La Petite Vancouver

Happy Lunar New Year 2012

2012-01-23T09:39:00.000-08:00

One of my best friends just came back to Vancouver recently after he finished his studies in the States. I've made a birthday cake for him this past weekend, a milk chocolate and passion fruit mousse cake. As my friend prefer less sweet desserts, I've reduced the sweetness of the milk chocolate mousse and highlighted the passionfruit more while trying to maintain the flavour balance. I was glad that end result was not too sweet for him and he really enjoyed the cake. The flavour combination was inspired by Pierre Herme's macaron mogador while the chocolate decor was inspired by Pierre Marcolini.

Components:
mousse au chocolate au lait
mousse aux fruits de la passion
biscuit joconde au chocolat

For all my fellow bloggers and readers who are celebrating Chinese New Year, I wish you all Happy Lunar New Year ~ 龍年快樂！

Bûche de Noël 2011

2011-12-22T10:08:00.001-08:00

This's the Bûche de Noël I made this year for a Christmas party at my godbrother's place.
I simply turned Hidemi Sugino's Ambroisie into a Bûche. It's much more polished compared to the yule log that I made last year.

My godbrother have a giant thread ball at his place and I was really inspired when I first saw it. Hence, I came up with the idea of making a chocolate thread ball as part the cake decoration.

The cake components ( from top to bottom ):
Chocolate glaze
66% dark chocolate mousse
Pistachio mousse
Pistachio sponge
Raspberry jam
Chocolate sponge

You can find the recipe here

I wish you all a Merry Christmas! Je vous souhaite à tous un Joyeux Noël!

L'Abattoir Revisited

2011-10-29T22:44:00.000-07:00

I first visited L'Abattoir in May 2011. My dining partner and I left on cloud nine. Having had that wonderful dining experience, I decided to celebrate my birthday at L'Abattoir this year. The menu has been redesigned to showcase Fall specialties. You could, however, still find some favorite dishes from the Summer menu such as the dungeness crab and cheakpea toast, the confit of albacore tuna, and the Steak Diane. One particular dish that really stuck in my mind from the Summer menu was the soy glazed duck breast. Unfortunately, they didn't carry that dish forward to the Fall menu.

The breadbasket at L'Abattoir never failed to impress me and my friends. They came fresh and warm from the kitchen. The breadbasket was filled with the anchovy cheese twist, the lightly spiced flat bread and the buttery bacon brioche. Although the breadbasket was complimentary, all of the breads in the breadbasket were perfectly made. It was my friends' first visit to L'Abattoir and the breadbasket alone convinced my friends that L'Abattoir is no ordinary restaurant.

For the appetizers, we ordered the poached egg with black truffle, the marinated North Arm farm beetroot salad, the pan fried veal sweetbread on toast and the Steelhead served with crunchy potato salad.

The poached egg totally got me at my first bite. The combination of poached egg, potato gnocchi, pecorino, fried shallots and black truffle was totally brilliant, they simply melted in my mouth. I should say this was the best poached egg I've ever had.

Beetroot is not my favorite vegetable to begin with as I am not a fan of its earthy flavor. The marinated beetroot dish, however, made me change my mind about this vegetable. The taleggio custard really balanced out the earthy flavor from the beetroot. This was simply my favorite beetroot salad.

The pan fried veal sweetbread was another lovely appetizer. Some of my friends love it while the others and myself found the sauce gribiche a little too sweet.

The last appetizer on the table was the warm steelhead and crunchy potato salad. My friend enjoyed the steelhead with the horseradish sauce and she loved the aromatic flavor of the dill. The downside of this dish was the crunchy potato salad as she found it lacked it flavor.

For the main course we ordered the Steak Diane, the loin of rabbit stuffed with its leg, the scallops and oxtail dumplings, and the pork shoulder cooked in milk.

The Steak Diane was served with potato fondant, charred onions, bone marrow bon bon and garnished with peppercorn. This dish, unfortunately, failed to impress me. It was not a bad dish at all as all the components were cooked properly. I just personally found there were a little too many peppercorns for my liking.

One of my friends ordered the rabbit dish. The loin of rabbit stuffed with its leg was wrapped with bacon and underneath the dish was the cabbage puree. The rabbit dish was then topped with figs and radishes. The rabbit dish was wonderful, the meat was tender and nicely seasoned. All I can hear from my friend was "mmmm~"

My other friend really enjoyed her scallop dish. The oxtail dumplings were wrapped into a cylindrical form. They looked more like an egg roll to me. The scallops were exquisitely seared and together with oxtail dumplings, the Asian pear, the beech mushroom and the hidden bok choy they made a nice combination of texture and flavor. The spiced jus that was poured all over the dish was apparently one of the main stars. My friend couldn't stop telling me how good the spiced jus was.

Although it looked simple in presentation, the pork shoulder was incredibly tender. My gosh, it was just so good.
I was totally surprised and impressed at the same time. The pork shoulder dish easily become my second favorite entrée at L'Abattoir after the soy glazed duck breast.

They totally changed the dessert menu for the Fall season. The Earl Grey Pot de Creme and the Nanaimo bar were our choice of dessert for the night.

The Earl Grey Pot de Creme was a really light dessert. It consisted of three layers: the whipped milk sprinkled with cinnamon at the top, lemon shortbread in the middle and the earl grey cream at the bottom. When all the components were eaten together, you can taste the fluffiness of the whipped milk, the crunchiness of the lemon shortbread and the aromatic flavor of the earl grey. I loved it.

The Nanaimo bar was served with poached pear, chocolate tuile, spiced wine and pear sorbet. The Nanaimo bar itself was rich and creamy. The pear two ways were nicely prepared. I really enjoyed the pear sorbet - it was really refreshing. Although I like the presentation, I personally didn't get how all these components link to each other. I found that it's best to enjoy each component on its own.

The service that night was solid as usual and we left the dining room with a big smile on our faces.

Hawksworth

2011-10-23T17:14:00.000-07:00

Located inside the luxury Rosewood Hotel Georgia Vancouver, Hawksworth opened its door in June this year. My friend and I decided to celebrate our joined birthday at Hawksworth. The restaurant is divided into three sections: a bar section and two dining areas. Once you stepped into the dining area, you will instantly notice the focal point of the dining room: an enormous and dazzling oval chandelier. They also have a visually striking glass-enclosed wine room located between the dining room and the kitchen.

