Return of Lemak at BaseHall (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

The first meeting with my new dentist turned out to be, well, a disappointment. We were supposed to meet at 10:40am but I was caught up a bit in traffic and ended up arriving at 10:45am. A mere 5 minutes late. The nurse did call in between to make sure that I was coming and I re-assured her that I was only 2 to 3 minutes away. But later I learned when I arrived that the call wasn't intended to confirm whether I was coming or not. Obviously, they had a patient who came in late and they were trying to decide whether to take him/her in or not. Although I stressed the fact that I would be there in 2 to 3 minutes, they still decided to take the late patient in. Of course, that's their decision to make. So, I waited for about an hour and I wasn't happy. I decided to approach the receptionist and tell her that I was walking away. And if my dentist still wanted to see me, he could call me to see my whereabout and if I just happen to be around the area, maybe just maybe I will come back. The receptionist tried to be diplomatic with me and re-assured that it's going to be just 10 more minutes as they were wrapping things up, blah blah blah.

I really hate people who think that their time is more valuable than ours. It's okay for others to wait for an hour but they can't wait for 5 minutes. Actually 2 to 3 minutes. But I'm guessing it's a big job that brings in a good revenue.

Anyways, I did see the guy (for the last time) and afterwards, I went for a quick lunch nearby at BaseHall. I swear I've heard about this place for the longest time, always wanted to check it out and this was the time to do it.

I've heard that this is one of the most expensive food courts in Central. Let's find out.

Korean, Vietnamese, French, Japanese.....no, I was craving for some Asian food today.

It was pretty packed at 12:10am already but I managed to find myself a quiet corner. 

Beef Rendang with steamed rice and Coke Cola from Return of Lemak, $165. That's not cheap.

The beef short-ribs were served with the usual suspect of cucumber, peanuts and crispy anchovies, all on top of a banana leaf.

While the portion of short-ribs was a little bit small, it was surprisingly tender and juicy. The dry curry was flavorful and coconut-rich but I could only wish that they gave me more of it for the steamed rice.

This hasn't been a very good day for me so far and the sky is pouring. I hope everything brightens up in the afternoon.

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: $$$$

Address: BaseHall, Shop 1, B1/F, Jardine House, 1 Connaught Place, Central, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Central

Website: www.returnoflemak.com

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm (Mon - Sat)

Tin Lung Heen 天龍軒 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

Another very good teammate of ours is retiring very soon. Like my ex-boss ahead of her, I tried not to think too much about her imminent retirement but I knew the day would eventually come. She's someone I have a lot of respect for. I am going to miss her at work, perhaps more so than my ex-boss.

After a big farewell party last week, I am meeting up with her for a special farewell lunch this afternoon, just the two of us so we could have some private chats. Thinking about the lunch venue gave me some headache last month but since I wanted to play it safe, I decided to go back to Tin Lung Heen (天龍軒). It's a place I like to spend time with my family and visitors from overseas. And I wanted only the best for her.

My main objective of coming here was to treat my teammate to an exquisite abalone meal so I have been keeping a close eye on their lunch menu for weeks. It was still there when I checked a couple of weeks ago but today, surprise surprise, it was replaced by their "normal" executive business lunch menu! Please tell me it's not true!!! 😭😭😭 

So, we settled with the executive lunch menu which always started off with these two.

Barbecued pork with osmanthus flower honey (桂花蜜汁叉燒) – When I thought Tin Lung Heen was a safe bet, I was thinking that they would always have a killer barbecued pork, a signature item on their menu since their opening. But it turned out to be a nightmare.

There were a few things wrong with these two slices of char siu. For one, there was almost no charring and therefore no smokiness at all. Then, the heavy-handedness of osmanthus flower honey making it way too sweet. But that's not ALL. The one thing that made this a total failure was its texture. No marbling and fat, and the excessive tendons and sinews made it too chewy. I certainly didn't expect that from their top-quality Iberian pork which is best known for its tenderness. I was also disappointed that our servers didn't realize that we had trouble finishing our char siu and therefore came up to ask why. I was hoping for some Michelin starred service which was never there.

Steamed turnip cake with preserved meat and conpoy (瑤柱臘味蘿蔔糕) – No fish maw and XO sauce this time. A little dry and a bit custardy.

Double-boiled pork shin soup with fig and Asian moon scallop (豬腱無花果燉日月魚) – One of the few bright spots this afternoon. Very soothing for the palates.

Pan-fried scallop with minced spring onion served with crispy rice cracker (蔥茸窩粑煎帶子) – They have cut the scallops a little thin making these a little overcooked. I missed the red pepper purée which was much much better companion to the scallops and rice crackers. The wok-fried Chinese kale with ginger sauce (薑汁炒芥蘭) was fine.

