Disappeared to Sydney…

Hello to readers that do come for a peek~ I apologise for the lack of posts here since August as it had been a somewhat crappy time for me during the end of the 2014… I have been away on and off in Sydney so thought I would post some of my Sydney eats 😉

No visit to Sydney is complete without eating some fruits de mer namely rock oysters! From the oyster bar in David Jones’ food hall~

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Sweets before dinner at Bills Surry Hills :p The dreamy cloud-like ricotta pancakes with honeycomb butter are sadly not as dream like and were flat and rubbery, but the brown sugar pavlova with strawberry compote and yoghurt cream was surprisingly delicious. Crisp, sugary shell that revealed a glorious gooey, sticky inside while the thick yoghurt cream added a welcome tartness. Sugar high was evident obviously.

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Some food from Chatswood markets. They most yummy chorizo roll with garlic prawns~ $10 if I remember correctly and add $1 for a smattering of salad. They were open everyday throughout December, but now they disappeared without a trace without appearing on their usual Thursdays and Fridays…

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Burger from our neighbourhood Burgershed. This is the ‘Original Shed Burger’ where the patty is grass fed Angus beef mixed with pure bred wagyu. Sounds delicious and it was a tender mouthful, but there was a disappointing lack of beef taste.

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A casual late lunch at Bather’s Pavilion after walking around the picturesque Balmoral Beach~

A trio of rock oysters, crisp caesar salad and 4 cheese pizza. They could be more generous with the cheese on the pizza and the dough was lifeless bleugh.

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Famous lemon tart with a flakey buttery pastry from Lorraine’s. So yummy and such a big portion too!

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A night of wagyu beef at the stronghold Rengaya which never fails to provide high quality and well marbled beef. 2 hours for all you can eat buffet, what’s not to love? Just remember don’t over order otherwise you will be charged for wasting food.

Mr. C and his asahi~ Cheers~!

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Ox tongue~ my favourite!

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And our huuuuuuuge platter of beef rib, harami, oyster blade and pork :O

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Brunching at Three Williams for a taste of their beef brisket narnie. For $10 it is a most satisfying portion that can feed 1.5 people lol. The Merchant was crap, super boring dry bacon with a normal fried egg and a dash of chilli powder…

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And my favourite cafe Devon cafe!

The ever beautiful and cheerful Eggs Blini~ two perfectly poached eggs with slices of home cured salmon, brocolini, atop a thick savoury pancake. The sauce is lovely, a zing of lemon to counter the heavy creaminess.

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My go-to dish, Breakfast of Sakuma. Buttery miso poached salmon with crunchy croquette of smoky eel and rice and a 63 degree poached egg. Yum~

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I can’t remember the name of this dish… but it’s a vegetarian option with pumpkin, edamame puree, 63 degree egg with a mound of crunchy crumbs and toasted foccacia to mop up your plate.

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A happy meal for ogres~ perfectly fried egg hiding chunks of fatty beef tongue and cubes of potato rosti with a smear of cauliflower puree… I wish there was more ox tongue :p

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Their new branch at Waterloo offers soft serves as well as their spanner crab pasta dish. Superbly fragrant all garlicky and olive oily, the pasta was a little soft for my liking and although the first few mouthfuls tasted delicious it became boring for my tastebuds quite quickly…

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Salted Caramel soft-serve with a rich burnt flavour topped with clumps of peanut butter, banana, caramel cream, freeze-dried raspberries and raspberry sauce. Can easily share one between 2!

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And of course one must end with coffee, a latte to be precise 🙂

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For Japanese food tweaked to Aussie tastebuds, Kyushu is my go to place in Neutral Bay. The luscious slices of salmon sashimi carpaccio served with a tart ponzu dressing with diced sweet onion and capsicum for you to eat together.

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You can’t come here and not order anything teriyaki based. That sweet sticky sauce is bound to set your tastebuds tingling. Teriyaki chicken or squid is our favourite~ Once the protein is finished, use the radish to mop up the addicitve sauce~

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Ramen at Ichi-ban boshi~ Tan tan men and kimchi ramen. Nicely done al dente noodles.

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If ramen is not your thing can always order their rice dishes like the karaage set.

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My favourite chicken laksa from Ginger and Spice. So thick with intense curry and coconut flavours. Quite expensive for your normal bowl of laksa nearly $20, but a generous portion that can be shared between two.

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High teaing with mum at Park Hyatt~ Scones were surprisingly decent.

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How about an eclair from Pattisons~? A treat for your cheat day… or any day lol :p Real fresh cream too!

