Restaurant NéMo (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

It’s lunar new year today and I’ve planned a small celebration for everyone.

Located on the quiet side of trendy Minamiaoyama (南青山), Restaurant NéMo is a Michelin starred restaurant featuring a seafood-centric menu that showcases fresh, high-quality ingredients. Chef Kenichi Nemoto (根本 憲一) grew up in a fisherman family and is best known for his expertise in seafood dishes and deep appreciation for Japanese and French culinary techniques.

Kids are not allowed in the main dining room so the only way for little nugget to enjoy his Chinese New Year meal here was inside the private room.

Hairtail – The hairtail fillets were delicately grilled for a mere 5 seconds to preserve its tender, stringy texture. They were served on a bed of root vegetable salad featuring lotus roots, potatoes and yam, all brought together nicely by a refreshing yuzu dressing. A wonderful start to the meal. 

Some homemade bread made with flour from Hokkaido and yeast which has just come straight out of the oven so it was still piping hot.

Oyster – The oysters were matched with a homemade fish “cake”, chopped vegetables and Japanese yam, and finished off with a nice pour of lemongrass-infused clam soup.

The oysters were incredibly fresh bursting with vibrant briny flavors but I thought the broth was a little too intense with flavors from the lemongrass.

Monkfish – The seafood feast continued with monkfish wrapped by a thin sheet of crispy bacon.

This was nicely topped by an array of vegetables including cauliflower and broccoli, tied up nicely by a relatively subtle Mexican-style sauce made with chili peppers.

Abalone – We got a glimpse of our abalone before they started getting it off the shell.

This was an off-menu dish that we decided to splurge on and it was well worth the price tag. 

The charcoal-grilled abalone offered a lovely crunch and natural sweetness, beautifully complemented by an umami-rich sauce made from its liver. Brilliant!

Kinmedai – The fish course was pan-seared kinmedai prized for its tender flesh and subtle sweetness. Apparently it has been meticulously seared skin-side down allowing the delicate scales to puff and crisp up into a golden, wafer-thin layer, adding a textural contrast to the buttery meat.

It was paired with a mushroom sauce, diced vegetables and fried onion.

Kato pork – Our run of seafood dishes ended here with Kato Pork from Kuruma where the pigs are exclusively fed with apples and potatoes, imparting a distinct natural sweetness to the meat.

The superbly cooked pork came with the perfect proportion of skin, fat and flesh resulting in an exceptional texture that was both tender and satisfying.

I could definitely taste the fruity sweetness from the rich and succulent Kato pork.

Chocolate soufflé – While I am not a diehard fan of soufflés, I love having one every now and then. This was a perfectly executed chocolate soufflé filled with runny hojicha ganache.

The acidity of the yuzu ice cream did well to cut through the richness of the soufflé.

A small petite four in the form of a canelé put a remarkable finish to the meal. This has apparently been spiced with rum.

Very nice, crispy crust holding a soft centre that was soaked up in flavors from the rum (more so than the crust).

My first cup of tea in the year of the Snake. 🐍🐍

Today, we were treated to a very impressive seafood-centric meal at Restaurant NéMo.

Spanning over a decade of experience working in some of Tokyo's finest kitchens including

Les Créations de NARISAWA and Quintessence, Chef Kenichi Nemoto expertly combines Japanese and French culinary techniques, utilizing high-quality ingredients sourced locally. The meal was a remarkable showcase of innovation, finesse and precision at the highest level, send us off on a high note to kick off the new year.

Food Rating: 8/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: 6-15-4 Minamiaoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0062, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Aoyama

Tel: +81 3-5962-6085

Website: https://restaurantnemo.net/

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:00pm, 6:00pm - 10:30pm (Tue - Sun)

JOM Wan Chai (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Following our brunch at Petrus, we made the long anticipated trip to the new Hopewell Shopping Centre in Wanchai in hope of doing some damage to our wallets. While our shopping didn't work out as planned, we did manage to cross JOM, a popular Asian cafe and restaurant off our list. 

Teh Tarik (凍拉茶) ($15) – The tea was strong but it lacked the aromatic notes typically found in a Malaysian pulled tea and worse yet, there wasn't enough milk for a nice balancing act.

