Armani Aqua (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

Ever since the crossover between fashion giant Armani and local food and beverage company Aqua was announced early this year, there's been a lot of buzz around the city. It sounded too good to be true.

In late August, Armani Aqua finally opened doors for business.

The restaurant staff warmly greeted us upon our arrival and after stepping through a sliding door, we found ourselves inside a dark corridor with pillars on the side and a black carpet leading us to the other end of the door. And over there, there was another sliding door.

And behind the second sliding door, it was a totally different world. More precisely, it was a spacious restaurant and bar area in a much warmer color palette. 

Very much like their flagship restaurant on top of Peking No. 1, Armani Aqua offers a mix of modern Italian cuisine to go along with their authentic Japanese dishes. 

I went for their 3-course lunch set and things got rolling with the starter - a home made smoked salmon with potato salad.

Unfortunately, the smoked salmon did not have the usual fat content and more disappointing was the pesto sauce that they had prepared to go with the salmon and salad (3/10). 



A little bit more encouraging was the first main course - penne with scallops and cherry tomatoes. The cherry tomato sauce was a fairly decent choice to go with the penne but still something seemed to be missing (4/10).



The second main course was one of the most popular Italian dish of all time - pan fried veal scaloppine. Disappointingly, it lacked the tenderness and flavors to score a high mark (3/10).



Perhaps the dessert could spice things up a bit? Not quite. I had the 62% chocolate mousse tart and it was nicely presented but tasted average at best (3.5/10).

Food Rating: 3/10

Price: $$$

Address: 8 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Central
Website: www.armani-aqua.com

Quay (Sydney, AUSTRALIA) ★★★★☆

The Quay is the most highly rated restaurant in Sydney. The restaurant has a view of the Sydney Opera House and a short walk from Circular Quay. It is easy to be accessed by all terms of transportations. It was a relaxing and lazy afternoon when I walked to the restaurant from Circular Quay, the walk includes some photo shot spots which is ideal for tourists.



The entrance

The restaurant is not large, I was offered a table near kitchen at the end of dining room where I could see all the activities happened. My first impression was not good because no one has come over once to ask if I wanted something to drink while waiting for my friend to come.

The view from restaurant

Price for set lunches is designed for businessmen. A$125 for 3-course, A$145 for 4-course and A$220 for a 8-course tasting menu. The price for tasting menu sounds more reasonable in such a case.



Sashimi of blue mackerel

Mud crab congee

Slow cooked coturnix quail breast

Butter poached native Clarence river goat fish

Gentle braise of black lipped abalone, rare breed pig belly

Organic heirloom carrots, cumin, fennel & celery seeds

White nectarine snow egg

All the dishes were well presented. The restaurant deserves to sit at the top of the notch. However, improvement can be made on customer service. Regular maintenance for the restaurant is needed, part of the ceiling fell down and hit on a seated dining table. It shocked everyone and should not be happened in any occasion.

Food rating: 8/10
Price: $$$$
Address: Upper Level, Overseas Passenger Terminal, The Rocks, Sydney, Australia
Tel: +61 2 9251-5600
Website: www.quay.com.au/index.html
S. Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants: 26th (2011)

Midtown Grill (Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS) ★★★☆☆

Midtown Grill is a steakhouse brought to us by the Marriott Hotels. We can find them in several European cities including Copenhagen, Berlin, Prague, Brussels and Amsterdam.

On a typical Sunday night in Amsterdam with dismal weather, we knew our options were limited. Well, at least Midtown Grill was "strategically" close to our hotel.



The dining room was almost completely empty!



The tuna tartare with avocado and a touch of spicy soy sauce was not bad (5/10).



The pan seared scallops were fine as well (5/10).



Less successful was the Maryland Lump Crab Cake with sauce tartar and micro herbs  (4/10).



We opted for the roasted chicken with rosemary instead of one of their signature steaks (5/10).





Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: Stadhouderskade 12, 1054 ES Amsterdam, Netherlands

Tel: +31 20 607-5555
Website: www.midtowngrill.nl

Hotel Vondel (Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS)

Hotel Vondel wasn't even on my radar screen a week before our trip but soon after our booking for Mint Hotel Amsterdam fell apart, I started looking for its replacement and there we found this little townhouse-style boutique hotel with a pretty decent price.

Located just off the nightlife-centric Leidseplein in the Museum Quarter, Hotel Vondel is everything you look for from a boutique hotel. It's simple. It's modern and it's comfortable. And yes, it's quite affordable too.



There's a nice blend of modern and tradition in this contemporarily designed space.



Evidently, they've put a lot of thoughts into the design of each room to make it comfortable and at the same time very stylish.




This is a very quiet area especially at night but that's perfectly alright as central Amsterdam is just around the corner. 





Rating: ❤❤❤
Price: €€€
Address: Vondelstraat 26, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Tel +31 20 612-0120
Website: www.hotelvondel.com

Brasserie Pakhuis (Ghent, BELGIUM) ★★★★★

What a way to kick off our 24-hours in beautiful Ghent of Belgium with a casual and relaxing meal at Brasserie Pakhuis! Just by looking at its stunning interior, we knew it was worth the visit.

The two storey brasserie was a restoration project from a former textile warehouse and the architect here did a marvelous job turning the space into a lively brasserie with a lovely industrial vibe. I love the skylight and Roman style sculptures providing a touch of vintage chic.
 
On paper, Pakhuis is an authentic brasserie offering many Belgian classics such as steak tartare with the meat coming directly from the restaurant's own farm. 




The house specialties also include fresh oysters directly from France and a wide variety of seafood. Needless to say, we were all over these fresh Belon oysters. Very creamy and perfect "sea water" flavors.



More seafood to come in the light of a smoked eel salad. Very refreshing start.



Duck liver terrine with caramelized pear and toasts was next. Not bad considering the size of that terrine but they should have given us more toasts and pear!



Butter poached lobster, that was heavenly too. The lobster was meaty and full of flavors. I was also impressed with the Asian style coconut rice with fresh coconut cubes and carrots. That was an excellent match for the lobster.



We had just enough room for one dessert and opted for this sponge cake served with a small cup of ice cream which I managed to forget about the flavor (caramel?).

After dinner, we took a scenic walk around The Graslei, Ghent's old city centre. That was one of the most memorable nights of my time in Europe. 

Ghent ranks in the top three of my favorite cities in the world and 24 hours are definitely not nearly enough to explore this amazing city. I am sure I will be back here at some point in time.

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: €€€

Address: Schuurkenstraat 4, 9000 Gent, Belgium

Tel: +32 9223-5555

Website: www.pakhuis.be

Pierre Marcolini (Brussels, BELGIUM) ★★★☆☆

Someone once told me a visit to Brussels is not complete without dropping by one of the local Pierre Marcolini boutiques. Obviously I have been listening all these years!



There are quite a few Pierre Marcolini boutiques in central Brussels but it was the one on
Rue des Minimes that we ended up running into.




Instead of their impressive pastries, we decided to go with their chocolate truffles.



And surprisingly, not as good as we thought (but that's coming from a guy who's not entirely into chocolates).



Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: $$$$

Address: Rue des Minimes 1, place du Grand Sablon, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

Tel: +32 2514-1206
Website: www.marcolini.be

Le Drug Opéra (Brussels, BELGIUM) ★★★☆☆

We have just less than 24 hours to spend in Brussels so the consensus was to visit as much attractions as possible and not have any long meals which would make our scene-seeing time even shorter than it already was.

One of the first place we visited was the opera house but too bad it was under a massive renovation. Sadly we walked away from the opera house and suddenly, we spotted "Drug Opera" in the horizon.

Oh yeah, our stomach was growling.

This is a charming early 20th-century building with a slight different theme on each floor. On the ground floor was English pub style tavern serving beer and home-style food.



I started things off with this prawns in garlic cream. Very thick and delicious cream sauce.