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Or cupcakes from My Little Cupcake? The scent of butter, sugar and vanilla sponge that hits you in the face when you lift the lid is intoxicating. I love the soft plain jane sponge which serves as the perfect vehicle for the sweet butter cream~ Yummm

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Overload on seafood @ Ronin

Yes yes, I’m maybe a little ‘out’ with this post since Ronin has been quite a hot restaurant for some time now, but out or not here it is. Sister restaurant of the famous Yardbird, there was no doubt that quality of food at Ronin would be well above average since I had very much enjoyed my meal at Yardbird many moons ago. The main difference between the two is Yardbird concentrates on chicken while Ronin has its focus on seafood.

Another of those secreted entrances, I mistakenly went to the building next to it and pressed the bell to its offices before being told the entrance of Ronin was the unmarked black door next to it… Nevertheless we found it. I made the booking a week ago, the restaurant only takes bookings seven days in advance and you must do it by email. There are two sessions available and you will be allocated one on the date you request unless you specify which you would prefer.

Dark and dim, the restaurant is like a slightly sophisticated cave, but corridor style. Guests are seated along a bar table, where the lucky half can face the bar while the other half end up facing the wall. If you are even more unlucky to come in on a night without booking, you may find yourselves along the other side of the wall eating your food while standing- not an attractive option.

Our server, an Asian gentleman very enthusiastically described the menu to us as being unique every night depending on the ingredients brought in that day. He seemed to be the main server to all the guests and yes although he was very helpful, I did find he talked a lot… and a lot.

Complimentary eats to start. Tomato and radish. Not that great.

Arkshell sashimi. Sweet with a slight chew.

Razor clams. De-shelled and tossed with kelp and cucumbers. Refreshing, but became bland after a while.

Uni atop a mixture of nori and panko crumbs. When this was served we were instructed to mix it all together in order to better appreciate the flavour. I didn’t end up doing this as I thought spooning down into the uni and panko mix I would get all the flavours anyway. Halfway through the server comes by and sees that we didn’t do as he asked, he instructed us to do so again but with a slightly forceful tone. Eye-rolling amusing, we mixed it in the end, but really it tasted exactly the same.

Kingfish sashimi is not something I see often in Hong Kong, so it was a must order for me. Fresh thin slices of kingfish wrapped around bundles of greens. The tart ponzu-like dressing was a perfect match.

Market chips. We didn’t originally order these, but spying the gentleman next to us eating them we had a bubble of food envy and pretty soon an order of these came to us too~ A mix of perfectly fried sweet potato and taro chips drizzled with black sugar syrup. Really addictive! And to the Caucasian gentleman on the other side of me making a comment to his dinner partner that we used chopsticks to eat them, yes so what?

Flower crab with uni. This is the signature dish that has people going a bit nuts over. A pile of soft sweet crab meat mixed with a generous amount of creamy uni. As if that combination doesn’t sound alluring~

Grilled squid topped with bonito-like flakes. Perfectly tender.

Grilled scallops with butter? Overcooked so they were a bit chewy. I would give these a pass.

By this time, my stomach was feeling a little queasy from the seafood overload so I needed something carby to soothe it. They only had udon on the menu so we ordered that quick smart. It was surprising really good, a little fusion, a mess of al dente udon tossed in a creamy sauce with hints of ume and fish roe. Worth trying.

Tempura shrimp and corn fritters. These reminded me of the tempura corn balls Yardbird has on the menu only with the inclusion of shrimp. A generous portion, heavy, but they tasted good.

And finally like a marathon finally coming to the end, another famed dish, the Kagoshima beef. This is what dreams are made of… if it was made from fatty beef. Thin slices of well-marbled cow topped with shitake mushroom, fried garlic chips and raw egg yolk. So delicate and decadent, but the oiliness of the dish may result in some difficulty in finishing.

A lot of food, not cheap, but ingredients were fresh. Service attentive, a little overly so, but it was appreciated especially when the server knew I was not well he made sure my cup of warm water was refilled constantly. Ambience was not really my style as I think if there were more people it could become quite claustrophobic, but worth trying.

Mr. C’s Birthday Dinner~ Kazuo Okada

After visiting the one starred Yu Lei from the KO dining group and being thoroughly impressed, I was more than looking forward to trying the other two establishment under their umbrella. Hearing a number of people commenting how good Kazuo Okada was, I decided to celebrate Mr. C’s birthday here~ Kazuo Okada specialises in both kaiseki and teppanyaki dishes, but at the time I made a reservation, about two weeks from the date, I was informed politely by the hostess that their teppanyaki room was under renovation and only their kaiseki room was available, since we both had not tried kaiseki before, I agreeably made the booking.

