Saturday, April 25, 2020

Big Grain 品穀 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

The story of Big Grain (品穀) hit the social media in the middle of 2019 when two brothers managed to build up a bakery franchise from scratch. Big Grain now with three branches in town attracts further publicity when it opens in Tsuen Wan earlier this month. Since I will be in need of a lot of bread for my upcoming tour of duty, I decided to pay their Jordan branch a quick visit this afternoon.


The elder brother who's the baker was in the house directing traffic in the kitchen. I hope they're making their almond, chocolate and matcha croissants in there now; otherwise, I have to settle with these plain croissants instead.


I'd like to check out some of their brioche too, these ones with chestnut and sea salt look pretty damn good.


The younger brother who's the patissier studied overseas in France I heard. So, not surprisingly, they have a small corner dedicated to his creations. These ain't cheap especially the chocolate tartlet. More on that later.


Classic Croissant ($24) - I have read a lot of raving reviews about their croissants so I thought my review had to start with one (I waited around for their almond croissant but no cigar!).


The cross section test didn't do it justice cuz of the knife I used (not nearly sharp enough). It was flaky and I thought pretty satisfying.


Ultimate Chocolate Tartlet ($50) - The name had me thinking Pierre Hermé's Infinity tart series. I'm sure they got some inspiration from that while thinking of a name for their own.


This tasted better than I first thought (and it looked). The chocolate ganache on top was rich and silky working well with the cocoa nibs and short crust pastry base. The only comment I had was that it was too rich with chocolate flavors so perhaps having a plain short crust pastry without the chocolate flavor might actually work better. Addition by subtraction I figure. 50 bucks is a little too heavy of a price tag to pay for a pastry in Jordan but I am sure they're using quality ingredients in there so I've no complaints about it.


I love supporting anything live and breathe Hong Kong so I hope to be back very soon.





Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: G/F, 61 Parkes Street, Jordan, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Jordan
Tel: +852 3702-0186
Opening Hours: 8:00am - 10:30pm (Monday - Saturday), 10:00am - 10:30pm (Sunday)



Shake Shack Harbour City (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

After our quick lunch at Victoria Duck (城中鴨子), we walked around Harbour City a bit including an usual stint at Toys R Us. On our way out, we stopped by Shake Shack who replaced Pizza Express a few months ago to see what their Shackura drink series was all about.



After the recent run of single-digit confirmed cases, the mall was finally back to business. Yes, there were a few casualties along the way (example, Haagen Dazs among others) but most restaurants and cafes were getting some of their fans back. Shake Shack in particularly was buzzing with lineup of people waiting to get their hands on the new Shackura drinks.



Taking inspiration from Japan's cherry blossom season, the Shackura series features two special drinks including this one - Shackura Shake ($48), with vanilla frozen custard which was flavored with cherry blossoms, and topped with whipped cream and pink chocolate curls.



My little nugget thought it was strawberry. The Shackura series are available until 30 April 2020 only. 







Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Harbour City, OT G53, G/F, Ocean Terminal, 3 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2262-2768
Website: www.shakeshack.com.hk
Opening Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm daily



Victoria Duck 城中鴨子 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

My little nugget hasn't been out much since the suspension of school due to COVID-19. Other than his usual playground time every afternoon, he's been prohibited to go out in the public but I'm going to make an exception this afternoon. But before he gets his time at his favorite toy store, we decided to first grab a quick lunch at Victoria Duck (城中鴨子).


The Peking duck specialist by Maxim's was virtually impossible to get in before last year's social unrest but finding a table here is not a problem these days. They're trying to get their fans back by slashing their Peking duck half price.



Pan-fried baby oyster, duck egg (土鴨蛋脆煎蚵仔) ($128) - Before our Peking duck, it was my favorite duck egg omelette to start off the meal.


This was again very very good. I was generally not a fan of baby oysters (or oysters for that matter) because of its briny flavors but these were too good to pass up. It was almost like a sandwich with the baby oysters and diced vegetables tightly wrapped between two crispy layers of duck egg. Very nice.  


Barbecued Peking duck (烤北京填鴨) (half bird $180) - The main event at discounted price.


