A couple of months ago, the new Greyhound Café at Elements Shopping Mall became the first-ever branch in Hong Kong to incorporate a Thai noodle bar concept. As a fan of Thai food, I have already paid them a visit on two separate occasions.
The café brings back some of the most popular street food from Thailand.
Drawing inspiration from the food vendors from Bangkok's busy streets, they've included an open noodle bar right in the middle of the restaurant.
There is a separate Thai-inspired noodle bar menu which is not available at their other branches.
Some of the all-time favorites include noodles in Tom Yum Koong, rice noodles with sliced pork and pork balls.....
And noodles with Thai duck stew. Not the best presentation but pretty authentic flavors.
But I like this red curry with roasted duck meat a lot more! This is like a trip down memory lane for me. About 15 years ago when I was still a rookie just coming out of school, I spent a month training in Bangkok and this was what I had from the street vendors almost every night (for 10 Baht!).
Grilled sliced pumpkin and soya grazed tofu salad - The pumpkin slices were made into something crispy like chips. Interesting.
Pineapple fried rice with seafood - Another classic. The rice has been stir-fried with yellow curry so it's really fragrant and that was mixed with tiger prawns, baby squid, ham, and topped by pork floss and grilled pineapple. Very tasty. This really had me thinking about making a trip to Bangkok.
Fettuccine with seared scallops and baby asparagus in an asparagus sauce - Back to Greyhound café's usual menu, this was one of my favorite pasta here. Not bad.
Roasted pork's neck - Very nice texture and I like the fact that they let you decide how much seasoning you want to go with (with the dipping sauce). Served with the usual glutinous rice and pickled cucumber.
Apart from the Thai noodle bar concept which is unique to this branch, another thing that really caught my eye here was the amount of space available. Every table is generously spaced from each other and they even have this VIP room at the end of the restaurant, presumably for group gatherings and events (birthday parties?). How good is that.
Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop 2001B, 2/F, Elements, 1 Austin Road West, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Kowloon
Tel: +852 2386-6008
Website: www.gaiagroup.com.hk/restaurant/greyhoundcafe/
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay joined forces with Dining Concepts once again for his third restaurant in Hong Kong this week. After months of intensive preparation, Maze Grill was ready for its first service at the Ocean Terminal Extension next to Japanese-French fusion restaurant, à nu retrouvez-vous.
Apart from the "Hell's Kitchen” star's signature dishes (Beef Wellington!), the British steakhouse also has a stunning harbour view to boot.
This looks like a great place to be having a meal when there are fireworks shooting up over the harbour.
Our afternoon started off with some homemade focaccia but the star was in fact the bone marron butter on the side.
Grilled diver scallops ($158) - A trio of grilled diver scallops were served on the shell with green apple, and crunchy tempura bits (or tenkasu which is crumbs made from tempura batter). The coriander sauce with a hint of Jalapeno provided a little fragrance and an extra kick for the dish. Fairly decent.
Hot smoked miso salmon ($218) - As a fan of Chef Ramsay's melt-in-the-mouth crispy skin salmon, I knew I had to order this one. But I was totally disappointed with the results. Both the texture and seasoning were a little off the mark. A far cry from the crispy salmon I had at Hell's Kitchen in Vegas earlier this year, which was really delicious.
Black truffle tagliatelle ($168) - A pasta dish before our steak arrived. This came with porcini, aged parmesan and chives. Not too bad.
British butcher's cut, dry aged rib-eye ($488) - If my memory serves me correctly, this is probably my first experience with butcher's cut from Britain.
To my pleasant surprise, the rib-eye was real tender and juicy, and there's enough fat in there to keep me happy.
I really wanted my sticky toffee pudding (perhaps my favorite dish from the foul-mouthed chef) but since everyone voted against it, I was happy to just go for the bill instead.
Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop OTE401, Level 4, Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2765-0890
Website: www.diningconcepts.com/restaurants/maze-Grill
After laying low for much of the past two weeks, I was back to my usual tricks again. As soon as I started feeling the crave for Japanese souffle pancakes this afternoon, I wasted no time racing to I Love You Dessert Bar.
