Food of Hong Kong & Macau

大董烤鸭店 Da Dong Peking Duck (Beijing) - ♕♕♕♕ 1/2

2012-02-28T17:03:00.001-08:00

Many foodies visit Da Dong to eat, but on a personal level I was more interested in Chef Dong’s food philosophy and his latest contributions to the Chinese Culinary Scene. Known to be a pioneer and always updating his menu, as well as since having caught on with the world trend and now partially incorporating molecular food science techniques into some of his recipes. The Roast Duck might be famous, but that’s a fixed asset that will always be here to stay. I was more interested in his latest food plays..

Walking towards the Dongsishitiao (东四十条) outlet,
About 5 minutes walk from the Subway.

Da Dong has been Evolving annually.
They are locally famous for 3 different Types of Dishes they serve, and it is not their Peking Duck only which has contributed to their inclusion as the winner of No.1 Beijing Restaurant in Timeout Beijing in consecutive years recently-
- Original Super Lean Peking Duck (酥不腻烤鸭)
- Modern Beijing Poetic ‘ Surreal Cuisine (意境菜)
- Braised Sea Cucumber (海參)

Apple and Pear Wood, Open Roasting Oven -
Most authentic style shops use either Lychee Wood or Apple Wood to roast their ducks as per Beijing tradition, which is hard to find outside Beijing. Other shops adhering to this method thus covered so-far include Beijing’s Made in China (長江一號) & Quanjude (全聚德), Macau’s Beijing Kitchen (滿堂彩) and 紅8粥麵 (Red 8 Noodles & Congee). Also Hong Kong’s 大都烤鴨 (Empire City Roasted Duck). There are also some other shops which I liked but haven’t blogged about yet..

Modern Chinese Restaurant Setting -
When Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck was filming the In Search of Perfection –Peking Duck series, he visited Da Dong’s boss for advice. Rumour goes that Mr Da Dong finally realised how the Chinese Culinary world is falling behind modern Molecular Food Science based cooking techniques that are being practised elsewhere… It gave him motivation to also improve his own cuisine, including the use of liquid nitrogen and sous vide machines in his shops nowadays.

Dragon Well Tea -
Tea in Pekinese cuisine is taken seriously, much like in Fujian province or Taiwan restaurants.
It is not a rare sight to see Specialty Tea offerings in such restaurants, including some mentioned above or at 京花軒.

Pickled Beef Tripe Slices - 老坛百叶
A Da Dong signature cold Appetiser, beef tripes are pickled in a Peking kimchi-like marinade. This is the 3rd cut out of the 4 Cow’s stomach compartments the ‘omasum’. This was slightly bland and tasted a bit too refrigerated. A little disappointed except for texture ~ 6.5/10

(春歌) Spring Song -
Shrimp with Spring Tea, Sliced Pear Cake & Beancurd, & Chinese Toon in Liquid Nitrogen -
The first trilogy of Poetic appetisers or 意境菜.

Sliced Pear Cake - 京糕梨絲春卷
Looked pretty with the Gold bow tie and all, but didn’t really get it in the taste, as it looks like a bunch of flowers but too moistened and pretentious, but didn’t create sparks. ~ 5/10

Bean Curd with Chinese Toon in Liquid Nitrogen - 液氮香椿豆腐
I liked the toon veggies but it was a bit too cold. Funny thing is I didn’t see anything much about Liquid Nitrogen here. If this is attempting to emulate a The Fat Duck experience, I fail to see it’s success or appeal. Tasted ok though. ~ 7/10

春茶小湖蝦 - Shrimp with Spring Tea
This was finally a dish I understood from the flavours structure. The river shrimp is in a briny solution but topped with a floating green tea sauce, looking like a structured cocktail! ~ 8/10

Bean Curd with Chinese Toon - 香椿豆腐
Some sad blogger arriving in from Hong Kong was obviously onto a mind lapse here, because this is just a bigger portion of one of the above trio appetisers. This performed slightly better and with red kidney beans and flowers for decoration. But it was still a little dense from refrigeration. Confirmed my suspicion that this looked more pretty than it tastes… ~ 6.5/10

Roasted Super Lean Peking Duck -
I need to re-emphasis on the super lean part because the version here is much smaller and less fattier that other versions. The chef is trying to make the duck crunchy but without becoming too greasy in the outcome. This bold thery could well back-fire, but it achieved it’s purpose. The duck skin was cellulosed crunchy rather than thin biscuity crunchy, minus the fat.

With an assortment of 8 Condiments including Rose Heart Radish and Scallions, Pickles.
This certainly looked the part, and out of all Peking Duck shops this was the most impressive.. The Sweet Sauce for local Beijingers is also very important, here it had depth and rivals a good smoky BBQ sauce. Many overseas versions are only about sweetness, which are far off the mark compared to the real Beijing versions. In fact even the colour is diff…

Duck Brain and Duck thigh -
These had crispy external skin.

Mandarin Crepes -
Mid-thinness, floury powdery and more drier than most. I like them to be a little bit more translucent & elasticky sometimes. ~ 7/10

Toasted Sesame Bun (燒餅) -
Most authentic Pekinese Duck shops in Beijing provide these as an alternative to the crepes. So you fill them up with duck meat! ~ 7/10

Peking Duck Sliced 2 Ways -
One of the things I notice with eating Peking Ducks here is that the Duck Head with its brain is always given to the customer, sometimes with an additional piece of meat on the side. But the main platter always has breast and leg meat sliced diagonally – whereas the fattier skin from the belly are eaten as skin only. This is the trendiest way to carve a duck and it looks magnificent! One simply cannot find such expertly sliced Peking Duck, even at Shatin 18 in Hong Kong or Quanjude in Melbourne. Despite their direct linkage to the famous Beijing shops. ~ 8.5/10

Duck and Tofu Soup -
Like most shops, this was weakish in duck flavours. ~ 6/10

Fruit Platter -
Plated artistically..

Dandelion of Chinese Bottle Goud (蒲公英糖葫芦) -
A candy floss made to resemble a Dandelion surrounds a candied Chinese Bottle Goud, a common Beijing street food but here made into a prettier flower-in-pot presentation. ~ 8/10

Hawthorn Sherbet (山渣冰霜) -
This was a nice ending dessert and refreshing from the sweet and sour sherbet. Fresh hawthorn are used here and is such a Beijing thing - in HK we often eat the dried or candied version only. ~ 9/10

As mentioned, Da Dong does 3 Different Styles of Food here & is famous for Sea Cucumbers too - The presentation of the artistic food was thoughtful, I liked some of his creativities.
Some worked better than others particularly the desserts and there were other notable signatures dishes like the Goose Liver in Aspic or Sea Cucumbers I couldn’t order by myself in this meal. The super lean Peking Duck however had a superb ‘crackling’ skin, and came with the best condiments and sesame buns/crepes in general. This is what I would like to return back to eat.

Price: RMB $250
Ease of Access: 3.5/5 (Close to Subway Station, 5 minutes walk)
Food: ♕♕♕♕ 1/2

Opening Hours:
Mon to Sun 11am - 10pm
Address: Beijing, No.22A Dongsi Shitiao, Dongcheng District 100007
Ph: 010-51690329

Doctor Java, Organic Coffee (Melbourne) - ♕♕♕♕ 1/2

2012-02-26T15:19:00.001-08:00

Doctor Java is a coffee cart that is only found on the day they hold a cart at the weekly Farmer’s Market in Melbourne. The coffee is spot-on roasted and catering for the middle-quantile drinkers infatuated with their milk based coffees.. Which means it is not aiming to please the traditional Italian crowd and the latest New 3rd wave terroir based cafes importing from all over the world. Afterall, who really cares about the minute differences. This from the beginning was to please the overall crowd but perhaps lacking in spirit..

Coffee Cart -
Doctor Java. Just the name by itself makes me think this is not the latest 3rd wave trend.

Caffe Latte -
This was my 1st coffee. It was more than decent and an everyday milk-coffee type of drink. Could drink this all day long. This didn’t look too attractive by default but taste wise this is better than 95% of shops in HK, bar a few shops who fully know what they are trying to achieve. ~ 6.9/10

Another Caffé Latte –
Like more Melbourne cafes, latte art is not always poured to impress visually. Much like the average looking coffee presented above. But if u want to see a pretty picture on your coffee, insist on something just a little more special since the baristas are accommodative. Out came a geometrically shaped and clean latte art to replace the 1st cup. Can you believe, the above coffee and the one below were made all by the same barista person? In the eye of the professional baristas, taste is always > than the presentation !

Price: AUD $3
Ease of Access: 2/5 (Need a car and knowledge as to where it is next to be found.)
Coffee: ♕♕♕♕1/2

Opening Hours:
12pm to 8pm (usually all sold out, by around 6pm at most)
Address: Found at Weekly Food Markets, or permanently at 87a Smith Street, Collingwood, Melbourne.

Taiwanese Beef Noodles Festival (Hong Kong) - from 25th to 26th Feb 2012

2012-02-25T10:08:00.001-08:00

Hong Kong in general is missing out on quality Taiwanese Beef Noodles which will be on par with expected Taiwanese standards. This situation has been amplified by the sudden influx of quality Japanese Ramen shops popping up around town, propping up Japanese banners to claim their supremacy in various local suburbs, plus our Hainanese Chicken Rice shops are honestly not too far off Singaporean levels anyway. Diamond Hill Shopping Mall, at Diamond Hill MTR Station in Hong Kong is holding a Taiwanese Beef Noodles event for 2 consecutive days and tomorrow on Sunday is the last chance to try out some of the noodles from a hand selected few award winning Taiwanese noodle shops. There is one catch however as due to the inclined nature of the pop-up circumstance, some shops cannot replicate the 100% original in-shop versions by constraint, whereas some stalls resort to makeshift noodles as temporary substitutes. A few shops as observed do not provide their signature Beef Intestines or chose to forego using the harder-to-cook-right Beef cuts in order to maintain overall quality and to eliminate the risk of jeopardizing reputation. The soup base never still gives a rough indication as to what one could extrapolate from and adjust expectations when finally eating them at the original Taiwanese stalls… This charitable event was always meant to be merely a preview.

8 Taiwanese Noodle Shops are presented here, running from 25 to 26th of Feb.
The queue for each round of noodles is approx. 15 to 30 minutes.
You donate $20 to a box and in return receive 1 redemption voucher at a time,
which entitles you to a chosen one bowl of noodle.

#No. 1 This Shop’s Clear Broth style noodles won our heart -
Thanks to @Dor19 from DorothyMa.com’s Review , we were tipped off to trying this bowl. The broth was filled with beef meat and bone flavours, with a subtle hint of Chinese Medicine and judicial amounts of spice and no traces of MSG. The beef sheen weren’t fork tender though tasty, the beef ribs were perfectly boiled. The noodles remained elastic and chewy. This will be a shop I’ll visit when I go to Taiwan again.

#No. 2 This shop is the only Shop here which makes their own Noodles on the spot -
The noodles were thinner than others and more like Shanghainese la mian noodles in taste. The soup base was decent only but too heavy in alcohol, unveiling not much surprise layers despite using more vegetables and goji. I personally didn’t like this the most. That’s despite them being the 2011 Overall Winner for Clear Broth Beef noodles back in Taipei.

#No. 3 The Beef Sheens here were thickly cut and had the best overall texture -
The soup is beefy and slightly spicy, but quite salty. This is more of a generic style Red version Beef Noodles. This is likable, but I personally prefer the broth to be more structured and less in your face bold and heavily spiced.

#No. 4 This Shop’s Red version Beef Noodle is BOLD ! -
Some foodies liked this, but I think we arrived a bit too late (?) and the soup had evolved to become way too salty. For a salt whore like myself I hardly ever find things overly salty yet this also had too much apparent MSG. It’s quite heavily spiced but despite the darker colour wasn’t too beefy at all. The beef pieces were however braised very well. Probably would need a cold beer to drink with this to balance it out, but it’s decent.

#No. 5 The Most Surprising Package -
This came with flame-grilled beef ribs which imparted more aroma into the noodles bowl. The egg as usual was cooked all the way through instead of being onsen-like in Japanese Ramens. The soup base was a appreciated 2nd surprise as it was quite sophisticated, with a more veggies and herbal medicinal taste but still containing enough beefiness to resonate through in the background. This modernised soup base is exploring off the beaten track a bit, but it worked and provided the most long lasting sensation and we also liked how this had no traceable MSG.

In Summary -
Our tasters arrived at our own ‘preferred choices’, which deviated slightly from others during separate visits, and there is no right or wrong!! But for some of us bloggers such as http://dorothyma.com and http://kentxfood.blogspot.com/ , we probably liked No. 1 and No. 5 the best consensually even though we didn’t eat together, followed closely by No. 3 above. No.4 had really good beef pieces too to be fair. *There are still 3 shops we haven’t explored. Let me know how you think!

Address: 鑽石山荷里活廣場的明星廣場
Level 1, Plaza Hollywood, Diamond Hill

Opening Hours:
12pm to 8pm (usually sold out around 6pm)

大都烤鴨 Empire City Roasted Duck – (Hong Kong ) - ♕♕♕ 1/2

2012-02-23T11:06:00.001-08:00

This new Peking Duck specialist is opened by 鴻星海鮮酒家 (Super Star Restaurant), a group which during its peak glorious days was deemed decent but never truly exceptional. Their biggest achievement was cementing a permanent record in the history book when one of their head chefs went on to represent Hong Kong and winning a battle in the Japanese Iron Chef Competition ~ no other HK restaurant contestants managed to repeat this feat during the 1980s. Ever since then the quality of food has retreated from its peak. This time around their new restaurant is designed around a Pekinese theme and roasting their Peking Ducks with lychee wood as per traditional Beijing tradition. Perhaps they are onto a winner here in concept, since it’s one of a kind in Hong Kong despite most shops in Beijing practicing this by default. Macau’s Beijing Kitchen (滿堂彩) also uses the same traditional cooking method and the latter’s duck proved to be far superior. We had mixed thoughts about here as some dishes were promising indeed, but some turned out to be a little average for now..

Peking ducks in Beijing are not perfect, but still that much more better relatively speaking.
Carving technique difference is where Beijing or Macau’s Beijing Kitchen (滿堂彩) really excel.

Lychee Wood Open Oven -
The only one of its kind in Hong Kong, which is surprising. Even Park Hyatt’s Shatin 18 uses an inferior gas oven, despite being the sister restaurant of Beijing’s Made in China and Macau’s Beijing Kitchen both of which also use lychee wood for roasting.

