Roganic (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

I didn't hide the fact that I was a little unhappy about my first meal at Aulis last year but that didn't stop me from eyeing a trip to its casual sister, Michelin starred Roganic this month.

After waiting for a few weeks, it was finally our turn to visit the popular modern British restaurant (photo taken at 6pm when the dining room was still empty but it was buzzing at 7pm).

Little nugget already had a long day so we decided to have the short tasting menu tonight. First off, two small nibbles to kick off the menu in style.

Citrus cured salmon and seaweed tartlet - Citrus cured salmon roes served on a nori shell with a little sprinkle of seaweed powder. Very nice.

Chickpea wafer, fresh cheese, broad beans - This was even more delicious. The wafer was really nice and crispy, working well with the chickpea purée, cheese, broad beans and lemon dressing.

Then it was time for the restaurant's signature soda bread. But everyone seemed to be focusing on the accompanying brown butter which was so good. 

Marjoram brined cabbage, soy and miso glazed shimeji, wasabi - If you're not a fan of Roganic's vegetable dishes, you shouldn't be here in the first place. Tonight, the local cabbage was again very fresh and crunchy, meshing really well with the shimeji mushrooms on top. I was a bit worried about the wasabi foam but I thought it delivered a lovely extra kick to the dish. 

Pea, salted egg, hazelnut, whey - Next up was another vegetable dish featuring fresh local peas and home grown pea shoots that were matched with pea mousse, hazelnut, hazelnut oil, croutons, lemon jelly, whey foam and shaved salted egg.  

Love the beautiful crunch from the mix of ingredients complementing the clean flavors of the organic peas very nicely. But surprisingly, the flavors from the salted egg didn't really register. 

Poached bream, asparagus, caper, lovage - The thick slab of delicate mussel mousse combining well with the juicy poached bream. 

The sauce made with mussels, lovage and lovage oil provided the fish with great depth of flavors. The green asparagus, black garlic and caper purée rounded out the very busy dish. 

Wak Kee Farm Pork, artichoke, onion - Less successful was the pork loin from the local Wak Kee farm which was a little firmer than we were expecting.

Have you been hiding some McDonald's fries from us all this time, little nugget (it was one of his many toys actually!)? 

Roganic - The restaurant's signature dessert with a homemade parfait made with burnt honey and chamomile tea, sitting on a base of diced pear.

The sweetness of the parfait was a pretty good match with the diced pear and pear juice.

Whipped woodruff yoghurt, blondie fudge, cherry - We were finally down to our last dish.

This tasted a bit like a cheesecake (a very light one) with the cherry sorbet providing some nice acidity to the mix.

We managed to finish everything in exactly two hours. That was just great great work of pacing by the kitchen, not to mention the marvelous job from the service team. I also love the fact that they welcome children at all age (which is difficult to find in Hong Kong). Needless to say, we will be back pretty soon. 

Food Rating: 7.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 8, UG/F, Sino Plaza, 255 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Causeway Bay

Tel: +852 2817-8383

Website: www.roganic.com.hk

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 6:00pm - 10:30pm (Tue - Sun)

Mono by Ricardo Chaneton (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

Agent-I and I have been talking about meeting up for dinner for months and after a couple of postponements, we finally agreed on a number of days that would work for the both of two. Problem? We couldn't find a table at any of our shortlisted restaurants for the next 2 months. Just when I thought we were going to postpone again, she got a surprise call from Mono saying that they have a table for us tonight, thanks to a last-minute cancelation.  



I have always wanted to come back to Mono after my first and only visit on their opening week. But for the last couple of months, it was impossible to get in any fine-dining restaurants in the city, Mono included. I am guessing "revenge spending" on good food is really in full swing now.

We were so eager to find out about tonight's tasting menu. 

As soon as we finished ordering, our server came over to show us a basket of mashua, a sort-of bell-shaped root vegetable from Peru which has been cultivated and used for Peruvian dishes for over 1,500 years. The locals use them for everything, even desserts!