Aside from the elegant ambiance, Hawksworth offered both regular menu and a 5-course tasting menu ($75). Our server introduced us to the daily specials and she also told us that we could also order any dishes from the tasting menu individually.We ordered the seared qualicum bay scallops and the yellowfin tuna carpaccio for appetizer. The seared qualicum bay scallops came with kimchi cous cous which I found really interesting . I like the chef's take on Asian ingredients. Although the seared scallops had a nice combination of spice, acid, and texture, the overall taste was pretty subtle. I found that it was missing an extra punch in flavor.

For entrée, we had the Fraser Valley pork belly served with quinoa, ancho, peach and almonds and the grilled sturgeon served with manilla clam, sun choke and shellfish nage. The pork belly was cooked perfectly. Each components that came with this dish had a strong aromatic flavour which was lacked in my seared scallop dish. My friend did not enjoy his grilled sturgeon as he found it lack in flavor.

When it came to dessert, we both chose the same one which was the Valrhona milk chocolate mousse. Not many restaurants use the French Valrhona chocolate for chocolate dessert as it is expensive compared to regular Belgian chocolate. The milk chocolate mousse was served with chocolate crumbs, passion fruit mousse, passion fruit gelée, and passion fruit sorbet. The milk chocolate mousse was light and fluffy. Milk chocolate and passion fruit goes well with each other. The flavor combination reminded me of Pierre Herme's macaron mogador.

Despite the hit-and-miss food, the service was stellar. The overall dining experience was memorable, we could really feel relaxed that evening albeit dining in a stiff and formal environment.

La Mémoire

2011-10-10T18:20:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid I remembered having a mocha birthday cake from our local bakery. Although it's just a simple layered chocolate cake with mocha buttercream, the strong mocha flavor really stood out. The smell and flavor of the mocha really stuck in my mind.

Inspired by chef Janice Wong's memories of taste, I decided to remake this dessert to represent my childhood memory. The picture above was my interpretation of the adult palate - a deconstructed mocha cake.

The components are as follow:
1. Chocolate soil
2. Chocolate sponge
3. Mocha buttercream
4. Popcorn powder
5. Dark chocolate sphere
6. Dill & Violette's petal

Choco Caramel

2011-10-04T23:29:00.000-07:00

Sea salt caramel chocolate bar
70% dark chocolate + fleur de sel caramel

My first attempt on chocolate bar, more to come.

Fleur de sel Caramel ( serves 50 )
[recipe modified from Kristy Choo of Jin Patisserie]

250g sugar
250ml cream
38g glucose
1/2 vanilla bean
fleur de sel ( sea salt )

Method
1. Combine sugar and glucose and cook to caramel stage
2. At the same time boil the cream with vanilla bean in a separate pot
3. Pour in cream gradually into the caramel
4. Stir until thoroughly mixed
5. Continue to cook until it reach 112°C
6. Transfer the mixture onto silpat and let it set and cool
7. Once cooled, sprinkle with fleur de sel

Kuro Goma 3+

2011-10-02T02:49:00.000-07:00

Kuro Goma is the Japanese for black sesame and the 3+ implies my three ways of presenting the black sesame dessert.

The inspiration behind this dessert came across when I was browsing through an interior magazine two weeks ago. Inside the magazine there was one apartment's interior that really caught my attention. This apartment was dominated by monochrome walls and furnishings. The wall and floor were all white while the furniture are bold black. There were only a few color introduction in the apartment which for me really stood out in the black and white environment. I was really inspired by the concept and hence I came up with this dessert.

The main character for this dessert is the black sesame. Aside from being one of my favorites dessert flavor, I wanted to try different types of dessert that you can make with black sesame.

The components on the plate:
Black sesame fluid gel
White chocolate moss
Black sesame cheesecake
White chocolate plaquette
Black sesame moss
Super soft black sesame sponge
Blackberries

Strawberry Love Affair 1.0

2011-09-25T00:58:00.000-07:00

My third creation: Strawberry love affair 1.0. This one was inspired by chef Janice Wong's shades of red. Mine was a much simpler version with less components.

On the plate: strawberry parfaits, raspberry-red currant fluid gel, chocolate decors and red currants.

Guanaja H20 & Tropical

2011-09-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

I have been a fan of molecular gastronomy for a while. It was when I first discovered Alinea's cookbook few years ago that I got hooked instantly to the gastronomic world. I never thought food could be interpreted this way, totally out of this world.

This past week I did my research on molecular gastronomy especially in dessert making technique. I came across Singaporean pastry chef Janice Wong of 2am dessertbar. I saw her works before from Lennardy's blog and was totally amazed. Her works were truly inspirational. My Guanaja H20 was inspired by her Araguani H20. Guanaja H20 was an aerated 70% Valrhona dark chocolate formed into a shape resembling a coral. The dark chocolate was only mixed with Evian water, so there was no heavy cream, eggs, nor sugar in it - it was pure chocolate. One will feel less guilty enjoying this dessert. You might have questioned how can chocolate be mixed with water as water is the enemy of chocolate. Apparently a French chemist Dr. Herve invented this. You can find Heston Blumenthal's video explaining how this works.

I added a few drops of caramel fleur de sel to go with the chocolate coral. Although I like 70% dark chocolate, I prefer to have a little sweetness in my dessert. The sweet and salty addition from the caramel fleur de sel mixed really well with the aerated dark chocolate.

Here's a close up shot of the Guanaja H2O

My second dessert I called it Tropical. It might look a little busy in term of presentation but I like the combination of texture and flavor.

In the middle was the pliable chocolate ganache. Big props to chef Alex Stupak who invented this while he was at Alinea. I used a milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate as milk chocolate was better off with passionfruit. The pliable chocolate ganache was by far the best chocolate ganache I had ever tasted. Next in the plate was the super soft matcha sponge. This was my interpretation of El Bulli's super soft black sesame sponge. The rest of the components in the plate were: two passionfruit couilis curls, passionfruit sorbet, raspberry, white chocolate dome and popcorn powder. I added popcorn powder to add a slight saltiness to this dessert.

Poached Pear in Osmanthus Wine

2011-09-10T15:21:00.000-07:00

This was my rendition of Chef Jacky Yu's 桂花陳酒燴啤梨 ( Poached Pear in Osmanthus Wine ).
I had this dessert during my recent visit to Xi Yan Sweets in HK. I really enjoyed the poached pear dessert. The one that I had was served with lychee ice cream and dried orange slice. The combination of the poached pear, dried orange slice and lychee ice cream was sublime.

I got myself a small pack of dried osmanthus flower when I was in HK. However, I didn't get Osmanthus wine back with me as I thought I could find it in Vancouver. Little did I know, when I was searching for it, how difficult it was to find one in Vancouver. I nearly gave up on remaking this dessert. It was not until my fifth attempt that I finally found it.

