San Xi Lou (Coda Plaza, Garden Road)

San Xi Lou, which I have read in some blogs serves some of the best Sichuan food in Hong Kong. I went there twice, and order different dishes. Most dishes are great, and taste of the rich sichuan peppercorns, but the hotpot is just ain't worth the price.

House Specialty - Chicken in spicy oil

Dan Dan Mien was delicious, but the white pork with garlic in the background is worth trying , even for people who doesn't like to eat fatty meat.

Mafo Tofu

Gwei Lo Chicken - basically deep fried chicken with red chilli , very hot, very good

The square restaurant at Exchange Sq 2 (翠玉轩）

This Cantonese restaurant is supposed to have one Michelin Star rating. Service is average, but it is the place for some casual but innovative dim sum food. Prices is slightly expensive for Hong Kong, but it is not too expensive as well. The tofu and braised dishes are exceptional . I give it 4 stars!

The Square - a pretty chic place to have dim sum

Prawn dumpling with Lobster soup - Dumpling was cooked to perfection, but not the soup,one  can really skip this dish even though the name sounds so interesting.

Carp fish cakes - in some cantonese restaurants, it is well done, but the carp meat here smells fishly,and they used too much mandarin peel to cover the smell.

Pearl Chicken wrapped in Lotus Leaf - This is seriously good, I think it might be the best 珍珠鸡 I have ever eaten.

House specialty Jumbo Spring Roll - it is so good, my sister said that it is the best spring roll she has ever eaten in her entire life.

Turnip cake - this is pretty decent too, delicious but not surprising or spectacular.

Braised Tofu with Shitake Mushroom - the tofu is refined and smooth, the mushrooms are cooked to a great chewy, bouncy texture, and the braise sauce, just divine.It is the best dish of the lot ( despite its so-so appearance)

Braised Vermicelli with Duck and Preserved Vegetables - this dish is really simple, and delicious, and after so much food, makes you want to eat more!

One Harbour Road Grand Hyatt Hong kong

This is a classy place, I went there for dim sum and I thought the decor was a bit too classy for me, but the food, instead of being ostenstatious, was delicious, delightful and filled with subtle flavours. Dessert is no good, they are in serious need of a pastry chef. Again, it is expensive for Hong Kong, but really worth the experience though.

Not to mention the delicious XO sauces which doubles up as chilli sauce. Service of course, not cha cen teng standard, was typical hotel service.

Note my comments above about the classy decor, the table setting was equally classy. I really like the different porcelain plates in front of each of the diners.

Pastry with chicken and vegetables filling. It is traditional chinese chicken pie, but really really good, fantastic, divine.

Sea Whelk dumpling with meat & asparagus filling cooked with chinese wine - it is very delicious, but I didn't taste asparagus, nor meat, it taste more like minced fish meat, but still, it is a pretty good dumpling.

Assorted Mushroom dumplings - this is the real deal for dim sum, subtle, fresh, delicious...yum . special thing to note, the dumpling skin is rolled with bits of chinese parsley to give a splash of colour.

Cha Siew ( Honey Glazed BBQ pork) - the basic requirement for any Cantonese restaurants ( dim sum especially) is their Cha Siew. As the Cha Siew will go into a number of other dim sum dishes. The ones we had here was a good Cha Siew, and very fatty but the fats kinda melts in your mouth, not too sweet, and not too char at the edges, very balanced and very nice.

Pot Stickers - this picture doesn't do the dish too much justice, but rest assured, it is good pot stickers.I would rate it as above average.

stuffed lotus root & peppers - the stuffing is minced carp.The sauce is Szechuan style fried vegetables, this is a very very interesting dish.

Grissini's - Grand Hyatt Hong Kong

I had the chance to eat at Grissini's last night, not knowing anything beforehand, I went with zero expectations, and was pleasantly surprised by the amazing pasta dishes there.

Most importantly, Grissini's will bring out there signature long Grussini breadsticks , and ask for the olive oil and vinegar for dips. The balsalmico is aged beautifully and it is sweet yet strong at the same time. The pasta are generally really good. The pumpkin risotto is exceptional, and unfortunately, no wine that night, so I can't say what kind of good wine-food pairing there is. In all, service was very good, and the food - utterly enjoyable.

 It is a must-try for the real Italian taste - very expensive though. It is a good place to impress 1) your boss  2) your rich high-flying girlfriend  3)good friends who keeps complaining that you don't have a good taste in restaurants.

The Famous Grussini breadstick- they serve with butter first, and you have to ask for the olive oil and vinegar dip ! :(

Beef Carparcio - beef is good ( not fabulous) but combi of rocket leaves and shaved cheese on top makes it a great appetizer.

Grilled Assorted Vegetables - who can imagine grilled vegetables are divine, and indeed they are. It must be the olive oil.