Crystal Jelly Fish Meat (水晶魚凍) -
Pressed fish meat with stock jelly. These were a little weak in flavour,
wouldn’t be able to tell what I was eating if blind-folded. ~ 6/10

Pickled Turnip (醬蘿蔔) -
This was great and enjoyable, also cooked well. ~ 10/10

Gelatine coated Deboned Duck Tongues (水晶鴨舌) - $55
The gelatin was set a little too hard and the taste was expectedly weak.
I think this is hard to rate, as the execution wasn’t wrong, but the recipe itself was never going to be impressive…. ~ 6.5/10

Salted Poached Duck Liver (鹽水鴨肝) -
The duck livers were of the right mousse-like texture but seriously lacked taste.
I developed a feeling by now that all cold appetizers here were going to be more bland than usual. May be even overly refrigerated ~ 6/10

Bamboo Pith and Tofu (竹笙山水豆腐) -
A little bland in soy flavour and the bamboo pith too soft. ~ 6/10

Mushrooms Marinated in Oyster Sauce(醬油蘑菇) -
Surprisingly retaining a crunch and seasoned well, and great presentation.
~ 8/10

Marinated Duck Giblets (繡球腎仁) -
Again notice the knife work, which is quite a Mainland Chinese novelty. The giblets/kidneys were surprisingly done well here. ~ 9/10

Preserved Spicy Turnip and Silver Fungus in Flower Shape (一支獨秀) -
This requires Advance Order. The presentation is pretty but this actually tasted quite appetizing with the hot and sour flavour mingling with the crunchiness of the turnip. ~ 8/10

Lychee Wood Roasted Peking Duck (烤北京填鴨) - $268
The one duck we looked forward to the most, the slicing up of this duck was not as elegant as the ones in Beijing, which are usually separated into 3 types of presentation. The Duck Skin is not bad as it is crisp but it is definitely not crunchy like the real Pekinese version. The duck meat was slightly too tepid cold upon serving, even taking into consideration of the short period we were taking photos. Overall, this was ok-decent but not exceptional ~ 6.9/10

Condiments:
Julienned Scallions, Melon, Cucumber and Roseheart Radish..
These were of good quality actually, which made up for the duck.
These are usually found in real Beijing Pekinese Duck restaurants.

Colourful Duck Wrap..
Mandarin Crepes were decently thin, but just a tad moist.

Stir Fried Duck mince and Preserved Vegetables in Wheat Bun (鴨肉末麥包) -
The bun was dry. The duck meat with the preserved veggies were done well with a subtle hint of genuine reduced sauce taste, rather than MSG.

Bun let it down a bit…
~ 6.9/10

Sesame Pastry and Fried Duck Mince (二鬆炒鴨末 ~ 叉子燒餅) -
The sesame pastries were quite flakily good and aromatic. The Duck meat this time mixed with pinenuts were quite decent. ~ 8/10

Duck meat in the Sesame Pastry..

Soaked Vegetables with Yunnan Wild Mushroom (雲南野菌浸翡翠) -
This was just like a normal stir-fry dish, but the mushrooms as expected were completely tasteless both in ingredients quality and cooking. ~ 4/10

Braised Duck Meat with Special Sauce (大紅三杯烤鴨架) -
A dish normally made from chicken instead of duck, the version tonight was not hot at all, like the Taiwanese version. There also wasn’t much rice alcohol’s taste. Not really as authentic in taste or rich enough, a little disappointed. ~ 6/10

Sauteed Chinese Cabbage (開水白菜) -
This is actually a Sichuan dish and without checking the menu first I thought it was another familiar dish from up North. The broth is meant to be quite gamey from the duck/chicken and pork knuckles but this was a little weak. Although this was decent personally since it retains the sweetness of the original Chinese Cabbage ! ~ 7/10

Stir Fried Beef Ribs (胡同牛肋肉) -
We needed some more meat, and this last order was surprisingly decent. The meat was just tender and the sauce nicely tuned. Not sure as to it’s authenticity to Beijing cuisine however, as I thought the original recipe is Lamb based. Nevertheless ~ 8/10

Duck Meat and Rice Wrapped with Lotus Leaf (荷香包鴨飯) -
I have never heard of other friends dining on the same night or other nights, except for myself. I actually enjoyed this, may be because I like the interior to be a bit more moist whereas the rice here was still fluffy enough and not all caked together. ~ 7/10

Pea Flour Cake with Red Beans (慈禧豌豆黃) -
Another Beijing traditional dessert. For some reason this had a really strong pea flour taste to the point it was overwhelming. Also set a little too hard. ~ 6.5/10

Glutinous Rice Rolls with Sweet Bean Flour (金陵驢打滾) -
This dessert is named the same as a Chiu Chow cuisine dish, but this is the correct Beijing version. This was again a topic of heated debate, as it tasted just so grassy ! It doesn’t look like it would but it carried an overwhelmingly strong but unexpected taste. Texture was decent however…. ~ 6/10

Ducklings (小鴨子酥) -
Looked better than it tastes. A little crumbly with a dryish filling. ~ 5/10

士多啤梨汁豆沙窩餅 (Fried Red bean Paste Crepes with Strawberry Sauce) -
The strawberry sauce doesn’t work with red beans. The problem with this dessert was that it was slightly thickish hard yet under-fried before it is crispy enough. ~ 5/10

Fried Oat Coated Sweet Potato (貝勒燕蕃薯) -
This was the only decent dessert out of the 4 which was more normal. Not oily at all and not overly sweetened, good job finally. ~ 8/10

This Restaurant slightly surpassed my own expectations..
I think others didn’t quite admire it. I guess I’ve had some pretty ordinary meals in Beijing before, where the food looked better than they tasted, to made me reset and adjust my expectations.
The appetisers were certainly aiming to replicate a Beijing experience, some are decent some were bland. The Duck wasn’t as good as I had come to expect and could be carved more expertly to be more of a proper modern Pekinese Duck restaurant. I will post some other Beijing meals after this for comparison

Price: $250
Ease of Access: 4.5/5 (Above Tsim Sha Tsui Station, K-11 Mall exit)
Food: ♕♕♕1/2 to ♕♕♕♕

Opening Hours -
Mon to Sun 11am – 11pm
Address: 尖沙咀河內道18號K11購物藝術館2樓221號舖
Shop 221, Level 2, K11 Art Mall, 18 Hanoi Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Ph: 2628 0662

Dialogue in the Dark (Hong Kong) - ♕♕♕ 1/2

2012-02-17T10:18:00.001-08:00

Dialogue in the Dark was a concept started in Germany, and although I have known about this from around 15 years ago as they held pop-up events all over the world and now permanent set-ups - this was actually my 1st time paying them a visit. Thanks to OPENRICE.COM for the invitation. Dialogue in the Dark comprises of two main sections - one is an Exhibitional side where you get to experience how a blind or visually impaired person will experience it all in real life, the 2nd part is the Restaurant side where you are led in by hosts (with visual impairment or are totally blinded) to your table. The impact suddenly hits you hard as soon as you enter the dark room as one becomes completely oblivious and lost in the labyrinth, and surprisingly and ironically, it is your blind hosts for the night who will be guiding you between the hard edged tables and walls, or to instruct you on how to pour a hot drink properly at the end of the night... It was an eye opening experience (pun not intended, when you can’t see anything in the dark at all).

The entrance to a realm of unknown beyond -
but well worth a visit. Albeit a bit too pricey.. at $850 a pop.

An Explanation about the concept before the meal..
There are 2 options available here. One is much cheaper at only around $130 per person, to experience what a visually impaired person might go through in their daily lives. Well worth another visit…

Food -
There are no clues as to what you will be served next. Our Table A were surprisingly being able to identify a few food ingredients in the blinded atmosphere, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves because we also managed to miss a glaringly obvious few which were easily distinguishable. The food might not be awesomely out of this world, but perhaps their simplicity marks their purpose in this blind tasting session.

All of our hosts either have heavily blurred visions -
To the point they could barely distinguish between light and darkness, or a few who are completely blind either from birth or since deteriorated in a majorly fashion. Although many people have mentioned and even suspected that the hosts seemingly were able to navigate around like they had infra-red goggles on in the darkness - I actually don't agree with this assessment fully and find it a smidgeon exaggerated. I did notice that our hosts certainly had much higher sensitivities and experience than us, but they still had slight deviations in the way they placed the Food Plates in front of me (a little off-center spot and too near the edge of the table), and they still needed our assistance to hand back our emptied plates and glasses to them... I just find it unfair to overly godify their abilities in the dark and to think that our hosts are not impaired in the dark at all much like we were also experiencing in there. They have a disability which is disadvantageous to them, they are just making better use of their remaining senses

Price: $850
Ease of Access: 3.5/5 (10 min walk North of Mei Foo Station
Food: ♕♕♕♕

Opening Hours -
Mon to Fri 7am – 11pm
Sat to Sun 8am - 11pm

Address: 美孚景荔徑8號盈暉家居城2樓215號
Shop 215, 2/F, Household Centre, 8 King Lai Path, Mei Foo
Ph: 2891 0438

Fiat Caffe (Hong Kong) - ♕♕♕♕♕

2012-02-12T17:14:00.001-08:00

Fiat Caffe is part of the Swire group and East Hotel restaurants, which in itself is already a sign of guarantee according to my past experience. I arrived here thinking it was just a coffee tasting session but probably became a little lost in the end, when I had arrived to find some other well-known celebrity TV presenters, reknowned food critics and foodies before me. I wasn’t even dressed up to the occasion woops, but perhaps my initial expectations did not entirely reflect what we were about to encounter here. This Caffe, Italian for café, is definitely one of it’s kind in it’s local context. Despite some repetitive elements in the food it will definitely freshen up the Café/Caffé scene in Hong Kong.. Today is going to be it’s 1st official opening day, and I will certainly be coming back before the crowd arrives and the secret is let out. It really is that good and truly quite modernised Italian.

The Fiat Car Showroom with their Caffé on the side -
(The original Italian spelling for a Café or a simple Coffee,
as I have been trying to convey across for the nth time, unless you’re French!)

The Menu is quite Italian indeed, GREAT!
I don’t mind pseudo-Italian stuff but at least advertise it properly,
or like here at Fiat Caffe - try to be a proper one! : )

Chef David from the East Hotel group,
Overlooking the operation. He has his own knack for interesting food and recipes…

La Marzocco FB/80 2 Group in Ferrari Red colour -
A nice enough espresso machine, but in today’s coffee world:
it is all about Slayers, Synesso 2011 spec Hydra’s, La Marzocco Strada EP specs, etc.

Imported Ferrarini Parma Ham and Modena Balsamico Vinegar -

Italian Squash -
This is made of Mint, Lemon and Soda, a refreshing drink without alcohol.

Antipasti -
With Olives, Tomatoes, Artichokes and Peppers stuffed with Ricotta drizzled with a nice Olive Oil.
This is a simple antipasti platter but done really well here ~ 9/10

Some Gavi di Gavi wine,
to Start off the Night -

Milano Salami and Ferrarini Prosciutto Cotto -
With a bit of gherkins, caperberries and arugula. A really nice antipasti platter.
Some people love the more ‘cured’ ham but I like them a little fresher, and the salumi was sliced to the ideal thickness. ~ 9/10

Callipo Tuna in Olive Oil, Boiled Egg, Caper Mayonnaise, Lemon and Dill –
I really liked this dish, but perhaps not so much to others. It’s all about personal preferences! The cooked tuna was less briny than expected which means it retained a good tuna taste without being canned in performance. The well-tuned sauce with the eggs were so correctly Mediterranean, I really did marveled at how well this dish did resemble its original intents in taste ~ 9/10

Torino’s Anchovies with Fresh Lemon and Bread -
These fillets were quite fresh tasting and only semi-cured, and the only place in HK that I am aware of importing them. In Spanish terms, these are the Boquerones vs Anchoas variety, both have their own sternest supporters. I love both but these ones were truly addictive and fresh, kudos to the kitchen for introducing them to the HK food scene. ~ 9/10

Italian Smoked and Dried Tuna Carpaccio with Lemon and Olive Oil -
As another foodie mentioned, a lot of Italian food hardly deviates from a central core theme and there are only macro-differences between one plate and another. Take for example this fish dish which also came with caperberries, basil, lemon, olive oil and dill, just like a few dishes above. The difference lies in the central ingredient which is a dry and smoked tuna which is again a novelty in Hong Kong. All this from a Caffe shop? Relatively impressive indeed ~ 8/10

Mixed Arugula Salad with Tomatoes and Parmesan Flakes -
Simple, but fresh and executed well here. Decent..

Ricotta with Figs, White Truffle Honey and Olive Oil -
This arrived with an exotic truffle aroma but in the nose it was mostly Black Truffle oil rather than White Truffle essence, surprising when checking it later on. The ricotta were of the softer milky type than the norm, and the figs were just great. This was great in its taste although for me personally, a little too SWEET in the overall compositional balance. *Excuse the Food Snob* ~ 6.9/10

Buffalo Mozzarella Tomato Salad with Basil and Olive Oil -
This is just like any Caprese out there. I could say Fullstop, skip right now. But for some unknown reason many shops can’t get their ingredients right especially the mozzarella di bufala. The one here was exceptionally fresh and one of the best I have tried in Hong Kong. Let’s hope this isn’t a once off experience. ~ 9/10

Sardinian Sardines, Tomato Sugo & House Made Capers Mayonnaise Sauce on Bruschetta -
This was an exceptional dish. Despite the appearance of dill and lemon on seafood for the Nth time, this still managed to impress especially with the 2 sauces served in the original tin. HK People are too used to thinking canned food as inferior, but in France and Spain, this delicacy was once confined to superior confit and cured food served to Royal Families. This dish was easily one of my dish of the night in performance, got to try it to believe how great it was despite the simplicity ~ 10/10

Prosciutto , Dried Tomato, Arugula and Parmesan Bruschetta -
Like the Antipasto plate above, I tremendously enjoyed this semi-cured and not too dry-aged Parma ham, as it suits its purpose without being too overly cured, dried and salty, which otherwise goes better with aged red wines. The ham served here was of exceptional quality versus its intents, not so sure others will agree with me as I might have my own interpretation on this! ~ 9/10

Black Truffle Paste with Grilled Fontina Cheese, Grated Black Truffle & Bruschetta -
This was doubly truffled with paste and shaved bites, and the Fontina cheese was perfect with the truffled taste. Another perfectionist foodie said I didn’t divide this up properly into the 8 individual portions properly with equal amounts of truffles haha, sorry for the mishap. I already tried to divide them up as cleanly as possible, although I could eat the whole thing by myself ! ~ 8/10

Salami, Tomato & Pesto Panino -
Panini is plural, whilst a Panino is grammatically singular. Let me just get that out of the way since mis-marketing has imprinted the wrong fact to too many people to the extent I have had to explain myself every time I say Panino, much like my argument with Caffe vs Café. It’s like – I don’t care anymore, really.. hmm. This was actually really great and although totally expected to be found in an International City such as Hong Kong, this was the 1st shop I have visited which provided one up to standard. Totally addictive and I wish they have an outlet nearer Central for lunch. Onto a winner here ~ 10/10

Ham, Cheese and Tomato Panino -
Yes Panino, not Panini. Got that yet? This was served with a micro-difference as that shaved ham and thicker cowy cheese was lovable. It is strange how many years it took for this panino to arrive in the local food scene, when it should have been like this all along… ~ 8/10

A Chianti Red Wine being Served -
For the following courses.
Sweetish for a Sangiovese based Chianti wine. Decent.