Arriving on a Sunday evening, we were greeted by the smiling hostess and guided to our table. The decor had an edge of masculinity where black was the dominant colour used, like a well dressed male in a sharp suit. Surprisingly, the restaurant was quite empty that evening, with only another table being occupied, but it was even better for us so we could enjoy each other’s company quietly while admiring the amazing harbour views 🙂

Only two set menus were available, the seasonal kaiseki or the Chef’s kaiseki. After studying the menu, Mr. C did question about the Teppanyaki side, since we had passed a big teppanyaki grill area with chefs working. I asked our server just to confirm whether we could order Teppanyaki items as well, but he replied that they try to keep it separately to avoid the dishes arriving in the kaiseki room to be cold. This was fair enough, but he did not mention that the room was still under renovation, regardless we decided to continue our evening with the Chef’s kaiseki menu.

Just as we had finished ordering, the manager from KO’s Italian restaurant Messina came over to greet Mr. C and knowing it was his birthday kindly surprised us with glasses of Ruinart Rose~ Thank you very much 🙂

So our kaiseki journey began~

The flash smoked salmon in a nuta sauce is their acclaimed signature dish. Arriving in a smoky paper covered glass bowl with holes artistically cut out, we were advised to smell the fragrant cherry wood smoke wafting out before peeling back the paper. Once the smoke cleared, it revealed two thickly cut slices of salmon laying on a bed of greens with a shallow layer of dressing. The salmon was unctuous, gorgeously fatty with the heady flavour of the cherry wood smoke invading the senses. Absolutely wow~ and to cut through the oiliness of the salmon, the tangy nuta sauce mixed with the greens was a pleasant palate reliever.

At this point, after perusing the wine list Mr. C decided to order some sake. I admit I have little to no knowledge of sake, but he told me that the one he ordered was quite rare and not so easily found. Upon taking a sip, one word came immediately to mind. Pure. The essence of the sake was so pure, there was a melancholic note in its smooth bittersweet flavor. Very intriguing~

When the next dish arrived, I was a little shocked to see something that resembled eel on the plate as Mr. C is not very partial to eel. It turned out to be conger pike accompanied with sea urchin and seasonal egg plant. I have to say I was not smitten with this, the conger pike was bland with numerous little bones and I gave up after a few bites. The sea urchin on the other hand was really fresh, a deep ocher colour which seemed to give a more intense flavour than the ones I normally come across.

A soup course was next. Clear tomato broth with onion and grilled ayu fish.The ayu fish was firm with a faint aroma from the grilling process, while the rings of onion were boiled until meltingly soft, helping to cleanse the palate for those who might find the ayu fishy in taste. I really enjoyed the broth though, slightly sour from the tomatoes, it really helped to open the appetite for the heavier sashimi course to come.

The sashimi course consisted of the chef’s selection of the day’s freshest fish. Presented so prettily, it seemed almost a pity to eat it. I found the clams to be very good~ dipping it into the accompanying yuzu juice its sweetness was enhanced even further and the toro was unbelievable! It was that delicate pale pink colour which signifies its high fat content, and its melt-in-your-mouth texture was just dreamy~ The toro itself was prepared two ways, plain sashimi while the other piece had been slightly aburied. The aburied piece was more fragrant and because some of the fats had been liquified during the flaming process, a more heady richness was released. So filling, but oh so good~!

Termed as the daily shinogi this was essentially sushi. Two generous sized pieces, one normal sashimi and the other aburied. Like the toro, my preference leaned towards the aburied one more as the flavours of the fish become richer once it had been licked by the flame.

By this stage, both of us were already more than a little sated from all the fish we have had, so it was nice to know that we had reached our first main of lobster~ The lobster flesh had been deshelled then crumbed in edamame batter and fried. It was cooked well, not too tough, but I found the batter to be a little odd tasting, with a heavy flavor of raw edamame beans. I actually preferred eating the innards and roe of the lobster more, so much creamy goodness found in the head and I could tell Mr. C enjoyed that lots too 🙂 The sides of chilled abalone was beautifully tender with a nice firm bounce, but the squid sashimi was so overly salted that both Mr. C and I only managed to eat one piece each.

The original meat dish was kagoshima beef, but I requested for something else. They were going to offer me fish, but I was honestly a little overwhelmed by fish that night so the manager came by and offered me the choice of kurobuta pork instead which I gladly accepted. Mr. C’s beef looked highly appetising, covered in sansho teriyaki sauce and lain over a potato mash. According to him, the beef itself was very tender with an even marbling which made it highly enjoyable, but the portion was quite small, with a serving of only three slices.

My kurobuta pork arrived as three thin slices rolled up, where each was filled with a different vegetable of mushroom, asparagus and baby corn. It was presented on a piping hot miniature teppanyaki plate to ensure the pork did not become cold and although it was a thoughtful gesture, the meat did eventually become tough so it was necessary to eat it quickly. In terms of flavor, I did find it a little bland and more teppanyaki sauce (even on the side) would have made it better.

