Bright Courtyard, London

Bright Courtyard sits directly opposite the Royal China Club on Baker Street and it's easy to contemplate that this restaurant was intended to challenge the RCC in the posh Chinese restaurant stakes.  The modern Chinese decor reminded us a bit of the Princess Gardens in Mayfair.  Our friends G&S had stumbled upon this place to avoid yet another frustratingly long wait at the popular Royal China restaurant (not to be confused with the posh Royal China Club) further down Baker Street.  They had raved about the hot towels and good food so we had to come and see for ourselves.

Uncharacteristically, A and I decided to ride our bikes down on this lazy Sunday morning.  Narrowly avoiding being squashed by three buses on the busy Baker Street I was relieved to arrive at Bright Courtyard safely, and see that there were bike racks directly outside the entrance.  Fab, we can even keep an eye on the bikes through the floor to ceiling windows!

We were seated quickly upon entry - though there was mild confusion at which the waitress was about to seat the elderly couple with their grandkids at our table.  I had to chortle back a laugh as the grandpa gestured to his own table as if to say "Sorry I think we're going to sit at a separate table".  The tables were well spaced out and our table for 6 would normally probably sit 8 at other Chinese restaurants. 

But for us, it's always about the food and we were delighted as we worked our weigh through the dim sum favourites.  The skin of the Shanghainese dumplings (小笼包) were so delicate that it was reminiscent of Ding Tai Feng (鼎泰奉) in Yong Kang street in Taipei.  The top was a little thickly creased and filling a little firm but perfectly delicious morsel.  The shrimp dumplings (虾饺) were full of plump whole shrimp pieces, and the pork puff pastry (叉烧酥) delightfully crunchy. The turnip cake (萝卜糕) was a little lacking in the mushroom and Chinese sausage goodies - but aren't they always in Chinese restaurants - though very moist and tender.  On G&S's recommendation we tried the cuttlefish cheong fun (鱿鱼肠粉) - we'd never had it before - and it was a lot of fun. Crisp pieces of cuttlefish deep fried then wrapped in cheong fun. What's not to love! 

All the dim sum are on the small side, but seems somewhat appropriate considering the delicateness of the chef's handiwork.

The final test was the dessert.  I'd been disappointed by Princess Garden's Heavenly Scent (杨子甘露) dessert which is a sweet cold dessert made up of mango blended coconut milk, sago balls, grapefruit pieces and (very importantly) fresh* mango.  I'm pleased to report that unlike Princess Garden's dessert, the Heavenly Scent was in fact made of fresh mango as promised by the waiter.  Ok so the mango was a little on the green side ... but it was indeed fresh!

All in all, excellent dim sum, ability to book and decent service and having found an alternative quiet bike route (on our way back) means this place is going to be our choice of dim sum venue from now on.  We can't wait to go back to see if this place holds up!

43-45 Baker Street London,W1U 8EW
www.lifefashion-sh.com | Tel: 0207 4866 998
Bookings recommended (online booking available)

Mist, Japanese ramen, Hong Kong

Since our trip to Hokkaido in February this year, A and I have been trying to perfect the ni-tamago recipe. A fellow food blogger Chubby Hubby had helpfully posted a recipe which we tried out a few times.

But sometimes you just want to have it without the rigamole of cooking it.  Mist, an up market ramen restaurant in Hong Kong (is that an oxymoron?) gives this satisfaction.

It's the only place in Hong Kong so far where I've had ni-tamago cooked properly, a soft boiled egg marinated with the yolk still gooey inside.  Apparently the ingredients have been sourced from all over the place, with the eggs from Toyama and soy sauce from Chiba.  Well whatever it is, it works and the broth is flavoursome and the ramen tastes ... as good as ramen has ever tasted.

The menu is not cheap at around HK$100 per bowl of ramen but I think its worth every penny.  Try their ramen sushi as well, it's an interesting take on sushi ... who says you can't make sushi out of anything other than rice?

Mist
4 Sun Wui Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong  
+852 2881 5006
Reservations recommended 
http://www.mist.com.hk

 

National Restaurant Awards

The Ledbury was named National Restaurant of the Year 2010, led by Australian chef Brett Graham, the Notting Hill restaurant also received the Best Front of House Award.
Other awards handed out by Restaurant Magazine included The Restaurateurs' Choice, which went to Restaurant Nathan Outlaw (at the St Enodoc Hotel in Cornwall), and Best Gastropub, which went to The Hardwick in Abergavenny (in Wales, near Cardiff).

