Pierre Hermé IFC (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

One of the things I miss most during the pandemic is our annual trip to Europe. I particularly miss taking a slow walk along the trendy streets of Paris and 8th arrondissement. There are so much to see there from art galleries, cafes to boutiques and the list goes on.....  

Still remembered how we accidentally ran into L'Occitane x Pierre Hermé, a collaboration between the Picasso of Pastry and L'Occitane on our last trip to Paris. Since I haven't got anything from Pierre Hermé in recent memory, I thought I should swing by IFC for some of their delicious macarons. After all, I had a few coins to spend after attending a funeral early in the morning.

Believe it or not, I am a collector of Pierre Hermé's macaron boxes. I already have a few of them hidden in my drawer. I don't think I needed to be reminded of Les Champs-Élysées again. 

Unlike their outposts in France where you could actually get any number of macarons you like, here in Hong Kong they only offer their macarons in multiples of four.

I had trouble deciding which flavors to get. At the end of the day, I ended up sticking with some of my old favorites – Hazelnut & foie gras, Rose vanilla & clove, Salted-butter caramel and Pistachio praline.

Pistachio praline (Infiniment Praline Pistache) – My all-time favorite from Pierre Hermé. It never disappoints!

Somehow, Pierre Hermé always seems to taste a little better when we're in Paris. That's just how it works! Too bad it's going to be at least another year before we could consider a trip to the City of Light.

Food Rating: 6.5/10

Price: $$$$

Address: Shop 2029 2/F, IFC, 1 Harbour View Street, Central, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Hong Kong

Tel: +852 2833-5700

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 7:00pm (Mon - Thu), 10:30am - 7:30pm (Fri - Sun)

Gaddi's 吉地士 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

After a pretty good Cantonese lunch at Tin Lung Heen (天龍軒) yesterday, we followed it up with yet another highly anticipated lunch on the fourth day of Chinese New Year, this time a French gourmet lunch at Gaddi's (吉地士). 

It's always nice to be back at Gaddi's. The kitchen here is still helmed by Chef de Cuisine Albin Gobil but Xavier Boyer, Executive sous chef of The Peninsula Hong Kong (and former Chef de Cuisine of Gaddi's) has recently departed for Kaohsiung Taiwan on a new project.

We were again started off with some nice cheese puffs.

Little nugget couldn't stop eating them despite being very busy with his phone. 😆

Compared to the cheese puff, this warm brioche with smoked ham was way better. 

Today's amuse bouche was once again their modern "French onion soup".

The multi-layer onion soup came with braised shallot and onion jelly on the bottom, topped nicely by a flavorful onion foam.

Salmon gravlax, beetroot salad, fresh seaweed, Yarra Valley smoked salmon pearls – First up for me was Scottish salmon gravlax which has been cured with beetroot. It's right up my alley as I'm a sucker for anything with beetroot in it.

The sweetness of the beetroot really brought out the best of the Scottish salmon and it was matched superbly with the crunchy fresh seaweed and smoky salmon pearls. Very nice start. 

Pan-seared foie gras, butternut squash, passion fruit and basil – My self-imposed ban on having pan-seared foie gras was once again lifted for a day (it was lifted a couple of weeks ago at Caprice) because the thick-cut foie gras was way too much to pass up on.

The foie gras was seared to absolute perfection and while I like the sweetness from the butternut squash ravioli, I thought the strong acidity from the passion fruit wasn't something I would like in the mix. 

Atlantic cod loin, spelt risotto, calamari, Iberico chorizo – This was another beautiful dish.

The perfectly poached cod loin, topped with calamari, was served on a pool of delicate shellfish bisque with spelt risotto and diced chorizo. A nice mix of flavors and textures complemented admirably by the umami-rich and tangy sauce.

This guy was still busy.....

Valrhona Guanaja chocolate 70%, caramelized banana, chocolate ice-cream, chantilly cream – No one wanted the chocolate dessert so I decided to take a flyer on it.

The timeless combination of chocolate and caramelized banana never fails! Not surprisingly, the different textures of chocolate from the chocolate ice-cream to wafer, sponge and crumbs meshed well with the caramelized banana hidden on the bottom of the pile.

But I thought Jelloman's choice of Exotic mille-feuilles with pineapple compote, vanilla and coconut sorbet was even better. 

Petite fours were next.

And we all enjoyed a cup of tea following the sweet treats. Everyone looked relaxed and satisfied. 

After the meal, we walked over to Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade to soak up the spectacular views of the harbour.

While this turned out to be another awesome modern French meal for us, there was one single blemish - pacing. Despite the relatively small groups of diners, the kitchen did an awful job with pacing this afternoon. Some dishes were way more than half an hour apart making this simple 3-course journey a long and sometimes boring affair.

Food Rating: 7.5/10
Price: $$$$
Address: 1/F, The Peninsula Hong Kong, 22 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2696-6763
Website: www.peninsula.com/en/hong-kong/hotel-fine-dining/gaddis-french-restaurant
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 7:00pm - 10:30pm (Tue - Sat)

Five Guys Olympian City (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Following lunch at Elements Shopping Mall, we quickly ventured over to Olympian City where Jelloman was supposed to meet her departing colleague. She's returning to her home country, Sweden after almost a decade in Asia. With more than an hour to entertain my little nugget alone, I brought him all around the mall before stopping by the newly opened Five Guys.

It's his favorite place for a frosty milkshake.

Didn't take long for us to finish placing our order. Now, time to wait at the finish line.

At last, his favorite vanilla shake!

I love Five Guys' super thick milkshake too but I would definitely pick peanut butter over vanilla on any given day.

Of course, we needed to find a safe and isolated spot where we could take our masks off temporarily for a sip of our vanilla milkshake. This was soooo gooood!!!

Price: $$$

Address: Shop UG03, UG/F, Olympian City 2, 18 Hoi Ting Road, Tai Kok Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Olympic

Tel: +852 3616-0493

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm daily