For my version, I did put a little twist on it. Mine was poached pear served with Osmanthus wine reduction, mango sauce, and black sesame sorbet.

Recipe modified from Jacky Yu - Food- Life - Attitude

Ingredients
3 pears ( European variety )
1/2 bottle of ages osmanthus wine
50g sugar
250ml water
skin of 1 lime
skin of 1/2 orange
1 small piece cinnamon stick
Osmanthus flowers ( optional )

Method
1. Peel the pears. Put the rest of the ingredients into a pot and bring to boil.
2. Once boiled, put in the pears and cover the pot with lid. Cook over low heat for 20-25 minutes until the pears are tender.
3. Turn off the heat and leave them to cool
4. Transfer the pears and the poaching liquid into a container and refrigerate for 24 hours.
5. Pour about 200 ml of osmanthus wine into the pot and add about 2-3 Tbsp of sugar and heat it up and reduce until the sugar melted and wine thicken. ( The amount of the osmanthus wine and sugar depends on how many servings of osmanthus wine reduction that you want to make, please adjust accordingly )
6. Garnish the plate with the osmanthus wine reduction.
7. Transfer the pear onto the plate. Strain the poaching liquid and pour over the pears. Garnish the pear with some dried osmanthus flowers.
8. Add some mango puree, some fresh fruits, and serve with ice-cream/sorbet of your choice.

Christophe

2011-09-05T20:57:00.000-07:00

I got myself a new toy this weekend: a spray gun - finally can coat my entremet perfectly with chocolate spray now. I didn't plan on making any entremet this long weekend as I wanted to just relax and chill out. However, I was really inspired to make an entremet once I got the chocolate spray gun.

This cake was named after pastry chef Christophe Adam. As you already knew from my previous blog entries, I am a big fan of his works. This entremet was inspired by his mangue-violette eclair. It wasn't easy to find crystallized violet in Vancouver. I tried it before in a dessert I had at MARKET, Shangril-la so I knew I could find it here.

The components are as follow:
Violette crystallisée
Sauce à la mangue
Mousse à la mangue
Crème mangue-violette
Biscuit joconde au chocolat

I really like the aromatic flavor from the crystallized violet. The combination of mango sauce, crystallized violet and mascarpone was sublime. The combination of those three complimented the mango mousse really well. I used a chocolate sponge base to give an additional slightly stronger flavor to yield a subtle punch in overall flavor. For texture, I used two crystallized violets ( one inside the entremet and one outside ) to add some crunch.

Vancouver's first Oxtail Ramen

2011-09-02T10:50:00.000-07:00

It's only in Suika izakaya you could find many interesting dishes that you can rarely find in other izakayas. One of their interesting dishes is their Tokyo Oxtail Ramen. I got a chance to try it in my third visit. Their Tokyo oxtail ramen is a slowly braised oxtail with noodle in soy broth topped with dried fish powder and scallions. The broth, having been cooked for days, had a rich flavor and the dried fish powder gave an extra punch in flavour. The noodle had proper texture and not chewy, it really complimented the broth perfectly. This ramen I'll call it as adventurous to eat due to the use of oxtail as the main ingredient instead of regular braised pork belly. Suika's oxtail ramen easily became my top two contender for best ramen in Vancouver.

Since my last two visits ( you can read the entry here and here ), they changed their menu's design into two popular Japanese cartoon characters : Doraemon and Dorami - another creative idea by the owner.

Another dishes that we tried was the sashimi 'shake' salad which consisted of daily fresh sashimis tossed with sesame soy dressing. After giving a short introduction to the salad, our server began shaking the jar of salad for a minute and then served the salad in a bowl. I found this to be very entertaining.

This time we tried two of their desserts: the Yukimi Daifuku ( green tea and red bean gelato wrapped in sticky rice cake ) and the summer crème brûlée ( frozen crème brûlée with mango gelato and fresh strawberry sauce ). The daifukus were properly made and the green tea one was my favourite. You can really taste a pretty bold matcha flavour in it. I tried their frozen matcha crème brûlée before and the summer version was much more flavourful. The aromatic mango flavour mixed with the sweetness of strawberry sauce produced a perfect harmony. My friends and I finished it in less than a minute.

Éclair Aquatique

2011-08-30T00:11:00.000-07:00

My second attempt on Christophe Adam's éclair. This time I made one of his signature triple fondant éclairs: the aquatique.
He had made several different versions of the éclair aquatique before. The one I made was the version from his éclair book.

The components are as follow:
Le crémeaux vanille
Le fondant blanc
Le fondant vert et le fondant à la menthe
Le fondant bleu

Éclair au thé vert matcha

2011-08-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

Éclair has never been this interesting before! Thanks to Chef Christophe Adam for bringing the classic chocolate éclair to a completely different level. He really inspired me to attempt his fabulous creations. This was my first time ever making pâte à choux, éclair, and fondant patissier. I still need a lot of practice esp in making a perfect tubular éclair.

My rendition of Fauchon's matcha éclair:

MonokuRo Boo Cake

2011-08-23T23:54:00.000-07:00

I made a MonokuRo Boo cake for my friend's birthday today. She's a big fan of this Japanese cartoon character. MonokuRo means monochrome in Japanese and Boo is the pig's sound (oink) in Japanese. I came up with my own variation for the inner side.

The components from top to bottom:
Matcha sponge
Matcha cream
Matcha sponge
Red bean paste
Crispy chocolate praline
Matcha sponge

Hidemi Sugino's Everest エヴェレスト Recipe

2011-08-16T23:30:00.000-07:00

This was my ~~fifth~~ sixth attempt on Hidemi Sugino's recipe. I really admired his works and totally respect him as the king of mousse cake. In his book , Le Goût Authentique Retrouvé, he used a great variety of fruits and some of them being seasonal. This Everest entremet use red currant as one of the main ingredients. The Everest got my attention when I first flipped through the book. I've never seen an entremet like this before - it's totally unique yet appealing. Nevertheless, I was a little disappointed back then to not able to make this entremet due to its use of seasonal ingredient - red currant. It's really hard to find red currant in Vancouver. I remembered seeing it once in a supermarket and never seen it since. I did some research and apparently red currant is only in season around July/August. I was, however, really lucky last week that I passed by a local farmer's market and they happened to have red currants.