Rest of the details here: http://www.nationalrestaurantawards.co.uk/.

Yin Yang, private kitchen, Hong Kong

  Yin Yang entrance  

My talented friend, a food blogger, travel writer and budding cooking show host all rolled into one, Nanamoose has already written about the owner and chef of Yin Yang, Margaret Xu in this article in Muse magazine, so I will not go into Margaret's background and her foray into private kitchen cooking.  What I will do is describe our experience at her little speakeasy in the heart of Wanchai.

Nanamoose and I had been planning to go there for lunch for the past year but always ended up cancelling for one reason or another.  It came close to the month that I was leaving Hong Kong: it was quite difficult to get a booking at Yin Yang at short notice, so we were lucky that Nanamoose managed to pull some strings to get us a table for dinner one Saturday night.  As she does with all guests, Margaret sent us the menu in advance so that we could pick a few of the dishes from the various options.

As my 10-7 job (yes those were the hours I worked) was in Wanchai, I had passed Yin Yang in a cab or walked past it many a time and never noticed it.  It is housed in an old Chinese building, with a sign of "Yuen Hap" construction co., above the restaurant. You would miss it except for the black and white flag hanging above (what appears to be) the doorway.  The decor is homely and eclectic, with jars and pots tucked in one corner and colourful shopping bags on the landing near the kitchen.  On another corner is a basket of organic vegetables which have come from Margaret's garden in Yuen Long. 

The dining room is made up of two rooms, one on the ground floor with an open counter / bar area, complete with a SMEG fridge that walked out of a 50s TV show, and a 2nd floor with a small balcony that looks onto Ship street.  The old "tang lau" windows have been kept intact.

Smokey roast chicken

The restaurant had received mixed reviews so I was slightly apprehensive.  Once the banquet started, it was a feast.  The food is gorgeous to look at, Margaret's obviously had fun preparing the colourful range of bite sized appetizers.  There's no fighting required cos there's enough for each guest to sample each and every one of them.  Some concoctions are a little strange, I can't say its fusion, I guess its a modern style of cooking using traditional methods.  Then the main courses follow, Margaret comes to our table to rip up the roast chicken with pride.  It was very good: crispy on the outside with moist and smokey meat.  We had razor clams which had been satisfying large and cooked till tender, then came the deep fried whole mandarin fish which was then lit on a bed of salt for that extra zing.  The flavours were all there ... I'd say the only thing which could be improved is the table service, some of the food was cold by the time it reached our table. 
Otherwise a really lovely dining experience that I like to relieve again, soon.

Yin Yang
18 Ship Street
Wanchai
Telephone +852 2866 0868
Cost: set menu starts from HK$550 per head

Sushi Kuu, Central, Hong kong

Fresh sushi in Lan Kwai Fong, sit at the bar and let the chef work his
magic. They have a full menu of hot dishes as well but the raw fish is
still the goer.

L'atelier de Robuchon, Central, Hong Kong

We heard from a little bird that the great chef himself was in town an
supervising the kitchen so finally checked it out one lunchtime.
Funky red and black bar tables overlooking the kitchens are def the
way to go. Fun watching the calm manner in which they execute the
dishes.
On the bright side the service was excellent - maybe the great chefs
presence was a factor - which is almost as hard to come by as white
truffle in HK and unlike white truffle money doesn't guarantee it.
Loved the fresh bread basket which was constantly topped up. Amuse
Bouche of foie gras cappuccino was lovely. I was a little disappointed
with the toast (dry, hard, cold) that came with my foie gras au
natural but the main of beef cheek was lovely.

Peace Cafe, Wanchai, Hong Kong

It was my friend N's vegetarian day today so she suggested that we have our girl's lunch at Peace Cafe. I must admit that I never venture beyond Ship Street (towards CWB) so I nearly got lost looking for this restaurant, which actually has a pretty prominent sign. It is located on Tai Wong East Street (the one next to Ship Street), and a little quiet oasis away from the hustle and bustle of Queens Road East and Johnston Street.

