Dining @ The Kitchen (Macau)

The last time I was here, it was to taste a very special gala dinner prepared by Chef Kishida all the way from Tokyo Quintessence. This time, I wanted to appreciate The Kitchen in it’s own one star glory. Known for it’s selection of beef, just glimpsing the glorious cuts of bovine showcased at the entrance and admiring the different grades of marbling you can choose, meat lovers you know you are in for a treat! Those that are not inclined towards the cow, don’t worry as you are catered for with seafood (fresh fish live from the tank) otherwise there is pork, poultry and lamb for your choices.

Starting with bread that is made fresh in the open kitchen when you arrive. Two types, a chocolate chip brioche (yes choc chip!) and a gorgeous crusty country loaf. No picture as we were too busy tearing into the fresh bread, but let me tell you it was worth allocating stomach space to, especially when there is mango butter to be spread with it.

For appetisers, Mr. C started with grilled abalones. Stealing a bite, I had a pang of food envy. Perfectly cooked and utterly tender paired with a tasty vegetable salsa, crispy ham and a drizzle of chicken jus.

When in Macau, I can’t go past the traditional Caldo Verde. A lovely creamy vegetable soup served in a toasted bread bowl with bites of grilled chorizo on the side.

We originally wanted to order the bone-in-ribeye to be shared between two, but we lucked out as it was all gone. Instead Mr. C decided to go with a 14oz New York sirloin. Grilled to a medium rare with nice char marks, and his sides of sauteed mushrooms, asparagus and a little cup of tomato egg custard?

Since Mr. C ordered steak I decided to choose something different. Fish. Grilled sea bass to exact. They give you a choice of being served a whole fish or if you don’t feel like working for your meal, they can also de-bone it for you. I chose the whole fish and it certainly looks intimidating. Some parts were tender, some parts a little chewy, being grilled does take away some of the juices in the flesh and that is where your choice of sauce will come in handy. Lemon butter sauce is recommended for fish and it added a little zest to the dish.

Apple tarte tartin and creme brulee for dessert.

Presentation of the tarte tartin was pretty, but the actual tartin did not look like I imagined… I was hoping for a big puff pastry with sticky caramelised braised apple slices, but here it looked like a mass made version. Flavour was decent, hints of cinnamon, but a little disappointing.

What makes a creme brulee special is a thick, full bodied creamy custard fragrant with vanilla and coated in a thick caramelised sugar layer that shatters with a satisfying thwack with the back of the spoon. The version served here was a little lackluster, just a thin sugar layer that gave way when a spoon was dipped into it and the custard a little liquidy. Tasted like creme brulee, but it was missing what a few key elements.

I will definitely order steak next time and the bone-in-ribeye has our name on it!

Address:

3/F, Grand Lisboa

A night of Thai food in Macau

As we were staying at the Banyan Tree, it only made sense that one of our meals were allocated to their Thai restaurant Saffron. They had two menus available that evening, a special menu for their hotpot and their normal a la carte menu. Not really in the mood for hotpot that night (now finished), we decided to stick to a la carte.

Amuse Bouche to start, pleasantly surprised they offered this in a Thai restaurant.

Fried rice cracker on top of a prawn cracker with an assortment of dips. Green was a spicy eggplant, red was minced pork and the creamy looking one was made with coconut milk. Tasted like a Chinese version of ‘wor bar’.

I love grilled pork neck and this version was a little more special. Charred and then placed on a smoker so when you eat the pork the smoky flavour is intensified. The sticky, sour sauce worked in perfect harmony.

Green papaya salad. Crunchy strips of julienned carrots and green papaya tossed in a sweet and sour dressing. A little spicy kick in the aftertaste awakes the palate.

Tom yum goong. Loved the spicy, sour flavours with a generous serve of four big, fresh prawns. It would have tasted even better if the temperature had been hotter as when it reached us it was already lukewarm.

Saffron is open all day for lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and during the morning hotel guests have their buffet breakfast here.

Address:

Macau, Avenida Marginal Flor De Lotus

Staying at Banyan Tree Macau~

This time staying in Macau we decided to choose a different hotel to our norm and picked the Banyan Tree. A lot of friends have raved about how nice it is and coincidentally Booking.com had a very enticing deal available so it seemed like it was meant to be.