The component of the Everest are as follow: ( from top to bottom )
Framboises [ Raspberries ]
Amandes effillées torréfiées [ Roasted almonds ]
Sucre glace [ Powdered sugar ]
Crème chantilly [ Sweetened whipped cream ]
Biscuit joconde sans beurre [ Butterless sponge ]
Mousse au fromage blanc [ White Cheese Mousse ]
Sauce aux fruits rouges [ Red fruits sauce ]
Biscuit joconde sans beurre [ Butterless sponge ]

As expected, the white cheese mousse was really fluffy and simply melted in your mouth. The combination of the white cheese mousse with the red fruits sauce was sublime. The roasted almonds gave an extra texture to this entremet. Although the flavor of the Everest was subtle, it was memorable.

Recipe translated and modified from Le Goût Authentique Retrouvé
Recipe serves 3 entremets ( 7.5cm x 3.5cm x 4cm oval shaped ring )
Image reference for the mousse ring's shape:

Notes:

1. This recipe was written under assumption that you already know how to make french meringue, crème chantilly, raspberry couili and raspberry jam
2. Please keep in mind that temperature ranges and time will vary depending on your oven. So please adjust accordingly.

Biscuit joconde sans beurre

20g icing sugar
20g almond powder
16g egg yolks
12g egg whites
18g all purpose flour

French meringue

40g egg whites
24g sugar

1. Sift and combined icing sugar and almond powder in a mixing bowl
2. Add in egg yolks, egg whites and whisk until thick and fluffy
3. Sift in all purpose flour
4. Make french meringue and fold into the mixture
5. Bake at 230°C / 446°F for 6mins

Sauce aux fruits rouges

8g red currant jam
4g raspberry couili4g raspberry pulp
a pinch of sugar
few drops of lemon juice
2g kirsch7g raspberry
7g red currant

Mix all of the ingredients above in a mixing bowl

Mousse au fromage blanc
80g whipping cream
70g white cheese / fresh cheese
2g gelatin
3g kirsch
8g lemon juice

Pâte à Bombe

16g egg yolks
20g sugar
5g water

1. Mix the white cheese in a mixing bowl with spatula till smooth
2. For pate a bombe, whisk the egg yolks in a mixing bowl until pale yellow
3. Boil sugar and water until 120°C then add to the egg yolks and mix well with electric mixer
4. Take 1/3 of the white cheese and put it into a new mixing bowl and add in kirsch
5. Mix the pate a bombe to step #4
6. Add in the lemon juice to step #5 and mix well
7. Add in the melted gelatin to step #6
8. Add step #7 and step#1 and mix well
9. Add 1/3 of the whipped cream to step#8 and mix well10. Add the rest of the whipped cream and mix well

Sirop d'imbibage
12g Sirop à 30°B ( sugar : water = 1.3 : 1 )
8g water
6g kirsch

Assembly

1. Align an acetate sheet below the mousse rings.
2. Cut the sponge into several oval-shaped sponges
3. Brush the sponge with soaking syrup
4. Lay the oval sponge at the bottom of the mousse ring
5. Pipe in the white cheese mousse until it fills half of the mousse ring
6. Put some of the red fruits sauce in the centre of the white cheese mousse
7. Pipe in the white cheese mousse again until it almost reach the top ( leave some space for the sponge on top )
8. Cut the oval-shaped sponge to a slightly smaller size ( smaller than #2 ), brush them with soaking syrup and align them on top of the mousse ring
9. Apply a little pressure on top of the sponge with your hand so that the white cheese mousse will come up a little bit and cover gap beside the sponge on top of the mousse ring
10. Align another acetate sheet on top of the mousse ring and refrigerate
11. Once set, prepare for decoration
12. Bake some sliced almonds at 270C for 5 minutes or until slightly golden colour
13. Hidemi used creme fraiche and sugar mixture to make the creme chantilly. However you could just go the traditional way and use whipping cream and sugar mixture instead
14. Apply the creme fraiche all over the entremet and apply some more on top and shaped it to mimic a triangular box shaped with icing spatula
15. Put some raspberries on top and roasted sliced almonds16. Sift some powdered sugar on top

Pierre Hermé’s Macaron Mogador recipe

2011-08-12T22:23:00.000-07:00

Pierre Herme's macaron Mogador macaron is eye-catching and looks exotic. I was lucky enough to have tried the macaron Mogador on my recent trip to HK. My friend V who happened to be in London at that time helped me get a box of Pierre Herme's macaron back to HK. V said that the salesperson in the London store told him that the macarons were shipped from Paris to London.
Pierre's macaron in general was really oustanding. On your first bite of each macarons, you can already get the aromatic flavor that burst in your mouth. This reminded me a lot of the macaron from Jin Patisserie in Venice, Los Angeles.
What I really like about the macaron mogador was the use of passionfruit and milk chocolate as the filling. The tanginess of the passionfruit did compliment the milk chocolate very well.

My rendition of Pierre Herme's Macaron Mogador:

Recipe adapted and translated from Pierre Herme's Macaron book

INGREDIENTS

For Macaron Shell

300g (20 Tbsp) almond powder
300g (20 Tbsp) icing sugar
110g (110 ml) egg whites
5g (1 tsp) food coloring ( lemon yellow )
0.5g(a pinch) red food coloring ( or ½ tsp coffee )

For Italian meringue

300g (20 Tbsp) sugar – for sugar syrup
75g (75 ml) water – for sugar syrup
110g (110 ml)egg whites

For Ganache

100g (7 Tbsp) room temperature unsalted butter
550g (37 Tbsp) Valrhona Chocolate Jivara ( 40% cocoa solid )
10 passion fruits ( need 250g passion fruit juice )

For Garnish

Cocoa powder

INSTRUCTIONS

For Macaron Shells

1. Sift icing sugar with almond powder
2. Mix the colors in the first egg white and pour over the sugar-almond preparation without mixing
3. Boil water and sugar to 118°C (244°F)
4. Once the syrup is at 115°C (239°F), start whisking second egg whites to hard peak
5. Prepare a pastry brush dipped in a bowl of cold water and clean the edges of the pot with the brush so that the sugar syrup won’t stick when you pour over the whisked egg white.
6. As soon as the sugar reached 118°C(244°F) remove from heat immediately. Pour the sugar syrup over the stiff egg whites little by little. Continue whisking at high speed.
7. Whisk and let cool to 50°C(122°F) before adding to the sugar almond prepared earlier.
8. Mix the Italian meringue with the sugar almond mixture until you reach “lava” consistency
9. Pipe and Shape the dough round about 3.5 cm in diameter and spaced every 2 cm on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
10. Once you finished pipping the macarons, prepare a tablecloth and fold it into four. Tap your baking tray gently on top of the tablecloth.
11. With a sieve, sprinkle the shells with cocoa powder
12. Let the macarons rest for at least 30 minutes until it’s not sticky when you touch the top of the macaron with your finger
13. Preheat oven to 180°C (356°F)
14. Put the tray into the oven and bake for 9-12 mins ( depends on oven ) and keep the oven door slightly ajar with a wooden spatula.
15. Do not remove from the sheet until they are completely cooled