Wok-fried beef rib with black bean sauce (豉椒炒牛肋肉) – Now, I'm looking at the wok-fried beef ribs and along with the scallops, we could've been having braised six-head Australian abalone. Not a very good trade-off. 

Fried rice with diced abalone, goose and shrimp wrapped in lotus leaf (蝦乾鮑粒荷葉飯) – At this point, I was so stuffed so I didn't manage to finish my fried rice which I thought was decent.

I was still upset about the poorly executed char siu and abalone that we missed out on. Upset enough that I actually forgot to take photos of my dessert platter (the second bright spot, highlighted by the mochi). But that was the last thing on my mind right now. Deep down, I was more concerned about losing a great teammate and someone I could always count on.

P.S. 

I was also counting on Tin Lung Heen to deliver on this very special day but they really disappointed me with their efforts. Now, they have found themselves on my black list...at least for the foreseeable future.

Food Rating: 6.3/10
Price: $$$$
Address: 102/F, The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, International Commerce Centre, 1 Austin Road West, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Kowloon
Tel: +852 2263-2270
Website: www.ritzcarlton.com/en/hotels/china/hong-kong/dining/tin-lung-heen
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 6:00pm - 10:30pm (Mon - Fri), 11:30am - 3:00pm, 6:00pm - 10:30pm (Sat - Sun) 

Yue 采悅軒 at Sheraton Tung Chung 東涌世茂喜來登酒店 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Life hasn't been the same since little nugget's first day of school at his new primary school. Living the life of a primary school kid's parent in Hong Kong is no easy feat. Everything happens so fast and the schedule is so hectic. It calls for some serious adjustment. Not that we're over the adjustment but obviously, Jelloman wanted something different this weekend to spice things up and she already booked dim sum lunch at Yue (采悅軒) at Sheraton Tung Chung (東涌世茂喜來登酒店) without consulting me.



They have two time slots to choose from. An early one that starts at 11:15am and an afternoon one that comes with a late start at 1pm. Unfortunately, she picked the early start so we had to drag ourselves over to Tung Chung real early. To add insult to injury, there's no easy way going to Sheraton Tung Chung except the hotel shuttle bus that takes off every 30 minutes from the MTR station. Not the most convenient spot for dim sum I guess. Finally, we managed to arrive in more than an hour and a half in traffic.

Steamed shrimp dumplings with citrus (柚子蝦餃) – The wrapper and shrimp were both pretty nice. No sign of the citrus though.

Deep-fried taro puffs with roasted duck and mushroom (天鵝酥) – We had this a few times before at other Chinese restaurants. This wasn't bad. Thought the mashed taro worked reasonably well with the roast duck meat and mushroom. 

Steamed shrimp dumplings with Chinese cabbage (翡翠如意餃) – Nice presentation but didn't taste as well as it looked.

Steamed beef tripe with satay sauce (沙嗲金錢肚) – Pretty tender but only three pieces, come on!

Wok-fried rice rolls with XO chili sauce (XO醬炒腸粉) – Pretty decent with some serious heat from the housemade XO chili sauce.

Steamed sponge cake with Okinawa brown sugar (沖繩黑糖馬拉糕) – Spongy and I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't too sweet with the brown sugar.

Fried sugar egg puffs (懷舊莎翁) – This was really really good. Very eggy and the texture was almost perfect. Would love having these again.

Deep-fried glutinous rice balls with egg yolk custard and lychee (貴妃香) – Just deep-fried glutinous rice balls (煎堆) with a fancy Chinese name? These looked really cute like real lychee.

These were crispy on the outside with a very nice filling of egg custard and lychee compote. I thought the fragrance of lychee really took this somewhat ordinary Chinese dessert to another level. 

Fried rice vermicelli with conpoy and egg (桂花瑤柱炒新竹米粉) – Very bland and missing a bit of "wok hei". A little disappointed with this.

Little nugget wasn't happy with me bugging him while he was watching YouTube!

He was a lot happier when I brought him to Shake Shack for his favorite milkshake after dim sum. 

For us to make a special trip to Tung Chung, this meal had to be something that's worth the time, effort and money (wasn't cheap) spent but sadly, it wasn't. The two desserts provided some bright spots for an otherwise uninspiring dim sum lunch. Thankfully, there are plenty of options for a nice afternoon tea in Tung Chung so at least, all is not lost.