Banyan Tree is a little piece of calm inside the hectic Galaxy complex, a lovely scent of lemongrass permeates the lobby refreshing the mind. Upon checking in, we found that we had been upgraded to a suite which was a lovely surprise and made us look forward to our short stay even more 🙂

The ‘living room’ of our suite. A long table at the far end for guests or where we used it for room service. A very zen, relaxing pool where you can choose to chill and watch tv, but it was a little cold for us.

Our very comfortable bed where we had 2 very restful nights sleep.

Huge bathroom, with a bucket soak tub. Plastic not wood.

And at night, our living room transformed into this. So romantic~

Really lovely~ Next time a visit to their spa is on my list!

Address:

Macau, Avenida Marginal Flor De Lotus

The 8, still one of my favourite places for dim sum!

A weekend trip to Macau means a morning ferry ride and arriving just on time for lunch~ And where is lunch? Why, The 8 of course 🙂

The elegant decor of the restaurant is as always stunning with the glamorous crystal hanging ball and the striking goldfish motif.

They have a great selection of dishes from their huge a la carte menu, but today is all about dim sum~

Starting with their amuse bouche

XO fried pork in a crispy nest and an individual baby abalone on a slick of yuzu jelly. Loved the freshness of the jelly paired with the tender abalone.

Signature goldfish prawn dumplings. Cute as always and so delicately detailed with their gaping fishy mouths. The skin is nicely chewy with a bouncy textured fresh prawn.

Scallop and prawn dumpling wrapped in a spinach tinted skin with a touch of truffle. Very moist with a lingering aftertaste of truffle.

These porcupine buns are possibly my favourite item here. A bbq pork and preserved vegetable filling enveloped in a perfectly steamed soft bun with a crunchy pan-fried bottom.

These crab shaped pastry puff tarts are also adorable. A fragrant Portuguese curry crab filling paired with the slightly sweet tart shell leaves the tastebuds wanting more.

A whole prawn encased in a light batter and fried to a nice crisp. Not too oily and the mayo/sweet hoi sin sauce (although no too pretty) were a nice accompaniment.

Deep fried custard mochi. Piping hot with a flowing custard filling, I wasn’t expecting it to have a katalfi like exterior, but it added more texture to the dessert.

I was looking forward to the usual petit fours of mini Portuguese tarts, but instead it had been replaced with black and white sesame roll. Soft and chewy, they packed a burst of toasted sesame flavour. Not bad, but I still miss their Portuguese tarts…

As always the petit fours are accompanied with their famous milk tea, super strong, super creamy, super sweet.

I am already looking forward to my next visit 🙂

Address:

The 8, Grand Lisboa 2nd floor

Dim sum date, Tin Lung Heen take 3!

After a couple of months in Sydney, coming back to Hong Kong meant a round of dim sum was in order. We were meeting Miss E and Mr A for a lunch date and Miss E kindly made us a reservation at Tin Lung Heen.

Always a pleasure to dine in such a lovely space. So bright and spacious, I really have a thing for high ceilings~

We left the ordering to Mr A and not too long after, our dim sum started arriving in timely succession.

Iberico pork steamed rice roll. Sweet flavourful BBQ pork tucked inside a slightly chewy rice roll wrapper.

I recommended the Iberico pork char siu and it was only when it arrived after the rice roll that we realised we had double ordered on the char siu oops. Luckily the char siu was still as luscious and fatty as I remembered with a slight char and a sweet sticky glaze.

A serving of abalone and roast goose tart. Tender abalone, but I found the roast goose filling a little dry.

Pan-fried wagyu beef gyoza. Certainly a striking appearance with its web of crispiness encrusting the bottom. It wasn’t as crispy as it looked, in fact just soft and the filling had no meat juices. Just a sad, doughy, dry mouthful…

Deep fried turnip cake in XO sauce was my favourite. Jenga chunks of turnip cake with a golden crunch and a spicy little kick from the XO sauce.

Shrimp spring roll. Thin and crunchy, I just don’t understand why they make spring rolls so thin in Hong Kong. I prefer them thicker so there is a heftier crunch when you bite into them.

Assorted siu mai. The individual portions were a high class version of the humble siu mai topped with lobster and gold leaf, while the two in the bamboo steamer were the ‘poor’ version here topped with a big prawn and scallop. Nice and moist, a solid meaty mouthful.