The food served here is an eclectic fusion vegetarian cuisine. Today we started off with a pumpkin soup with plump sweet wolfberries, followed by large round discs of beetroot topped with tofu. Our mains were eggplant ragu angelli pasta and a banana and zucchini curry with rice. The banana curry was mild, akin to a katsu curry, although my least favourite (I don't like cooked bananas usually), it was still very good. Serving size is generous, so three of us shared 2 main set meals.

Really liked this place and will definitely be back soon.

21-23 Tai Wong Street East Wanchai HK
Tel: 2527-5870
Email: info@worldpeacecafe.hk
HK$80 per head
http://www.worldpeacecafe.hk/eng/index.php

Ngor Tseh Private Kitchen

Flower crab in chinese wine & garlic

Last week we checked out a private kitchen run by Auntie Ngor (Ngor Tseh) in a nondescript building in Sheung Wan. Up the stairs and you're into a set of private rooms which are beautifully decorated with Chinese antiques. Extremely modest for someone whose private kitchen is booked out for the rest of Fridays in Sep and some of Oct, Ngor Tseh was stoked to hear that we had stumbled upon her private kitchen through a newspaper review and asked us to forward her the review.

Serving up the special Ngor Tseh's soup

A week ahead, Ngor Tseh rang head to discuss the menu with us, making suggestions based on our palate and how adventurous we were feeling. On hearing that we had pregnant ladies in the group, she decided to leave out the snake and crocodile meat. Instead, we had a full banquet that included crunchy prawn toast, tender smoked duck, tea smoked chicken (that was my favourite), a large tureen of Ngor Tseh's soup which had obviously been simmering for hours before our arrival. The sang choi bau mix was made with dried oysters for a surprisingly good twist, and the flower crabs (blue swimmer crabs) cooked in garlic and fa diu wine was lovely (though not sure why I was the last one still eating it while everyone had moved onto the rice!).

As with all private kitchens you can bring your own wine and drinks with no corkage charged. Minimum of 10 persons per booking, up to a maximum of 14.

Tea leaf roast duck

Lai Wai Ngor (Lai Jong Catering Ltd)
Tel: 9013 0686 or 2543 2202 (Reservations in advance essential)
Email: catherinelai1016@biznetvigator.com
Address: Flat 01, 3/F Des Voeux Building
25 Des Voeux Road West
Hong Kong

Tasty Congee & Noodle Wantun Shop, Hong Kong

"I discovered this place with great congee!" ... A excitedly told me one hot afternoon. "In IFC? I asked" rather bemused ... I didn't know there was a congee shop in IFC. Lovely!

So turns out the Tasty Congee & Noodle Wantun Shop from Hung Hom has a branch now in the IFC. The congee was indeed good, though both times they ran out of the fish fillet with spring onion congee that A wanted. The wantuns (why on earth are they spelt that way?) were indeed tasty, the broth was shrimpy and meaty all at once.

Still doesn't beat my Wong Chi Kei for price, convenience or comfort factor, but definitely on the list for "to be visited" especially as a last stop before boarding the airport express outta Hong Kong.

Tasty Congee & Noodle Wantun Shop
Room 3016-3018
International Finance Centre
(directly above check in counters, 3 floors up)
Tel: +852 2295 0101
Must try: wanton/wantun noodles in soup, congee

Dry wonton noodles.  Messy but the best way to serve it!

My favourite congee place still remains Wong Chi Kei, the Hong Kong out post of a Macanese institution. Old style dark wooden decor, it has a friendly brisk service and great location just next to Tsui Wah near Lan Kwai Fong. Must try: deep fried wontons, crab congee, beef brisket dry noodles. The congees are large, so it's worth sharing with a friend.

Wong Chi Kee
G/F 15B Wellington St. (Central)
+852 2869 1331

 

Nino's Cozinha, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Nino's Cozinha is a tiny Portugese restaurant tucked away on the higher end of Ship street just off Queens rd east (as opposed to the lower end which is between Queens rd east and Johnston road).

What caught my friends' attention was a cute Macanese teenage boy hanging outside the restaurant. After chatting to him, she found out that his Macanese uncle actually runs this restaurant.

The restaurant probably only fits about 20 people, so it really is essential to book. The place was tightly packed when we went. There was a list of interesting tapas and small dishes to try, but being a working day lunch we opted for the set lunch. The crab and leek soup was a milky and surprisingly brothy soup - we were expecting something a little creamier. That said, it was light and fragrant and they were generous with the crab meat.