This was a place that had a lot of people scratching their heads when the Michelin gods named them in their Bib Gourmand list a few years ago.
They touted themselves as a dessert bar but the truth was, they've got two bread and butter desserts - souffle pancakes and a modern style mille feuille.
When it comes to souffle pancakes, they have all these unusual flavors like matcha, mango, apple cinnamon and green tea with red beans. But purists like me know exactly what to order - their original flavor. For $29, that's a huge bargain over Japanese imports like Flippers and A Happy Pancake.
These were so airy and fluffy! Definitely worth the 20-minute walk. I added a scoop of tofu ice-cream for good measure too.
If you want to avoid the hour-long lineups at Flippers or A Happy Pancake, I Love You Dessert Bar could very well be the perfect alternative.
Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$
Address: Shop 3A, G/F, Ngai Hing Mansion, 24 Pak Po Street, Mongkok, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Mongkok
Tel: +852 2612-2660
After spending the entire week in the hospital, I was just happy to be back home resting and building up my strength again. But today I had an appointment with my specialist so I thought let's do something I haven't done for a while - eat out and have something sweet!
Following my quick visit to my specialist's office in Jordan, I swing by Kai Kai Dessert (佳佳甜品) for some sweet treat. It's the first time I had their black sesame soup (芝麻糊). There was some unexpected bitterness but overall not bad.
I have said a couple of times before, they've got some of the best sweet dumplings in town. Look at that thin wrapper made with glutinous rice. Awesome!
Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$
Address: 29 Ning Po Street, Jordan, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Jordan
Tel: +852 2384-3862
We didn’t do much in terms of celebration on Jelloman’s birthday after our little nugget fell sick last week. I knew I will have to eventually make up to her at some point and I thought why not right before Super Typhoon Mangkhut arrives!
Calm before the storm as they call it.....
I was a little sad not to see a smiling Chef Pino behind Tosca's kitchen today. I have already got the news about his departure last month and the guys here confirmed that the charming Italian chef had indeed left for greener pastures (Sources told me Doha). Chef de cuisine Nick Russo has temporarily taken over the reigns until a new culinary director is named.
First, some delicious bread to start things off.....
I went with their 4-course tasting menu ($1580) this afternoon with grilled Langoustine leading the way.
The delicious langoustine, topped with fennel and dill, was served on a bed of Caponata vegetables with what I thought was potato puree and veal jus on the side. That was a nice way to kick things off. Personally, I like the Icelandic langoustine I had at Epure last week a little more but this was pretty good too.
Next up was our pasta dish with homemade cavatelli, red prawns, mozzarella, eggplant and tomato. Looked like it's been tossed with a really flavorful bisque sauce.
I knew I could always trust the homemade pasta here. Very nice bite and lovely complementing flavors from the red prawns, tomato, mozzarella and of course the tangy bisque sauce.
My main dish was Australian wagyu beef tenderloin with different textures of eggplant. It was really succulent with a slightly stringy texture that tasted almost like a piece of ox tongue.
Dessert was the always-popular tiramisu with limoncello.
There's a reason why this came out on top of my "10 best tiramisu of Hong Kong" list. This was airy and moist, yet not too soft and foamy. All the flavors were right on the money. Just perfect!
Food Rating: 7/10
Price: $$$$
Address: 102/F The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, International Commerce Centre, 1 Austin Road West, West Kowloon, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Kowloon
Tel: +852 2263-2270
Website: www.ritzcarlton.com/en/hotels/china/hong-kong/dining/tosca
I have been quietly keeping tabs on the development of ICHU Peru ever since world-renowned Peruvian chef Virgilio Martínez announced the plans of his first foray into Asia more than six months ago. His original plan was to have the restaurant in soft-opening mode in May but a number of delays put a den in that idea which have now seen the opening night pushed back until tonight (nearly 4-month delay!). Thankfully, I was able to get myself a table on opening night.