Contemplating dessert, it is always a bonus to dine with Mr C and Mr A as no sooner when we asked for the dessert menu, they said dessert had been organised for us 🙂

I was most excited to see the fried sesame dumpling, crunchy and piping hot with a creamy custard filling. The mango cream, pomelo, aloe vera and sago dessert had a fresh mango flavour and the juicy aloe vera pieces were a nice textural surprise. Osmanthus jelly was subtly sweet, nice and cooling and the little almond cookie was a nice finishing touch.

Quite enjoyable, and dessert was much appreciated!

102/F, The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, International Commerce Centre, 1 Austin Road West, TST

Let’s tea at The Continental

So one fine Sunday when Mr. C has his day off I decided to drag him off to have a spot of afternoon tea with me. He doesn’t really enjoy high tea since his job revolves around pastries and baked goods all day, but for me he will drink tea and eat scones (once in a while). He does have one condition for afternoon teaing with me though is that we go to a new place neither of us have been before so no Island Shangri-la or Four Seasons 😦

In the end we picked The Continental. Occupying the space where Domani used to operate, it is a gorgeous place to relax in day time, comfortable booths, full length windows with the light pouring in, it’s like a little piece of oasis in the heart of Admiralty.

After being seated it was a no-brainer for me to order The Continental tea set for two ($365) with an accompanying latte and earl grey tea for Mr. C. If a tea set is not your said cup of tea (yes I typed that), they do offer a small selection of more filling options during their afternoon service.

So our three tiered set arrives~

Starting with the warm raisin scones. They were decently sized and smelt buttery, but biting into them they tasted like a dense wholemeal roll. The accompanying clotted cream and Wilkon & Son strawberry jam helped a little, but I prefer a more fluffy, fragrant scone. The caramelised almond tuiles however, were wonderful, crisp with a burnt toffee flavour.

I am a cream first then jam kinda girl 😉

Savouries next.

Salmon roulade on pumpernickel, prawn brioche, duck egg mayonnaise and coronation chicken. The bread of the sandwiches were fresh, not dry and shrivelled like some I’ve encountered and the fillings were decently tasty. My favourite was the coronation chicken, a mix of sweet and curry flavour with moist chicken.

The sweets.

Lemon cake, caramel eclair, raspberry macaron, berry tart, chocolate caramel truffle, mango cheesecake and chocolate mousse roulade. I’m never usually a fan of the sweets in a tea set as I find them made sloppily, but the pastries here were nicer than I expected. The pastry base and tart shells were crisp, the cheesecake was creamy and the lemon cake was buttery and fragrant.

I wouldn’t mind coming back for a proper meal and this tea set would gain higher regard in my eyes if their scone recipe improved.

Address:

Shop No. 6, 4/F, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Admiralty

The Point of pizza

Tang Lung st in Causeway Bay is known for its various eateries including ramen, yakiniku, hot pot (we always go to ‘Paradise of King Asia Seafood hot pot’ for their drunk cow~) and of course it’s where Sound View Plaza is situated where people are lining up for Jamie’s Italian.

The Point is a new comer, right on the corner and everytime we are passing by we see it crowded with a line outside. Finally curiousity killed the cat one said evening and we decided to have pizza there for dinner.

The wait wasn’t too long, around 15 minutes and when it was our turn there were no more tables left so we were directed to the communal high tables. The menu is one-paged, a few options per category for appetizers, pasta, pizza and salad.

We started with chicken lollipops and truffle cheese fries.

The chicken lollipops came as 5 per serving, and they were quite tiny with a drizzle of sweet, smokey bbq sauce. Luckily they were fried nicely, crunchy while remaining juicy and flavourful on the inside.

Truffle cheese fries were a given as who could resist TRUFFLES and FRIES! This was disappointing as it was a meager portion and the chips were lukewarm. The scent of truffles could be smelt, but not tasted meaning they were stingy on the truffle oil.

When it comes to pizza, Mr. C likes absolute minimal toppings so margherita tends to be the choice. This came out quickly after the appetizers as The Point uses a 300 degrees oven which can cook a pizza in 3 minutes. Lookwise it gets topmarks, nicely charred, melted mozzarella cheese with a generous scatter of cherry tomatoes. The base is thin and biscuity which I am not a fan of as the middle ends up soggy and floppy while the crust is stiff and hard. The first couple of bites are pretty good, juicy tomatoes and stretchy cheese, but it quickly becomes boring.