The main course was a generous serving of oven grilled sole marinated with herbs - I tasted cumin and perhaps parsley. It sat on a bed of cabbage leaves cooked al denta and a lovely hot tomato salsa sauce.

The highlight was really the apple pie dessert, which is probably the best apple pie I have ever tasted. Warm out of the oven, the pastry was light and just the right level of sweetness. No side ice-cream required - its too good on its own.

Shop 3, G/F Greatmany Centre
31 Ship Street
Wanchai Hong Kong
Tel: 2866 1868

Verdict: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Tung Po, North Point, Hong Kong

Steamed lotus leaf rice

"Is this where the locals eat?" asked our Japanese friend, Maki, who was in Hong Kong for a short holiday.

It sure is. Tung Po Restaurant is located on top of a rather wet wet market in North Point where the locals come to gather for good seafood around fraying wooden round tables. The woks are hot, wok hei even better and we just love having the beer out of the bowls old school style.

Must try: blue swimmer crab (fa hai) steamed with egg or Chinese wine & garlic, lotus wrapped rice

It's a no frills kinda decor

Fabulous flower crabs

Don't go to the wrong shop ... though its kinda hard to miss

Fresh seafood on display

The friendly chef

Tung Po Seafood Restaurant

Tel: 2880-9399 (Reservations necessary)

Price: Around 200 HKD per head, depending on what seafood you order.

Address: Java Road Cooked Food Centre (located in the middle of the 2nd floor)
2/F, 99 Java Road, North Point
Hong Kong

Spuntini, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Our work relocated to new digs in Pacific Place several years ago. Although it was a longer bus ride for me in the morning, I was quite happy to move away from the hustle and bustle of Central and closer to the wide ranging lunch options in Wanchai. My last work place was in Citibank Plaza - and if you've ever been there, you'll know what a big contrast it is. Luckily for me, some close friends have gradually ended up in this end of town for work so there's never a shortage of lunch buddies.

In particular, Star Street is a little oasis, full of gorgeous cafes and restaurants. Spuntini is a new addition to the Star Street family of restaurants, "part deli, part wine bar and part café". Its website sounded promising: "Two-starred Michelin chef Moreno Cedroni is known throughout the world for his simple yet delicious creations, and Spuntini is the first restaurant in Hong Kong to introduce his unique brand of Italian products to greater China."

Unfortunately, Spuntini leans towards being an good example of what I consider one of the biggest shortcomings of Hong Kong dining scene: good food, crap service. Well, perhaps in this case that is a bit harsh, but there were certainly enough WTFs to make us wonder about returning. It all began with the waiter taking our order for lunch.

Firstly, the lunch menu includes a range of set lunch items (soup, plus a main course of pasta, rissotto, roast of the day and tea/coffee) ranging from 90 to 120 HKD. On the back is the a la carte menu which includes a full list of antipastos which you could order separately, or a 2/3/4 item antipasto platter. After we had ordered individual lunch sets, D thought it would be good idea to try some anti-pasta as well. So the conversation goes something like this:

Us: "Hi we'd also like the olives and eggplants as a double item antipasto to share." (We thought the full size portions would probably be too big to share on top of our lunch sets).

Waiter: "Oh sorry we are out of olives today."

Us: "You are? Err ... no olives?" (At an Italian deli, hmm) "Ok that's fine. How about the mozarella with tomatoes to replace the olives, to go with the eggplant instead. Still the same two items share."

Waiter: "Ok." (10 secs later) "Oh sorry actually you can't have the mozarella with tomatoes as part of the 2 item platter, it can be only ordered on its own."

Us: (Errr but isn't it listed on the anti-pasto menu?) "Err ... ok, then how about the grilled peppers."

Waiter: "Ok. Oh wait sorry we are out of grilled peppers today as well."

Us: "Right". So we then went through list and finally managed to find something which (1) was available and (2) was not prohibited from being part of the 2 item antipasto menu.

Then S said, "I'm sure I saw olives in the deli window, what is the waiter on about?".

Sure enough there was a huge bowl of kalamata olives in the window. The waiter replied "No those aren't olives". I replied that they sure look like olives to me. Waiter "Well they aren't the same olives, the ones in the antipasto plate are mixed olives".