Time for the carbohydrates~ in the form of truffle rice! The shaving of the truffles was performed table side into a small pot where the rice was held and I just could not resist inhaling deeply a few times just to appreciate the earthy aroma. No matter how many times I smell this delicacy, it’s perfume still bewitches me completely. The rice was cooked till it was quite dry, but it retained a stickiness like all Japanese rice so that it clumped easily to be picked up by chopsticks. There was a generous amount of truffles hidden among the grains and when I could not fit in another bite, I took pleasure in seeking out the rest of the truffle slices :p And like any traditional Japanese meal, the rice was accompanied by miso soup and pickles.

Ending on a sweet note~ dessert was a combination of three items. In the bowl was a green bean paste studded with strawberry jelly cubes, a slice of firm sweetened bean curd layered with red bean jelly and a slice of the sweetest honeydew melon which had the most mouth-watering perfume 🙂 This would have been the perfect finish after so many courses, but…

there was still birthday cake~!!^^ A birthday cannot be complete with anything less 😀 Happy Birthday! *muah*

And so our kaiseki journey concluded. Despite both of us not being big lovers of fish, it was still a good first experience. I loved how everything was presented so artistically, so much attention to detail which is definitely not an unusual trait for a Japanese restaurant let alone such a high class one. The manager was certainly attentive, coming by several times during the course of our meal and making sure we were enjoying ourselves which was much appreciated. Thank you~

Breaking rules~@ Dondonya

Fried foods have always been a no-no on my food list and have been for the past few years, but after crying my eyes out watching the Korean movie ‘Miracle Cell No. 7’, I had a massive craving for katsu pork cutlet and decided I needed to indulge myself a little to cheer up my spirits.

Since I was already at Elements, Dondonya was the first place I thought of to calm my katsu craving, and despite it being 7.30pm, when most restaurants are packed they can still manage to fit in a seating for one (that is if you do not mind being seated at the bar). See~ who said eating alone is a bad thing?!

More of a casual dining establishment, the restaurant is sparsely decorated dominated with the use of timber. Patrons vary from, couples, to families, to friends catching up or just single diners (like myself) so you can expect quite a noisy environment which is further enhanced by the timber decor, but it just adds to the atmosphere.

The menu has quite a variety of selections including sashimi rice bowls (dons), angus beef dons, katsu items and even shabu-shabu. However, looking around I could see that most diners were there for the fresh glistening cuts of sashimi draped over bowls of rice or generous servings of pork or chicken katsu cutlets.

I already knew what I wanted, but even then there were several choices for pork katsu. They had normal pork cutlet, or a higher grade of Berkshire pork (black pig) and even pork cutlet rolls filled with gooey cheese for those that want more of an indulgence. Wanting something uncomplicated that evening, I just chose the most basic version with the option of adding it as a set.

Quite a big serving, the cut of pork was thick and fried to a crunchy caramel hue with a generous serving of cabbage on the side, while accompanying it there was a bowl of toasted sesames with a wooden pestle for you to grind and add to the accompanying sweet and tangy tonkatsu sauce which went really well with the katsu. As a set, it included rice, miso soup and a small appetiser of stewed sliced carrots and bamboo shoots. I did not know at first, but I heard the girl next to me re-confirm with the server that the set included refills of rice and cabbage which is definitely a bonus to those with big appetites 😉

Overall, what can I say, rules are meant to be broken and craving satisfied 🙂 A note on their service, despite the restaurant being full, the servers were still capable of refilling tea cups efficiently and I did not recall a single time that evening where I had to signal one of them for a refill. Really appreciated~

Robatayaki~@ San Wu Ting

Grilled things on sticks seems to have taken Hong Kong by storm, as many little robatayaki places have been popping up. I have to admit I was one of those people who never really appreciated this type of cooking method as in my mind everything seemed to taste the same, smokey with a char-grilled flavour. Then again I guess that was because I never really went to a place that did robatayaki very well until I was introduced to San Wu Ting.

Inside a quiet street in Causeway Bay just around the corner of the popular place that sells spicy crab, San Wu Ting is not eye-catching at all, but that is not important for those already in the know and luckily for me, my friend did know 😉 Quite dim inside, it has a limited seating capacity of approximately 20 people with a small open kitchen where the chef does most of the grilling.

For a seating of two, we decided to sit along the bar table and aside from the menus handed to us by the waitress, you can also look at the chalkboard to see what kind of specials were available that day. We were really hungry that night, and as soon as the waitress came over to take our order we speedily listed everything that had caught our fancy and by the time she left, we were actually a little clueless to how much we had ended up ordering…

A portion of fresh vegetables was served between the two of us, dip the crunchy sticks of cucumber, carrot and ‘tin ma’ inside the sweet bean sauce to refresh the palate before the flow of grilled items arrive.

