Robuchon au Dôme (Macau, CHINA) ★★★★★

It's difficult for us to bid farewell to Robuchon a Galera, our long-time go-to restaurant in Macau but I guess all good things must come to an end at some point. At least we have the comfort in knowing that its replacement, Robuchon au Dôme, is ready to take over. 

Situated at the dome of the new Grand Lisboa Hotel, Robuchon au Dôme possesses a stunning view of Macau and an exquisite food menu championed by Executive chef Francky Semblat.




We started off with some bread and a couple of classic nibbles from the Robuchon kitchen - a thin tuna sandwich and cheese puff and both were excellent.



Our amuse bouche got better and better with a caulflower panna cotta alongside some sea urchin, edible flowers and seaweed. It had an excellent combination of contrasting flavors (8/10).



After a very successful trio of nibbles, our dinner officially got underway with a nicely poached white asparagus served in a light lemon emulsion, with sea urchin and crispy quail egg.

Forget about the high cholesterol for a moment, this was a wonderfully executed dish. The flavors of sea urchin and white asparagus harmonized each other perfectly (8.5/10). 



Next up was a trio of seafood plates starting with a bowl of fresh abalone with salted butter, turnip and black truffle broth (upper left corner), then a truffled langoustine ravioli (upper right corner) and finally King crab in Chateau Chalon broth (bottom).

I thought the abalone was average but both the langoustine ravioli and king crab were of superb quality (7/10).  

 


Moving onto our main courses, we knew we were in for a treat when we ordered two of Robuchon's most popular dishes starting with their slow-cooked Challans Duck breast and foie gras. The duck breast and foie gras complemented each other perfectly with its rich flavors and contrasting textures (8.5/10).



Kagoshima beef has always been the preferred beef at Robuchon a Galera, where Le Boeuf Kagoshima was a signature dish and fan favorite. Thankfully they have brought this dish over to Robuchon au Dôme.

Slices of perfectly grilled Kagoshima beef were served with slow-simmered shallot in red wine and Robuchon's signature mashed. Each piece seemed to melt in my mouth like butter (8/10)!




A small dessert (forgot what it was...) to wrap up this remarkable culinary journey.



This meal set us back around $3,300 for two persons. Not cheap any way you look at it but as always, we got the top-quality ingredients and world-class cooking from a Robuchon restaurant.




Food Rating: 8.2/10

Price: $$$$$

Address: 43/F, Grand Lisboa Hotel, Macau SAR

Tel: +853 8803 7878
Website: www.grandlisboahotel.com/dining-Robuchon_au_Dome-en‎
S. Pellegrino Asia's 50 Best Restaurants: 37th (2013)

Margaret's Café e Nata (Macau, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Where can you find the best pastel de nata in Macau, you ask!? The answer, an alley.

Tucked in an alley near the Macau Square, Margaret's Café e Nata has the best pastel de nata in town hands down. 

Just look at the lineup in front of the tiny shop every day.....



Too bad the café doesn't offer any indoor seating.







Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: $$

Address: G/F, 17A Rua Alm Costa Cabral R/C, Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, Macau SAR

Tel: +853 2871 0032  

Macau Military Club (Macau, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Founded and Built in 1870, the Macau Military Club once belonged to a members-only association as it was mainly used for cultural and recreational gatherings. It is now one of the few neo-classical architectures remaining from the colonial days.



Like the building itself, the dining room remains a quintessential piece of the colonial heritage, evident by its vintage ceiling fans, arched windows, high ceilings etc.

The restaurant serves an authentic Portugese cuisine at a reasonable price. A lunch buffet is also available.






We went for the a la carte menu on this afternoon and first up was the appetizer of garlic prawns (4/10).



Now a dish we have been all waiting for - roasted suckling pig "Bairrada" style served with pala-pala potatoes, tomatoes and origans. Easily the best dish of the afternoon (6/10).



And, lastly traditional “Portuguese” duck rice to close out our lunch. Thought the rice was a little hard (3.5/10).







Food Rating: 4/10

Price: $$

Address: Avenida da Praia Grande, 975, Macau SAR

Tel: +853 2871 4009 
Website: clubemilitardemacau.net

Brasserie Paul Bocuse La Maison (Nagoya, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

The Hiramatsu Restaurant Group runs a number of French restaurants in collaboration with Paul Bocuse and they are all over Japan. Located in the JR Central Towers, Brasserie Paul Bocuse La Maison is one of them that offers an authentic French bistro experience in the heart of Nagoya. The restaurant offers a couple of set dinner menus ranging from just 2,500 yen to 3,500 yen.  

Our night started off with a cup of warm green pea soup, complemented nicely by a mousseline, presumably made with duck foie gras. The dish was finished off with a mildly flavored rosemary jelly and garden green on the side.

The other starter was chilled potato soup with fresh chives and mushrooms. It was a really cold night in Nagoya; not sure if my stomach was up for this.

I thought the main dishes were slightly better than the starters. At least mine was. The roasted pork shoulder which was superbly cooked, worked reasonably well with the green beans, thyme and pan-seared foie gras.  

Less successful was Jelloman's chicken supreme. The sauce, which our server said was made with red wine reduction, looked awfully thick.

Our desserts were two really simple ones - first, dark chocolate tart with vanilla ice-cream.

It was followed by a perfectly executed crème brûlée.