Of course there was a reason why she showed us the mashua cuz they were featured in our amuse bouche.

Underneath the thin slices of mashua were sea urchin (yes!) and clams, finished off nicely with some chili dust. Not bad.

We didn't have to wait very long to see one of Chef Chaneton's signature dishes - Gamba Rojas, his famous red prawns. This was a refined version of what I had in their opening week. The Spanish red prawns, very lightly cooked, was matched with tiger milk, a crustacean jelly made primarily with the prawn's head and coral, and diced yam (Latin American version of it anyways). The bouncy and crunchy texture of the prawns were complemented brilliantly by the lovely acidity of the tiger milk (lime) and there was the extra spicy kick to tie everything up delightfully.  

Yes, it was nice to get this right out of the gate. Very nice start.

The second dish of the tasting menu was variations of green peas with Mexican nopal (some sort of cactus) beautifully topped with Imperial caviar. I like the clean flavors of the green peas and the crunch was really nice but there was nothing to back it up. I thought, even the salt from the caviar didn't do enough of a job to elevate the flavors of the dish.

At this point, we were presented with the restaurant's signature sourdough bread, housemade daily with 3 types of quinoa and served with some of the finest olive oil.

Very very pillowy. I think I can really sleep on it...

Bread was followed immediately by Blue lobster from Brittany, which was superbly cooked. It was paired with chayote purée, a relatively light lobster sauce and finished with a sprinkle of kari gosse (French curry powder). Not bad.

Next up was Roscoff onion that was cooked to absolute perfection. The exterior of the onion was almost completely caramelized while the centre was still soft and moist. There was obviously a reason why Roscoff onion, best known for its sweet and unique flavor, was such a prized ingredient. Combining with black sesame, mushroom and shallot cream, it gave the dish great depth of flavors. (My favorite dish of the night there). 

Following the onion dish, our server brought over a trolley and started preparing a mole sauce from table side. There were a total of 65 ingredients from the original recipe of the sauce but they trimmed it down to 21 ingredients including spices, aubergine purée, chocolate, nuts and activated charcoal, and chili paste.

The dark colored sauce ready to be served with our next dish.

Here French morel mushroom was stuffed with foie gras and minced chicken, and served with buckwheat, pork cracking and a pool of the mole sauce that was just freshly made. A very delicate dish with a nice mix of exciting flavors and textures. 

Our fish course is none other than the house specialty, Chef Chaneton's aged monkfish. While Agent-I and I were a little disappointed with the small portion we got (it's about a third of what we used to get), we were certainly not disappointed with the meatiness of the fish fillet at all.

The second serving came in a traditional Mexican infladita (street food snack) with monkfish mousse (made with meat from its head and tail) as filling, topped nicely with the same Béarnaise sauce.

Our meat course was Racan pigeon, which was interestingly paired with chimichurri sauce made with parsley and fresh oregano. But what I didn't like the part with the yuca and pigeon breast on top (upper right corner of the dish).

There was a second serving of the pigeon, the leg which was stuffed with pigeon mousse and matched with capers and chili. I thought this was almost better than the pigeon breast.

After what tasted like buckwheat tea (it was a beverage by the name of Mate cocido) following our pigeon dish, we were ready for our palate cleanser.

Cucumber sorbet, clementine, mint leaf and some crispy flakes (chocolate).

In case you didn't know, Mono does their own chocolate from fresh cocoa beans. Both of us were really looking forward to tonight's chocolate dessert and it definitely didn't disappoint. Chocolate cream with rosemary ice-cream and Sicilian olive oil served under a chocolate web. Simple but very very tasty thanks to the richness of the chocolate.

I thought we were done in the dessert department but it ain't over until the fat lady sings. 

It's almost two months since I turned 25 but I didn't get to celebrate it with Agent-I at the time so she made sure that I got my birthday wish tonight. 