For appetisers we had grilled cod fish slices which were crunchy and tasted unerringly like Japanese snack food and grilled pufferfish which is one of my must orders at a Japanese restaurant. It was done really well here, with the fish still soft and sticky from its sweet marinade.

Beef tongue. I do not normally eat beef, but for beef tongue I sometimes make a small allowance… This was amazing~ Thickly cut, each piece was so juicy and succulent, with just a sprinkle of salt and pepper for seasoning it did not need anything more. This is a must-order!

Razor clam. I was a little worried that the grilling process would render this too tough, but it was cooked just right, still tender and topped with a butter and shallot mix for flavour.

Marinated cod fish. This was so good~ So juicy from the melting of the natural oils inside the cod fish and the sweet miso marinade was a perfect accompaniment. Recommended~

Oysters. This was a little fishy with a bitter after-taste. Unforunately this was the weakest dish.

Grilled green peppers. These were not spicy at all and after the char-grilled process their natural flavour become more intense.

Corn. Char-grilled corn is always a crowd-pleaser. Brushed with butter, parts of it were grilled to a beautiful golden brown releasing a wonderful aroma. It would have been even better if the corn was sweeter.

Japanese pumpkin. Sweet golden coloured chunks of pumpkin with an attractive blistered char, but some parts were still hard and not cooked to the melting softness that I like.

Shitake mushrooms. I love char-grilled mushrooms as their earthy flavour becomes so much stronger. Still quite juicy with a slight crispy tinge on the outside. 

Big brown mushroom (literal translation). This was brushed liberally with butter, but it was not juicy as I expected. There was a distinct earthy flavour, but the texture was a little chewy.

Seared sweet egg. Just the right amount of sweetness, the outside was nicely toasted with fluffy insides.

Quail eggs. What’s not to love about miniature bite-sized eggs :p The egg whites were a little chewy from the grill, but the yolk had melted nicely and literally burst inside my mouth when I chewed. Luckily it was not piping hot when it happened.

Chicken hearts. Hearts are one of my favourite offal, yes some people may find that disturbing, but I love their bouncy texture and the ones served here were quite good, simply seasoned with a slight gamey flavour.

Pork sausage on a chicken bone. I had a bite of this, not bad, the skin snapped nicely revealing a juicy filling with a hint of sweetness.

Kurobuta with kimchi. This was so fatty, but that is definitely a lure of ordering kuobuta. The grilled shallots and sourness of the kimchi was a much welcomed accompaniment to cut through the oiliness of the pork.

  
Lamb cutlets. Very generous in size, they were grilled to a blushing medium rare. Not of the tender type, the cutlets here had a meaty chew with quite a strong gamey flavour that I welcomed.

Cheese mochi. This was really yummy~ soft and oozy with a delightful melted cream cheese centre 🙂

Chicken wing stuffed with mentaiko. I did not try this since I am not a fan of chicken wings or mentaiko, but it was plump with a generous filling of mentaiko. My friend who had it said it was just ok though.

And for dessert~ Grilled sesame mochi dumplings compliments from the chef (maybe because we ordered so much) :p This was so so good! Brushed with a clear sweet and salty liquid over blistered crispy mochi hugging a fragrant sesame paste filling… Simple, but so satisfying~

Our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs, by the time we had finished the mochi, we were just so full! But it was definitely worth the minor discomfort and if you ever have a craving for robatayaki it is really worth giving San Wu Ting a try~

Surprising pleasant dinner @ Armani Aqua

Meeting C and her fiance R for dinner, C had made reservations for us at Armani Aqua situated inside Charter House. I have to be honest that I was not expecting much from this dinner, as just by hearing the name of one of the leading fashion houses being involved with culinary arts it just did not seem to make sense. However, I am glad to admit that they proved me wrong, well in some aspects anyway.

After being greeted by the hostess outside the restaurant, the blackened doors slid open revealing a dark corridor with the undertones of red lighting. The sides of the corridor were lined with full length mirrors which added to the mysterious atmosphere giving me a feeling that I was being led to attend a magical ritual or something similar… yes I am getting carried away haha.. But it was quite cool and a little freaky at the same time. At the far end a second set of doors slid open, and I was pleasantly surprised to see quite a large and open dining room, dimly lit with yellowish mood lighting. The decor of the room was modern with Japanese touches and the addition of couches inside the restaurant just gave it a very casual and chilled environment. Not at all uptight as I expected it to be.

The menu was of fusion where one half of the menu was dedicated to Italian cuisine and the other half was Japanese. We ended up picking dishes from both styles and ordered enough to share between the three of us.

