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

Berlin - Currywurst, Bandol Sur Mer, Gugelhof

Berlin was a.w.e.s.o.m.e!

Didn't get subzero temps, it was surprising warm (prob averaged about 0-8 celsius), while closer to home it was freezing. BA lost my luggage at Heathrow, surprise surprise, but anyway, that's not of much interest to you, I'm sure.

What may interest are a few things...

1. Currywurst wasn't that bad - it's just a sausage doused in very sweet ketchup and light sprinkled - yes - with curry powder, like icing sugar on a tart. Man, I was almost hoping I'd have an ewww story...

2. It's kinda sad, but I have to admit, Brad Pitt knows his food. Bandol Sur Mer rocked. We were so full already, but when we (or rather, my boss) saw the slab of steak sitting in the ingredients tray, he knew he had to get it. I'm glad he did, coz I got a couple of bites too haha. It's a teeny weeny shoebox of a place - not much decor to speak of, but the amazing thing is that they haven't even had their 1st anniversary, yet the fitout makes it look like all the staff were born there.

3. Bill Clinton knows his food too. Gugelhof was great! I don't even like boudin noir (blood sausage), but theirs was great - full of cinnamony spices. We had choucroute and the pork (loin?) was awfully tender, flavoursome and presentable too - baby pink and glistening like a lightly perspiring young face under the spring sun. And the sauerkraut - I have to confess that I already love this stuff - I even eat the overly sour ones - straight out of the jar - but this sauerkraut was goooood, and even those little waxy boiled potatoes on the side were nice. Wonder if Hillary would cry over the choucroute at Gugelhof? I almost did.

4. I forgot to bring my camera and my phone charger, so I couldn't take photos of any of the abovementioned things. Sorry. Couldn't get photos until the last 3 days of the trip when they found me a charger, so I could at least take photos with my phone...

Bandol Sur Mer
Torstr. 167
Mitte
+49 30 673 020 51

Gugelhof
Knaackstr. 37 (corner Kollwitzplatz)
Prenzlauer Berg
+49 30 442 92 29

When we're rolling in it - Tai Sheung Fishing Village Seafood Restaurant

King prawns, huge garoupas, shark's fin. That's your average Hong Konger's idea of a banquet. In the early 90's, when the economy was growing (unhealthily, but what did we/they know), people boasted and said they'd have shark's fin tossed with rice (yu tsi loh fahn) every day.

I had all the abovementioned 'delicacies' last night, but it wasn't a special occassion, and we weren't at a particularly glamourous place either. And yes, I did mix my very own claypot of shark fin into my rice.

The almightly claypot of shark's fin.


Dumpling (shui gao); sweet & sour king prawns, looking a tad sadder than they were. An interesting honey-ish sauce that only just coated the surface, in place of the usual death by drowning of gwailo tomato ketchup concotion, or the fluro orange stuff (although, I have to admit, I do like that stuff when it's done well)

And after all that 'indulgence' and 'vanity'? I didn't have to pay, but didn't have to leave to guilty either. (There was more - fish and chicken etc. but forgot to take pics). All up, less than HKD200/head. All sweet and no sour.

nota bene: This is olde schoole HK, so don't expect much service. And as it's one of those places with live tanks outside, I'm guessing they try and scam gwailo too. Unfortunate but...

Tai Sheung Fishing Village Seafood Restaurant (太上漁村海鮮酒家)
197 Sai Yeung Choi St North (opp. Police Sports and Recreation Centre, round the corner form Boundary Street)
Prince Edward
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2778 6231 

Bad photos, decent food - Le Marron

Here's another 'private kitchen' for ya. Located above a PC games place in a commercial building in Causeway Bay is this surprisingly well fitted out French restaurant with fairly decent food.

The interiors, I had decided on the night, should be called 'shabby opulent', that, unlike it's 'chic' sister, is more lacy and Victorian, but nonetheless seemingly haphazardly put together.

Despite all this lace (or perhaps because of it), it's not such a great place for that romantic candlelit 6-and-a-half month anniversary. Tables are all partitioned with lace drapes, but basically it's a large apartment with wooden boards all round, the perfect springboard for bouncy sound waves.

The menu is surprisingly large, considering most speakeasies have set menus, but it's probably because this place does more covers - it's almost impossible to book on the day - you'd be better off booking a week ahead!