Polpette and Fresh Tomato Sugo, Fresh Cut Herbs and Riso Pasta -
This is their Signature pasta dish. The meatballs were chunky and meaty, which is different from the pillowy type whichever you choose to prefer. The sugo sauce was tomato-ey but lacked herbs influence to make it truly Italian, but it was not that far off. The Riso pasta is deliberately made to resemble rice grains. Another foodie found out that these are meant to be less heavy and usually put into soups, but in this instance it worked particularly well indeed instead of true risotto rice. ~ 8/10

Riso Pasta -
It means Rice in Italian but it is a wheat based pasta that looks like rice, also found in France as Orzo Pasta. A little overcooked, but still decent.

Penne Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Pancetta and Cream -
Again this was a little overcooked beyond al dente, but the sauce with pancetta bacon and cream was decent, albeit under-seasoned. A tinge of salt added helped to alleviate the problem! I personally thought the mushrooms and pancetta flavours were a little too weak, and the penne a little too soft. The portion however was on the generous side. Getting there ~ 6.5/10

Spaghetti with Italian XO Sauce with Fried Prawns -
This XO sauce was said to be made with chilli, Italian anchovies, ham, etc. But in the end it was barely detectable and a little too oily, sorry to say the truth. The Spaghetti was more like a Linguine and a little too broken in strands. On the positive side - the prawns were really crunchy and fresh. The bottom of the pasta dish was more tasty albeit more oily at the same time. ~ 6.5/10

Braise Fennel with Bean and Tomato’s Stew -
This was good but getting a bit repetitive with the tomatoes scheme by now.
Italian food can be mostly herbal and tomatoes based depending, on the region. This was good on its own but getting a little repetitive for the night.

Chocolate Cake with Apple Raisin Compote -
The chocolate cake came as a 2 layered cake which was moist and great, dusted with powdered sugar. The fruit compote on the side somehow reminded me of Apple Strudel and syrupy. ~ 7/10

Ricotta, Stewed Pear in Cinnamon Syrup, Almond and Honey -
I had a problem with this, since the pear was a little sour and didn’t exactly work with the ricotta cheese. And for once there wasn’t enough honey sweetness to balance it all. This to me was more like a breakfast dish than a dessert. Getting there ~ 6.5/10

Affogato made with Illy Crema -
Instead of Gelato, this was a coffee and chocolate based ‘drink’ topped with icy Illy Crema Granita. The top powdery chocolate layer is different from the bottom French chocolate base, but it was the icy coffee cream granita which made it interesting, albeit a little sweetish. Totally recommended for those who want a chocolatey-coffee like, dessert drink. They also serve a separate Affogato-Tiramisu dessert here using a Disaronno Almond & Apricot taste liquer.

Espresso by Illy -
An Over-extracted Lungo by any measure and becoming too thin,
this was bitterly extracted and not very enjoyable… Quite disappointed indeed but coffee is a sensitive thing indeed. ~ 2/10

Interesting Menu with an Abarth Fiat included with an Espresso for $799,888, haha -
I might just buy one, if it can beat a 2011 Mini Cooper S in a drag…
Overall this Caffe was quite impressive in some ways except for the coffee right now,
and I am glad that Hong Kong is such an improving city by the day. This might not be perfect on all fronts by now, but it is probably one of the best caffes in town that we have access to right now and is definitely up to Italian standards if not more! A caffé is not to be treated as a restaurant afterall.

Price: Around HKD $200 to $300
Ease of Access: 4/5
Food: ♕♕♕♕ – ♕♕♕♕♕

Opening Hours -
Mon – Sun 11:00 am - 10:00 pm

Address: Shops G5-6, Leighton Center, 77 Leighton Road, Causeway
Ph: 2960 9222

Gaddi’s Lunch at Peninsula (Hong Kong) - ♕♕♕♕ 1/2

2012-02-11T13:10:00.001-08:00

There has been rumours going on for a while. Chef David is going to leave The Peninsula group, if they can’t help him fight for his Michelin Star during the 3rd or 4th years’ attempt. Well fellas, this is no longer news because David has already quitted the restaurant as at the end of January 2012. The more pertinent question to ask, is why would the hotel even need to fight for the stars in the Michelin Guide? I think many HK foodies in the know-how already know why but are just keeping it quiet … but that’s another story. We arrived here for a lunch set course when David was still helming the kitchen. Lunch set menus as always might not be the best judgment of a restaurant’s performance, so please do bear that in mind. Full degustation tasting menus are often much more sophisticated in thought (and often ordered during dinner although usually also available for lunch upon request). That’s unless if you are in Spain where there’s virtually no difference between lunch or dinner, or eating at a Chinese restaurant where you can order both Dim Sums and A La Carte at the same time as you please, just to compare.

Gaddi’s at the prestigious Peninsula -
Almost every foodie in town knows this is at least of Michelin 1 Star quality on a relative measurement compared to many others in town. Why then, hasn’t it or any Peninsula restaurants received any Michelin Stars during David’s last 4-7 years tenure here? Some of us already know the answer and it came from multiple sources of insider information from various venues. I have my obligation not to divulge the information ‘openly’ to protect the individuals, but this won’t be the end of this saga at all.. As foodies, we will fight for fairness. Pity I can’t tell you more of our plan right now.

No more Canard au Sang to be made here -
Watermark was doing it for a while, and I’ve tried it here many years ago. May be they should bring it back!

Lovely Table Setting -

Philippe Olivier butter -
This is ok but a little brittle and slightly weak. I am actually not a big fan of Echire or Bordier butter, but at least Bordier is smooth as a cream. As much as I enjoy subtle food and wine, sometimes and perhaps my palate is too insensitive, I need something a little more cowy or cultured tangy or really creamy. Perhaps a personal thing!

Bacon Croissant and Epi Baguette -
Croissant was excellent. The Epi was a little too crunchy on the outside but too hollow-soft inside, without too much bready taste. Again this could just be a personal preference. I think I like the Robuchon Macau or Singapore Guy Savoy one better, followed by Robuchon L’Atelier HK or the odd ones I can’t remember. This Epi was average in comparison to many restaurants. The croissant was great though and of the flaky type! ~ 7/10

A Vin de Pays d’Oc wine by the Rothschild’s -
I have got to say, these wine barons aren’t gambling away their Goodwill and hard earned brand name with their cheaper offerings. I’ve never had a bad wine from any of their managed vineyards all the way from Chile or South Africa to the cheaper French offers. Even LVMH can’t lay claim to maintaining this standard across the board. Punching above it’s weight.

Challans Duck Leg Confit Terrine with Parma Ham and Hazelnuts, with Hazelnut and Fruity sauce -
The recipe sounded interesting, the presentation was pretty, the ingredients above the norm for a lunch set. Yet in the mouth the terrine was a little too stringy meaty and with the ham a bit hard to cut in a non-messy manner. There wasn’t that much duck taste either. This looked better than it tasted! ~ 6.9/10

Celeriac and Apple Cream (Soup) with Black Pudding and Scallop -
The soup was a little too salty and wasn’t overly saturated with the expected celeriac or apple taste. Didn’t get to try the black pudding and scallop but apparently it was decent enough, bar the weakness of the soup.

Prawn Raviolo with Fennel puree and Crushed herbs -
This was the best entrée out of them all. With a translucent raviolo skin, and a bisque-y sauce and foam. This is almost a proven formula as you see a similar version in many restaurants, and crustacean bisque flavours are strong enough to be detected by the most novice eaters like myself. This was a really well cooked entrée indeed! ~ 10/10

Pot au Feu style Lamb loin and Winter vegetables. Braised in rosemary bouillon -
This arrived looking like a modern translation of a pot au feu, which also reminds me of Italian bollito misto. Lamb medallions were nicely even pink for the ordered medium rare and quite gamey than envisaged. A homely dish done to modernised ‘cleaner’ standards, but somehow I was fixated in my mixed emotion. Is this too clinically precise to be a rustic pot au feu, or should it be all sloppily messy in presentation and taste with just a hint of murkiness in the broth? In the end I concluded that this was a successful dish. It is ingenious and a re-interpretation of an old favourite. I just somehow wished it was less clean-tasting if that makes sense… ~ 7.5/10

Oven Baked Sea Perch, with Cepe Crust and Roasted Pumpkin -
This was a surprising success, with a nicely cooked sea perch with a strong mushroomy cepe/porcini crust. One thing about Gaddi’s is that throughout the years, they always play around with trusted flavours involving a bit more cream or foams than usual. But even knowing this, this was a highly successful dish and one of the true highlights during the lunch ~ 9/10

Slow Roasted USA Kurobuta Pork Chop, Deep fried Sage,
Onion bonbons and Cauliflower puree -
The pork was cooked borderline pinkish. Some pieces performed better than others but my piece wasn’t exactly moist and was a little dry even. It is easy to become a WHINGER but pork being pork and not another red meat, I thought this was definitely acceptable due to the smaller window frame this must be cooked at to hit the precise spot! I was however beginning to feel that many of the advertised ingredients in the descriptions in many dishes were a little muted, as I had trouble tasting the sage, onion bonbons or cauliflower puree or even the pork itself. Something wasn’t quite right and 3 Dimensional enough within the formulae, as it sounded more promising that it had tasted… again might be my palate problem. ~ 7/10

Mussel Soup with Saffron and Parmesan Risotto and Gewurztraminer jus -
This was decent but side-by-side reading the recipe carried too little saffron or mussel sweetness in the base, and was obviously over powered by the cheese on the risotto. The mussels were good though! I don’t detect much wine jus or mussel sweetness at the bottom nor saffron. This was unbalanced but then again, the cream and cheese combo is a trap that many instantly fall for including myself. ~ 6.5/10

Quince Clafoutis with Caramelised Almond and Green Apple sherbet, Green Apple chip -
Someone asked me what is a Clafoutis on the spot & I tried to explain it's a roundish cake sometimes with studded fruits. Out came this 'thing' looking nothing remotely like a Clafoutis but being called one and a little too custardy. The quince was ok but the custard was no clafoutis as I remember it. Not very balanced. No one liked this and no one wanted to finish it. ~ 2/10

Hazelnut Paris Brest with salted caramel sauce and blood orange sherbet -
Again like the above Clafoutis, when this arrived I was shocked as to how this could be named as a Paris brest when it isn’t one. Definitions aside, the brest pastries were amazingly done and crispy, which worked well with the sherbet and salted-caramel sauce and the pastry layer beneath. Terminology aside this was a successful dish based on taste alone. ~ 10/10

Pear Mille Feuille with Dark chocolate cream and Pistachio ice cream -
I remember having had great mille feuille from ex-Caprice, also done by the same Chef Ludovic, but the one today was too crispy without being flaky 酥, probably a bit too crystalline-crisp like. But overall it worked well with the pistachio ice cream. The biggest problem lied with the pastry pâte feuilletée itself, which had little detectable buttery or slightly salted taste. It looked better than it tasted on this occasion. ~ 6.9/10

Earl Grey Tea -

Passionfruit Tart and Blueberry Financiers, and Chocolate coated Macadamias -
The Financiers looked a bit off from shape to colour, the passionfruit tarts were good indeed. The Macadamian nuts coated with chocolate were the unanimous favourite votes. Overall a great tasting Petits Fours platter but not looking as smart as they could be!

Chocolate Cake -
Birthday Cake. This was good but not great, just a little too normal by someone as high calibre as The Peninsula. It wasn’t so chocolaty as expected.

Lunch Set at the Peninsula is a bargain indeed..
Although Chef David Goodridge has now left the group upon this review, this institution is still heavily focused on traditional French dining with a small twist of it’s own. This place reminds me of Petrus but was slightly less French! A chef’s motivation comes from his passion and being awarded accordingly. One could try to be all sarcastic or brush it all off, but at the end of the day the most convincing story is when you try your hardest to conquer it all. Hopefully Chef David 1 day will get the recognition he definitely deserves. As for the pastries, it somehow seemed a little too playful but we do appreciate it for the different twists and interpretations for now..

Price: HKD $428 + 10% including glass of wine. Bargain.
Ease of Access: 4.5/5
Lunch Set (Dinner is seen as more sophisticated): ♕♕♕♕1/2

Opening Hours -
Mon to Sun - Noon - 2:30pm , Dinner 7 - 10:30pm

Address: 尖沙咀彌敦道19-21號半島酒店1樓
1/F, The Peninsula Hong Kong, 19-21 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Ph: 2315 3171

Snake Soup @ 蛇王良 (Hong Kong) –♕♕♕♕ 1/2

2012-02-11T10:47:00.001-08:00

This Snake Soup shop is well known in the local food scene, but to poorer diners like us, it is famous for its 5 Snakes Soup. Yet to the upper-level and better off neighbourhood regulars who get their maids to drive their Mercs to pick up their take-away orders, it is their much more expensive Medicinal soups or Birds Nest items which they often book for hours or days in advance and easily costing upwards of a few hundred dollars! The general walking-in customers meanwhile usually order their $50 set meals that includes a Snake soup and a bowl of Rice or a small plate of Braised Lamb!

A hardcore Snake and Chinese Medicinal shop.
Not many snake shops out there take things as seriously as they do here…

This is what distinguishes between them and other places..
The pre-order menu plastered on the wall, include double-boiled medicinal soups costing hundreds of dollars. These aiming at the upper end clientele.

Crisps and Dried Lemon Grass -
These are for eating with the thick snake soup. *There’s no chrysanthemum here,
which also works well in snake soups.