It was a last minute decision to add a pasta dish, I was already pretty full, but Mr. C didn’t seem too satisfied. We picked the Vongole spaghetti and it was surprisingly tasty. Nicely al dente pasta, with a slight chilli kick.

I think Hong Kong has much better choices for pizza so unless I was in the area and craving pizza I would revisit. Many reviews had mentioned the staff’s bad attitude where they acted expressionless and emotionless, two of the female servers were like that, but it didn’t bother us too much since we got our order promptly and correctly.

Address:

G/F, 52 Tang Lung Street, Causeway Bay

The most talked about buffet in town!

Woooo, the day after I arrived back in Hong Kong , I was off to have CNY dinner at the hardest to book buffet in town! Replacing the previous fine dining Spanish establishment, The Grand Buffet now sits high up on the 62nd floor of the Hopewell centre in Wan Chai. Boasting 360 degree views of Hong Kong, the restaurant revolves ever so slowly, completing one rotation in two hours so don’t worry you won’t get motion sickness :p

Lift entrance to lobby

The restaurant is so beautifully decorated, all beige marble, sandstone walls engraved with the station of food, big spacious tables and the light accents are too chic to not mention.

For those that enjoy a glass of liquor, The Grand Buffet has implemented an automated showcase where guests can use a pre-paid card to select their favourite champagne/wine/sake/plum wine to enjoy with their meal.

As for food selection, let’s take a look shall we 😉 Be warned there is numerous photos and best not to view when hungry.

Seasonal tomatoes and mozzerella cheese

Caesar salad mixing station

Succulent duck breast

My favourite foie gras terrine, so so smooth~

Smoked salmon

Assorted sushi rolls and nigiri

Or for those that want to skip the rice, a sashimi bar is right next to it where a sushi chef is all ready to slice off luscious slices of fatty salmon, yellowtail, large size Hokkaido scallops, sweet shrimp and tuna.

Don’t just fill up on sashimi when there’s a whole blue room dedicated to serving you seafood up the stairs. A selection of Boston lobsters, snow crab claws, whole bread crabs, cockles, mussels and three types of freshly shucked oysters from the US, France or whatever is freshly delivered that day. 3 per serve per person so each guest is able to enjoy these briny treats without waiting too long and since it is a buffet you can always line up again.

And a little reveal to show how much roe goodness is inside those bread crabs~

The seafood doesn’t just end there… head over to the live big head prawn blanching station where they scoop them from the tank and cook them fresh. These were my favourite, juicy, sweet and I loved sucking the goodness from the head.

If you need a break from seafood, there are plenty of other things to tempt you.

A whole roasted prime rib

Chinese BBQ selection: char siu, soya chicken, roast goose and that suckling pig has the most crunchy crackling~

Or some dim sum whose quality is equal or even surpasses those from a Michelin starred Chinese restaurant, but then again the dim sum masters here previously worked in one of those restaurants *cough Sun Tong Lok cough*

Just look at the translucence of that dumpling skin on this spinach and prawn dumpling~

Some delicious tempura with a thin crunchy layer of batter and surprisingly not very oily.

What is a buffet without a collection of bain maries of hot food?

This double boiled cockles, chicken feet and pork soup was so sweet and flavourful, I had to have two bowls of this.

Whole steamed fish

Grilled sea bass and lobster claws

Brown sauce braised sea cucumber, mushrooms and lettuce. The sea cucumber was slippery smooth and on different days the sea cucumber alternates with abalone. This is a dish where guests stand and wait for this to be replenished.

Sauteed Boston lobster

For the spice lovers, there’s a curry station.

Chicken curry

Beef Korma

And finally we made it to desserts 😀

Pretty coffee mousse cups

Assorted fruit. Can eat it the healthy way or…

…you can dip it into the molten chocolate from this stunning chocolate fondue machine. Not too dark and not too sweet, a perfect balance.

Assorted cakes, pastries and handmade chocolates.

Madelines and friands.

These macarons are definitely worth a mention. Not only is the display pretty, but the quality of these macarons are top notch since they are made by one of their affiliate restaurants Joel Robuchon.

Assorted flavours caramel, vanilla, raspberry, lemon.

Don’t fret ice-cream lovers, there is also an ice-cream station with a server displaying her arm strength through chopping and sraping your choice of ice-cream and toppings on an icy teppanyaki plate. Ice-cream is also from Joel Robuchon and let’s just say the vanilla bean flavour is divine~

Dinner is currently priced at $658 + 10% and I have heard how difficult it has been to make a reservation via the phone so I would suggest to head up to the restaurant itself and make one directly with the helpful staff.