Creamy tonka bean mousse with chocolate ganache and cocoa nibs. That's a combination that never let us down. Sweet but not too sweet. Love the silky tonka bean mousse in the middle that meshed so well with the bitterness of the chocolate. 

Another sweet bite to end the meal on a sweet note.

Many thanks to my foodie friend for the very nice treat. It's a couple of months after my birthday but I could always wait for amazing food like these.

Food Rating: 7/10
Price: $$$$
Address: 5/F, 18 On Lan Street, Central, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Central

Website: www.mono.hk
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 6:30pm - 9:30pm (Mon - Sat)

Ah Yat Harbour View Restaurant 阿一海景飯店 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

Yesterday afternoon's seafood dinner in Lamma Island was meant to be the prelude to mom's birthday celebration but the main event is today's lunch (she sleeps way too early for a celebration dinner unless we have it at 5pm). I had to think long and hard for a place as she didn't want to venture over to the island side and at the end, I decided to get out of my comfort zone for a restaurant I've never been before - Ah Yat Harbour View Restaurant (阿一海景飯店).

I routinely asked for a table by the window when I called and was rather surprised that they were able to offer me one considering how late I made this reservation.

The sky was very bright and sunny this afternoon. Even my mild-mannered mom complimented that it's a great day to be sitting around a place like this. Deep down, I was hoping they have the food to match the incredible view (too bad they did not).

They have 5-6 set lunch with different themes and all came with a huge discount. Since both of us were a bit lazy to order dim sum individually, I decided to let mom choose one of the set menus instead. 

Rainbow chicken (七彩小鳯仙) - This one started off with a slice of drunken chicken, thousand-year pickled egg,  Chinese-style jellyfish and ginger.

Steamed shrimp and bamboo shoot dumpling (筍尖鮮蝦餃) - I thought our small selection of dim sum was good. The shrimp dumpling was fairly nice.

Steamed minced pork dumpling with crab roes (蟹籽蒸燒賣) - Not bad.

Baked barbecued pork bun (雪山菠蘿包) - Less successful was the baked barbecued pork bun with the pineapple crust. 

Braised sea cucumber, seafood and bean curd with lobster broth (海參海皇龍蝦湯豆腐羮) - A classic example of throwing all the premium ingredients into one single dish (sea cucumber, seafood, lobster). The worst dish of the afternoon by a country mile.

Baked stuffed crab shell (釀焗鮮蟹蓋) - Mom said she ordered this set mainly because she wanted this baby.

I have to admit, it's one of the better dishes from the set we ordered, although a little too much onion (and not enough crab meat) for my liking.

Sautéed fish maw and Chinese kale with soy sauce (頭抽爆炒花膠伴玉蘭) - This was another above average dish. The fish maw was well cooked with soy sauce combining well with the crispy kale.

Onion and oil noodles with abalone and cucumber (鮮鮑魚小黃瓜蔥油麵) - This ranked right down there along with our soup as the worst dishes of the afternoon.

The noodles were badly overcooked and the scallion oil did nothing to enhance the flavors of the noodles. Perhaps, they should just serve us the abalone alone.

Baked sago pudding with lotus seed cream and black truffle (黑松露蓮蓉西米焗布甸) - I always have a soft spot for sago pudding with creamy lotus seed filling.

This turned out to be pretty tasty. The black truffle was a bit pretentious. The pudding would've been fine without it.

For a Michelin-starred restaurant, I certainly expected a whole lot more. And it's not just the quality of food, which one could easily tell that they've used lesser quality ingredients to compensate for the discounted price. What I thought was even more disappointing (than the flavors of those dishes) was the service, which was sadly below par. Other than the manager, none of the servers really deserve to be working at a Michelin caliber restaurant. For starters, when you serve up a dish, at least let the diners know what they were having (just memorize the damn name of the dish from the menu even if you don't know the ingredients).

This was flat-out embarrassing.

Food Rating: 5/10

Price: $$$

Address: 29/F, iSquare , 63 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2328-0983

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 3:00pm, 6:00pm - 9:00pm daily