After ordering we were served a bread basket, warmed Italian styled bread to be exact with a mixture of sun-dried tomato foccacia, grissini, white rolls and I think they also had olive bread too. This was accompanied with olive oil and good quality balsamico which to me is a definite plus in my books. Since I had just had a big meal earlier in the day, I passed on the bread, but C and R seemed to enjoy it.

Our amuse bouche was of Japanese nature, a small cup of kelp immersed in a light vinegary broth. It was pleasantly slimy with the slight crunchiness that only fresh kelp exhibits and the sourness of the broth helped whet the appetite.

First to come was our deluxe sashimi platter. Absolutely stunning in appearance. A large plate filled with an assortment of botan prawns, otoro, tuna, salmon, yellow tail, uni on cucumber (which was very thoughtful as it made for easier transportation to the plate), clams, raw wagyu beef and a large salmon and avocado roll wrapped with daikon. Everything was very fresh, but the stand outs for me were definitely the otoro and salmon which just melted in the mouth. The wagyu beef was quite good too, with a slightly chewy texture and it filled the palate with a rich beef flavour as the marbling gradually dissolved.

When dining with C, we always order greens and this came in the form of a scallop carpaccio salad. It was good, but nothing special. The scallops were soft and tender and the bed of greens were fresh. It was a little bland for me though.

For mains from the Italian side we chose a lobster and squid ink tagliatelle with lardo. It certainly looked striking with the boldness of the red lobster contrasting sharply with the inky pasta. The translucent skin surrounding the pasta had us pondering what it was, but upon tasting we realised it was in fact lardo. Despite the attractiveness of the dish, it was fairly disappointing. The dish was served lukewarm, and although the tagliatelle was cooked well, it was lacking flavour.

The wagyu beef fried rice was significantly better. A generous portion of piping hot fried rice with the mouth-watering aroma of melted fats from the wagyu. It was cooked perfectly and we could really taste the wok hei in the rice. Simple, but so satisfying~

For desserts, they did not have a dessert menu, since they were in the midst of changing menus so the waitress gave us some recommendations on what to order. We ended up picking three. First was a napoleon with custard filling topped with raspberries. I only ate the raspberries as I had already partook in a fantastic napoleon during lunch time, but C and R seemed to like it enough.

The next dessert was named the passion fruit cloud. A pale yellow rectangular block topped with strawberries and strawberry sauce. It was very light and airy in texture with a faint sherbet tang. Not really my cup of tea though.

The final dessert was focused on the element of sesame and this was amazing~ It was made up of seven parts and they all involved the ingredient sesame. There were biscuits, sponge cake, black sesame ice-cream, sesame crisps, panacotta, white sesame cream and sesame paste. All of these items combined together made for a fragrant and interesting mouthful. I loved how the crunchiness of the biscuits and the snap of the sesame crisps went so well with the smoothness of the ice-cream and sesame cream. Anyone who is a fan of sesame must order this. Definitely recommended~

The whole time we were there the whole place was empty except us and another table. I guess this reinforced the fact that people are suspicious of whether the brand Armani can produce good food. I am glad that they proved me wrong and I do hope others will give them a chance.

Thanks C and R for dinner 🙂

Saturday= eating eating eating~

食得是福.. This has really become my mantra especially during the weekends hahaha.. During the week, I try to eat as healthily as possible, more vegetables, less meat, my dad’s 愛心湯 hehe and little or no sweet things aside from fruit and the occasional indulgence of 70% dark chocolate. But come the weekends, I normally go a bit crazy…

So on Saturday after my combat class which is something I attend every second week (typical HK long and short week =.=), I met up with a friend for dim sum at the recently very hotly reviewed chinese restaurant inside Hotel Icon in TST East, Above & Beyond. I had never been to this hotel before as a person that doesn’t drive, I would prefer not to stray too far from the MTR line, so it was a first for me. Hotel Icon, is actually built by the Polytechnic University of HK and I really admire the idea that they allow their students/graduates to do internships inside the hotel to gain experience. It is also very modern, and exudes a casual chic which is portrayed by how the hotel is decorated.

It is aptly named, as it has quite a glorious view overlooking the harbour from the 28th floor and we were lucky enough to be seated at one of the tables directly facing the window. Even though we were a party of two, we decided to order a number of dishes so we could try more things.

The roast duck pineapple buns came with the ‘snowy’ top rather than the yellow mushroom top I was expecting. From the couple of bites I took, the bread was a little thick for my liking, but the filling was moist and sweet. Tasted very similar to a normal baked BBQ bun.

The scallop dumpling was quite nice, the dumpling skin was thin and translucent with a chewy texture. The scallops were fresh and the birds nest on top was nicely marinated.