Right. All we wanted were olives at an Italian deli so we ordered them anyway. Maybe the difficulty in getting to these olives were a sign because when the platter came, we counted 6 olives, with two small pieces of eggplant ($38). The olives were really too salty.

We were then given a small amuse bouche, which I thought was a lovely touch until I tasted it. It was a badly executed fusion concoction: vietnamese rice paper roll wrap over spaggetti and some vegs. It was all rather bland and chewy.

The soup accompanying the set lunch was a minestrone soup which came served in a jar. Cute, and reminded us of some rustic french restaurants, but a little out of place at Spuntini.

The mains, thank goodness were good. My seafood rissotto was generously proportioned with grilled scallops and prawns and the rissotto rice done just right. D's roast chicken looked pretty decent and S said she had never had a more beefy lasagne before ("I have to dig around to find the pasta!").

The dessert was the highlight of the meal: the tiramisu (one of two desserts available) and it tasted and looked beautiful.

Then came the time to order the set tea/coffee. Camomile tea? That's extra 10 HKD. Latte? Same surcharge. When they say tea/coffee included, they mean only the standard red tea and plain black coffee.

Spuntini
Shop A, G/F, 4-6 St. Francis Street, Wanchai
(852) 2528 1060

Verdict: 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Soul food

In the series of posts to come, Chocci will take you on our "I'm not hungry" tour in Seoul (run from 12-14 January) by Host Chai.

12 January 2008

6.30 am - J, E and I arrive at Hotel Chai, bleary eyed from the red-eye flight from Hong Kong. Attempts to open the door of Hotel Chai fail and we are greeted by our cheery host, YW. We chill out in the gorgeous living room of Hotel Chai chatting, trying not to wake the sleepy guests, J and P in the master bedroom.

I nibble on my CX lounge vanilla cake as J/YW and me debate whether to head out for breakfast at the "ox-tail" soup place. Sleep wins.

11.30 am - Everyone is awake. It's breaky time!

12.30 am - 6 pairs of gloves, 4 beanies and 6 puffy jackets later, we arrive at our 1st stop. "This place serves the best ox-tail soup and seafood tofu stew", Yewwei tells us as we follow him into a narrow alley. Although I usually can't eat much after a sleepless night, I am suddenly famished. After taking off our boots, we step into a little restaurant and nestle down at low traditional Korean tables with our feet tucked underneath us. "[We'll have 3 of those ox-tail soups, 2 seafood tofus, 1 bibimbap, oh and maybe some raspberry wine]", YW quickly rattles off in Korean.

In no time at all, sizzling hot black pots arrive at our tables together with the kimchi and other local side dishes. Ignoring the sounds of what appears to be two cats attempting to kill each other in the floor above (the owner shrugged as we looked at her enquiringly), we quickly stuck our metal spoons and chopsticks into the pots of goodies. The slightly spicy oxtail soup was stewed to perfection, the beef just melting off the bone ... though the best part was probably eating the oxtail off the bone with our fingers. You need to use the fingers to get to the good bits! The seafood tofu soup was spicy and all the ingredients infused with the flavour. The bibimbap was good but left me wondering - where are the crunchy bits on the bottom?

Verdict: 4 out of 5. My only regret is that we had to leave some room for the rest of the meals to come.

(Depicted left is our mate J, slurping up the goodness of the oxtail bones - picture has been masked to protect his identity.)

Hot Pot, Hong Kong

Tis the season to warm up our tooties with some steamy hot pots of seafood, marbled beef, squid balls scooped outta the bamboo shell and all other manners of goodies. Here's my quick take on two of my recent two fav places in Hong Kong.

Ying Kee Seafood Hotpot, Hong Kong

My galpal Q and I share a few things in life: tennis, crabs, seafood, crabs, travelling, massages, crabs ... did I mention crabs? One week Q mentioned that she and OB had been to a fantastic hotpot place in Sheung Wan recently which served the freshest baby abalone (at $10 each) and crabs to go in the hot pot. When Q suggested that we try the place out on a Friday night, I was looking forward to the meal the whole week ... and I wasn't disappointed!