For filling

1.Cut butter into pieces. Chop the chocolate with a serrated knife.
2. Cut the passion fruit in half and scoop out the pulp and obtain 250g of juice.
3. Weigh the juice and take it to a boil.
4. Melt half the chopped chocolate in a saucepan in a double boiler. Pour in juice 3 times onto hot chocolate
5. As soon as the mixture temperature is at 60°C(140°F), gradually stir in the butter pieces. Stir until the ganache is smooth.
6. Pour into a dish. Cover the ganache with transparent film. Keep it in the refrigerator until it is creamy.
7. Pour the ganache into a pastry bag and use a pipping tip No. 11.
8. Garnish generously with ganache onto one half shells then cover them with other shells.
9. Keep macarons for 24 hours in the fridge and remove from the fridge 2 hours before serving

Hideki Kawamura's Acidulé

2011-08-07T14:38:00.000-07:00

I've been making birthday cakes for 3 weekends in a row. This time I made Hideki Kawamura's signature cake : Acidulé. As my friend likes sour flavored cake, the Acidulé instantly came in mind.

The components of the Acidulé are as follow :
White chocolate and lime mousse
Lime genoise
Passionfruit-mango-raspberry gelee
Lime genoise

I like the combination of flavors of the Acidulé. The sweetness of the white chocolate was enough to balance out the sourness of the passionfruit-mango-raspberry combo. The acidity of the lime cut through nicely among the other flavors.

Hidemi Sugino's Ambroisie Recipe

2011-08-05T14:01:00.000-07:00

Due to many requests, I managed to spend some time to sit down and properly write Hidemi Sugino's Ambroisie アンブロワジー recipe.
As I mentioned in my previous entry, the Ambroisie is Hidemi's signature cake which won him the Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie ( Pastry World Cup ) in 1991.

Words of advice:

Hidemi's Ambroisie is an advanced level entremet, I suggest you try to make this only if you have prior experience in making entremet as there're some technical techniques involved.
The process can take you two to three days to make from scratch due to its multilayered components ( about 6 components ). Since it's a multilayered cake, there's quite a big number of ingredients involved and some ingredients are pretty expensive.
You could shorten down the time if you already made your pistachio paste and raspberry jam in advance. For the pistachio paste and raspberry jam, you can either buy them or make them yourself.
By saying that, I'm by no means trying to discourage you from trying this recipe. You are more than welcome to try it as the end result tastes amazing.

How would I describe the Ambroisie?

In order to give you an in-depth description of the Ambroisie, I will go through each components and give you my personal opinion.
First of all, the texture of the chocolate mousse was very light and fluffy and the flavour did not overpower the rest of the components.
If you like pistachios, you will definitely enjoy his pistachio sponge and pistachio mousse. The use of vanilla bean really enhanced the flavour of the pistachio.
To counterbalance the semi-rich chocolate flavour and the sweetness of the pistachio, Hidemi added a raspberry jam in between.
The acidity of the raspberry jam plus the raspberry liquor were strong enough to create a harmony of flavours for this entremet.
Last but not least was his chocolate sponge. I should say his chocolate sponge was one of the best I've ever tried. It was very moist and simply melted in your mouth. The rich Valrhona chocolate flavour made this chocolate sponge stood out even more.
So I am leaving to you to imagine how the taste will be when all those components combined into one entremet.

Ambroisie's components from top to bottom:
glacage au chocolat / chocolaté glaze
Mousse au chocolat / chocolaté mousse
Biscuit aux pistaches / pistachio sponge
mousse a la pistache / pistachio mousse
confiture de framboises / raspberry jam
Biscuit joconde au chocolat / chocolate sponge

Notes:
1. I wrote down the recipe of each component based on the order that they should be made
Please read through the whole recipe including the assembly part in order to get a better understanding on how to make this cake step by step
2. Do not replace the 66% dark chocolate with 70% dark chocolate as 70% dark chocolate is too strong in terms of flavour which will end up overpowering the flavours of the rest of the components
3. This recipe was written under assumption that you already knew how to make french meringue

Recipe was translated and slightly modified from le gout authentique retrouve

This recipe serves :
one 6-inch cake or
three to four 2.3-inch entremet

Mousse a la pistache
130g whipping cream
70g milk
1/10 vanilla pod
40g egg yolks
15g granulated sugar
2g gelatine leaves
20g pistachio paste

1. Combine the pistachio paste with milk in a saucepan and bring to boil
2. Add in the vanilla pod
3. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the sugar and egg yolks and mix them until you get a pale yellow colour
4. Pour the pistachio-milk-vanilla mixture into step3 little by little and mix until smooth
5. Pour step4 back into the saucepan and heat it up in a low-medium heat. While heating it up, whisk the mixture vigorously until the mixture harden.
Note don't whisk too long or else you will ended up with scrambled egg texture.
6. Soften the gelatine leaves in a cold water
7. Add the soften gelatine into step 5
8. Beat the whipping cream until soft peak
9. Add 1/3 of the whipped cream into the mixture and mix well. Once incorporated, you can then add in the rest of the whipped cream and mix until smooth.
10. Pour the mixture into a circular mousse's ring and set in freezer

Biscuit aux pistaches
60g almond paste
25g pistachio paste
30g whole egg
27g egg yolk
17g egg white
30g all purpose flour
13g melted butter

French meringue
53g egg white
33g granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 200°C
2. Combine the soften butter, almond paste and pistachio paste in a mixing bowl and whisk until incorporated
3. Continue whisking and add in the whole eggs, egg yolks and egg whites
4. Sift in the all purpose flour and mix well
5. Prepare french meringue and add it into the mixture and mix well
6. Pour the mixture into a ring mould and bake for 7-10mins ( depends on your oven )

Sirop d'imbibage
20g Sirop à 30°B ( 13 sugar + 7 g water )
15g water
15g raspberry liquor

1. Prepare the sirop à 30°B and microwave it until sugar dissolved
2. In a bowl combine the sirop à 30°B, water and raspberry liquor and mix well

Biscuit joconde au chocolat
24g almond powder
24g icing sugar
24g egg yolks
10g egg whites
19g all purpose flour
7g cocoa powder ( preferably Valrhona )
9g melted butter