‘Thick’ Five Snakes Soup, Set Meal – HKD $54
The soup base is quite medicinal, and a little spicy in the Winter version. Since the owner is well acquainted with Chinese Medicine, he alters the soup base formula according to the different seasons to make it more suitable for your body. The snakes and pork strands are a little thicker than the finely julienned shops, like the Tim’s Kitchen version. But that version has little snakes or medicinal taste, though the presentation is finer there. ~ 9/10

There’s usually Snake, Pork and a bit of Chicken, Fungus. And this one is quite herbal and medicinal, even peppery in the Winter version.

Large Glutinous Rice with Preserved Meats - Part of the Set Meal for $54
The glutinous rice is ‘steamed’ not ‘fried’. The texture is fine although the 3 types of different preserved meats didn’t impart that much flavour. Not bad only. but I prefer the drier and more fragrant version at 蛇王二 than here. Although the Snake Soup is better here. ~ 6/10

Price: HKD $51 to $800
Ease of Access: 4/5
Food: ♕♕♕♕1/2 – ♕♕♕♕♕

Opening Hours -
Mon to Sun 12:00pm - 00:30am

Address: 北角電氣道298號地下A舖
Shop A, G/F, 298 Electric Road, North Point
Ph: 2578 8135

Cumulus Inc. (Melbourne) - ♕♕♕♕ 1/2

2012-02-11T10:10:00.001-08:00

Chef Andrew McConnell’s restaurants have always been popular, being a Melbourne icon definitely helps. Golden Fields is packed to the brim everyday, the food there is decent although I had an issue of the authenticity/mislabeling of some dishes there. When 1 Hatted Cumulus Inc. opened just a few years ago, the wait for a table here (no reservations) was easily 1 to 2 hours, sometimes you won’t even get one A few years and 2 more opened restaurants later and despite all serving different foods, the line is still as long as ever. The only restaurant which can compete with its unwaning popularity is Chin Chin down the road. Cumulus Inc. is a favourite of mine for a casual meal at night or for breakfast. Like the previous restaurant, Andrew also loves to use all parts of an animal to cook his meals, although we didn’t try most of these dishes during my 2 visits. How unfortunate as I miss his smoked tongues and pigs tails, etc.

On Flinders Lane…
Easy to access in the city

2009 Sebastien Brunet ‘Arpent’ Vouvray Sec – AUD $14.50

Affinage Oysters Farmed by Moonlight Flat Oysterage, Batemans Bay, NSW -
These are some of the best rock oysters in Australia but hardly exported, and right up there with French and Scottish standards in the growing process. The Rusty Wire (left) is my favourite with a crunchy texture and minerality, the Label Rouge (right) was more sweeter which was the opposite of what we were expecting. They didn’t carry the Angasi type tonight which is the Australian equivalent of a Belon oyster.

Foie Gras Parfait with Toasted Brioche and House Dried Raisin - $17
This has been a gras parfait that I really missed, it’s so smooth with just the right amount of gras and other seasonings/alcohol taste. It’s strange how no one quite make it quite like these guys. A 2nd revisit ordering the same had a similar but slightly weaker piece. ~ 9/10

Some Beers and Ciders -

(Half Portion) Boudin Noir, Smoked Tomato & Parsley Salad – $7
Served on a crispy crostino. This is a very lovely boudin noir and has always been my favourite. Made in a real ‘pudding’ way, this actually has no meat or fillers like rice, fat or bread. The blood flavour is clean but slightly bold, pairing well with the smoky tomato. ~ 8/10

Warm Jerusalem Artichoke Salad, Truffled Buttermilk,
with Celery Heart – $17
The taste was good, but the Jerusalem Artichoke tubers were way too oily and probably a little too soft – which spoiled the dish a little. Loved the truffled buttermilk sauce though. ~ 5/10

Confit Leg and Roast Breast of Aylesbury Duck, Grilled Leeks Mustard & Prune - $36
This surprisingly came without any sauce but only the condiments on the side. Luckily the duck breast were evenly pink and very tasty tender, albeit a bit tepid. The leg confit was better in the temperature's regard, which ate well with the leeks mustard. We thought the plate should have be warmed up more, a problem we found with some warm dishes here, and just a bit of sauce would have been nicer. ~ 7/10

2007 Clos Guirouilh Petit & Gros Manseng - Dessert Wine $14
This is one of my favourite sweet wines from the Rhone Valley. Can’t rave enough about it, as it is so clean tasting but not too sticky and sickly sweet like a lot of Sauternes/Beaumes-de-Venise or Ice Wines, or the funky late harvest Rieslings, etc. For comparison, this to me is just sweeter than a Vouvray demi-sec. It’s what I need to wind down a night sometimes! Nice and Subtle : )

The strongest point about Cumulus Inc. is that the food is cooked right. The recipes aren’t fanciful but they are always interesting enough for what is gastropub style of accessible food. Some of the other nose-to-tail dining options here are also decent. There were however 2 problems we discovered. The hot food turned cold too quickly, as the plates weren’t warm. 2ndly we didn’t order any desserts, because quality seems to have gone downhill compared to before - as we saw very ordinary or under-baked madeleines being handed out, was a bit shocked at that..

Price: Around AUD $60 to $80
Ease of Access: 5/5 (in the City
Food: ♕♕♕♕1/2 – ♕♕♕♕♕

Opening Hours -
Mon to Fri 7am – 11pm
Sat to Sun 8am - 11pm

Address: 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000.
(03)9650 1445

Offal Dinner at Josie Bones (Melbourne) - ♕♕♕♕♕

2012-02-05T11:22:00.001-08:00

St John in London and Fergus Henderson have a large group of loyal followers, and Australian Master Chef contestant and finalist Chris Badenoch is one of his avid admirers. My last meal at St John in London was decent but somehow the cooking wasn’t on the level I was expecting at all, and that night’s menu wasn’t as nose-to-tail dining as I was hoping for although a later check of the constantly updated online menu shows they are inconsistent in this aspect. Josie Bones is a pub-diner with a long list of world beers, as Chris is a beer sommelier and very familiar with the craft of beer making. As foodies would know, most sommeliers have better training in their taste palates and sensitivities, so it is not unexpected that most of them not only know how to eat or pair drinks with food, but many of them also know how to cook very well. Note: this Offal Night was a once off event held regularly and they have rotating themes. On a normal night, they serve mostly gastro-pub food with a much smaller selection of offal offerings, as I suspect this type of eating has not really caught on so much here yet.

Offal Night,
Didn’t read properly at 1st,
but price apparently included the full beer & wine pairing..

A Pub & Bar setting definitely.

Skinned Rabbit on the back wall is graphical material..

A whole list of the hundreds of Worlds Beers either as draught or by bottle,
it was thick like a beer bible.

Thunder Road Full Steam Pale Lager - AUD $8
This was on another visit, but might as well add it onto here..

Fried Chicken Crackling – AUD $4
A little oily as expected but it’s beer food…

Paprika Dusted Whitebait with Lemon Aioli - $9
Great and a smidgeon smoky

Bread for the Offal Night -

Weihenstephan Kristall Weizen Beer paired with
Amuse – Beef Consomme, Smoked Ox tongue & Bone Marrow
The Kristall beer is a beautiful crisp and filtered crystal wheat beer with a nice fruitiness, which is slightly similar to a Prosecco in taste. The beef consomme was thick yet clear, the smoked tongue and the bone marrow was a rich but tasty starter. ~ 9/10

2010 Provenance “Golden Plains” Pinot Noir paired with
Lamb Heart Tartare, Truffled Quail Egg, Condiments and Toasted Brioche -
Freshly slaughtered lambs hearts are used for this dish, and it was hand chopped and really sweet tasting. A little bit out of my expectation, this raw dish gave some people a scare. The brioche quality was great for this dish, loved the julienned pickles and truffled quail egg. ~ 10/10

Ichtegems Bruin Oak-Aged Wild Ale paired with
French Onion Tripe, Roasted Bone Marrow with brioche crust, Oxtail with Onion Jam -
The gelatinous and fork tender Oxtail was easily the favourite on the table, partially because the onion jam was also a great dip for the bread. The bone marrow were roasted well, but actually what intrigued me the most? The wild yeast and oak-aged beer worked perfectly with the onion soup like tripes and the oxtail. It was just the perfect match, with a bit of smokiness trait but slightly rich and sweet, in fact this beer’s flavour is quite unique like the above Kristall. ~ 8/10

A few Skeletons lying about,
They have cowboys too down in Australia, apparently

Mornington Peninsula Brewery American Pale Ale paired with
Lamb’s Brain and lamb forcemeat Cigar, Mint Salsa Verde & Beer Jelly
This was a dish I looked forward to, but there wasn’t enough lamb brains or meat taste. The mint salsa and beer jelly were interesting making it slightly Mediterranean food in taste. Fried a little too soft for my liking.. ~ 6.5/10

2007 Louis Latour Ardeche Chardonnay paired with
Charred Calves’ liver, Veal Sweetbreads, Asparagus, Cider Beurre Blanc
The charred sweetbreads and especially the liver was excellent, with a well charred taste but remaining moist and flavourful, with the grease balanced with the cider infused sauce and the Chardonnay. Was surprised at the pairing but it has obviously been tested as it worked in harmony. ~ 9/10

2010 Vintage Chimay Grande Reserve Trappist Magnum   paired with
Nose to Tail Pig of:    Faggots (bottom left),   Crispy Chitlins with broadbeans (middle left),
Stuffed Trotters (middle),   Chorizo stuffed Pig’s Ears (top right),
Crispy Cotechino and Crispy Pig’s Head (top left), Devilled Kidneys with Smoked beetroot,
Roast Pig’s Tail (middle), Grilled Liver with Café de Paris butter (middle) -
This was an ambitious platter but I was surprised it had all arrived warm and most parts cooked to perfection, a mean feat. The vintaged beer once again worked well with the pig offals. I enjoyed tremendously the stuffed trotters and chorizo pig’s ears, and also the fried cotechino and roasted pig’s tail the most.   The grilled pigs liver was mild in flavour by Taiwanese/Chinese standards but probably on par with Hong Kong versions, which probably makes them a little too powerful in a Western dining restaurant. I could accept the taste but in the end it was slightly overcooked. The faggots (bottom left) and devilled kidneys were decent only.   Overall this really was an impressive platter. ~ 7.5/10

Chorizo Stuffed Pigs Ears…
Excellent

House Made Cotechino, sat next to the Pig’s Head meat.

Oud Beersel Kriek paired with
Valrhona Chocolate with Pigs Blood Pudding, Crème Fraiche Sorbet -
The beer is strawberry flavoured and having pig’s blood in a dessert was insane! But somehow it worked really impressively together, even the tangy sorbet balanced it all. Chef said he had played around with the balance for a while and this was his optimal formula, and the flowing lava and just a hint of metallic and rich blood’s taste is detected. The beer once again worked like fitting gloves with this ‘bloody’ dessert. ~ 10/10

Dandelion Pedro Ximenez paired with
Duck Liver Truffles -
I never realised how hardcore this ‘offal dinner’ was meant to be but now I know, and even this impressed with the flavours. Dark chocolate works well with gamey meat or livers, as long as it is not overly sweetened. A nice finale to an exciting and adventurous meal in a pub setting.

I was a little worried about my cholesterol after all this, but to hell with it.
Most of the dishes weren’t fine dining dishes but were thoughtful enough and showed even more care in the recipes and cooking execution than London’s Michelin 1 Star St John during my last visit. The Wine and Beer pairing with Food was of such a high standard, I was certain they have done a lot of testing to get it so correct, as not a single pairing wasn’t near enough perfection!!

You can buy Chris’s book here,
or at Bookstores. It carries some other interesting recipes that weren’t presented here.

Website: http://josiebones.wordpress.com/
Price: AUD $110 including Drinks and Food
Ease of Access: 3.5/5
Food: ♕♕♕♕♕
*Note: This meal is not available on a daily basis. Only when they run this event
Wine and Beer Pairing: ♕♕♕♕♕♕

Opening Hours -
Monday 17:00 – late
Tuesday Gone Hunting
Wednesday 17:00 – late
Thursday 17:00 – late
Friday 12:00 – late
Saturday 12:00 – late
Sunday 12:00 – late

Address: 98 Smith Street, Collingwood, Melbourne Victoria. Can arrive here by tram.
Ph: 03 9417 1878

新仙清湯腩 (Hong Kong) - ♕♕♕♕

2012-02-04T11:08:00.001-08:00

Two clear-soup style Beef Flank and Brisket shops managed to crawl its way into the 2012 HK Michelin Guide this year. One is Sister Wah which is a little inconsistent and wasn’t so great when I last visited, but they can be worthwhile if you’re lucky. This other new shop surprisingly also made its name jump to elevated status by having been awarded the Bib Gourmand logo by the tire man - especially when it doesn’t even carry an English name! The HK locals usually swear by Kau Kee or the much further away 群記清湯腩. A second visit to here was actually more convincing than before, the soup has improved slightly. The beef was still a little too tough but had a great beefiness to them, though Kau Kee still had the better beef bone soup.

In Portland Street,
The Red Light district of HK. Multiple cuts of the beef are available here..
They also do a Pakistani style curry, a type of food synonymous with this street.
May be the rumours are correct, the spices give you more errr…. stamina.

崩沙腩 x 爽腩河粉 - HKD $49
Two premium cuts of beef briskets and flanks are used here. One has a nice membrane-skin attached with flavourful and more tender meat than usual, the other has a more crunchy skin with a slightly denser meat. The beef taste was great but the texture was a little tough for me. The rice flat noodles were decent. The soup was the highlight - beefy and subtly sweet from radish, however it was missing the beef bone flavour and gelatinous coating in the Kau Kee version. ~ 7.5/10

Iced Lemon Tea –
Strongish here ~ 7/10

I liked the soup and its clarity, also the various beef cuts available were of good quality, albeit a little chewy. Overall, just satisfactory but has potential,
especially if the cooking problem is only a once off event!