L-R, from top left: beef carpaccio; escargot; duck confit (a little too salty for my liking, but quite tender); kurobuta pork (very juicy, nicely done, shame about the thick gravy thingy); grand marnier souffle (forget it, looks ok from the outside but was undercooked and tasted like diluted cough syrup); a bad latte.

apologies about the inexcusably bad photos... i really shouldn't rely on my camera phone so much and start bringing my real camera out with me again...

nota bene: minimum per person is $280 - so choosing your meal requires a bit of mental jigsawing...

Le Marron
12/f Ying Kong Mansion
2-6 Yee Wo St (opp. Sogo)
Causeway Bay
Hong Kong
+852 2881 6662

Private Kitchen Mania - Stella's Hideaway

Private Kitchens are all the rage in Hong Kong at the moment, well, to be precise, they have been for the past few years. Cheaper rents, more discerning diners, the natural human craving for being “in-the-know” (and telling people about it), have all contributed to the craze.

If you haven’t been to or heard of a private kitchen, it’s basically like having dinner at someone’s house (but it's not really their house, it's just an apartment they rented), except you pay for the privilege. The legalities of this are still relatively unknown to me, perhaps I should find out more, for the fear that one day all these cool places will be shuttered. Quality of these places vary – some are purely amateur cooks, while on the other end of the spectrum there are chefs from famed establishments who have decided to venture out on their own.

So, back to Stella’s Hideaway. I’d actually never heard of this place until my Aunt (whose birthday was the reason we came) invited us. It’s in a fairly run-down residential block on Leighton Road in Causeway Bay, kind of near Lee Gardens.

cherry tomato 'salad' dressed in sesame sauce.

interestingly, xi yan (wan chai/causeway g.o.d) has something quite similar (theirs is a normal-sized tomato), but in this case, i like xi yan's dressing more - it has a tiny pinch of wasabi in it, to give it that extra refreshing, well, pinch.

cucumbers in light soy and sesame

nice and fresh, but nothing remarkable.

smoked duck breast

decent... wonder if they smoked it themselves? if so, i'd give them a lot more credit for it! :P

tofu stir fried with (salt) preserved egg yolk and zucchini, much like the (shanghainese?) dish done with deep fried prawns

fish soup with turnip

crab before it was dished out individually

thai style crab in a light curry with vermicelli. i don't know if this is an authentic thai dish, it was a bit like tom kha gai, but with crab (and vermicelli)...!

'hungarian' oxtail stew served with rice cracker thingys (wo ba)

there's probably something similar in hungary, but this is actually a say sauce western thing from the olden days. a cross between thick tomato soup and a stew, it typically has loads of black pepper (but not toooo much) and melt-in-you-mouth carrots. the hungarians would probably have put a lot of chillis in instead.

finely diced everything stir fried with pine nuts, to be eaten with pappadum-like things. i thought they were kinda like fried shui jiao (dumpling) wrappers... must ask next time. a dish well done - not too oily, perfect dices, maybe just a little too salt heavy. would have been nice with congee! :D

another shot of the diced up dish and the 'pappadums'

hau shui gai (lit.: saliva chicken)

don't ask me why it has such a weird name. it's a sichuan dish, but this one's not spicy - probably coz we told them we were with kids. comes with preserved egg (the black, jelly-looking kind) and flat mung bean noodles and lots of (soy-based) sauce. unfortunately it's difficult to get flavoursome chicken in hk nowadays, so this one was quite bland. xi yan also has a very similar dish, neither of the places seem to have got it just yet...

Sweet nothings - Sift

summer berry trio

Summer berry trio. Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries. Ah, reminds me of the UK…! Sift has to be one of my fave places in Hong Kong at the moment, but unfortunately, the shortcake in this platter was suffering from a bicarb soda overdose, something that even I can avoid, hence leaving me a little disappointed…

choc pavlova

Chocolate Pavlova with cream, strawberries, and (cointreau?) jelly. Pavlova of course, is uber schweet, but the jelly was the perfect compliment, or should I say, antidote.

Chocolate Fantasy

hot chocolate

Scrump-liciously decadent hot chocolate. More hot chocolate, especially in Hong Kong, should be like this. For all I know, they probably just used Valrhona cocoa and boiled milk or something, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had anything like it. And I’m glad (that I found something nice, not that it took me so long to find this!)

Sift
Graham Street
Soho
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2530 4288