Turns out I'd been to Ying Kee before with another bunch of friends a few years ago. This place is on the 1st floor of Lucky Commercial Building in Sheung Wan. Unassuming decor with tanks of seafood at the entrance, this place is low key but fabulous. This place has got the three essential ingredients to a great hot pot right: (1) freshest seafood, (2) great soup base and most importantly (3) a consistent powerful flame. So go for the baby abalone, the crabs, US sliced beef and the squid paste which you scoop out of a bamboo container bit by bit. Don't forget to cool down with the sugarcane juice.

I'm going back again this Saturday night.

1/F Des Voeux Road West, Sheung Wan. Tel No: 2548-8897

Spring Autumn Hot Pot (春秋火锅)

Kind of a mid to high end hot pot place with table cloth and ingredients beautifully arranged and served on a little plates. The soup base is great, so is the beef balls and squid balls, but my fav has to be the delicious marbled beef. Requires booking in advance as it's not a big place so it's always full.

26 Leighton Road, Causeway bay. Tel No: 2878-1128

Cal Pep, Barcelona, Spain

Ok, I guess I'm wayyy behind on my food reviews. It's the start of autumn in Hong Kong and I'm just starting to write about my favourite restaurant from the summer holidays. I have no excuse except that it's been a fantastic busy summer and I'm finally settling down to do some real work.
My fellow foodie travelling buddy S had raved about Cal Pep last time she visited Barcelona so when we found ourselves back in Barcelona for a week long visit, I couldn't wait to make my way there ... even with the warning that we were in for a wait of at least an hour. Cal Pep is located at no. 8, Placa de la Olle (http://www.calpep.com/), which is close to the sea side end of Gran Via. In the evening, the restaurant opens at 8 pm sharp, and from about 7.30 pm onwards you'll notice a queue. (The first time S went, it was full of locals ... this time we were in a queue with about 15 other American tourists - apparently it's been written up in TimeOut and a few other US guides. I guess the secret's out.)

The restaurant is divided into two sections, a long bar overlooking the open kitchen and a dining room area. The bar is the place to sit, facing the energetic chefs hollering at each other as they serve up plates of crunchy deep fried seafood, pan fried steak and fish, while filling everyone's glasses to the brim with cava and vino. It's the heart and soul of Cal Pep. When the restaurant doors open, the guests will quickly fill up the 16 or so seats at the bar. When these seats are filled, it's at least another 45 min wait before the first round clears. The rest of the guests form an orderly queue directly behind the long bar of patrons. If like us, you were unlucky enough just miss out because some tourists in the queue ahead of you were bagging seats for their friends waiting at the bar in the middle of the Placa, all is not lost. Just order a bottle of Cava (local sparkling white) which the bar staff will happily serve you and keep cool for you behind the bar. There's nothing like being a little bit tipsy and watching the plates of good food whish past to get your appetite going.

As for the food ...

Tuna tartare

Well the English of the staff is limited, as was our Spanish, so we decided to let the waiters decide for us ... though we did let them know of the (few) preferences we had developed from gaping at those seated at the bar table during our wait ... "No chickpeas" ... "definitely want tuna" ... "clams!". Firstly, you will be served with the toasted bread rubbed with tomatoes, drizzled with olive oil. Unless you are very very hungry, we suggest that you leave it for now. Wait for the platter of deep fried mixed seafood plate ... so lightly battered, crunchy and tasty, there's a mix of white bait, a flatish fish (eel?), squid and shrimp. This dish is to die for. Then they might follow it up with the baby clams cooked with parsley and olive oil, with bits of pancetta. My favourite is probably the tuna tartare, which is tangy from being lightly marinated, to be scooped up onto the accompanying small crispy toasts.

At first we were going to give the tortilla a miss because it looked so heavy. When it came towards the latter part of our meal we had to take a deep breath before digging in. But one bite and we were in heaven. The outer layer is light and cripsy and the inside still gooey, the best part was that they had cooked it in chorizo oil with chorizo bits so that the whole torilla ooozed with a smokey, salty flavour. Lathered with the aoili (garlic mayo), we polished off the whole dish even though we were absolutely stuffed.

But the most memorable dish is probably the pimientos (small green peppers). The first time I had them with S, we had a plate full of salty deep fried peppers which were slightly spicy. The second time I visited with J, I was hit with two bombshells of spicy pimientos ... J looked at my bemused as she crunched her way through the plate while I fanned the flames in my mouth and wiped the tears with my napkin, saying, "Hey S, there are not spicy at all!". It was only later at the airport checking out recipe books that I realised that eating pimientos in Spain is like playing Russian roulette ... 1 in 10 is extremely spicy!