Price: $54
Ease of Access: 5/5
Food: ♕♕♕♕

Opening Hours -
Mon to Sun - 10:00am to 12:00pm

Address: 旺角西洋菜南街138號福苑大廈1樓
37 Portland St, Yau Ma Tei, Hong Kong, right opposite an exit of Yau Ma Tei station
Ph: 2332 6872

Magosaburo 燒肉孫三郎 (Hong Kong) - ♕♕♕♕

2012-02-02T11:52:00.001-08:00

Magosaburo (Magosaburou) is a Yakiniku-ya originally found in Kyushu in Japan, but they have now expanded their Yakiniku operations into Hong Kong and now serving Korean-Japanese styled grill meats in this imported shop in Mongkok. The staff team running the show here have arrived from another famous Japanese Group operated restaurant locally and are very well experienced. Working hand-in-hand with the new Japanese branded group, together they are working to recreate as much of an authentic Japanese experience as possible. There were some slight changes along the way however to satisfy the local customers’ expectations. The meat nowadays are less marinated and also less sweet, although the marinating sauce remained still a little too thin and too sweet to our likings despite the presence of some fruits in the formulae. During the early opening days the quality of the meat at Magosaburo was said to be quite decent but somewhere after that other reviewers have noticed the meat quality had dropped off significantly, which it managed to scare a few customers away with its darkly bruised meat quality. As a newish shop I think it is inevitable that it will undergo its ups and downs and inconsistencies, and so it will take us a few visits to monitor its true performance. Part of this visit was as an invited meal to promote their Valentine’s Day Special Meat Set on 14th Feb 2012, which at $438 per person, is reasonable for the dishes quality and it includes a free glass of Plum Wine, or a glass of White or Red in the final price.

Valentines Menu Preview -
Quite reasonable for that Special Date.

Green Tea -

Gochujang and Shichimi -
One is Korean based and chili-miso like, the other is a thicker version of a 7 spices blend. Decent.

Umeshu - Japanese Plum Wine
This is a better-than-Choya version,
less sugary and more fresh fruity… ~ 9/10

Some Dishes to Start Off with.
The 2 Courses on top, are separately ordered items and daily specials,
calculated separately..

Wine Marinated Beef Tataki – $Price to be advised
This is interesting as the Beef Tataki is wine marinated for more than 1 day then slightly poached instead of seared as per usual, a variation to the formula! Eaten with slivers of onions and dipping into either one of Miso based sauce or Yuzu Koushou pepper. Pretty interesting outcome and winey with the beef ~ 8/10

キムチ。ナムル　四点 - Pickles Valentine’s Set
This is a very Korean dish with Japanese influence, with both Cabbage kimchi and Cucumber kimchi, a Daikon namuru, and a Zenmai (薇) which is like a Japanese 金針 and a popular mountain vegetable, and sometimes also found in Tensho 天勝.

Bacon Caesar Salad -
The bacon were more like cooked pork bits, the dressing definitely Japanese in flavour. This was a refreshing salad with more peppers and tomatos added than usual, also less cheesy and anchovy like than Western versions. ~ 6/10

リブロース焼きシャブ US Ribeye Beef, with Sesame Dare sauce - $195
Around 4 pieces totaling 180g of US beef, this had more beef flavour than expected. The other highlight was the sesame sauce which was thick and not too vinegary like the cheap bottles you buy in 100 Yen shops. ~ 8/10

海の幸セット - Seafood Set with Hamaguri Clams, Prawns, Scallops and Squid
The clams were quite fresh and once they pop open, grill them just a tad longer and eat them. Pretty sweet. The prawns were ok and deveined properly. Scallops were a little thing, and the squid is probably just cut a tad too thick. Half good and half average, but fresh enough ~ 7/10

Pot of Asahi Draft Beer - $TBA
Grilling meat without a beer is sinful, and we ordered one to help balance the meal and meat greasiness.

特選肉盛り合わせ – Special Meat Platter
This is for 2 people, like the above seafood platter. It consists of Negi-Shio Beef Tongue with spring onion, which was surprisingly meaty and nice. The Chicken Meat caramelised quite well and stayed moisted due to good marination. The Karubi beef looked marbled but was a little bland, which was disappointing. The Harami Skirt made up with a stronger flavour and was very tender, and came from the best of the 3 cuts available which can make a harami with slightly gamey flavours. The highlight was always going to be the 黑樺牛 Wagyu, cut from the Chuck Rib and nicely marbled and dripping with mono-unsaturated fat! Yum. The Pork Neck was evenly marbled and tasted good. ~ 8/10

肩ロース – Chuck Rosu just in front of the Rib Eye Muscles
This is a favourite cut in Japanese Yakiniku, as it is slightly cheaper than the primest cuts but can be rather evenly marbled and satisfying..

Harami Cut -
2-3 cuts can make the cut (pun intended!) to be classified as one, this is using one of the best cuts and hence the tenderness and slightly organs taste.

Thin Beef Tongue with Salt and Spring Onion -
Cook one side first then spread the ‘pesto’ paste on the cooked side. Serving it separately made this easier to achieve than in many Japan-Yakiniku shops where the paste is already spread on top of the raw tongue. I like the hygienic method here better. Quite flavourful and meaty.

Grilled Chicken -
This was nicely marinated and the slightly sugary coating caramelizes well on the grill. Decent.

黑樺牛 -
A specially grown Wagyu bred from Kyushu,
where the shop originates from before opening their first branch in Hong Kong.

冷麵 Cold Noodles with Beef Tongue　-
This is a Japanese cold Morioka Reimen, but served in a more Korean Naengmyeon style without fruits, but served with tender beef tongue instead. A bit of a hybrid dish as usual, as both have the same Korean origin. Quite chewy and served cold, this would be a good summer dish. ~ 7/10

Tomato Cheese Bibimbap in Dolsot -
This is also more of a Japanese-Korean hybrid dish, with cleaner flavours but the addition of a tomato-cheesy sauce. It was cooked a bit wet tonight, dowsed with too much sauce. The cheese flavour also wasn’t so apparent. I think this is an interesting dish to serve, but you can’t mix in too much sauces at the beginning. ~ 3/10

Almond and Coffee Pudding -
This looked decent. I thought the top layer of coffee jelly was slightly bitter on approach but turned out ok in the end, but the bottom layer had very weak almond flavours and was set a little too strong. This polarised the table, some thought it ok but others thought it was a bit weak overall. Not bad from my perspective but greatly missing the almond flavouring layer. ~ 6.5/10

Price: $438 Valentines Set for 1 Person, excluding Beer and Other Add on Items
Food: ♕♕♕♕ to ♕♕♕♕ 1/2 (Part of this meal was an invited Valentine’s Day preview visit. The quality was decent vs the price, hope you also receive the same experience in the end. )

Opening Hours -
Mon to Sun - 12:00-15:00pm
18:00 - 00:00pm

Address: 旺角西洋菜南街138號福苑大廈1樓
1/F, Fortune Crest, 138 Sai Yeung Choi Street South , Mong Kok, Hong Kong.
Ph: (03) 9078 5992

The Hardware Societe - (Melbourne)

2012-01-30T12:39:00.001-08:00

I was acutely aware of the constantly high ranking of this Café on Urban Spoon, although I was only starting to become aware of Urban Spoon in 2011, which might be a bit late by everyone’s standard because I was more of a eatability.com.au person back in the days - as a blogger who is not really a blogger but constantly out of sync with reality due to the lack of spare time to write properly (I do have a private and working life as a priority mind you). That’s unless I am writing an article for a magazine once in a blue moon and when I do actually proof-read and try to write as maturely as an adult. I often use my personal space to express what I really feel deep-under but may be sometimes I become a little evil and whinge just a little bit too much! I write on my blogggg only for the sake of having fun rather than becoming all pushy and trying to be the ultimate food snob blah, which is totally uncool.. However it might seem unfair to the shop nevertheless, I personally thought that this shop was slightly too hyped up to live up to expectations. I thought it was enjoyable yes, but in my mind there were a few shops which were better than here and deserved equal if not more praise than the rating suggests. *This is not to mention our suspicions that someone is illegally trying to jack up the ratings online, to generate more noise and therefore turnover behind the background, which is not totally implausible.

There is a Queue here -
Truth be told, the quality of this Café is good in general.
However I think I expected more in the end, as I had already locked in my favourites in town…

Display Fridge -

Menu is Average, by 2011 Melbourne Café standards -
Still interesting, but predictable.. Although this is in my opinion only!

Cidre Au Manoir du Kinkiz - $7.5
From Southern Brittany in France, this was a less farmhouse like cider than I’d imagined. Which is a positive thing for the 1st drink in the morning!

Cocotte Eggs, Crab Meat, Salmon Pearls, Spinach, Crème Fraiche, Lemon - $17
Cocotte was spelt incorrectly as Cocette here on the menu. Look, let’s not be anal about spell checking because I carry a lot of typos too until I bother checking, although I don’t receive any profits from my blogging either. But when this arrived, this looked anything but like a French Cocotte but more like a Spanish Cazuela dish. Call me being particular about details, but after 2 separate false starts I was beginning to suspect whether they do care about sticking to their philosophy or recipe. This is not helped by something else I noticed afterwards. Back to the dish? The egg was cooked well and the crème fraiche was a little too watery. The crab meat was sweet and worked with the spinach well. The bread with olive oil was the highlight, surprisingly. I liked this dish’s taste, bar the wateriness, but the question keeps coming back to my mind as to how much they did even bother to adhere to their intended recipe and presentation and consistency ~ 7/10

Cappuccino (Blend by Padre Coffee) -
The coffee is the same as the 1 out of 3 House Blends offered at The League of Honest Coffee, but here it was more caramelly rounded instead of imposing or making a statement. Coffee quality was good but not totally exceptional I guess. But could drink this all day! ~ 7/10

Arrrgh…
Remember I mentioned above, the spelling typos, and questioned whether they do vehemently stick to their recipes and abide by them! The look of these Caneles convinced me finally - look how out of shape they look and totally wrong… These are probably the worst caneles I’ve seen in my whole life and shouldn’t even be presented to the customer. A carefully QC’ed kitchen even from a café would never have let these out for sale. My Egg Cocotte dish above might have been tasty, but just like the caneles, it was presented hastily without much thoughts or quality control, or paying enough respect to the customer.

Price: AUD $25
Coffee: ♕♕♕♕
Food: ♕♕♕ 1/2

Opening Hours -
Mon to Fri: 7:30 am - 3:00 pm (Operating Hours are a bit early)
Sat: 8:30 am - 2:00 pm

Address: 120 Hardware Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
Ph: (03) 9078 5992

The Atlantic - (Melbourne, Australia)

2012-01-26T12:09:00.001-08:00

The Atlantic is located in a busy corridor of the Melbourne Crown Casino and it will inevitably catch your attention.   The front window display is filled daily with the biggest fishes you can imagine in your wildest nightmare,   their jaws jacked wide opened and their tongues sticking out in protest - did u realise a fish tongue can be bigger than a human’s?   Haha I didn’t either!!    A quick browse of the menu during a walking-by session and my instant conclusion was perhaps rather judgmental?   A big rip off, touristy prices, totally not on my agenda to visit, ever.   But as luck will have it, some family members decided to host a birthday gathering here and although I wasn’t the one to foot the bill I still felt a great sense of guilt for the person who shall eventually pay for it.    I was so certain that this would turn out to be a mediocre experience but at grossly inflated prices!    This assumption was only half correct in the end - the final bill was still exorbitantly high and not so justified, but the food quality nearly matched the money.    It turned out in hindsight that this is operated by a locally famous chef Donovan Cooke, who used to run other 2 hatted restaurants and this casino restaurant has just been awarded a 1 Hatted Status as well.


    Whether it is worth its status or not is not the pertinent question however, as celebrity or well known chefs in town have proven to always receive a consolation prize or two by default either way, perhaps due to mutual respect and the Aussie way of interpreting their mateship in the culinary world -   the problem with the restaurant ratings in Melbourne is generally opposite to Hong Kong’s Michelin situation. The latter Michelin Guide gives them out too laxly sometimes (bar the odd omission of a few obviously neglected choices, but there are other reasons for that).   In Melbourne, some establishments really deserving their due recognition are hardly given a 2nd chance to regain themselves and be elevated to a Hatted Status.   The media darling chefs, or the rare restaurants that came up first with an exotic menu that fits in with the local food trend are the only chance and accessible way of becoming promoted to a higher pedestal level.    The Good Food Guide is tethering on the brink of losing its credibility - often failing to recognize the real genuine gems in town and it is lately losing it fast too,   as year in and year out, only the same restaurants or chefs are being featured, yet the neglected ones are still becoming kept silently in the background despite being of true International standards.   Donovan Cooke and his food might be worthy of being 1 hatted, but I can at the same time think up of many others in town which can also feature brightly and unashamedly on an international scale, laying claim to becoming promoted. These really ought to be treated without bias by the judge panel.   Customers follow our prestigious guides to eat around town, and the guides must also judge them all with fairness and understand it’s on their onus and responsibility to prove to the proprietors and the customers, those whom should be appreciated and to keep the culinary circle running on its gears.   More reviews of those deserving ones to come soon just for comparison!…

Gigantic Fishes and Tongues -
A sight indeed!

Dinner can still be a bright dining event,
when facing the Yarra River during spring time

Bread with Spanish Olive Oil -
The olive oil was really good actually, with a full bodied mouthfeel and heavy in Olive essence.