Despite the late start, we were still able to enjoy a cup of tea before wrapping up our first trip to Nagoya. 

Dubbed as Japan's most boring city, Nagoya turns out to be a lot better than we first thought. We managed to pack our 5 days with fun-filled activities around the city (and outside, at Ise). Needless to say, I have no problem visiting Nagoya again in the near future.

Food Rating: 5/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: JR Central Towers Nagoya, 1-1-4 Meieki, Nakamura, Nagoya, Aichi 450-6012, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Meitetsu Nagoya Station

Tel: +81 (0)52-563-4455

Misokatsu Yabaton Meitetsu Nagoya Store 矢場とん 名古屋駅名鉄店 (Nagoya, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

A couple of tofu dishes are not going to keep us full very long. By 4pm, we were already itching for more food. Of course, I remembered there was still one more place remaining on my to-do list, Misokatsu Yabaton (矢場とん) and they have a branch here at Meitetsu Department Store (名鉄百貨店本館) which is directly connected to Kintetsu Nagoya Station (近鉄名古屋駅).



I couldn't believe it ended up taking almost an hour to get ourselves a table.

This was what we came here for, Misokatsu Yabaton's famous misokatsu which is tonkatsu (breaded deep-fried pork cutlet) served with a unique sauce made of dried bonito stock, sugar and miso. This was a dish originated from Nagoya and Aichi Prefecture.

We were finally seated after the long wait!

Our deep-fried pork cutlet served sizzling hot with their special miso sauce on a hot iron plate.

This was so yummy! The miso sauce was a little over the top but it meshed well with the shredded cabbage and breaded pork cutlets which was pretty fatty and tender.

Even the deep-fried asparagus came with the same breadcrumbs and signature miso sauce.

Misokatsu Yabaton Meitetsu Nagoya Store is located on the 9th floor of the Meitetsu department store. The wait is long but now that I have tried their misokatsu myself, I can confirm that it's totally worth the waiting time.

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: 9/F Meitetsu Department Store Nagoya, 1-2-1 Meieki, Nakamura, Nagoya, Aichi 450-0002, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Meitetsu Nagoya Station

Tel: +81 (0)52-563-7373

Website: https://english.yabaton.com/

Mameya Genge 豆家本店 (Nagoya, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

Our worst fear that weather would drop below freezing temperature during our stay in Nagoya became a reality this afternoon but surprisingly, there was no snow. Not that it would have affected our lunch plans to visit Mameya Genge (豆家本店) anyways.

After being greeted by the hostess at the reception, we were led down the stairs through a dark corridor into a dining area in the basement.

A quick selfie (via our tripod) later, we start to prepare ourselves for our order.

Tofu, a great source of protein, is a staple in Japanese cuisine. It's also what Mameya Genge is touted for - tofu cuisine. But first, a drink before the meal - soya bean milk with a piece of ice.

Our set began with some freshly made tofu with bonito flakes and spring onion on top.

I thought each and every dish would be made with tofu but as it turned out, there were some sashimi that came as an appetizer.

More tofu.....

My main dish was miso glazed cod fish. Not bad.

Wrapping things up for us was a scoop of homemade black bean ice-cream.

Food Rating: 5/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: The B Nagoya B1F, 4-15-23 Sakae, Naka-ku, Nagoya, Aichi, 460-0008 Japan

Closest Metro Station: Sakae

Tel: +81 (0)52-261-0308

Website: www.genge.co.jp

Grill Katayama グリル片山 (Ise, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

I have a habit of visiting at least one French restaurant whenever I go to a new city. So once we decided to embark on a day trip to Ise, I started asking around for a good French restaurant in town.

Finally, words coming from a local friend living at Ise, she recommended Grill Katayama (グリル片山), a local French bistro where she said locals would go to celebrate occasions such as anniversaries and birthdays.

The best part about Katayama turned out to be the location. It's conveniently situated near the Kintetsu Ujiyamada Train Station. Just a short 5-minute walk would do the trick. 




The Ise-shi province is most famous for its seafood so it's not surprising at all to find that the menu is almost exclusively seafood based (apart from some wagyu sirloin steak).

We began with a soup made of the famed Ise prawns. The texture was thick like a cappuccino and tasted average at best (4.5/10).



The next course was the fish course which was a local white fish served with clams and a white wine type of sauce. The fish was quite fresh and tasty but would have liked to see a bit more cooking technique involved (5/10).



Finally, the signature dishes arrived one by one starting with the lobster. The lobster was baked with a vin blanc sauce and cheese. Excellent (5.5/10).

Another signature dish was the fresh abalone served with a petits pois sauce. The sauce had a light pea flavour that somehow failed to mesh well with the abalone (5/10).

Dessert was a bit of a letdown - a small scoop of vanilla ice-cream, a cream puff, a thin slice of fruit cake and some fresh nibbles (3/10).

This is not your typical French bistro. It's more of a contemporary Japanese restaurant with a bit of French inspiration. The food here is not bad at all but we would definitely like to see more creativity in the cooking techniques.

Food Rating: 5/10

Price: ￥￥￥￥

Address: 2-4-37 Iwabuchi, Ise-shi, Mie-ken, Japan

Closest Train Station: Kintetsu Ujiyamada

Tel: +81 596-25-1726

Website: www.g-katayama.jp/index.html