As soon as I got out of the elevator onto the restaurant's reception area, I was immediately greeted with great enthusiasm by the service team. As I would later find out, I have just gotten into the books as the first-ever customer of ICHU Peru Hong Kong. WOW~
The space was designed by Joyce Wang Studio, the sane firm who's behind award-winning projects such as AMMO, Mott32 and Haymarket. With ICHU Peru, they have once again brought their iconic industrial-chic style to the casual space, together with a dark, Amazon jungle theme which is the perfect match for Chef Martinez's modern Latin American cuisine.
At the helm of ICHU Peru is one of Chef Martinez's right hand man, Korean Chef Sang Jeong who's been working at Central with the masterful chef for the last three years. He's been in Hong Kong developing the menu for months and will be here to oversee the operation of the kitchen for the time being.
ICHU Pisco Sour - A namesake cocktail. This has to be good, right!?
I thought the mix of Pisco infused saffron, Eucalyptus and corn syrup and lime juice would give me a happy ending but unfortunately, all I could taste were alcohol and a bit of lime. That's about all.
Clasico - I knew I had to try at least one of the seven tiradito and ceviche on the menu. It will be interesting to see how Chef Martinez interprets these much-loved Peruvian dishes.
The snapper ceviche wasn't bad. There were thin strips of crispy sweet potato, red onion and of course, the heart and soul was the chef's take on Leche de Tigre (Tiger's Milk). As expected, a fair amount of acidity preassumably from lime juice. Very refreshing start.
Palta Quemada - One of the chef's most popular dishes was his charred avocado.
The charred avocado was topped by a thin tuile made with tunta, freeze-dried white potato popular in some of these South American countries.
In the middle of the avocado were tomato coulis and aji limo chili peppers. Very nice texture with a wonderful balance of flavors.
Tartar de Lomo con Maiz - Next up was silky smooth beef tartare sprinkled with fresh chives. In fact, it was so smooth that for a moment, I thought we were having tuna tartare! Interesting idea to match it with sweet corn purée.
Lomo Saltado - Sliced beef rib-eye was served with coriander, tomato, red onion and corn in a tangy and flavorful tomato sauce. A simple but very tasty dish.
Tacutacu Chupe - Probably the most delicious dish from this meal. Tiger prawns, Peruvian beans, purple onion, tomato and green peppers were tossed in a homemade aji Panca sauce which was a little spicy thanks to the smoky red chili peppers. I thought I really enjoyed the extra kick from the slightly fruity aji Panca.
Tres Leches - We were told that if we just had enough room for one dessert, then this was the one to get. Vanilla sponge cake which had been soaked in three types of milk (Thus the name, Tres Leches), was served with a scoop of homemade carrot sorbet and meringue chips. This wasn't bad although Agent-I, who was my dining partner tonight, was a little unhappy with the mushy texture of the cake.
Maiz Caramel - Sweet corn ice-cream with diced pineapple, pineapple foam and caramelized corn, topped with crackers made with sweet corn (what else!) and coconut. When I mixed everything together, it had that really nice tropical touch that almost tasted like a piña colada, but came in multiple layers and contrasting textures. Very nice and very refreshing.
It was my second experience with authentic Peruvian comfort food. My first encounter came at Chicha many years ago so this was a nice refresher for me. I thought the food tonight was definitely very unique and the preparation with traditional ingredients really added something interesting and exciting (and sometimes mysterious coz you have no idea what you're eating!) to the mix. It's one of those meals that's worth trying at least once.
To experience Chef Martinez's contemporary Peruvian cuisine at such a casual, bistro-style environment on opening night was almost like a dream came true. But I was totally over the moon when their Marketing Director came over to deliver the best news of the night. Dinner's on the house (because I'm their first customer!?). I just couldn't believe our luck. Thanks to the good guys and gals from the Bulldozer Group for the fun-filled night. Needless to say, I'll be back soon.
Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$
Address: 3/F, HQueen's, 80 Queen's Road Central, Central, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Central
Tel: +852 2477-7717
Website: www.ichu.com.hk