Moulting Bay Oysters (Tasmania) – AUD $4.5 each
Sweet and creamy, but not exceptional compared to the below. I think Australian pacific oysters are too ‘clean’ and sweet tasting in general, except for the odd ones or two which are exceptionally salty! ~ 6/10

Blackmans Bay (Tas) – AUD $44
These surprised me a bit as they don’t taste like normal Australian pacific oysters, but were distinctively fresh in its crisp, sharp and minerally character. There are sometimes artisanal rock or angasi oysters grown in Australia which are also great but this is the first time I’ve encountered Tasmanian pacific oysters of this quality. Pleasantly surprised. *For Hong Kong people, these are now sometimes found at City Super supermarket nowadays. ~ 8.5/10

Atlantic Seafood Cocktail - $32
Spanner Crab, Scallop, Moreton Bay bug, Prawn, Iceberg lettuce with Rock Melon, Basil, Soft boiled Quail Eggs. This was quite boring, as it was mainly too mayonnaise like? The seafood quality was fresh enough. Just a little too creamy overall ~ 6.9/10

Trio of Crudo – $28
With Kingfish, Yellow Fin tuna and King Salmon, served with pickled cucumber, daikon, horseradish and lime. Sliced and plated quite messily, there is no doubt the fishes are fresh, but anyone could get access to the so-called sashimi grade fish. Almost any Italian crudo dishes I’ve had looks better than this, so why don’t I just go buy some and do it myself at home? 2/10

Spanner Crab, Curry Scented confit Butternut Pumpkin, Candied Ginger,
Pumpkin Sorbet, Curry Oil and Green Mango salad - $28
This was more interesting unlike the above seafood cocktail, although the curry and pumpkin is probably a little too sweet and overpowers the not-so-strong spanner crab flavour especially when it doesn’t have much tomalley/roe. The green mango is refreshing and worked with a Thai slant. ~ 7.5/10

Warm Salad of Smoked Eel, frisee, Garlic crouton, slow cooked Free Range egg, Smoked bacon and Mustard dressing - $25
This was quite smoky in both sauce and eel but without the bitterness/sour taste sometimes associated with these smoked food, and it worked really well with the egg and frisee salad. Didn’t think it was out of this world in recipe, but the taste was impressive ~ 9/10

Steamed Spring Bay Mussels – $27
In a Chorizo, Saffron, Tomato, Sherry and Basil broth, this was decent but not so overly memorable. The mussels didn’t had as much sweet mollusk flavour as I had hoped for, which is surprising since I remember having better mussels in 2 other local restaurants in town. The soup was a little weak as well. Overall however this was still acceptable ~ 6.9/10

Caramelised Crispy Skin Berkshire Pork Belly - $28
Surprisingly small in portion, comes with pineapple cumberland sauce, micro coriander, spring onions and soy beans (green bears). This was decent but a little under roasted as the fatty flavours hasn’t been yet released and then penetrate back into the meat. Garnishes were ok but were a little tired in formula nowadays. Not the worst ones we’ve tried, marginally decent ~ 7/10

Wood fire grilled King Fish (Port Lincoln, South Australia) = $48
Green and white asparagus, prawn and citrus vinaigrette. This was cooked really well and had a strong wood fired flavour, which this same smkoy taste carried across to all other items that were wood grilled tonight. The sauce was quite simple for a 1 Hatted status restaurant however, and there are no pretty plating or good garnitures to accompany the fish. Taste wise however was still good albeit predictable ~ 7/10

Steamed Wild Barramundi (Gladstone, Queensland) - $45
Confit fennel and cucumber, Tempura Oysters, Oyster Veloute scented with Truffle. The fried oysters were a little bready and limp, but the fish was cooked very well and the oyster veloute was judged right enough to not overpower the fish. A bit on the small side though for the price. ~ 8/10

Wood Fire Grilled Flounder (Hawkes Bay, New Zealand) - $52
The above fish portions were tiny, but out came this gigantic flounder! Again there are no garnitures to go with this – which to me makes it not necessarily better than any other seafood restaurants in town. The taste of this fish however could hardly be faulted. Grilled nearly spot on with a wholesome smoky trait (but smelt burnt nearer the fin areas too), I actually thought this was too smoky and overpowered the fish’s flesh. But it was high quality fish and even came with attached female fish roes. ~ 7/10

Red Apple Salad – $12
Rocket, Parmesan, Honey and Black Pepper, but not much signs of the apple and the sauce was downright poor, being lacking in quantity and taste, and the big parmesan pieces on the side distracted from the eating itself. ~ 3/10

Thrice Cooked Russet Potatoes, Rosemary, Garlic and Sea Salt – $11
A lot of restaurants stuff this simple side dish up and often hand out soggy messes of potatoes most of the time, but this was done really well for once. Floury and crispy and seasoned well, thanks to triple cooking. Execution, like a lot of dishes here was great, but the recipes can be rather old school and it’s not exactly cheap either..
~ 8/10

Not everything tonight was destined to be seafood ..

Geoff Merrill Merlot 2007 -
Violet fruitiness with fruitcake and spice with a distinct newish cedar oakiness,
this is a very balanced Aussie wine. If this had more vegetal or earthiness and also cut back on the forward fruits and oakiness, it can be quite French Bordeaux in style. A nice Aussie wine indeed.

Darling Downs Wagyu Scotch Fillet 300g - $42
My scotch/rib eye did not look like a scotch to me but a sirloin. Nice grill marks but the surface looked a bit pale. Cooked just past medium rare (photo looks redder than it really is), but the beef and wagyu fat flavour was decent but not exceptional. Nice wood fired flavours however. Overally the steak was a little dry but still enjoyable enough, although Rockpool has better steaks. ~ 6.9/10

Their Seafood Platter for 2 - Around $190
We decided to skip this, as you could get these in buffets, and there is little cooking skills involved in such platters. Expensive, plus. how else can we test the kitchen’s true cooking skills!!

Food Wise -
Definitely turned out to be surprising in two ways. The recipes are boring and out of fashion, but at the same time the execution was mostly spot on, bar the Crudo dish which really looked out of place for a seafood fine dining restaurant and not better than the Waterfront Restaurant it had replaced on the same spot. I definitely thought this was just deserving of a 1 Hatted Status based on execution and seasoning alone - but there is no doubt that there are many more restaurants in town which are equally deserving of being elevated. Places like Attica and Royal Mail Hotel got promoted for no real reasons this year, why not some other proven institutions in town as well?

Price: AUD $100 to $125 /person
Food: ♕♕♕♕ 1/2 to ♕♕♕♕ 3/4 (Pricy, but great executions. Lobster is way overpriced at $3xx for half a size. You must be out of your mind, The Atlantic. )

Opening Hours:
Lunch: 12 noon – 3pm
Dinner: Monday to Saturday from 6:00pm – 11:00pm
Sunday from 5:30pm – 11:00pm

Address: 尖沙咀廣東道馬哥勃羅香港酒店6樓
6/F, Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel, 3 Canton Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui
Ph: (03) 9698 8888

Dukes Coffee Roasters - (Melbourne)

2012-01-24T00:59:00.001-08:00

When people ask me for advice on where is the best coffee, I often find that question uneasy to answer as my preferences might not be the same as your tongue, so I need to guess what they like based on what they already like! Plus, our palates probably evolve with age and is work in progress, and there are simply too many other variables involved. Any café can have irregularities and whilst to me a less than optimal experience might be acceptable once or twice, to another customer they won’t be returning so soon! Dukes Coffee has made me some of the best coffees I’ve ever drank in my life (and I’ve perhaps drank really too many here or at some other particular cafes), but if you come to order a normal Caffe Latte and expect a miracle, it probably won’t wow you as much as they have wowed me, because I also drank a lot of black coffees here which were utterly amazing and I honestly think their milk coffees need to be ordered as strong here! There is however one thing that I can wholeheartedly recommend here because when it comes to this food item we all speak the same common language - their egg dishes here are simply astonishingly good, and it will make Bill Grangers in Sydney worry, especially when he unbendingly insists on only serving mediocre quality scrambled eggs too diluted with cream. Australian Dairy Café or Wah Sing in Hong Kong has better scrambled eggs, but Dukes Coffee Roasters is in a league of its own and trumps them effortlessly…

Roasting Regularly on site..

Note:
Breakfast Items are served only before 12:30pm on Weekdays

This Kees van der Westen designed, La Marzocco Mistral -
Is also used in Sydney’s Mecca Espresso and shares similarities to The Mirage at Toby’s Estate, and all of these not surprisingly resembles the look of the original Speedster.. The quality of the cup is very good, it seems to have a bigger body but also the clarity of a Synesso.

House Blend Espresso -
This was a beautiful daily type of espresso shot, a God Shot level of shot and remembering that for every coffee drinker, attaining that elusive God Shot level in our eyes has been on the rise for the last few years !! It was really balanced and well structured carrying a little bit of everything. No sharp drop offs either way. ~ 10/10

Panama Los Lajones Estate (Siphoned) -
With a mixture of Pacamara, Caturra, Yellow Catuai, Geisha, etc, all honey processed. This is a highly rated non-Geisha Panama, but for me this seemed a bit muted. I’m not a fan of honey process as of late for same reason for filtered coffee, whereas Espresso seems fine ~ 6/10

Dairy Fridge -
Mostly locally made and quality ingredients

Mount Zero Salt flakes -
They also make Olive oils.

Windsor ‘Chivito’, our version of Uruguayan classic steak sandwich – $19
Note how they disclose properly that this is the Windsor version not necessarily the traditional Uruguayan version, which is what any responsible shop should do as otherwise it misleads the customers! This like the original version is served with a Churrasco beef fillet, and sandwiched between around 8 layers of ingredients so expertly sliced thin, including shaved ham, egg, steak, tomato, beet, lettuce, rocket, cheese, pickles, etc. This was a very sophisticated sandwich and even the bun was surprisingly aromatic ! ~ 9/10

Potato Roesti and Scrambled eggs on Sourdough Toast - AUD $13.50
The scrambled eggs here are done expertly and still slightly runny and subtly herbed, and the egg yolk is very orangey (carotenoids?) and has great flavours. Now this is what I call good scrambled eggs, it is so different from Bill’s, which are overly creamy like the hotel buffet versions. The potato roesti lost out to the ones served at say Proud Mary or Dead Man Espresso, as it was too dense and not crispy at all. ~ 8/10

Normal Cappuccino (House Blend) -
This looked pretty and with such a great espresso above, I expected a lot. But the espresso was too balanced and mild to cut through the very velvet milk. This is a little weak and more of a morning drink. Which goes back to what I said before - artisanal coffees are too good to be drank with milk, hence sometimes loses out to commercial or Italian coffee in my opinion. Solution? Try ordering strong first or a smaller drink, like Piccolo Latte. ~ 7/10

Panama Los Lajones Espresso -
Same as the siphoned coffee above, this was better with more obvious tropical fruits but still seemed a little muted. When comparing orange to orange, read non pure-Geisha beans from Panama, the also highly rated Panama Elida Natural drank at Mecca Espresso was much more interesting. ~ 6.5/10

Sidamo ‘Guji’ Operation Cherry Red, Espresso -
God Shot, 2 in 1 visit. The aroma within this coffee could be smelt from 3 feet away, it was that intense! The OCR beans have a distinct character in the nose which reminds me of the top Panama Geishas but less lemony. Having tried this bean at so many cafes, the Dukes Coffee roasted version was easily the odd out one and really brought out it’s true potential. This was easily 3 times the intensity of the next best OCR shot I’ve tried, and this carried over to the Siphoned version as well. ~ 12/10

Coffee Rack -

Sidamo ‘Guji’ Operation Cherry Red, Siphoned -
On another visit, came back to try their amazingly roasted Guji OCR as a siphon. Notice the reddish with a purple tinge colour of the drink, because the same coffee drank in Taiwan/Hong Kong is much more yellow and the flavour profiles are quite different. This had an intense aroma of Cascara like fruit, and in the mouth it is very well balanced between berries, orange, rose and was almost tea like. The clarity for a natural coffee was just so intense in this cup. The really strange thing is that drinking the same lot of beans roasted in Asia tasted so different from its full potential. ~ 10/10

Truffle Poached Eggs, Pan Roasted Asparagus, Asparagus Crudites, Salmon Roe, Brown Butter Emulsion, Ciabatta Croutons – AUD $18
This dish isn’t very Dukes to me as it is a bit too fanciful, but the egg as you can see was again amazing and cooked neatly. The butter emulsion with the truffled background and salmon roe was decent, the 2 asparagus textures working well. But the croutons were a bit too hard, and without proper bread it wasn’t overly filling. ~ 7.5/10

El Salvador la Batalla COE, Espresso -
Ranked around no. 5 to no. 8 in the COE program. Under the hands of Dukes, this was simply another amazing God Shot! There is a floral note to a subtly spiced, muesli like background to a champagne like acidity beneath, which left a grape acidity finish for a long long time. Its acid will freak out a few people but I just found this shot very educational, as it was actually ‘balanced’ somehow but so long lasting! ~ 12/10

Daily blend of Guatemala, Brazil and Sidamo, Espresso -
This was decent, tasted similar to the house blend.

Caffe Latte -
A bit weak again

Johnny Appleseed Blend, Long Black -
Was told this blend works better as a long black. Thought this was not as good as some of the best siphoned or espresso cups above.

Scrambled Eggs with Mushroom - $13.5
Yes more eggs. Slightly more creamy and therefore too runny this time, but still decent. ~ 8/10

Avocado Hummus Toast, Poached Eggs, Honey Candied Bacon and Dukkah spice – AUD $18
Friend ordered this and it was addictive. The Avocado with Hummus as a spread and the candied bacon especially. Eggs were still cooked well as expected. ~ 8.5/10

House Blend Piccolo Latte -
A little stronger in performance

Costa Rica Herbazu, Espresso -
This is a Red Honey processed Pulp Natural bean, which leaves even more mucilage left on and therefore visually the external parchment dries to a reddish colour. This seems to be popular but this cup was to be was good rather than as amazing as the other shots above, so excuse me as I can’t remember much details anymore. Still decent.

Strong Cappuccino -
Ordering strong milk coffees is the way to go here.

Dukes Breakfast – $18
Scrambled Eggs again, great quality bacon, spinach, mushroom, roast tomato. The other things don’t stand out so much compared to other cafes, but the eggs always do. ~ 8.5/10

Poached Eggs, Thyme Hollandaise, Spinach and Bacon on English Muffins - $17
Thank God someone is doing Benedicts on muffins not sourdough! Huge difference in the taste. The bacon and spinach were top quality, the hollandaise sauce was also nice and tangy and eggy, topped with micro herbs. Definitely one of the best Benedicts in Melbourne. ~ 10/10

Panama Los Lajones, Espresso -
Again. Just to see if the above 2 siphon/espresso were duds. But this espresso also didn’t have much characters to me. I think I’ll stick to their House blend, Sidamo Guji OCR or El Salvador La Batalla.

Panino of Slow Braised Beef Cheek, Mustard and Daikon Slaw – $15
The above Chivito sandwich was excellent, and so was this Panino which came with pickles that reminds me of Basque guindilla. The cheek was cooked and seasoned perfectly, and the daikon slaw a perfect pairing to go in the panino bread. The mustard was a little strong but it was interesting with the strongish beef cheek. ~ 9/10

Strong Cappuccino -
How many coffees have I had here.

Strong Caffe Latte -
Another one. Remember to order strong!

…Memories of their Coffee Beans

Greatly missing their Dark Coffees the most,
Their Scrambled or Poached Eggs (available before 12:30pm weekdays, all day Weekends),
and superb Sandwiches.

Price: AUD $35 per person
Food: ♕♕♕♕♕
Coffee: ♕♕♕♕♕ – ♕♕♕♕♕♕ (depends on what I ordered!)

