Maru De Sankaku 鯛白湯らーめん○de▽ (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

Finally, I decided to fix my tooth problem that has been bothering me for years. After spending a couple of hours at my dentist's clinic this morning which included time for a COVID-19 rapid test, the treatment was eventually over. With my sore gums which were still bleeding a little, I decided to cross the street to Kau U Fong and see if I could grab a very quick lunch. To my pleasant surprise, there was only a small lineup in front of Maru De Sankaku (鯛白湯らーめん○de▽), which was an extreme rarity these days. So, without hesitation, I got right behind the queue.

Maru De Sankaku, the sister restaurant of the incredibly popular Zagin Soba (also on Aberdeen Street) is famous for its rich madai paitan (鯛白湯 or creamy snapper broth). They do go fast and furious everyday since only 150 bowls of the rich white broth are made available daily.

Madai broth ramen ($138) - I could smell the umami-rich broth from miles away. Needless to say, I had to sample a spoonful of the white broth before working on my noodles. This was so gooood. Very rich and sweet. Other than the rich snapper flavors, I could really taste something like clams in there (from the burst of sweetness)!

The noodles were very nice too. Stringy with lots of bite.

The barbecued pork was also fairly tasty (especially with the super milky broth). I like the shoulder part a little more than the belly.

The soft-boiled egg almost perfect.

It has to be the best Japanese ramen experience I had in a long long time. Too bad I only had half of my palate working today thanks to the anesthetics I had earlier. I think this warrants a second visit.

Food Rating: 7/10

Price: $$$

Address: G/F, 13 Aberdeen Street, Central, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Central

Tel: +852 2346-3889

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 9:30pm daily

The Tai Pan (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

The thing I remembered most about my little nugget's last birthday party was the fact that everyone was scrambling for facial masks. It was early February 2020. We just returned from our trip to Spain (Thank goodness we did.) and the news about the widespread plague was heating up. We had to cancel our planned party and downsized to a small one at a friend's clubhouse. But still there was optimism that the pandemic was going to be short lived but boy, we couldn't be more wrong. We have been living with it (the best we can) for more than a year now and it really doesn't look as if it's going to go away anytime soon.

Fast forward to 2021, little nugget's birthday is again coming up and I decided to host a small lunch for him. Where to host the celebration meal has given me headaches throughout the month of January until a colleague of mine told me about The Tai Pan at The Murray Hong Kong. Yes, I have been there before but he told me they allowed 3-4 people sitting at the same table as long as there's a plastic partition placed between the groups of two. Now, this would solve my problem (as I didn't want our group to be split into 3-4 tables).



We arrived early to make sure that our request was entertained and it was. In fact, they have already reserved a couple of sofa seats for us. which was very nice of them.

The food menu of The Tai Pan is spearheaded by Executive Chef Terrence Crandall who honed his skills across the United States before spending a 9-year stint at Peninsula Shanghai. I had the pleasure of dining at Sir Elly, the Michelin starred modern European restaurant at Peninsula Shanghai and I am fully expecting the same high quality here this afternoon. 

I always like having a lot of choices from a set lunch menu. With 7 starters and 8 main courses to choose from, it certainly meets my lofty expectation. 

Handcut octopus and scallop - This is a very busy dish with octopus, fresh scallop, golden leaf, soy, sake, yuzu cream and plum wine jelly all blended into a small disk. The plum wine jelly provided all the seasoning needed to complement the sweetness of the scallop and I thought the crispy bacon delivered the perfect finishing touch with its crunch.

Obsiblue prawns a la plancha - Almost everybody else took the Obsiblue prawns cooked with pistachio, parma ham, pumpkin seeds and curry oil instead. It was finished off beautifully with a rich and intense uni foam.

Interestingly, the dish came with a couple of wonton whose wrapper was made with crunchy celery root while it was filled with minced prawns (presumably the same Obsiblue prawn) inside.

I really like the execution of this dish from the prawns to the wonton but if I'm calling the shots here, I am not sure if I would have the Obsiblue prawns grilled. It sounded like a bit of a waste not to eat these blue prawns fresh. Perhaps something like a tartare to fully enjoy its delicate and sweet flavors. 

Slow-cooked veal - For main dish, I decided to have the slow-cooked veal which was served with diced potatoes, bacon, croutons, spinach and a light foie gras sauce.

The pastry wrapped around the veal was supposed to give it some crispy texture but I thought it was a little chewy at times.

Roasted Chilean seabass - This is a much better choice comparing to my slow-cooked veal (as I managed to steal some from the birthday boy). The perfectly cooked Chilean seabass had this wonderfully silky texture, working well with the cherry tomato, quinoa, and accompanying chilli tomato foam. Very impressive dish.

Dessert trolley was next but the birthday boy didn't get to choose his own dessert as the team here has already picked one for him.

If my memory serves me correctly, it was a banana coconut cake and look at the smile on my boy's face, he definitely loves it~

Raspberry cheesecake - I had the raspberry cheesecake myself.

The Murray was not known to have the best pastries in Hong Kong but this was pretty good.

Underneath the raspberry jelly was a thick layer of cream cheese, finished off nicely with what I thought was a traditional Graham cracker crust.

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: $$$$

Address: UG/F The Murray Hong Kong, 22 Cotton Tree Drive, Central, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Central

Tel: +852 3141-8888

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 6:30pm - 10:00pm

Golden Cafe 黃金冰室 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Statistics have showed that in 2020, there were actually more restaurant and cafe openings in Hong Kong than 2019, contrary to what we all thought with the pandemic and social distancing in full swing. Another day and another new cafe opened, this one in Fortress Hill where I happened to stumble upon.

I like visiting local cha chaan tangs so this new cafe called Golden Cafe (黃金冰室) is right up my alley.



A glass of pantyhose milk tea at a local cafe is a must.

I have been longing for a deep-fried chicken leg for months so I finally got my fix today. I thought it was just OK. Way too much herbs and spices. And the fries could have tasted a bit more like potato.

Price: $$$

Address: Shop I, G/F, Wah Hoi Mansion, 254-280 Electric Road, North Point, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Fortress Hill

Tel: +852 2816-6100