The portion was just about right for the three of us.


As usual, some crispy skin, duck meat, cucumber, scallion and hoisin...


I swear I've gone through their 6-step procedure many many times already but still it looked awfully bad.


Mixed noodles with squid ink sauce (墨汁炸醬麵) ($78) - We decided to try something new rather than going the safe route by ordering their stir-fried Shanghai noodles (上海粗炒麵). Not a good idea.


Little nugget seems to be a happy camper today. He knows a stopover at the toy store will be next.





Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop 3319, 3/F, Gateway Arcade, Harbour City, 3-27 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2347-6898
Opening Hours: 11:30am - 10:30pm daily



Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Dim Sum Library Elements (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

An integral part of our company's DNA is calling it a career this month. Big Brother (大佬) who's been around the company for nearly 40 years (well before my time) is leaving us in a few days. I had the pleasure of having him on my team for a run of 5-6 years (2008-2013) so I was of course sad to see him leave. A couple of days before his last day, I decided to gather a few guys to bid farewell with him. Too bad with the current policy, it could only be a party of four.


I picked Dim Sum Library at Elements mall for no particular reason other than the fact that none of us have been here before. I'm sure everyone could use some fresh air during COVID-19 so a new place like this would be welcome by all of us.


Black truffle har gau / shrimp dumpling (黑松露蝦餃) - I have been to their Admiralty outpost a couple of times before so I knew their dim sum menu well enough to order for everyone. First off, some truffled shrimp dumplings. I love the thin wrapper and the touch of truffle just perfect.

Black truffle har gau / shrimp dumpling (黑松露蝦餃)

Black garlic siu mai / pork & shrimp dumplings (黑蒜燒賣) - Always found the combination of black garlic and siu mai a little odd. The sweetness of the black garlic made this a tad too sweet, even for me.

Black garlic siu mai / pork & shrimp dumplings (黑蒜燒賣)

Wild mushroom dumplings with beetroot (紅菜頭野菌餃) - Beetroot lover like me always fell head over heels over this. The diced wild mushrooms were very nice again.

Wild mushroom dumplings with beetroot (紅菜頭野菌餃)

Hokkaido king crab & sea urchin spring roll (海膽蟹肉春卷) - Here comes my favorite dim sum made with king crab meat and sea urchin from Hokkaido! I miss Hokkaido so much. In fact, I miss traveling so much.

Hokkaido king crab & sea urchin spring roll (海膽蟹肉春卷)

This was just a wonderful marriage between creamy uni and fresh crab meat. The flaky spring roll gave it some additional texture to work with. Hands down, the best dish of the afternoon and I'm not a bit surprised at all.

Hokkaido king crab & sea urchin spring roll (海膽蟹肉春卷)

I love it so much that I had to take a few more shots of it before it goes into my tummy.

Hokkaido king crab & sea urchin spring roll (海膽蟹肉春卷)

Crispy taro puff with snails (田螺芋角) - A fusion dish blending French escargot with our traditional crispy taro puff.

Crispy taro puff with snails (田螺芋角)

This was seriously good with the runny sauce and sauteed snails meshing well together.

Crispy taro puff with snails (田螺芋角)

Dan dan xiaolong bao (擔擔湯包) - Another signature dish at Dim Sum Library that I ordered for our big brother.

Dan dan xiaolong bao (擔擔湯包)

The burst of mala sauce was again very good. But I like the Hokkaido king crab & sea urchin spring roll, crispy taro puff with snails and wild mushroom dumplings with beetroot a bit more (in that order).

Dan dan xiaolong bao (擔擔湯包)

Steamed Matsutake mushroom bao (松茸冬菇包) - My little nugget's favorite buns. These were just okay. Spongy enough but a little too "moist" inside.

Steamed Matsutake mushroom bao (松茸冬菇包)

Iberico pork fried rice with sakura shrimps and fennel seeds (櫻花蝦茴香豚肉炒飯) - Some fried rice and noodle to complement the parade of dim sum since we're all grown men here. This was pretty decent. The sakura shrimps, fennel seeds and puff rice provided some strong bite to an otherwise average fried rice.