Siu mai looked plump and juicy, and it was, however I did find bits of prawn shell inside which was a little disappointing.

Har gao was good, the prawn wrapped inside the chewy translucent skin was very fresh and retained a slight crunchy texture.

The assorted mushroom dumplings looked quite boring when they were served with the skin looking a little too thick for my liking. However as the saying goes, don’t judge a book by it’s cover, once I bit into it, the skin wasn’t thick at all and was just as chewy as the previous dumplings.The mushrooms filling inside was also nicely seasoned.

The goon tong gao was quite average, typical dumpling filled with crab meat. The broth was strongly flavoured, but a little too salty for my liking.

We also tried their baked crab shell, which is a signature dish. This was actually very good. A baked cheese crust hiding a slightly curry flavoured creamy, mix of crab meat and onions. Recommended~

For dessert we had their double boiled nashi pear with osmanthus. I am not a fan of nashi pear in its raw form, and in it’s cooked state I wasn’t that impressed either. The pear was very bland since all it’s juices were boiled away, and the sweetened soup with the osmanthus flowers was overpoweringly sweet. I regret to say that I wasn’t able to eat more than a couple of mouthfuls.

I was quite surprised that even after having so many dumplings, I wasn’t overly full, it was more like I had reached a comfortable state… comfortable enough to have high tea hahaha..

So the next destination was The Peninsula Lobby for a spot of scones and tea~ We arrived at around 4pm and in normal circumstances we would have had to wait in their very slow moving line for a table. But due to some ‘special’ circumstances we were able to be seated within 10 mins hehe..

I haven’t had The Peninsula Lobby tea in years, so my main aim was to revisit their scones and see whether they deserve people devoting more than an hour of their time to wait in line. Since we were still relatively sated by our dim sum lunch, we ordered their tea set for one to share, I had a decaf skim cappuccino and my friend ordered the strawberry milkshake.

I have to admit I was a little envious when I saw my friend’s milkshake. It came in a tall glass and the milkshake looked gloriously thick. I had a spoonful (yes it was thick enough for me to scoop with a spoon) and it was as creamy and luscious as I thought it would be. The taste wasn’t as sweet as I expected and I could taste hints of yoghurt mixed with the strawberry and ice-cream. I would have preferred it to be colder, so those that are worried about experiencing brain freeze, this is the milkshake for you.

The coffee served at The Peninsula is better than most hotels, so my decaf cappuccino was quite good, albeit a little bit bitter. This maybe because I am used to drinking lattes and prefer the more milk to coffee ratio.

Onto the tea set~ The afternoon tea served here was not as impressive as ones I’ve had in other hotels. The food selection and presentation was probably more ‘traditional’ than most. It consisted of the usual 3 tiered stand, sweets at the top, savouries in the middle and scones at the bottom together with strawberry jam and clotted cream. My focus was definitely on the scones, and they looked quite attractive too, baked to a golden brown and studded with plump raisins.

I tend to smell my scones once I break into it so I can appreciate the aroma of what I’m about to eat. With this one, there wasn’t much of a buttery aroma and the texture seemed to be more bread-like. This was confirmed once I took my first bite of jammy covered scone, the exterior wasn’t baked to a hard crust and the inside was soft and spongy. It wasn’t bad, but not the kind of scone I choose.

I skipped the sandwiches, so I still had room to sample the cakes. I really love lemon and poppy seed cakes so that was the first item I tried. It was technically a slice of butter pound cake, the slight lemon flavour was pleasant although it was quite sweet. I couldn’t resist the cute looking tart which was a passion fruit curd tart with a chocolate tart base, topped with a marshmallow. The tart base was crisp, and the passion fruit curd was pleasantly tangy enough to offset the overwhelmingly sweetness of the marshmallow. This was my favourite. I also had some of the rhubarb crumble. The flavour was decent, but the soggy texture was somewhat off-putting.

Needing a stopgap before dinner, we went to watch The Chef at The Grand. Even though the movie was spoken in French, it was soooooooo funny! An absolute must for all the foodies out there. It really depicts all the eccentricities of a person who is so so passionate about his job, that he will defy anyone, even his renowned mentor in order to perfect his art which in this case is cooking. It also brings up an interesting issue regarding people’s desire of food in molecular form or food in its normal state. To me, yes molecular food is certainly intriguing, but whether I would want to eat a meal where the duck is served in a cubed jelly form, or the soup is served as a vapour would be no. Yes it may seem boring to those that are fans of food in unnatural form, but I am a traditional foodie at heart and I would prefer my meal to look like what I am eating and also in an adequate portion so that I actually feel satisfied.