Deep fried seafood, oh the crunch!

Even if you have tourists breathing down your neck behind you, you must stay on for the dessert. The flavoured cream is an interesting concoction, but it's the daily pastries that they get from a local bakery that will knock your socks off. The puff pastry with chocolate truffles that J and I dug into at the end of our meal left us in no doubt that we'd have to go back. Soon.

Tesuyas, Sydney

.... !

Rating: 5 stars (yep, it's this good)

Definitely worth the flight up to Sydney from Melbourne.

I'll write more once I've recovered from the experience.

Long grain, City, Melbourne

Sister of the Sydney favourite. Well executed Thai influenced dishes in a cosy bar atmosphere. The caramelised pork hock with chilli vinegar is delicious, though my favourite is probably the battered squid dipped in the soy and fish dipping sauce. Sit at the large communal tables or one of the many large round tables. There’s no booking except for groups of 6 and up, but that’s really ok because you should really go with a group of friends or family as the dishes are made for sharing. Excellent cocktails - if you like lychees and raspberries try the "Jimmy Chew".

Rating: 4 out of 5

Durian Lu lian

Durian flavoured gelato.

East meets West fusion cuisine doesn't get much better than this.

It's a well kept secret except to the flock of Asian university students which converge upon Il Dolce Freddo at the end of Lygon Street near Queensberry Street.

I preferred mine in a cup, where each spoonful is creamy and cold durian with the full heady flavour and none of the stringy bits. It's almost better than eating the real thing!

+613 9639 3344

116 Lygon St, Carlton, Melbourne

MoDiva, City, Melbourne

A cozy tapas joint tucked away in little alleyway with delicious plates of goodies to share over a bottle or two of vinos. Bookings recommended.

When D, R and I travelled to Spain a couple of years ago, I fell in love with tapas. In Maybe having grown up with Sunday dim sum, tapas appealed to me in the same wy: it’s the Spanish equivalent where you get to try a seemingly never-ending little plates of goodies - and when you find something that you (and everyone else at the table love), you can simply order more.

Spain, tapas came about from the tradition of serving small snacks with drinks. Little bite sizes of ham were served on slices of bread placed over the wine glass … slowly this has evolved into a wide variety of dishes: chorizo, croquettes, garlic chicken, pan friend mushrooms, calamari …

MoVida is a great little tapas joint tucked in a little alley Hoiser Lane near Federation Square. Looking carefully, you’ll notice that you are sitting in a small part of a converted warehouse with the brick walls are whitewashed. But the restaurant is all very cozy: behind the bar are light wood shelves covering every inch of the wall with bottles of vino packed tightly. Bar stools and tables cover on section, and another section with normal tables.

On the Thursday, the table sections were fully booked so we contented ourselves with sitting at the bar counter, which was actually great because the barman made sure we were never in short supply of house bread, which was served with very virgin olive oil.

The menu is listed as “racion” and “tapas”, the former is a small plate with enough to share between friends, whereas the tapas are really just individual portions. Everything was delicious.

The portbello mushrooms marinated and sautéed in red wine vinegar and variety of herbs was rich yet tangy (though a little salty). L’s favourite were the potatoes braised with pimientas (roasted peppers) which had a slightly sweet caramelised flavour. Eying the couple of the bar counter next to us, D couldn’t resist adding a plate of marinated olives which were plump and glistening. The plate was filled with small green Arbequina olives, the black Kamalata olives and a few large green Cerignola olives. The most interesting dish was probably the tender rabbit meat balls served in a slight gravy with calamari.

Definitely a great place to chill out for a bite with a glass of wine or two …

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Cost: Reasonable, ~ AUD 25 per person for dinner

MoVida
1 Hosier Lane
Melbourne 3000
+613 9663 3038

Ladro, Melbourne, Australia

So after 24 hours of being back in Melbourne, while taking a tram down to the “city” to run some errands, I dialled one of the few Australian mobile numbers I can remember off by heart. Actually I can’t even remember my family’s mobile numbers but I put that down to the constant change in numbers over the years.

