months off to stage in France last year. Upon the opening of her new and much larger space in North Point, shared with wine cellar Hip Cellar, we went to check her out again.

Guest blogging for Hong Kong Tatler Dining

With the ridiculously small amount of time I seem to spend on this blog, you might be kind enough to wonder where I've gone. Aside from Island East Markets, I've been doing lots of writing, and have picked up a guest blogging gig with Hong Kong Tatler Dining, which nowadays, is becoming one of the best sources of Hong Kong food news & reviews, mostly thanks to the new leadership of foodie and food journalist extraordinare (and friend) Charmaine Mok.

Generally speaking, I file one blog a month (or a month and half...) and so far here's what's been published, with a new one on food movement movies coming very soon.

You'll find all of my posts here, but don't forget to check out the fine company I'm in, including the brilliant Shane Osborn, head chef at St Betty, Classified's new cheese expert Celine Watine (who replaced my heroine Wendy Wu), and one of the hippest restaurateurs in town behind Blue Butcher and so on, Malcolm Wood.

I leave you with an excerpt of one of my posts, What Went Wrong with Hong Kong's Food System?

Some of us like food more than others, but no one can deny that it’s a necessity. So, it’s bizarre how little time is spent understanding how food arrives on our tables. In an attempt to paint an overall picture, I’m going to present a series of figures about how much food we import, grow and waste in Hong Kong. Brace yourselves, because this picture ain’t pretty.

Around 90 per cent of the food we consume in Hong Kong is imported. When it comes to fresh food, the figures are even higher at around 95-99 per cent, with most of it coming from mainland China.

Due to climate change, China’s food production is projected to reduce by 5-10 per cent within the next two decades. In a country that is home to 20 per cent of the world’s population, this is a huge issue. When that time comes, the chances of sufficient stores of food coming to Hong Kong can only be described as slim.

Continued on Hong Kong Tatler Dining >

Le Marron - A "French" private kitchen in Hong Kong, the land of compromise

Duck breast a l'orange (I think)

Le Marron is my standard answer to the question: "Where do I go as a party of 6 (or more) for 'Western' food? Oh and it has to have free corkage".

Everyone thinks private kitchens don't charge for corkage - that couldn't be further from the truth, so there's no real advantage to them (apart from the "secret" element). I've said it once and I'll say it again - most private kitchens in Hong Kong, especially non-Chinese ones, kinda suck.

Taipei - Jin Feng Luroufan (Braised Pork Rice)

Luroufan at Jin Feng

There are a few signature or staple dishes in each city - some seem geared towards tourists (egg tarts in Hong Kong - not that locals don't like them, we just don't eat that many of them), while others truly live in people's subconscience and and are eaten by locals on almost a daily basis. To me, an example of the latter would be luroufan in Taiwan, or braised pork rice.

On previous trips, I had been introduced to Formosa Chang, or "bearded Chang" in Chinese (鬍鬚張), which, in my untutored opinion, is a very decent chain, but I decided I'd go looking for more options, just to compare (this will sound familiar to food nerds...).