French meringue
44g egg whites
45g granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 200°C
2. In a mixing bowl, sift in the almond powder and icing sugar and mix well
3. Add in the egg yolks, egg whites and whisk until smooth
4. Sift in the all purpose flour and mix well with spatula
5. Sift in the cocoa powder and mix well with spatula
6. Prepare french meringue and add 1/3 of it to the mixture and mix until smooth.
Add the rest of the french meringue and mix until smooth
7. Add in the melted butter and mix well
8. Pour the mixture into a ring mould and bake for 7-10mins ( depends on your oven )

Mousse au chocolat noir
225g whipping cream
105g 66% dark chocolate ( preferably Valrhona )

Pâte à Bombe
35g creme fraiche
30g granulated sugar
55g egg yolks

For Pâte à Bombe:
1. Mix the creme fraiche, sugar in a saucepan and bring to boil ( or until all sugar melted )
2. In a separate bowl add in the egg yolk and whisk it until pale yellow in colour
3. Add mixture in step1 into step2 little by little while keep mixing at the same time.
4. Mix well using electric mixer

For chocolate mousse
1. Beat whipping cream to soft peak
2. In a double boiler, melted the dark chocolate ( chocolate's temperature should not exceed 45°C )
3. Add the Pâte à Bombe into the melted chocolate and mix well
4.Add 1/3 of the soft-peak whipped cream to step 3 and mix well
5. Add the rest of the soft-peaked whipped cream to the mixture and mix well

Glacage au chocolat
70g water
103g granulated sugar
53g cocoa powder ( preferably Valrhona )
70g creme fraiche
5g gelatine leaves

1. Start making this chocolate glaze only if you've finished step#19 in the assembly section below
2.. Combine sugar, water, and creme fraiche in a saucepan and bring to boil
3. Add in the cocoa powder and mix well
4. Add in the soften gelatine leaves and mix well

Assembly
1. Once the pistachio mousse was set overnight, take it out of of the freezer and use a small blow torch or hair dryer to remove the ring from the mousse
2. Brush the pistachio sponge with the soaking syrup ( sirop d'imbibage ) on both side
3. Align the pistachio mousse on top of the pistachio sponge
4. Spread the raspberry jam on top of the pistachio mousse
5. Keep it in fridge for about 15 minutes or until set
6. Once set, take it out and cut it ( the three components that now stick together into one ) into circular shape using cookie cutter ( the diameter should be smaller than the cake's ring )
7. Prepare a non stick plastic / acetate sheet on top of a baking tray or a flat plate
8. Put your cake ring on top of the acetate sheet
9. Pour in 1/3 or 1/4 ( refer to the end result picture to give you an idea on how much to pour in ) our the chocolate mousse into the bottom of the cake ring and spread evenly
10. Put the pistachio sponge - pistachio mousse - raspberry jam ( step#6 ) on top of the chocolate mousse and locate it to the center of the cake ring.
11. Fill in the gap in the cake ring by pipping in the rest of the chocolate mousse up to the top until almost full ( leave about 1/3 or 1/4 for the chocolate sponge )
12. Use a circular cookie cutter to cut the chocolate sponger into circular shape ( diameter as big as step#6 or slightly bigger, but not as big as the cake ring )
13. Align the cut chocolate sponge on top of the chocolate mousse by pushing it in. When you push the chocolate sponge in you can see the chocolate mousse will come up and fill in the gap
between the chocolate sponge and the cake ring
14. Align another acetate sheet on top of the cake ring and set the cake ring in freezer overnight or until set.
15. Once set, take our your cake ring and remove the acetate sheet ( top and bottom )
16. Prepare a cylindrical tin which is slightly smaller than the cake ring
17. Put the cake ring on top of the cylindrical tin ( the chocolate sponge on top of the tin )
18. Use a small blow torch or hairdryer and heat up the side of the ring ( don't heat up too long or else you will melt the mousse )
19. Once the ring loosen, use both hand to pull down the ring
20. You can put the cake back to the fridge while you now starting to prepare the chocolate glaze
21. Once your chocolate glaze is ready, take out your cake from the fridge and pour the glaze on top of it
22. Decorate the cake with chocolate petals and gold leaf

Pierre Hermé's Tarte Sarah

2011-08-03T00:23:00.001-07:00

I came across Pierre Hermé's tart Sarah while browsing for ideas for making birthday cake for my friend. His tart Sarah really caught my attention. At first glance, the design looks very neat and simple;however, once I found out the composition of this tart, I became more and more eager to try making it. I can't agree more with Dorie Greenspan ( the writer/translator of Pierre's Chocolate Dessert book ). She mentioned this on her blog: "...the green tea and chestnut duo is inspired, but my guess is that it would be a little flat and get a little dull after a few bites on its own, which is why the sharp, bright, tang of passionfruit is such a brilliant addition..." . I can't agree more with Dorie. The combination of the components were just outstanding. Pierre Hermé is a true genius. The birthday girl and my friends were all on the same boat, they loved it as much as I do.

The components of Tarte Sarah are as follow :
Pâte sablée / pie crust
Marrons poêlés et confits / toasted chestnuts
Crème onctueuse au thé vert matcha / matcha cream
Compote de fruits de la passion / passion fruit gelée

This recipe was adapted and slightly modified from PH10: pâtisserie Pierre Hermé.
There was no specific recipe for Tarte Sarah in that book, I gathered the components here and there from his recipe for cake Sarah and other tarts.

Serves : one 7-inch tart

La Pâte sablée
185g unsalted butter,softened
 1/6 cup plus 1 tablespoon (45ml) milk, at room temperature
 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature, lightly beaten
 1/2 tsp sugar
 1/2 tsp salt
250g all-purpose flour

Procedure:
1. Put the butter in a bowl and beat on low speed until creamy.
2. Add milk, egg yolk, and salt and mix until the mixture looks curdled
3. Add the flour in three to four additions
4. Gather the dough into a ball and divide it into two or three parts ( depends on the size of your tart's ring ) ,wrap them with plastic and refrigerate for at least 4 hours
5. To bake the tart crust, preheat oven to 160°C/320°F. Line each crust with parchment paper and and fill to the top with dried beans or pie weights
6. Bake for 15 minutes, take the tray out and remove the parchment and dried beans. Lower the oven temperature to 130°C-140°C ( 266°F / 284°F ) and put the tart crust back into the oven and bake for another 10 minutes.
7. Transfer the pie crust to a rack to cool ( Note: Do not fill in the pie immediately with fillings without cooling)

Crème onctueuse au thé vert matcha
190 g white chocolate
210 g whipping cream
15 g of green tea / matcha powder

Procedure:
1. Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler. The white chocolate should not be over 35° C
2. Boil the cream and allow it to cool. Once it cooled down to 60 ° C, stir in the green tea powder and whisk vigorously
3. Pour 1/3 of the tea-cream mixture onto the melted chocolate and mix. Repeat this process twice

Compote de fruits de la passion
6 g gelatine leaves
16 g lemon juice
40 g of fresh orange juice with pulp
97 g of mineral water
64 g caster sugar
177 g of mashed fruit of passion

Procedure:
1. Soak the gelatin leaves in cold water for about 2-3 minutes until soft
2. In a saucepan, pour the lemon juice, orange juice, mineral water and sugar. Bring to a boil ( until the sugar dissolved ) and remove from heat
3. Stir in the softened gelatin that was previously drained to the juice mixture and add in the pureed passion fruit.
4. Let cool to room temperature and refrigerate.