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: $$$$

Address: 2/F, Sheraton Hong Kong Tung Chung, 9 Yi Tung Road, Tung Chung, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tung Chung

Tel: +852 2535-0028

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 6:00pm - 10:00pm (Mon - Fri), 11:00am - 2:30pm, 6:00pm - 10:00pm (Sat - Sun)

Caprice (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

My plan to check out Caprice's surprise menu shattered when mom wasn't a willing participant last time we were here but I promised myself I'd come back for it some other time. Today, I finally kept that promise. 

As a solo diner, I could choose whatever I like to eat this afternoon. Wait, not exactly. I'll let the team here choose for me and hopefully they surprise me with a few dishes I've never tried before.

Land and sea tartare Australian wagyu beef – The kitchen wasted no time trying to blow me away with one of their most instagrammable starters to kick off the meal.

The tower of beef tartare mixed with Gaboriau Oyster was elegantly topped with a layer of Kristal Caviar and then of course, the gold foil. A very nice and complex depth of flavors with the various textures working brilliantly together.

My Hot and Cold Onion Soup – This was a play with the contrasting temperature of the warm onion soup and freezing cold onion-ice-cream.

Apart from the temperature, we also had different textures in there highlighted by the stir-fried onion; and there was the bread in the middle separating the ice-cream and soup. I guess, only one element was missing from a classic onion soup - the melting cheese.

French seabass, shiitake, yellow wine – The poached seabass fillet from France was served with a crispy spring roll stuffed with diced shiitake mushrooms.

I first thought the buttery yellow wine sauce would be too overpowering for the delicate flavors of the seabass but that wasn't the case at all. In fact, it added another dimension to the fish, giving it a very nice, silky mouthfeel and a rich, sublime finish.

Racan pigeon, foie gras, salsify, coffee – The restaurant's signature meat course comes in different variations. This time, the well-executed pigeon breast was simply cooked with the pigeon jus. No coffee crust.

The lightly torched liver and salsify cooked in pigeon jus and coffee rounded out the amazing dish.

Banana chocolate millefeuille, cocoa sorbet – The dacquoise with slices of banana, hazelnut mousse, and topped with a quenelle of cocoa sorbet and gold foil (again). 

Not what I had in mind for a millefeuille but not bad.

Petite fours were mango religieuse with coconut coulis, hazelnut praline and lychee raspberry tart.

I thought the amount of food from the surprise menu would have me killed but to be honest, not really. I could probably take on another dish, maybe two.

After the meal, I took some time to check out the recently opened Restaurant Noi, just a floor up from Caprice. I could hear guests chatting behind the slightly opened door but for the most part, the dining room seemed to be very quiet.

On my way back to the elevator, look who I saw resting at the sofa next to the elevator? The brilliant Chef Guillaume Galliot, Chef de Cuisine at Caprice...

It was nice to finally get this one out of the way. I was of course disappointed not to have any Britany lobster but the menu had everything from the land and sea. Now that my wallet is a lot lighter, I better get back to work.

Food Rating: 7.9/10
Price: $$$$
Address: 6/F, 8 Finance Street, Four Seasons Hotel, Central, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Hong Kong Station
Tel: +852 3196-8860
Website: www.fourseasons.com/hongkong/dining/restaurants/caprice
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 6:30pm - 10:30pm daily

S. Pellegrino Asia's 50 Best Restaurants: 24th (2022)

Flipper's at The ONE (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

After trying two new restaurants since this morning, I was going for a hat trick in the afternoon and I already got it all figured out. I don't know why they took so long but the folks behind I.T. have finally decided to turn a vacant space inside their premise at The ONE into a Flipper's. Yes, the same way they did in Causeway Bay!



As there were only six tables at this brand new Flipper's, we had to wait a good 30 minutes before finally getting a table.

A mango coconut smoothie to start things off while we wait for our soufflé pancakes. I know it's going to be a long wait cuz everybody left and right was still waiting for theirs to arrive.

Kiseki pancake (原味班戟) – The original flavor of soufflé pancake that has made Flipper's so popular. Soft and fluffy, just a little bit of whipped cream already made these so delicious. 

Mini soufflé pancake strawberry (迷你士多啤梨班戟) – I am guessing it's an exclusive at The ONE since I haven't seen it at Festival Walk and Causeway Bay before. 

This is like a hamburger with fresh strawberries sandwiched between two pieces of fluffy soufflé pancakes.

It was finished off beautifully with a rich strawberry ganache on top. Very nicely done. Little nugget loves it!

A closer look at our strawberry flavored mini soufflé pancake before we wrap things up.

This meal reminded us how much we missed having soufflé pancakes or any other desserts in Japan. Yeah I know, a trip to any Japanese cities is long overdue. But I'm really working on it.....

Food Rating: 6.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: i.t orange forest, 2/F The ONE, 100 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 2815-2172

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 9:00pm daily