Turnip cake (蘿蔔糕) ($72) – I overheard our server chatting with a guest raving about their signature chilli crab buns (辣椒蟹饅頭), a mantau served with mud crab meat and chilli sauce. It would make a nice afternoon snack for us but we decided to go with something a little heavier.

Jelloman and I are both big fans of Singaporean fried carrot cakes made with radish, shallots, egg, spring onion and dry shrimps so this was totally up our alley. I have to admit, this turnip cake was pretty good. The only thing it needed was a nice spicy kick to elevate the dish.

Kaya toast (咖椰吐司) ($52) – This was what we came here for in the first place, their kaya toast. 

I thought the kaya toast tasted a lot like the ones from Rempah Noodles, which really isn't a bad thing. The key here was the delicious pandan & coconut cream in the middle. If I had to be picky, I would say the toast could have been a little crispier.

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: $$$

Address: 7 Tai Wong Street East, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Wanchai

Tel: +852 6426-3084

Website: http://eatjom.com/

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 9:30pm daily

Restaurant Petrus (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

I don’t usually have the luxury of enjoying weekend brunch at Restaurant Petrus. Most of my visits have been for business lunches during the week. However, today I had a rare opportunity to do so, with little nugget at home studying with grandpa. So, Jelloman and I decided to make the most of it.

Similar to the restaurant's business lunch menu, the weekend brunch takes more or less the same format, offering guests a choice between three or four courses. The only difference perhaps lies in the variety of dishes. The weekend brunch menu features more traditional French fare, such as onion soup and foie gras, while the typical business lunch menu presents a more contemporary approach to French cuisine.

Another dismal day with dark skies and thunderstorms approaching…

Some nice nibbles to kick off the meal in style.

"Champagne cork" – The gougère was packed with Comté cheese cream.

Vegetable waffle – This was served with a vegetable dip.

Some homemade bread arrived just before the starters.

Foie gras – The choice of starters included Paté en croute, onion soup and foie gras, which are all timeless classic in French cuisine. Well, since I haven't had pan-seared foie gras for months, this was a pretty easy call. 

The thick-cut foie gras got this amazing melt-in-the-mouth texture, complemented brilliantly by a subtle Sauternes sauce. The endive, musk grapes and orange zest added a lovely balance of bitterness, sweetness and acidity to the dish.

Lobster – Expertly cooked Boston lobster was served on a bed of crunchy spring vegetables with a drizzle of creamy yellow wine sauce. I really enjoyed the lovely crunch from the baby turnip, cabbage and peas working well with the tender, springy lobster flesh.

We wanted to have dessert somewhere else so just a nice set of mignardises to close things out. This included a really tasty nougat, chocolate truffle and meringue.

I thought this was a pretty nice brunch that didn't burn a hole in my wallet (under $600). Unlike my weekday visits, service was excellent this afternoon from start to finish and the menu featuring classic French dishes was a major draw for traditional French food lovers like me. I will definitely try to come back more often on the weekend.

Food Rating: 7.6/10

Price: $$$$
Address: 56/F, Island Shangri-La Hong Kong, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Admiralty
Tel: +852 2820-8590
Website: Link
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:00pm, 6:30pm - 11:00pm daily

Hoi Kee Walnut Place Prince Edward 海記合桃坊甜品 太子店 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Little nugget is having his final preparation for next week's examination so so there are no weekend activities planned for either Saturday or Sunday. Being the good son that I am, I decided to check in on Mom to see what she's up to this week. We agreed to meet up at Hoi Kee Walnut Place in Prince Edward (海記合桃坊甜品 太子店), one of her favorite places for dessert soup.

Pistachio sago cream (開心果西米露) ($35) – Hoi Kee is supposed to be touted for its walnut soup but one thing leads to another and I ultimately went a different route with this pistachio sago cream from its "Always Smile" series (笑口常開系列).

This was essentially sago cream topped with a thick, nutty and aromatic pistachio cream which was rich and intense. Of course, I made sure that I mixed the layers together to get a balanced blend of flavors. So good~~!

Food Rating: 6.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: G/F, 212 Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Prince Edward

Tel: +852 2392-0233

Opening Hours: 2:00pm - 12:00am daily