品樂冰室 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

After a pretty busy three days of Chinese New Year celebration, I finally have a quiet day to chill out starting off with a morning game of squash at Lai Chi Kok Sports Centre in Mei Foo. When it comes to breakfast spots in Mei Foo, I have absolutely no clue where to go but was fortunate enough to stumble upon 品樂冰室 (no English name?) on my way over.



The iced milk tea was pretty disappointing right from the get go. It could have been more fragrant and silky smooth. And the balance of creaminess (not enough milk?) was definitely missing.

I ordered scrambled eggs, luncheon meat and butter toast to go with my instant noodles. This was largely OK except for the toast.....

The noodles came with preserved vegetables and a bit of minced pork but it was the broth that was the culprit here. Really watery and lacking flavors.

I read a few reviews on Google and the feedback was generally poor for this place. One guy mentioned that he dined here a few times and every time I got moved around from one table to another. Luckily, we didn't get the treatment. Well, perhaps we didn't stay long enough to be moved around.

Food Rating: 2.9/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop N20, G/F, Mei Foo Sun Chuen Stage V, 6A-6B Nassau Street, Mei Foo, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Mei Foo

Tel: +852 2720-3099

Opening Hours: 7:00am - 9:00pm (Fri - Wed)

Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

I have been thinking about having a decent meal to wrap up the Year of the Rabbit (兔年) on a high note. With my recent hiatus from the city's fine-dining scene, it wasn't all that difficult to find a high-end restaurant that I have never visited before. Just out of curiosity, I decided to ring up the recently opened Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic at Gloucester Tower in Central and amazingly, they've got a table for me on the Eve of Chinese New Year.

Behind the closed doors was the culinary world of renowned chef Anne-Sophie Pic in an impressive Baccarat setting.

I had the pleasure of dining at the prestigious three-Michelin-starred Maison Pic in Valence back in 2016 and was really blown away by Chef Pic's innovative take on classic French fine-dining. Eight years later right here at Cristal Room, I am expecting the same finesse and creativity. Needless to say, I am just sitting back, relax and enjoy this ride.

Before the amuse bouche arrived, I took some time to check out the stunning view from forty-four floors up.

Not only from my seats but up against the window too.

My highly anticipated lunch started with three lovely canapés. First up was a sweet corn pie tee with fillings of sweet corn foam and corn kernels. It was followed by a squid-ink wafer which was topped with pesto marinated squid tagliatelle and black garlic mayo. Last but not least, a Mimolette tartlet with variations of dill. 

Next up was homemade coffee and caraway seed bread served with pepper butter.

Hokkaido king crab, sobacha, geranium, tarragon – A refreshingly cold starter with floral notes sounded like the perfect way to kick off the meal on a chilly afternoon like this one. On the bottom of the dish was Hokkaido king crab meat seasoned with sobacha, or Japanese buckwheat tea, and accented with a touch of geranium. It was crowned nicely with a scoop of tarragon ice-cream. We have got some earthy notes from the tarragon, floral notes from geranium and sweetness of the crab meat. A really lovely mix of interesting flavors, I thought only some fruity acidity was missing here.

Les Berlingots ASP, Comté, truffle, pink pepper – The second dish of the lunch menu was Chef Pic's signature Berlingots, a goat cheese filled homemade triangle-shaped pasta served in a broth.

This version of the berlingots filled with 24 months aged Comté was served in an intense Roscoff onions consommé with Tuber Melanosporum truffle and pink pepper. A very nice, heart-warming dish for winter time.

Challans duck, eucalyptus, coffee, butternut squash, goji berries – My main course was thick-cut challans duck cooked with eucalyptus and coffee (can't recall having such thick-cut of Challan ducks before in my life. I need to go out more!). The duck itself wasn't bad but the sauce and condiments (i.e. goji berry chutney) were more on the sweet side. I was expecting something with acidity to help cut through the richness of the duck breast.

Le Millefeuille blanc, Tahitian vanilla, Jasmine jelly – Dessert was another signature dish from the highly decorated French chef who currently holds 10 Michelin stars.

The White millefeuille as she calls it, came in the shape of a perfectly seamless white cube.

Once I cracked the cube open, there were the layers of thin pastry interspersed with Jasmine jelly, vanilla cream and spiced with Madagascar pepper. So, it's got that savory-sweet flavor which I thought was always nice for a dessert.

Mignardises were rice pudding with geranium and genmaicha (thus the green color) and

chocolate tartlet with chocolate hojicha ganache. I don't think I can take on any more food. Not in a couple of hours.

I think that's more than a decent meal I just indulged myself in this afternoon. Largely considered one of the most successful female chefs in France, Chef Anne-Sophie Pic's cuisine is highlighted by its delicate elegance, striking a great balance between boldness and harmony. It's also very feminine, and appealing to both the eyes and the palate.

Food Rating: 7.5/10

Price: $$$$

Address: 44/F, Forty-Five, Gloucester Tower, Landmark Atrium, 15 Queen's Road Central, Central, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Central

Tel: +852 3501-8580

Website: https://cristalroombyasp.com/

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

Ichimoto Restaurant 一本冰室 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Work has brought me to a lot of interesting places (or districts) over the years and today, I got a tour on the quiet side of Hunghom district around Wuhu Street (蕪湖街). Also got the chance to circle around a handful of important landmarks in the area (not many of them to be honest) including Kwun Yam Temple (紅磡觀音廟), a temple built in 1873 during the Qing Dynasty.

Afterwards, I went looking for a place to sit down for a drink. I was expecting a ton of cha chaan tengs (local tea restaurants) in such an old neighbourhood but surprisingly, there weren't many available. At the end, I was happy to find Ichimoto Restaurant (一本冰室) near Exit B1 of Homantin Station (何文田站).

Pantyhose milk tea (絲襪奶茶) – To my pleasant surprise, the tea was strong and aromatic, enough to stand up to the rich flavor of the condensed milk. Pretty nice.

Hong Kong Style French Toast (懷舊西多士) – I was offered some butter without maple syrup so I immediately signaled for assistance. My server came over to check things out with me and replied that their version of French toast had condensed milk in the middle so supposingly, nothing except butter would be needed. But after I insisted having maple syrup on top of the condensed milk, he brought me a small bag of syrup at last.

This was OK. I thought the texture of the toast could be a little more pillowy but I would take this anytime (with the tea making up for it). 

This was the Kwun Yam Temple (觀音廟) I was talking about. It was home to the famous event of Kwun Yam Je Fu (觀音借庫), which Kwun Yam was supposed to be lending treasure (富) to ordinary people.

Food Rating: 4.5/10

Price: $$

Address: G/F, 185-187 Wuhu Street, Hung Hom, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Homantin

Tel: +852 2627-0608

Opening Hours: 6:30am - 10:00pm daily