But the roasted rump steak was very hard.



Finally a lovely hot chocolate in this atmospheric setting.




Food Rating: 3.5/10

Price: €€

Address: Rue Grétry 51 - 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium 
Closest Metro Station: De Brouckere
Tel: +32 (0) 2229-1666
Website: www.drugopera.be



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Park Inn by Radisson Brussels Midi Hotel

Technically I never splurge on a hotel if I know I won't have more than 24 hours to spend there. That was precisely the case with our stay at Park Inn by Radisson Brussels. We were traveling from London to Brussels via Eurostar and arriving very late at night. And with Park Inn located right across the street from the Eurostar station (Gare de Bruxelles - Midi), it was the ideal choice for a stopover before we head to Ghent the next afternoon.



Park Inn really exceeded my initial expectation with its sleek and modern design.



It's a perfect business traveler's lodge for a short stay. My only complaint was the internet charges. Shouldn't wifi be free these days? Come on.....




Rating: ❤❤❤
Price: €€
Address: Place Marcel Broodthaers 3, 1060 Bruxelles, Belgium
Closest Metro Station: Gare Du Midi
Tel: +32 2535-14 00
Website: www.parkinn.com/hotel-brussels


 

La Cuisine de Joël Robuchon (London, UNITED KINGDOM) ★★★★★

I have already lost count on how many Joël Robuchon restaurants I have visited over the past few years. It had to be at least six or seven (Macau - 2, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Tokyo - 2).

One of the ambitions of the Robuchon dynasty is to deliver top quality French cuisine in different corners of the world. That passion and their overall consistency became the biggest reason why I always came back for more. Coz I knew exactly what I would be getting for my money's worth.

And after tonight, I could add London to the list.

La Cuisine de Joël Robuchon London is situated on a very dark alley called West Street in the Covent Garden area which seems like a rather unpretentious venue for a fine dining restaurant. The restaurant is housed in a four-storey building painted entirely in black on the outside. Well, let's hope that things get more interesting inside.



On the ground floor was the more casual L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon with the standard Robuchon bar table setting and the black and red decoration.

But this night, we wanted something more formal and hopefully a little more quiet. With that in mind, we went for the La Cuisine de Joël Robuchon which was situated on the second floor.



Our server, a gentleman with a very strong French accent, was very attentive to details although he could use a smile on his face at times. We went through the menu quickly and really didn't take long to lock in on what we would like to order.

Right before our starters, a small amuse bouche of foie gras mousse with cauliflower foam was served up to get our palates ready.



I have mentioned on numerous occasions that I am a chestnut soup lover. So this was really a no-brainer for me - chestnut velouté with smoked ham cream and celeriac cream to start off my night.

Smooth, creamy, .....I am out of words.



Our other starter was one of the house specialties, free range quail stuffed with foie gras and truffle mashed potatoes. We had this dish at different Joël Robuchon restaurants before but were still loving every bit of this (9/10).



For whatever reason, I was craving for some seafood tonight so subsequently I selected the scallops and mushrooms fricassé with Iberian ham and hazelnuts.

That was another deflightful dish with the taste of parmesan cheese and Iberian ham leading the way.



The milk fed lamb cutlets from Pyrénées with fresh thyme was equally tempting.

The only blemish was perhaps that it had been sitting at the counter for a little bit (possibly due to a mixup, the scallops was not ready at the time the lamb cutlets finished cooking. We spotted that having seated right next to the open kitchen.). Luckily, the food lamp managed to keep it at room temperature.



We finished our dinner on a positive note with a wonderful dessert called La Sphère. I had to really sit back and marvel at this amazing work of art.

It was an orange sugar sphere that was stuffed with crispy meringue, lemon sorbet, avocado banana cream. Incredibly refreshing and mouthwashing. 







Food Rating: 7.6/10

Price: ££££

Address: 13-15 West Street, London, UK 
Closest Tube Station: Leicester Square / Covent Garden 
Website: www.joelrobuchon.co.uk/first-floor