Opening Hours:
Mon – Sun 7am - 4pm Daily

Address: 169 Chapel Street, Windsor, Melbourne VIC 3181
Ph: (03) 9347 2998

D.O.C. Pizza and Mozzarella Bar - (Melbourne)

2012-01-19T11:34:00.001-08:00

D.O.C. Pizza stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata pizza, which according to the proper Italian traditional rules must adhere to a few outlined protocols or set of guidelines it must vehemently adhere by to prove its cause. Melbourne’s D.O.C. pizza shop is not really a proper D.O.C. pizza or Verace Pizza Napoletana Association approved Pizzeria however, but they do try to use imported ingredients whenever it is necessary. True Italian V.P.N. spec pizza in Melbourne can be found at 400 Gradi, although to be fair D.O.C. Pizza is actually not bad at all, but by technicality, this is not very representative of a proper Italian D.O.C. styled Pizza although probably half way there… The contradictory thing I find with D.O.C. Pizza is that, their sister shop Carlton Espresso around the corner is one of the very few Italian shops selling authentic and traditional & often very regional Italian dishes by the textbook, whereas their D.O.C. Pizza is honestly far away from being D.O.C. spec at all.

D.O.C. -
Might not be so D.O.C. afterall.. But no one cares,
because Australia is so used to believing whatever the kitchen throws at them!
I was once a victim myself, and I have decided to speak out what I’ve subsequently found out. Much like 2 hatted Grossi Florentino’s signature Traditional Spaghetti Bolognese, has nothing traditional or ‘Bolognese’ about it. and it is about time the chefs and owners are more responsible with how they label the food on the menu! Eg. D.O.C. Inspired pizze and mozzarella bar might sound more believable as a concept than just calling it D.O.C.

Menu Items -
Written mostly in Italian language, but apart from a few dishes, doesn’t convince me that this is really as Italian in nature as it tries to be. Probably half way there!

Some great Beers by the bottle -
Artisanal beers from Italy are actually better than expected!

La Petrognoa beer by Farro -
A rare artisanal beer on offer here, this was really balanced albeit a little sweet, but the hop aroma was really great . ~ 8/10

Pizza D.O.P. San Daniele with San Marzano Tomato & Fresh D.O.P. Buffalo Mozzarella –
AUD $23.40
The ham was of great quality and shaved on a manually operated meat slicer and added onto the pizza base just prior to serving as ‘crudo’ style, and with all Italian imported ingredients. The pizza crust had a good wheaty taste, but this is no D.O.C. Napoletana pizza as a base - it was slightly biscuity at the edges and even hard. The ingredients and toppings tasted great, but the pizza base was average only as it was not Roman and not Napoletana nor Sicilian in style, but some kind of hybrid. ~ 7/10

Pizza with Free Range Egg, Guanciale and Burrata (Carbonara style) - AUD $25
The Burrata is a more runnier and mellow cheese and obviously doesn’t have as much mozzarella cheese flavours as the above, but the salty guanciale as it should be with the eggs made this a rich pizza. Very fragrant and tasty but probably too salty for most people, although I can tolerate salty guanciale personally! The pizza base was similar and felt a bit dense. Looking around different tables, more than half the tables didn’t eat the pizza cornicone crusts, especially the kids. I didn’t see this happening at all at 400 Gradi or at Lucio Pizzeria up in Sydney. ~ 8/10

A Very Decent Pizzeria and Mozzarella Bar,
But definitely not as authentic as it advertises itself to be, especially when it is named after the famed Napoli D.O.C. Denominazione di Origine Controllata styled pizza. The pizza base wasn’t even close to its original taste. Too hard and biscuity, and as my foodie friends would put it the dough was not hydrated enough, nor proved or yeasty enough, even the oven probably wasn’t hot enough for making a true D.O.C pizza. It wasn’t so aromatic in the dough either and not quite puffy and bubbly on the edges with a nice chewiness like the real thing. For me – it is once again more of a Terminology issue than with regards to taste, which can be rather subjective. But surely you can’t call a Coke a Lemonade, just because both are sodas?

Price: AUD $35 per person
Food: ♕♕♕♕ 1/2

Opening Hours:
Mon – Sat   5.30pm - 11pm
Sun             12pm - 10pm
Tue-Sun      6pm - til late

Address: 295 Drummond Street, Carlton South

Ph: (03) 9347 2998

La Q Woodfired Pizza - (Melbourne)

2012-01-16T12:27:00.001-08:00

This is a popular Pizzeria in Kew and has scored some decent ratings online, and we used to eat here once in a while due to its low Corkage Fee Policy. They also carry a short wine list with some not-so-absurd wine mark ups by the bottles. Another attraction of eating pizzas here is their wood fired oven, which is taken for granted in Japan and Australia but there is what? A grand total of 1 shop in a population of 7 million people here in Hong Kong, a bit of an international embarrassment.

Wood Fire Oven -
This oven imparts a nice smoky flavour.

Water -

B.Y.O. Wine -
Needed to drink up some old wines..

Chicken Napoli, Cheese, Roast Capsicum, Mushroom & Pesto – AUD $18.50
This looked a bit average but the par-cooked chicken were still moist which is a good sign. The pizza crust looked charred but was surprisingly well balanced between being crisp and doughy, without being brittle or too thin. This was also quite SMOKY from the wood fire oven, another plus. ~ 7/10

Prosciutto Napoli, Goats Cheese, Roast Capsicum, Pesto – AUD $18.5
This was deliberately ordered to have similar ingredients to the above but swapping chicken for prosciutto and mozz for goats cheese. A good pizza with a decent ham and goats cheese quality and just the right amount of tomato base, which is not too tomato paste like unlike the many commercial shops out there. ~ 7/10

Spaghetti ai Frutti di Mare – AUD $19.50
This was a pretty average dish, but sitting in a strongish seafood broth and what looked like frozen seafood you could buy from the supermarket. Luckily the pasta was cooked al dente enough. For the price and amount of seafood, passable. ~ 6/10

Grated Parmesan -
For the pastas.

Wood Fired Pizza House -
Recipes aren’t necessarily authentic Italian as expected, much like 95% of Italian restaurants in Australia are very obviously Aust-Italian than True-Italian. That’s not to say it isn’t any good but I can’t help but cringe whenever I see a Menu which contains items called “Traditional Spaghetti Bolognese” or a “Fettucine Carbonara served with cream, bacon and spring onion", or a “Pizza base that doesn’t resemble much of true Italian pizza base”. It is not so much about the taste side of the equation which might still be decent, but the terminology chosen to describe the menu items as being authentically Italian, when it totally isn’t. Australians are totally getting duped as usual.

Price: AUD $20 per person
Food: ♕♕♕ 1/2

Opening Hours:
Sun - 17:00–22:00
Tues to Sat - 17:00–22:00pm

Address: 223 High street, Kew, Melbourne 3101
Ph: (03) 98550233

Lucio Pizzeria - (Sydney)

2012-01-15T09:01:00.001-08:00

Australia is such an Italian influenced and a pizza nation, but surprisingly, there is a glaringly obvious shortage of traditional Napoli or Napoletana pizza shops, or other traditional styles of Italian pizzas for that matter. As previously mentioned in the Pizza Mario (Sydney) and 400 Gradi (Melbourne) reviews, a rare few of these pizza shops have undergone proper Napoletana pizza training sessions and have joined the international V.P.N. association, ensuring that their pizzas follow traditional recipes and oven set ups in order to make a D.O.C. spec pizza which is regulated by the V.P.N. association.. There are currently only 3 shops in Australia which has gone through with this certification process, which in comparison Japan has more than ten times this number! Lucio Pizzeria is a rare case which is not part of the V.P.N. association - as their Pizzaioli pizza maker used to work for Pizza Mario and was also born in Napoli himself, and as a matter of fact, his pizzeria has been voted by Timeout Sydney to be the no.1 pizzeria up here.

This Guy and his Oven -
Makes pretty decent and traditional Napoletana pizzas !

Pizza with Speck, Fontina Cheese and Mozzarella -
This pizza didn’t look very ‘proper’ for a Napoletana pizza, as the cornicone crust was not as bubbled up or charred as we’d hoped, but in the mouth it was a very tasty pizza and definitely tasted like one! The pizza base was wheaty and yeasty aromatic at the same time, with the smokey speck ham and two cheeses making it very addictive indeed. A foodie blogger seemed to have received better looking pizzas when she visited - so do take a look at here for a cross comparison to be fair! http://foodiaryan.blogspot.com/2012/01/lucio-pizzeria.html ~ 7.5/10

Cascade Premium Lager -
Love this Aussie beer as usual…

Timeout No. 1 Pizza in Sydney -
During our visit, I thought our pizza didn’t look as good as 400 Gradi (Melbourne), but the taste was definitely there and the photo is a bit deceiving. And as mentioned, other friends have received better ones and this definitely is a very good pizzeria, worthy of its No.1 Status !

Price: AUD $25 per person
Score: ♕♕♕♕ 1/2

Opening Days -
Wed to Mon 6pm - 10pm

Address: Shop 1, 248 Palmer Street,Darlinghurst, Sydney Australia
Ph: (02) 9715 7222

Maze by Gordon Ramsay - (Melbourne)

2012-01-12T17:26:00.001-08:00

Maze by Gordon Ramsay has encountered some difficulties in its global administration and operations, and unfortunately the Melbourne arm of the Maze restaurant has been caught up within this messiness! Maze is soon going to be renamed into something totally forgettable and unmemorable (I’m rather perturbed by the lack of imagination behind whoever is renaming this whole thing, it sounds so uncool) but will remain being managed under the Crown Casino complex. The executive chef will remain unaltered and their current Gordon Ramsay influenced recipes are actually not that bad at all, especially the desserts. With a 1 Hatted status, some dishes here worked better than others, especially when a few ho hum main courses didn’t really follow up with what were some decent entrée dishes.

Now to be renamed -
Into something sounding like a bee and it’s cave,
I kid you not… totally irrelevant.

Interior is Chic -
But found in an unloved part of the 3rd hotel of Crown Casino.

Some House Wines,
by the glass

Home Made Italian Bread, called Staccata by the kitchen,
With Seaweed butter. The latter when added with sea salt tasted like worchester sauce for some reason over 2 separate visits. The bread was great, but the butter is definitely no Bordier seaweed quality…

Yes more Wine -
The more the merrier..

More Rose wine again -

Roasted Scallops, Sherry Caramel, Wild Rice and Spice - AUD $19
This is decent for the price and well enough cooked. The wild rice and spice gives it some crunchy factor, yet the sherry caramel was barely detectable - which might be a great thing as it complements rather than spoils the natural scallops taste? ~ 7/10

Tete de Cochon, with Compressed Watermelon, Kohlrabi and Crispy Pigs Ear - AUD $16
Simply awesome. Pigs head meat is made into a crumbed rectangle, and despite the fattish and very moist meat and fat, was well balanced by the fruits and kohlrabi. The pigs ears however weren’t very apparent in the dish as without taking a photo, one could barely remember them. ~ 9/10

Yellow Fin Tuna, with White Radish, Yuzu and Black Garlic - AUD $16
The white radish in the description turned out to also incorporate normal radish discs, the black fermented garlic definitely seems to be a world trend these days, probably borrowed from Korean/Japanese cuisines as I’ve experienced this a few times lately. The yellow fin tuna was surprisingly plump and tasty even though the endangered blue fin tuna normally gets the connoisseur’s knod. I liked how this came as chunks rather than mashed bits of tuna. ~ 9/10

Marinated Beetroot with Goat Curd, Cabernet Sauvignon Vinaigrette & Toasted Pine Nuts - AUD $14
Excuse my photo but this looked better in real life. This recipe has been almost done to death, but let’s not rob it of its final taste which was great. I didn’t think this was a culinary achievement but it was a balanced dish which worked itself out ~ 8/10

King George Whiting, Smoked Paprika Brandade, Black Olive -
I had a big problem with this dish actually because the paprika brandade tasted nothing like paprika or cod. (?). The whiting by itself was decent but ultimately this sounded better than it tastes ~ 6/10

Yarra Valley Duck Breast, Roasted Squash and Beluga Lentils - AUD $24
Arrrr… when this arrived I was thinking this is a tiny Main Course. The duck was pink but the skin was flappy. The lentils were good but overall this dish left a lot to desire for, even disregarding its atrocious portioning as a main. ~ 6.5/10

Otway Pork Valley, Cavalo Nero, Soybeans, Dashi - AUD $22
The Japanese side of the equation finally reared its ugly head here, but that is being a bit harsh. The Dashi broth was Japanese in taste but unexpectedly and despite being totally out of context by Japanese spirits, actually worked with the pork belly but just. The skin wasn’t crisp enough but the belly meat was tender enough. This was so strange a dish and in taste, but I must admit I did fall for it in the end even though in theory it shouldn’t work . Fluked effort perhaps ? ~ 7.5/10

Cape Grim Short Rib, Potato Puree and Shallot Gastric - AUD $26
This was again tiny for a main course, but was cooked decently with a nice gravy like thick sauce. The meat was slightly stringy but acceptable. The potato puree was buttery. I thought this recipe and presentation was at most mediocre but the taste was ok in the end. ~ 6/10

Gisborne Duck Leg, Sweet Corn, Cracked Wheat Fig Jam -
This tasted great but rather predictable. A lack of good garnitures made this dish seem more normal than it seems. Enjoyable and executed well. ~ 7/10

White Chocolate, Yuzu Jelly, Eucalyptus Ice Cream - AUD $16
This was minty from the eucalyptus ice cream, which is such an Aussie recipe. I didn’t really get the white chocolate palette beneath or its relevance to the slightly sour yuzu jelly. ~ 6.5/10

Caramelised Pear Trifle -
This was very good actually, we were pleasantly surprised as the brief description belies the more structured components beneath, with a toasty and honeyed wheats and multiple layers of pears and trifle and cream. Dig deep into the verrine glass and it is very enjoyable ~ 10/10

Rhubarb Compote, Yogurt, Freeze Dried Raspberry -
Another interesting dessert which tasted better than it looked. The rhubarb compote beneath the yogurt (not shown on photo) was balanced enough. This was definitely a great dessert by taste rather than by appearance or recipe on paper, 4 ingredients are sometimes the max when it comes to great recipes in the end? ~ 8.5/10

Chocolate Truffles with Salted Caramel -
This was another underestimated petits fours. The very runny and salted caramel centre was liquid like and really addictive, it was out of this world good. It almost carried a nice runny liquor centre, it definitely tasted better than it looked by a large margin. ~ 10/10

Price: AUD $60 – $80 per person
Food: ♕♕♕♕1/2

Opening Hours:
Mon to Sun 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 6pm – 11pm

Address: Crown Metropol, Level 1, 8 Whiteman Street
Ph: 03 9292 8300

Coffee Max - (Melbourne)

2012-01-11T11:09:00.001-08:00

Coffee Max is by no means representative of the 3rd Wave coffee movement, but it has managed to separate itself from the old school and more commercialised Crivelli brand which in fact both belongs to the same Crivelli family. Coffee Max is still Italian in heritage but in a much more modernised fashion and lovers of Italian coffee will come to embrace here, or Caffe Romeo just down the road. If you enjoy this coffee style, Axil Coffee Roasters might also give you an equal satisfaction with its bolder coffee blending technique.