Assembly
1. Lay the passion fruit gelée at the bottom of the tart.
2. Put some toasted chestnuts on top of the passion fruit gelée
3. Pour in the matcha cream and garnish with few toasted chestnuts on top and refrigerate until set

Forêt Noire

2011-08-01T23:11:00.000-07:00

Forêt-Noire (French) / Black Forest cake (English) / Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (German) /
黑森林蛋糕 (Chinese)

My friend visited Vancouver for the long weekend and we decided to throw him a birthday surprise. It was my first time making a black forest cake. I didn't want to go with a traditional black forest and hence I did some research. Christophe Adam, former executive pastry chef of Fauchon, made such a mind blowing modern version of black forest. I am a fan of Chef Christophe Adam, for me he is the next Pierre Herme. His version of black forest was definitely very challenging to make and I did take a risk and gave it a try. I was glad that I managed to pull it off in the end. If you're wondering what's inside those three balls, they're a ball-shaped version of the black forest cake.

For the recipe, I was using Hidemi Sugino's Charme.

The components from bottom to top:
Biscuit joconde au chocolat
Chantily Chocolat ( 66% de cacao )
Biscuit joconde au chocolat
Chantily chocolat au lait ( 41% de cacao )

Ensemble Restaurant and Bar Vancouver

2011-07-17T22:20:00.000-07:00

As a big fan of Top Chef shows, I was thrilled when they announced that there will be a Canadian version of the show. The Top Chef Canada show, joined by many talented Canadian Chefs from all over Canada, was pretty fun to watch albeit some slight difference with the American version. The winner of the first season of Top Chef Canada was Chef Dale MacKay from Vancouver. Having previously been in charge of two of Vancouver elite restaurants, Chef MacKay recently opened his own restaurant, Ensemble, in the heart of downtown.

Prior to my visit to his restaurant, I did a little research on my own on the web regarding other dinners' dinning experience. Some found that the service need to be improved, while others complained about the lack of flavor in food, tiny portions, and price. Aside from the rave reviews, I wasn't completely let down nor was I skeptical, as I prefer to experience things on my own.

Reservation is highly recommended as I made mine one week in advanced. The food here vary in prices with the most expensive being the roasted lamb loin ( 24 CAD ) and the rest are below 20 CAD. Aside from that, they also offered a tasting menu which costs about 44 CAD per person. Our server explained to us that the portion they serve in the restaurant were small to medium sizes with some dishes were meant to be shared. My friends and I decided to order 10 dishes to share for the evening.

Dungeness crab with spiced melon soup, basil and mint

Beef Tenderloin Carpaccio with fresh peas, crisp shallots, rosemary bannock

Fresh cheese and roasted beet salad with basil, orange and radish

Sweet and sour eggplant with baba ghanoush, yogurt and tomato

Black cod with Thai broth with bok choy, corinder and chili oil

Five spice pork belly with smoked miatakis, brussels sprouts, pear and cashews

Roasted lamb loin with radish, shitake puree, blugur wheat and black garlic jus

Pineapple soufflé with coconut sorbet

Precious pavlova with fresh citrus fruits

Chocolate Sundae - Bailey ice cream and Biscotti crumble

The food were great overall. Some of my favorites were : the beef tenderloin carpaccio, the sweet and sour eggplant, the black cod with Thai broth, the five spiced pork belly and the precious pavlova. We really enjoyed our starter, the beef tenderloin carpaccio. The fried shallots garnished on top of the beef carpaccio did give an extra texture to the dish.

The sweet and sour eggplants was the best plated dish of the evening - it was way too pretty to be eaten. The black cod with Thai broth and the five spiced pork belly were my top two highlights of the night. I especially enjoyed the pork belly as it was so tender and perfectly seasoned. The Thai broth on the other hand was absolutely mind blowing and very aromatic.

When it came to selecting desserts, we had a difficulty in deciding between the pavlova and the madeline; however, we were offered an unbiased opinion from the server on which one to choose - and she was spot on, the precious pavlova was outstanding.

If you wondered why the word "precious" was added in front of the pavlova dish, in the Top Chef Canada show Chef MacKay made the pavlova in one of the challenges and Shereen, one of the judges, called his pavlova as way too "precious". I love Chef MacKay's deconstructed pavlova, the big white marshmallow-like log on the plate was actually a crispy lemon meringue, and the acidity of the lemon was just spot on. The precious pavlova was really refreshing.

The pineapple soufflé was a little too airy for my taste and it had a non-smooth vertical side - I was guessing it was due to the mixture not filling in the dish properly which caused air bubbles. Nonetheless, the coconut sorbet that came with the soufflé was pretty good.

To my surprise, the Ensemble crews were actually listening to the public reviews. Our service that evening was great, our server was really friendly and informative. Our glasses of water were never half empty as the waitress kept on filling them occasionally. Moreover, they even paid attention to small details such as re-folding our napkins when we go to bathroom.

In a normal fine dining restaurant, you rarely get to meet the chef. At Ensemble, however, Chef MacKay came out that evening to meet and greet the diners. Having seen him on television, it was truly a one of a kind experience to be able to meet and chat with him in person.

Jacky Yu's Mouth-watering Sichuan Spicy Chicken 金牌口水雞

2011-07-12T13:47:00.000-07:00

I got two copies of Jacky Yu's cookbook in my recent trip to Hong Kong. After I tried one his restaurants in HK ( read entry here ), I was really inspired by his cooking. There are many dishes that I would like to try making from his two cookbooks. However, the one on top of my list is his signature dish : mouth-watering Sichuan spicy chicken. Just like what chef Yu mentioned in his book: “…Just by listening to or looking at all the ingredients used for this Sichuan’s dish being mixed together will make your mouth water…”
His mouth-watering Sichuan Spicy Chicken dish was featured as a master chef signature dish at Bocuse d’Or in Lyon, France.