So after the movie, it was time for dinner.. at Nobu ~ I was actually super excited to go there as it would be my first time and I have heard some wonderful things about their food! We didn’t make a reservation, but were still able to get a table. Despite being seated at the entrance, my friend actually said it was a good thing since it would be very noisy further inside the restaurant. Since it wasn’t my friends first time dining there, he was able to suggest a number of dishes for me to try and we ended up ordering a LOT of food~~

We were served appetisers of fried crispy baby whitebait and marinated baby green peppers. The whitebait tasted like crisps and were quite addicting, while the green peppers marinated in a sour dressing were very effective in whetting the appetite.

We ordered three types of carpaccio: the hamachi with jalapenos, white fish and octopus. The hamachi was smooth and oily in it’s natural state and coupled with the flavour of the sour soy sauce dressing and jalapeno, it really woke the tastebuds. The white fish was lighter in flavour, with a hint of citrus in the dressing. The texture of the meat was chewier than the hamachi, but there was no fishy smell which both my friend and I dislike. He preferred the white fish while I was more keen on the hamachi. The octopus was quite good too, tender yet slightly chewy with the flavour coming from the dried miso sprinkled on top.

Hamachi with jalapenos

Octopus Carpaccio

White fish carpaccio

The kobe beef tataki was amazing~. Silkily tender, the thinly cut pieces of kobe beef showing generous ribbons of fat were tossed in a forest of mixed greens. The sharp tang of the dressing was an excellent foil in cutting the heaviness of the succulent beef. Absolute love~

The eel and fois gras was pretty show stopping as well. Three generous pieces of roasted eel alternated with slices of pan-fried fois gras. This was all basted in the thick sweet soy sauce used to marinate the eel and topped with thin sticks of fresh apple. Who knew the combination of eel and fois gras could go so well! I love foods that are soft and mushy and every bite I took of the soft eel and melt-in-mouth fois gras was just eye-closingly good.

Next to arrive was their signature dish, the Black Cod Saikyo Yaki. It really did live up to the hype. The buttery cod, flaked off delicately with a soft prod of the chopsticks and the slightly firm and waxy texture of the fish melded perfectly with the sweetness of the miso.What surprised me was how good the cod tasted both warm and cold, so it gave you time to savour the dish.

The Kobe beef was our last main of the night. After the tataki setting such a high standard, I was looking forward to a spectacular encore. It didn’t disappoint. We had two different cuts of beef, sirloin (L) and tenderloin (R). Both were seared to a beautiful medium rare, blushing pink in the middle. The sirloin had evident ribbons of marbling which made it very juicy as well as tender, while the tenderloin was more meaty in texture and had more beef flavour. This was served with three different types of sauces, wasabi, chilli and sesame. I wasn’t a fan of the wasabi, with my preference leaning towards the chilli and sesame. The chilli helped lessen the heaviness of the beef, while the very fragrant sesame sauce gave the beef a more creamy and heady flavour.

And of course we had dessert. We ordered a few different ones to share, and what I loved about Nobu’s desserts was the fact that they weren’t too sweet. So even after such a heavy meal, I was still able to indugle my sweet tooth 😀

The chocolate fondant was very generous in size, a soft cakey outside with a slightly molten centre. The chocolate flavour was quite bold and the chocolate covered pop rocks scattered on top proved to be an interesting fizzing sensation.

The soy mixed berry panacotta was extremely enjoyable and delightfully light. The panacotta was perfectly set so it wasn’t too runny or firm and the sweet vinegar used to dress the panacotta helped bring out the subtle nuttiness of the soy flavour as well as toning down the tartness of the berries.

We also had their signature item the Suntory Whisky Iced Cappuccino. This was quite interesting, a small coffee cup with four separate layers which consisted of coffee cream, cocoa crumble, milk gelato and whisky foam. The whisky added depth to the intense flavour of the coffee, but although I liked the taste, I found the texture of the crumble to be a little too sandy.

(L-R) Whisky Iced cappuccino, apple sorbet, raspberry sorbet and ice-cream mochi

We were also served two scoops of sorbet, fuji apple and raspberry. I found the apple sorbet to be a little grainy and it wasn’t cold enough, but the flavour was pleasant. The raspberry was quite normal, a little too icy, but was refreshing on the palate.

By the time we got to the ice-cream mochi, it was already semi-melted. I suspect we had the walnut flavour and it was quite different, but in a good way. The skin was a little thicker and denser than the normal ice-cream mochi skins you find in supermarkets, but it provided a nice chewy texture.

I must say it was an epic dinner. I enjoyed every bit of it and would definitely return. Highly recommended~!

And after dinner, it was home timeeee~ I couldn’t believe how much I ate on Saturday, but I thoroughly enjoyed indulging me inner piggy ^__^