Calamari Frites - My doctor told me to avoid squid and things alike, but I can't help but sneak a bit of this amazing dish.

Sardinia's sea urchin with spaghetti - anything tossed with the foie gras of the sea is a great dish.

Pumpkin risotto with melting Taleggio cheese - this is a truly great dish, complexities of flavours, texture..blah blah...you name it, you got it.

Hand-made tagliatelle with porcini mushroom sauce - the tagliatelle was delicious, this sauteed mushroom combination is always one of my favourites, it is very very delicious.

Bucatini alla amatriciana - basically Bucatini with pecorino and tomato base sauce. But this is really good stuff, the flipside is that the bucatini tends to be harder to get to the right al-dente-ness, but the sauce is absolutely fabulous, meaty, hearty, and gentle at the same time, seems like what an italian mama would make for her child. :)

This is the first of my Hangzhou food blogs, since I have been there almost 20 times, and been to a few interesting restaurants, and have improved on my knowledge of the innovative Zhejiang Cusine.

Zhejiang cusine , to my southern China tastebuds seems like a melange of Fujian thick sauce and big broths, Cantonese hot wok skills and Northern Chinese oily and intense flavours. It is not an entirely unpleasant experience, and their best dishes comes from the masculine dishes like Zhejiang Ribs and their fatty Dong Po meat. Their seafood dishes, however do lack the subtlety and delicacy of southern Chinese food like cantonese/Teochew dishes.

 

First coming up - Jade Chinos 玉玲珑- 172， 中山北路，杭州市

I have been there twice, and am impressed by being able to find such flanboyant food in China. The service is very good, and in general, there is a nice subtle pleasant taste to most of their dishes, which won't leave you suspecting whether they are using cheap oil or not.

In all, I would definately recommend this restaurant. But do always remember to have the Zhejiang meal with HuangJiu (黄酒） which is sake to Japanese food.

yellow tail fish with chives & crab roe ( with added chocolate sauce), not too special but nonetheless very nicely done.

mascapone cheese,walnuts & raisins on pear ( extremely refreshing, it hovers between being a dessert and being an appetiser)

House Foie Gras- I find it quite special that Foie Gras seemed to be at every other restaurants in Hangzhou. Unlike the French pan-fried Foie Gras ( which I am a big fan of), this is done cold, and taste more like pate rather than the fatty Foie Gras. The sweet sauce is not too bad either, but I rather have Foie Gras versione francaise anytime.

Seafood and four season peas(四季豆） in a deep-fried noodle basket. Delicious, with layers of different flavours and textures in your mouth.

Tofu with Soya milk and Black Sesame sauce, this dessert has a nice firm texture and the sauces themselves are absolutely divine. It is found in the appetizer list, so again, it is quite unusual.

House specialty- Stuffed Eggplant. I never thought stuffed eggplants could be that good. Stuffing is prk with water chestnuts,and the brown sauce on top was just strong and lip-smackingly delicious. They even seve with bonito flakes that swivels slightly on top of the eggplant.

Steamed Crab with Spare Ribs - This is a most surprising dish, very subtle taste of crab and meat blended together...super delicious.

Grappa's cellar, Jardine's House

This must be the second time I have been to Grappa's at Jardine's House, the first being 2 years ago..I never quite find the food memorable but it is pleasant in general, but the ambience on Saturday night was awesome! A live band/orchestra playing in the background, with a bunch of strangers dancing to the music, never quite thought that dancing like jive, swing and salsa was that enjoyable...what have I been missing out...

herb hand-made linguine : looks very good, but rosemary taste overpowers the real goodness of Alio Oglio

penne alla puttesca - the tomato sauce is well done, the taste of anchovies and olives is nicely blended into the tomato base, but the taste is a bit one-sided, and not enough to finish the dish.

gnocchi with cream sauce: gnocchi was very nicely done, sauce is a bit heavy though for my taste

tagiatelle a la funghi: gorgonzola cheese in the alfredo sauce, which gives it punch. A bit heavish but generally great pasta dish

Pesto Spaghetti- I always like pesto spaghetti, this taste of decent olive oil and great basil.

one more thing, they seem to have a rather extensive selection of wines as well.....reasonably priced.

Urban Farms and my first retrospective food post

Just watch TV "Ecopolis" and a Singaporean's ( some Mr Lin dude?) idea of urban farms -ie to grow vegetables in every high rise roof gardens, soiless hydroponic techniques on roof tops, facade do not even need extra structural loading, it will probably just drive the M&E engineer insane...

on the topic of vegetables: vegetable shoju ! a whisky-like japanese alcohol made from tomato, i had it in a Japanese onsen town local bar before.... its great that I can drink it in Hong Kong too! It taste like tomato infused with vodka, with the taste of freshly picked tomatoes accentuated 10 times ..wow! It is heavenly after a stressful day at work....

I think it would really go well with grilled fish...