Iberico pork fried rice with sakura shrimps and fennel seeds (櫻花蝦茴香豚肉炒飯)

Singapore Rice Noodles (星洲炒米) - This was much better than the fried rice. The rice vermicelli was done right backed up by a nice spicy kick. There were also enough barbecued pork and seafood there to keep everyone happy.

Singapore Rice Noodles (星洲炒米)

I was planning to visit this branch of Dim Sum Library well before the pandemic so it was nice to finally get it out of the way. Big Brother seemed delighted with the meal too but I'm sure he had other things on his mind right now. Leaving a place you call home for 40 years won't be easy. I'm just grateful it would ever happen to me in my lifetime cuz I don't think I will work for the same company for more than 20 years!




Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$$
Address: Shop 1028B, 1/F, Elements, 1 Austin Road West, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Kowloon Station
Tel: +852 2810-0898
Opening Hours: 10:30am - 10:00pm daily



Saturday, April 18, 2020

VEA Restaurant & Lounge (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★★

Last month, Jelloman asked me where I wanted to have my pre-birthday dinner. It took me a while to figure this one out but I eventually came up with Chef Vicky Cheng’s VEA. VEA Restaurant & Lounge has always been very high on my list and I have been one of the biggest fan of Chef Vicky since his days at Liberty Private Kitchen. The only sticking point is the fact that it normally takes four hours to enjoy a meal at VEA, which is four hours we don’t have when there's a four-year old kid sitting home waiting for us. But I think we can make an exception tonight since it's for daddy's birthday celebration.


As soon as we were seated and I got the chance to play with my phone again, a photo from my Facebook "Memories" suddenly popped up. It was a photo taken back in 2016 when we were celebrating my birthday. And surprise surprise, it was taken when we were at then-recently-opened VEA Restaurant & Lounge. What a coincidence!


Our night started off brilliantly thanks to a parade of nibbles led off by a wonderful cup of dried bok choy tea (菜乾茶). Our server went on to explain that the inspiration of the dish came from the song Chef Vicky sang to his wife when he proposed! It's a song by George Lam (林子祥) called "I need you every minute" (分分鐘需要你) that I'm sure a lot of Hongkongers know by heart. The dried bok choy tea was of course a reference to the line that went "咸魚白菜也好好味" (with you around, even dried fish and bok choy tasted very good!). 


The tea came with bursts of sweet flavor, not unlikely those from our traditional dried bok choy soup (菜乾湯). It was rich, intense and very sweet.


The soup was paired with a deep-fried glutinous rice ball which was stuffed with dried fish and bok choy (咸魚白菜煎堆). And there we have it, a hidden note with the lyrics. I'm wondering if it was handwritten by Chef Vicky himself.


Our next nibble was a cream cheese filled steamed bun topped with caviar and perilla flowers.


Another round of amuse bouche soon followed. We were told to first start with the small tartlet made with local cherry tomatoes and berries.


Followed by the foie gras roll with pistachio. The foie gras pate came with both fruity flavors and sharp acidity which I thought was plum.


Last but not least, some drunken sea snails before we moved onto our first starter.


Our first dish from the tasting menu was Ebisu oyster, beautifully layered with tofu, green pea, green pea juice and Okinawan sea grapes (海葡萄). A perfect spring dish with refreshing and clean flavors.


It was immediately followed by our second dish, charcoal grilled Japanese mackerel. The artful presentation was capped off with slices of pear, celtuce and salmon roes on top. What I love most about this was the juicy pear sauce bringing out the best of the savory mackerel.


Our server came over again to give us a sneak preview of our next dish, Chef Vicky's signature sea cucumber dish including the two key ingredients - sea cucumber from Hokkaido and 22-year old Hua Diao wine from local wine producer, Wing Lee Wai


This was an absolutely stunning dish featuring Chef Vicky's signature roasted sea cucumber on top of an Alaskan king crab leg.


We had a different version of this four years ago when Chef Vicky's roasted sea cucumber was stuffed with a slab of scallop mousse but this was way way better with the crispy sea cucumber placed atop the meaty Alaskan crab leg.