Run by the Son,
Aka Dino from the well known coffee supplier Crivelli …
Their Camberwell shop has been a favourite of mine for a while.

Entrance -
Doncaster Westfield Shopping Town does not lack quality cafes,
but apart from Coffee Hit and Jamaica Blue, this is probably my overall favourite.

Cappuccino (House Blend) -
This began on the right note, but taking away the chocolate powder was a little weak and beginning to have a sour note in the aftertaste. Decent and enjoyable if taking away the small flaws in the cups! ~ 7/10

Croque Monsieur -
Note the evenly grilled cheesy and bechamel top, as well as good quality ham off the bone and a half crunchy and half moist toast layer - this is as good as a Croque Monsieur as I remember, in fact I’m quite surprised to find such high quality here as even shops in France can’t always get this so spot on. Compared to the previous one at Brasserie Bread Café, this to me was much more like a real Croque Monsieur. ~ 10/10

Pistachio Nougat -
Someone wanted nougat, and who am I to argue against this idea? I love nougat a lot but I try to save the quota for other things, so when someone insists on ordering one anyway I have no excuses not to eat some This was less sweeter than I’d imagined and came with roasty pistachios, very good indeed. Lovely ~ 9/10

Apricot Danish -
To me these all taste the same, including the ones in breakfast or brunch buffets. I like them when the fruit is not over-baked and the pastry layers are well defined. Here it was definitely decent, but not buttery I suppose? Not the finest of judges on this aspect ~ 8/10

Crostoli -
A typical Italian pastry which I order as a sweet snack, in fact there is something similar in Chinese Cantonese cuisine too. The Italian version is coated in sugar powder, the Chinese version is coated in sugar syrup, both carry similar textures ~ 8/10

Caffe Latte -
The above cappuccino was weak and as a single shot caffe latte this was destined to be even weaker with the increased proportion of milk. This has potential but in hindsight we should have ordered this as a stronger drink instead ~ 6.5/10

Short Black (Crema Blend) -
Short black = Espresso, it is such an Aussie term but instead of being served in a demitasse cup this was served in a short transpastent glass, which was more common back in the past than nowadays. The crema colour might look pale but this was highly aromatic and balanced, in an Italian kind of way and well structured, one of rare god shots I’ve encountered recently. It’s funny how I so remembered this specific shot, it was honestly really enjoyable and unique, carrying no jagged edges. ~ 10/10

Nothing much extraordinary here on appearance -
Plus the local coffee guides don’t really rate here much either.
However my gorgeous espresso above was memorable (though the milk coffees not so!), and that croque monsieur was easily as good as it gets. It is imperative to know what exactly to order here, I suppose. But the same applies to many cafes in town?

Price: AUD $16 - $18 per person
Food: ♕♕♕♕♕
Coffee: ♕♕♕♕ 1/2 (Espresso is great here)

Opening Hours:
Mon-Wed 8am-5.30pm
Thu-Fri 8am-9pm
Sat 8am-6pm
Sun 9am-5pm

Address: Store # 1008, Westfield Shopping Centre, Doncaster, Melbourne.
Ph: 03 9848 1114

Brasserie Bread - (Melbourne)

2012-01-06T20:33:00.001-08:00

This self proclaimed Artisan Bakery recently opened a branch in Melbourne, being a well known bakery and baking school up in Sydney. A few of the multiple hatted restaurants also have bread supplied by these guys. May be it was just a starting up issue, but the bread I tried at this bakery were aroma-less and I remembered the same brand of bread I ate in Sydney tasted slightly more towards the artisanal side.

Nearer Port Melbourne of town -
It is not that easily accessible without a vehicle!

Some Pain au Chocolat and Almond Croissants -
Looks decently made, even a bit too clean looking and slightly light in colour!

Cakes and Tarts Fridge -
Reminds me of Le Pain Quotidien for some reason, although the L.P.Qs in Australia are nowhere near the European or Japanese outlets standard. Places like Brasserie and Bourke Street Bakery, no need to fear !

Orange Juice -

Cappuccino ‘Espresso Blend by Allpress’ -
A bit too bubbly without blending with the milk below, this was also very hot, and this made it 100% ‘hotter milk coffees from Sydney’ hit rate now. I wonder how a Sydney sider will feel drinking Melbourne’s colder coffees! This carried a distinctly burnt bitterness unfortunately - all the more disappointed since Brasserie Bakery actually own and runs the New Zealand based All Press Coffee - which has even expanded to London since late 2010.
~ 3/10

Croque Monsieur with Ham, Dijon and Heidi Gruyere Cheese - AUD $12
Their signature dish. I don’t know what others expect from a Croque Monsieur by default, but for me, I expect a lavish and thick coating of cheese w/wo bechamel sauce, which gives it that soft and toasted bread contrast when u bite into one. The version here is more like dry toasted sandwich. The dijon mustard was a bit too powerful and the ham a bit weak (or just not enough of it) and the lack of gooey-ness suggests this can’t be rated like a croque monsieur. But did it tasted good? It did. But the bread as mentioned had a big problem, it was totally bland in taste and this is already their sourdough bread.
~ 6.9/10

Sourdough Pancakes with Stewed Berries & Honeycomb Cream – AUD $14
Sourdough starters are used to make this pancake, which gives it more of a crumpets like texture but no additional sourdough taste. ~ 7/10

I enjoyed this, but ultimately, Melbourne is filled with top notch cafes serving restaurant grade food. Say for example Duchness of Spotswood, Ora Cafe, Auction Rooms or Richmond Hill Café & Larder, Birdman Eating others like Hobba, Café Vue, Dukes Coffee Roaster, St Ali, Degraves Espresso Bar, etc. I mean the bread today looked and tasted quite commercial compared to Noisette or the Philipa’s you can get down the road, the coffee was below average. The pastry selections are behind Sugardough Panificio & Patisserie, B&P, Caffe Moda and Chez Dre in sophistication and presentation, and it is only $1-2 dollars cheaper per patisserie. Which market are they exactly aiming at and who do they see as their competitors?

Price: AUD $16 - $18 per person
Food: ♕♕♕ 1/2 to ♕♕♕♕
Coffee: ♕♕♕

Opening Hours:
Mon to Fri - 7.00am - 3.00pm
Sat and Sun - 8.00am - 2.00pm
Public Holiday - Closed

Address: 150 Thistlethwaite St, South Melbourne.
Ph: 1300 966 845

Bomba Stuzzichini e Aperitivi - (Melbourne)

2012-01-05T10:36:00.001-08:00

Aperitivo Hour is a fun activity to partake in, and is quite similar to eating small Spanish tapas with drinks. The difference between the 2 lays in the system, as traditionally Aperitivo bars in Italy charge higher drink prices than normal hours, but then you are offered a mini buffet of all you can eat albeit simple Stuzzichini dishes. Bomba Stuzzichini e Aperitivi is a more upscale and modernised version of an aperitivo bar, and they also follow the traditions by offering Aperitivo Hour deals where buying a drink or cocktail will get you a free dish, whereas during normal hours you pay for them separately. It is a bargain either way.

Modern Italian Stuzzichini e Aperitivi bar -

Interior -

Salt Flakes -
Tick !

Free Olives -
Tick ! Quality is not bad too.

Aperol Sour - AUD $12
Aperol and lemon cocktail, pretty nice.

Gnocchi Fritti, Peperonata and Roquette - Normally AUD $11
This is a house made gnocchi which is fried, and served with peppers and olives with a grated cheese. It was quite good actually, but the gnocchi could be slightly more crunchy ~ 7.5/10

Ciao Sophia – AUD $16
Made with Vanilla vodka and Balsamic vinegar, Strawberries and liquor, Limoncello. This cocktail was lovely and quite refreshing, with a lot of crushed strawberries at the bottom of the glass ~ 10/10

‘Carciofi’ 3 Ways - Normally AUD $11
This artichokes stuzzichino is comprised of 3 textures, with a fried artichoke with an aioli like sauce, grilled as well as a soup. It’s pretty addictive and even the fried parsley added to the experience. Shows heart in the recipe and one prob can’t even find in Italy easily ~ 8/10

Last Night in Naples - AUD $16
Chambord, Vodka, Blackberries, Strawberries, Sugar, Lime. Another fruity cocktail, and just a little darker from the dark raspberry liquor. The cocktails here might sound pricy but they’re pretty big in proportion. ~ 8/10

Maiale Croccante – Normally AUD $11
Pork Belly, Parmigiano and polenta below. Pork bellies can be found in many restaurants but the one here was cooked well and tender with a crispy crackling on top, and even the sauce complemented it well. With 4 pieces, this is a bargain at this price point! ~ 8/10

Overall -
The food might not be amazingly sophisticated but compared to even Italian standard Stuzzichini, some heart has been put into the recipes to turn them into something more interesting. The cocktails were also made well here. Good for an afternoon snack and aperitivo hour - or as a light dinner !

Price: AUD $23 to $50 per person
Score: ♕♕♕♕ 1/2

Opening Hours -
Mon-Sat 8.30am-11pm
Address: 176 Burgundy St, Heidelberg, Melbourne Vic.
Ph: 03 9455 1519

Bar Americano - (Melbourne)

2012-01-01T10:27:00.001-08:00

This Aperitivo bar was discovered by accident when I walked past and noticed a blue Tabacchi sign in the back of a traffic-less street, as that is a very Italian signage which usually means its selling cigarettes and some sweets and coffee in one place. Well, it turned out to be a bar and caffe opened by the world famous Der Raum Cocktail bar’s owner. It is one of the most unlikely places to recommend someone to go and down some coffees, especially when it is sitting behind Sensory Lab and Switchboard. But these people mean business, as you’ll find out below…

Monkey Gland - AUD $19
Unlike Der Rhaum, Bar Americano went backwards and traditional, selling famous world cocktail recipes in one shop. The cocktails are really tiny versus the price however, which really shocked us !

Blood and Sand – $21
Weird how both cocktails turned out so similar, in fact, I hope I haven’t switched the photos around although I definitely ordered these 2 drinks! Very nice cocktail, but very pricy ! $$$$

What the? What is the Bartender playing with….
I was sipping my cocktails when I turned around and noticed a strange thing in the dark - why is there a Slayer Machine in a cocktail bar? Apparently, they are trying to be like an Italian bar where the ‘barista, or bar tender’ does both alcoholic and coffee drinks.

Slayer Pulled Espresso, Coffee Supreme ‘Boxer’ Blend -
Using an artisanal coffee roaster’s coffee, their Slayer is pressure profile enabled in this cocktail bar!! They even serve single origin coffees ! That’s what I mean when they mean real business. The shot was very well made, and the ‘barista’ definitely knows his coffee as well as cocktails. ~ 9/10

Cappuccino, House ‘Boxer’ Blend -
Another night, needed a coffee fix and instantly thought of here. This was a very lovely Brazilian blended coffee even with milk. Smooth, full bodied especially when made on the Slayer. Slightly spicy blend with great aroma. ~ 9/10

The Whole Concept of this Aperitivo bar,
is quite tongue-in-cheek and fun, we joked that the bar tender is cocky yet friendly,
and super confident of his abilities. The drinks turned out great, bar the high price of the cocktails. The coffees were surprisingly great from a cocktail place, and apparently their food are quite decent as well..

Price: AUD $25
Score: ♕♕♕♕♕

Opening Hours -
Mon-Sat 8.30am-11pm
Address: 20 Presgrave Place

Ph: 9428 0055

Journal Café - (Melbourne)

2012-01-01T09:31:00.001-08:00

Found inside the City Library, Journal is an Italian style café (caffé is probably more accurate) and uses a hand lever machine to make a Romcaffe blend which is imported from Italy. In fact the same blend is used in notable restaurants such as The European, City Wine Shop or was previously used in Degraves Espresso Bar in the past!

One of the rare non-artisanal cafes,
that I really like and will dearly miss!

Victoria Arduino Athena Classic -
In a coffee city filled with Synessos and Slayers,
this is a nice change especially for making real Italian styled coffee.

Cappuccino -
This looks Italian, and that dark caramel tasting note is sweet and not bitter. Really reminds me of the best coffees drank in Italy - but the foam here is even smoother. Lovely milk coffee. Why bother going to Quists Coffee hmmm… Addictive ~ 9/10

Found just around the corner from Degraves Street,
Another good thing about this café is that it opens until early evening,
so if your nominal 4pm cafes are closed, you can still get a good coffee until later into the night!

Price: AUD $3
Coffee: ♕♕♕♕♕

Opening Hours -
TBA
Address: 253 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

Ph: 9650 4399

Degraves Espresso Bar - (Melbourne)

2012-01-01T09:11:00.001-08:00

Degraves Espresso is the café which single handedly drew in all the crowd to Degraves St and then everyone else followed, even the copy cats! Coffee was never really that great here in the past, but as an improver, they have upgraded their coffee equipment and kept switching coffee blends, growing from commercial coffee to 5 Senses and now uses artisanal coffee from St Ali’s (Chompy Blend).

In fact,
The food here is not bad, and the coffee has kept up with the trend…

Upgraded Coffees and Equipment -

Pompelmo sparkling drink -

Cappuccino ‘Chompy Blend by St Ali’ -
Milk coffees here don’t look very pretty usually, but in fact some baristi can pull beatiful latte art here, they just don’t do it for me! One of the things that I learned from drinking coffee here, is that the EXACT same coffee blend and roasting batch made on the Synesso here tastes very different to my my La Marzocco made cups at St Ali’s new cafe Plantation. The one here is much cleaner and more aromatic even through the milk. The Chompy blend is a commercialised blend, but under the right hands and equipment here, it was quite pleasant ~ 8/10

Espresso -
Again, tastes completely different to the exact blend made at another café’s different machine. This blend doesn’t usually attract me, but here it was decent too.

Portuguese Tarts -

Haha. Nice tips jar !
This good old café surprised me,
and despite being treated as a commercial café nowadays,
the milk coffees are surprisingly decent.

Price: AUD $3.5
Coffee: ♕♕♕♕ 1/2

Opening Hours -
Mon-Fri 7am-late, Sat 8.30am-late
Address: Degraves Street, Melbourne VIC 3000

Ph: (03)9654 1245