“I'm back, I'm back! So when are we going to catch up?” I asked D, friend from university days, now adopted as my “Dai lo”. We met at a Hongkie club meeting a few weeks into our freshman years at Uni. Since then, D and I have spent many of days and nights swotting in Ballieu Library on the 3rd floor, fewer (thank goodness) all nighters trying to finish off our computing science projects, karaoking at Club Hollywood, and now that we can afford it, eating our way through Hong Kong and Melbourne. The only blib in our shared experience was probably our Andalucia trip ... where to my horror D opted for Maccas when we were standing right next to a jambon deli. We can laugh now, yes. In any case, things have picked up since then (food wise) and during D’s last visit to Hong Kong, we did a Central eating tour, working our way down the hill to a few places including Tsim Zai Gei wonton mee and jok, egg tarts up Lynhurst Terrace and then into LGB at IFC for lemon tarts and more macaroons (it was a macaroony kinda day).

“Hey I’m good any day this week!”

“How about lunch? I can pop down to the city … ”

“Actually, dinner’s better …”

“Ok let’s make it Wednesday” (mentally calculating that I’ve got a couple of nights of catching up to do with my sisters).

We chatted quickly about the next month or so’s schedule. We both agreed that there was a lot of exploring and dining to be had in Melbourne before I head back to HK and D leaves Melbourne for his overseas stint.

Efficient as always, the next day, D sends me an email with a few recommendations for our upcoming food extravaganza in HK.

“As for Wednesday – wanna do this place? http://www.yourrestaurants.com.au/guide/ladro/”.

I quickly flicked to my Luxe guide, which gave Ladro the thumbs up under the Relaxed section, quipping “The best pizza, daily roast and pastas. Laid-back, urban, communal tables and heinously popular”.

Yes, let’s do Ladro.

So tonight, we drove down Gertrude Street into Fitzroy. It was dark by around 7 pm, so we squinted at the shop numbers as we went past the hairdressers, Dean’s Art, funky boutiques, and a costume shop. When we saw an unassuming glass fronted restaurant, crammed with people at shared benches, we knew that we’d arrived.

Even on a weeknight, the restaurant was packed wall to wall, so we were lucky to score a couple of seats at the bar. The service is friendly and efficient, and our waitress proved spot on in her recommendations. As promised, there is a long list of about 20 pizza options, followed by appetizers (primi), and mains (secondi) … rounded off with the dolce options. Any other night we would have taken a closer look at the secondi which I recall included scotch fillet, but tonight our focus was on pizza. Some of the menu is in Italian so we needed a little help. I have to say, after my experiences in Hong Kong, it is such a pleasure when the staff know everything about the menu.

“What’s melanzane”?

“It’s eggplant. And this particular dish is eggplant battered and deep fried … it’s really quite delicious”. That proved to be the start of the waitress’ good recommendations for the evening. The entrée plate of melanzane was simply four round decent sized flattened balls of breadcrumbed eggplants (mashed), served simply on a plain plate. The salty, tender and moist eggplant filling complemented the hot and crusty breadcrumbed coating really well.

Next were the skewers of fresh grilled prawns, lightly flavoured with garlic and drizzle of lemon, sitting on a bed of rocket leaves. It went down really well with the house bread - ciabatta and extra virgin oil.

For our gourmet pizza (is t here still such a thing in Melbourne or is the gourmet pizza the norm now?), we narrowed it down two choices: the seafood pizza which sounded delectable with mussels, fish, prawns or the truffle pizza with truffata, potato and truffle oil. We opted for the latter and we were rewarded with a massive thin crust pizza, irregularly shaped (which D loved), topped with truffata (a paste made up of porcini/cep mushrooms combined with white truffles), kipfler potatoes and yes, we could smell it, truffle oil. Very good stuff.

We ended the evening with a lovely cassata. The waitress helpfully explained that unlike the Lygon street varieties, this cassata is not the ice-cream type … this cassata was more of a trifle (tiramisu) type, with a trifle soaked in brandy, topped with ricotto cheese mixed with candied fruits. The dessert didn't turn out to be quite what I expected, and I was convinced that I would read 0.05 on a breatheliser when I took a driving lesson on D’s car after dinner (though that is another story).

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Cost: $65 for two for a pizza, 2 entrees and a dessert (and drinks).

224 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy
Melbourne, Australia
+613 9415 7575