Recipe slightly modified from “Jacky Yu Xi Yan cuisine highlights”

Recipe Type: Main Course

Author: Jacky Yu

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 1 hour

Serves: 4

Modern rendition of Sichuan Spicy Chicken

Ingredients

1 chicken
3 century eggs ( preserved duck’s eggs )
1 pack mung bean sheets
roasted sesame seeds
roasted peanuts
diced Chinese celery
few slices of ginger [ optional ]
3-4 stalks of green onion ( cut in half ) [ optional ]

Hot and Spicy Sauce

8 Tbsps ( 120 ml ) soy sauce
2 1/2 Tbsps ( 37.5 ml ) Zhenjiang Vinegar
4 Tbsps ( 60 ml ) cold boiled water
2 Tbsps ( 30 gr ) sugar
1 tsp ( 5 gr ) ground Sichuan peppercorn
1 Tbsp ( 15 gr ) finely chopped ginger
1 Tbsp ( 15 gr ) finely chopped garlic
1 Tbsp ( 15 gr ) finely chopped Chinese parsley ( cilantro )
chili oil to taste
4 Tbsps ( 60 ml ) sesame oil

Instructions

Wash the chicken and blanch it in boiling water for 30 seconds. Removed immediately and soak in ice water for 1 minute. Return to the pot and bring to a boil. Turn the heat off at once, keep the lid on and leave the chicken to poach for another 45 minutes. Remove and leave to cool. ( Note: you can also throw in some slices of ginger and cut green onion in the boiling water to give extra flavor to the chicken ) Note : Do not overcook the chicken to keep the meat tender. The heat of the stove at each household is different so please regulate the boiling time
Dice century eggs. Cut mungbean sheets into strips and soak them in boiling water until transparent. Soak in iced water and drain.
Once the chicken is cooled, remove and shred the chicken meat and transfer to a deep dish.
Add the century eggs and the mungbean sheets into the dish.
Mix the hot and spicy sauce well and pour it into the deep dish along the rim. Add 4 tbsps of seasame oil and chili oil ( the amount of chili oil depends on personal preference )
Sprinkle sesame seeds, peanuts, and diced cilantro on top and serve.

Notes

If you want a stronger flavor, use more ground Sichuan peppercorn

Tim ho wan - the world's cheapest One Michelin-starred restaurant

2011-07-08T23:44:00.000-07:00

Craving for a one Michelin-starred quality dim sum with affordable price? With the price as low as 10HK$ or 1.28US$ per dish and as high as 20HK$ or 2.57US$, Tim Ho Wan sure attracts not only the locals but food lovers from all over the globe. Since they got their first one Michelin star back in 2010, this small 20-seats restaurant soon became notoriously known for it's long lineup.

The chef behind Tim Ho Wan is Mak Pui Gor, a former dim sum chef at Lung King Heen ( Four Seasons Hotel ) - a three Michelin-starred restaurant in Hong Kong. It was during the economic crisis Chef Mak decided to open his own dim sum restaurant so that the locals could enjoy a high quality dim sum with bargain prices. For my recent visit to Tim Ho Wan, me and my friend had to wait for 3 hours to get in. The good thing about the wait was that we didn't need to wait outside the restaurant under the glaring heat. The maitre'd told us if we return to the restaurant and our number has been called and passed, our number will be put back to the top of the waiting list. The reason behind this is they don't want to create a large lineup which could disturb the businesses next doors.

The two most memorable dishes of all were their crispy pork bun,a crossover of bbq pork bun and Mexico bun, and their Osmanthus Jelly, a jelly consisted of Osmanthus flowers and wolfberries. The crispy pork bun had a crispy layer on the outside and a succulent and tender bbq pork on the inside. The Osmanthus jelly on the other hand was very aromatic and not too sweet. It was my first time trying Osmanthus and I was blown away. Having been so impressed by the bbq pork bun, we ended up ordering an extra order of it for take-out.

So, was it really worth my 3-hour wait ? I would say yes.

Tips:
1. If you plan to visit Tim Ho Wan, I suggest you come at 10am to pick up your number and come back around lunch time.
2. Tim Ho Wan now have a new branch at Sham Shui Po and you can make reservation at this new location. However, they only take reservation from Monday to Friday only and you have to walk-in and lineup during weekend.
3. If you come in a big group ( 4 and up ), it will take longer for them to get a table for you.

Tim Ho Wan
2-8 Kwong Wah St
Mong Kok, Hong Kong

Xi Yan Sweets, Hong Kong

2011-07-07T20:27:00.000-07:00

On my recent trip to Hong Kong , my friend introduced me to Xi Yan – a modern style Chinese restaurant run by HK Celebrity Chef : Jacky Yu. Xi Yan started as a private kitchen eleven years ago and currently has three other restaurants in Hong Kong and another private kitchen in Singapore. Chef Yu’s private kitchen is one of the most difficult restaurants to reserve in Hong Kong. As I was introduced last minute by my friend, I didn’t get to try his private kitchen. However, I did try out one of his restaurants during my visit : Xi Yan Sweets. I am very interested in the way Chef Yu prepared his dishes. He managed to reinvent many classic
Chinese dishes into something new and refreshing and yet appealing to the eyes at the same time.

One of his signature dishes that I tried really stuck in my mind : Chef Jacky Yu’s modern rendition of mouth-watering Sichuan spicy chicken. In his Sichuan spicy chicken, he added roasted peanuts, century eggs and Shanghai’s mung bean sheets which turned this classic Sichuan’s dish into something new and interesting. The Cantonese century eggs compliment the spiciness while the Shanghainese mung bean sheet absorbs the delightful sauce to bring balance and texture. His mouth-watering Sichuan Spicy Chicken dish was featured as a master chef signature dish at Bocuse d’Or in Lyon, France.

Next on the table was a bowl of shrimp and tofu cooked in XO sauce. Although this dish looked simple, it tasted amazing - a true comfort food. I will definitely recreate this dish at home.

His custard glutinous dumplings were outstanding. The first bite instantly blew me away. The use of salted duck egg yolks, candied wintermelon, crushed peanuts, sesame seeds and coconut was genius. The combination of those yielded a sweet, salty and crunchy texture - really pleasant to eat.

Our second dessert was the poached pear in Osmanthus wine - something that I never seen and tried before. The Pairing of the poached pear with the lychee ice cream and dried tangerine slice were awesome. They produced a perfectly balanced flavor.

Xi Yan Sweets
Shop 1, G/F, 8 Wing Fung Street
Wanchai, Hong Kong
Ph: +852 2833-6299
Opening Hour : 12:00 – 11pm
www.xiyan.com.hk