Such a huge post. Hope you enjoyed it 🙂

Address:

62/F, Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai

Cute Easter goodies~

I can’t believe it’s almost April and that means Easter is just around the corner~ but then again it’s pretty hard to forget since there’s a long awaited public holiday for all you hard working types as well as alluring chocolate eggs and smiling bunnies popping up everywhere 🙂

And speaking of chocolate goodies, this little fellow from Le Salon de The de Joel Robuchon is by far the cutest I have seen!

Creamy white chocolate body with moulded coloured marzipan for his crest, beak and chicken feet. Really almost too cute to crack open and nibble on, but if you don’t you will miss the fruity sugar coated gummies and mini chocolate Easter eggs hiding inside his belly.

If he is too cute for you (how could that possibly be?!) they also have an elegantly decorated egg tempered from dark chocolate, around 80-85%. Melting easily in the mouth, leaving behind a tang of dark chocolate fragrance, it is obvious that high quality chocolate couverture is used. Ideal for the dark chocolate lovers and like the little rooster, it hides sweets inside.

Perfect as gifts or why not treat yourself to one!

Dining @ Rockpool

I think my expectations were too high or my tastebuds too spoiled by the Michelin star studded restaurants in Hong Kong, but my experience at this long-standing establishment wearing the three hats was quite disappointing. Grand, mysterious decor yes, but excellent food… sadly no.

I do apologise since some of the dishes were so unmemorable that I have forgotten what I ate, but the pictures may give you an idea.

Degustation was the only option and it was set out where a series of small dishes were served as appetisers (7 to be exact), a number of main courses were given as choice as were desserts and you could choose two or three out of these selections pending on how hungry you were.

Amuse bouche- a brioche bun with filling… I can only remember it being dry.

This is their famous chicken drumstick coated in egg batter and resting in konbu butter sauce. The meat came off easily from the bone and it tasted like Japanese karaage. Not bad, but not so great to the extent where some people say they could eat a whole plate.

Spanner crab on top of toast. Quite mushy.

Pork Belly?

Prettiest dish. Their Chirashi Zushi with kingfish, tuna, squid and bonito. It was served at room temperature which enhanced the fishy flavours… you could get much better chirashi at any Japanese restaurant.

Pan-seared fish… this type of fish was too fishy for me.

Last appetiser was honey spelt bread paired with butter and ricotta. Wonderful fragrance with noticeable notes of honey.

Prior to our main course, a trolley was wheeled over and the server announced that the chef had ‘surprised’ us with roast spatchcock to be served gueridon style. While that was a lovely gesture, I wish they would have told us that beforehand so that I would have chosen a different type of meat for my main course.

The spatchcock was tender and juicy with rice stuffed inside. If the skin had been crispy it would have been even better.

To main course:

I have never had partridge before so seeing it on the menu piqued my curiosity. Slow cooked it was soft and tender with the smoothest supple skin. I loved the zatar and sesame crust which gave character to the light tasting partridge. Really enjoyable, finally a dish that showed hints of the three hats.

Pigeon zheng shui dan with prawn stuffed eggplant and strange flavour dressing. This dish evidently was to show Neil Perry’s love of infusing Chinese elements into Western cooking. Unfortunately it tasted too weird and not quite right. Mr. C did not like his dish and I think secretly wished he had ordered the beef shabu shabu.

Mum’s dish was probably the best of the evening. Saltbush lamb, cooked to a beautiful blushing pink with bold savoury flavours. I know I had food envy.

Pre-desert was rhubarb ice-cream with crumble. So simple but absolutely yummy~ I loved the ice-cream!

For dessert we just picked one to share as we couldn’t stomach one each and I knew we had to leave some room for the famous date tart. The simple looking pandan vacherin was our pick and the whole dish was just wonderfully light and refreshing, smooth coconut parfait wrapped by the crisp Swiss meringue topped with tart icy lime granita and jasmine sorbet. Lovely.

Date tarts~~~ Dating back to 1920, these are baked fresh, so fresh they are still warm when brought to the table with the custard wobbling alluringly. Rich, with a depth of sweetness from the dates, the small slice was enough to be satisfying.

Even though the dinner didn’t start off too well, it ended well. Especially loved the partridge and dessert oh and those date tarts deserve a special mention too.