The dish was finished off remarkably with a few drops of aged Hua Diao wine from Wing Lee Wai.


The super intense sauce made with crab roes and coral really elevated the flavors of the sea cucumber and king crab to a whole new level (albeit a bit heavy).


Our fish course tonight was pan-fried local pomfret cooked with fermented vegetables, an inspiration from Sichuan-style Chinese sauerkraut fish (酸菜魚), finished off with in-season sancho peppers on top. The sauce made with fermented cabbage, fish bones and chili oil was obviously the key here and it was indeed rich and flavorful. However, the timing could've been better as we just finished enjoying the sea cucumber dish which also came with an incredibly intense sauce.


Moving forward, we were presented with a taiyouran egg sitting on top of a piece of daikon which has been slow-braised with mustard. 


Not surprisingly, the daikon was full of flavors, posting a stark contrast with the taiyouran egg. The hint of black truffle provided a sublime finish to the dish.


At this point, we enjoyed a break in action with a palate cleanser, a homemade sorbet flavored with salted sour plum (話梅). A very nice touch resetting my palate almost instantly.


Our final savory dish was Racan pigeon cooked two-ways. The breast was first smoked with sugarcane.


I love the minimalist presentation but the expected smoky flavor was missing in action. There was also no sign of the sugarcane.


The roasted pigeon leg peppered with herbs and spices was stuffed with stir-fried glutinous rice (生炒糯米飯) and pigeon liver sausage. Very interesting Chinese twist but like the smoked pigeon breast, it didn't blow any of us away. In fact, both Jelloman and I agreed that it was the most disappointing dish of the night.


But things quickly got back on the right track albeit some hiccups. Obviously, there was some miscommunication between the service team and kitchen resulting in us not getting our first dessert at all. After a 30-minute delay, the restaurant manager finally noticed us sitting around rather impatiently (while playing with our phone). So, the dessert team quickly got to work and delivered this within a couple of minutes.


Sat in front of us was a beautiful dessert highlighted by various textures of aloe vera (蘆薈). Fresh aloe vera (which I haven't had before), aloe vera panna cotta and aloe vera flavored liquid nitrogen ice-cream were complemented superbly by the freshest strawberries from Kumamoto. A nice, refreshing start to kick off our parade of sweet treats.


Our second dessert was tea infused chocolate paired with yogurt sorbet, nuts and shiitake mushroom crumble. 


More Chinese twist on the way, this one took me on a trip down memory lane. I vaguely recalled having these traditional coconut wrap when I was a little kid.


I didn't think anyone knows how to make these anymore!


These came with two different flavors. I ended up taking the vanilla flavor while Jelloman had the durian.


Finally, some mignardises and a couple of them were inspired by our traditional local sweets.


The mini pineapple buns were really cute.


The condensed milk mochi was pretty nice. I didn't remember what the other one was.


By the time we finished things up, it was almost 11pm! I'm probably already in bed by this hour on most nights. So without further delay, Jelloman asked for the bill and we called it the night.


It was quite an amazing journey tonight. Having personally witnessed the development of the talented Chef Vicky and to see all his lofty accomplishments over the past few years, I was really really happy for him. There were clearly some hits (dried bok choy tea 菜乾茶, roasted sea cucumber and king crab with Hua Diao wine) and misses (pan-fried local pomfret cooked with fermented vegetables 酸菜魚, smoked pigeon with sugarcane) in tonight's dinner but the way he has set out to combine Chinese recipes with French finesse; it's really exciting to watch (and taste of course!). Obviously, his innovative cuisine is very unique. Many of us probably expected the demon chef Alvin Leung to run away with this many years ago but he didn't. Now, Chef Vicky has successfully pulled off what many others failed to perfect; sky is likely the limit for him.  




Food Rating: 8/10
Price: $$$$
Address: 29 & 30/F, 198 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Sheung Wan
Tel: +852 2711-8639
Website: www.vea.hk
S. Pellegrino Asia's 50 Best Restaurants: 12th (2020)
S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants: 113th (2019)
Opening Hours: 6:45pm - Late (Mon - Sat)