Travel - Guam (Part 3/5)

The Maila Ta Fan Boka (Come, Let's Eat) started on a high note, as in the top floor of Hotel Nikko Guam. It was nothing overly formal, a brief introduction by the organizer and a breakfast session overlooking Guam's Tumon Bay. To my surprise, there were over 50 bloggers and representatives from various Asian countries attending this event, namely, Hong Kong, Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan and Philippines. For once, I feel very comfortable tweeting on the go because most people here are doing the same! We were encouraged to tweet, post or even blog on the go with the mobile devices provided. I think Hong Kong should try something like that both for the tourism and the promotion of digital media for what it is worth. I know it is kind of risky to bring out the topic of social / digital media but however you like to define it, it remains an area of growth and one that more people and businesses are trying to understand for its full potential. Anyhow, after breakfast, our first stop was a mango farm!

Whisk - Sunday Brunch

Sumptuous is often the word being used to describe Sunday Brunches and I could not agree more. I enjoy Sunday Brunches because I believe that after a week long work week, we all deserve a little break during the weekend, to enjoy good food with great company. Here at Whisk, they started offering Sunday Brunch recently with free-flowing Louis Roederer champagne as well. Unfortunately, unlikes other hotel establishments, there is not option to opt-out the champagne if I recall correctly. I have been to the Whisk a few times before but mostly for dinner and I enjoyed my stay the last few times. My favorites include the Suckling Pig (Signature dish) and the Apple Crisp (at least the original version being served in the baking pan, they have changed the serving methods and portion recently unfortunately)

Bistecca Italian Steak House

Although Bistecca belongs to the Dining Concept group just like Blue Smoke Bar-B-Que, the differences can be quite significant in terms of ... everything, in a positive way of course. It was for lunch and the place was filled with natural sun light and a very clean yet contemporary decor.

The Grill

I actually forgot when I visited, I just remembered it was a cold evening a few days before or after XMAS. The Grill at the Grand Hyatt is one of my favorite buffet venue not for its selection of items because there aren't many, but I quite enjoyed the pool side atmosphere and its focus on grill item. In any case, it was another Boring Meal to be honest.

MO Bar @ Landmark Mandarin Oriental

I always wanted to try MO Bar's breakfast buffet but since I am not an early person, I will give their brunch set a try first. Its atmosphere and decor are truly hip and trendy and I enjoy returning once in a while mostly for drinks. I seriously doubt that the place was designed for serving food in full scale or as a restaurant because those chairs / tables are definitely not what I call comfortable eating chairs. Perhaps it is just me and my semi-traditional mindset?

The selection of cold and hot dishes were only fair, I actually expected a bit more. The cold dishes include with various kinds of salads such as Mediterranean salad, chicken and cashew salad and other cold items as such sashimi, cold pasta, smoked salmon, hams, and oysters. There was the option to select a made-to-order hot item from the kitchen but we opted for the hot items from the table instead. The hot selection included a huge glazed ham and a huge beef wellington, yum yum!

Once again, the selection was decent and many of the items were fresh, I think it was more of the decor and atmosphere that I enjoyed, especially on a Sunday morning / afternoon.

There were only a handful of cheese selection and my personal favorite was the goat cheese.

They do offer a chocolate fountain but I didn't feel like chocolate this afternoon, I want something more fruity! :)

Likes:

• Hip and Trendy decor / atmosphere, good to spend a relaxing afternoon. Other same grade hotels which offer brunch are often jam packed.
  
• Beef Wellington - outer pastry was puffy (but rather too thick I think) and beef fillet was tender and beefy

Dislikes:

• Chairs & tables not really designed for full scale dining
• Food selection rather limited for a brunch (compared with other similar grade hotel)
  

Avg Spending: HKD 300 - 500 per person

MO Bar
G/F, Landmark Mandarin Oriental,
15 Queen's Road, Central
Tel: 2132 0077
http://www.mandarinoriental.com/landmark/dining/mo_bar/


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ISOLA Bar & Grill (Revisited)

I believe in the exploration of culture through food but to truly do that, I think it requires quite a bit of traveling as well because it is the local settings and people that are the best teachers to guide you through the journey. Italian cuisine is one my favorites and my belief is that many Italian dishes are very hearty, homely, rich in flavors and best enjoyed at home or over casual settings. Italian fine dining is not really my thing for some reasons but many upscale Italian restaurants are opening in town recently. I guess it is just me and the strange belief of mine then.

During the weekend ISOLA offers a special Weekend Lunch Menu which included an option of Antipasti e insalate al banco (selection of appetizers and salads from the buffet). The selection was decent with plenty of greens, seafood and meats. My favorite was of course the couscous, couscous, couscous, couscous and more couscous!

For main, my cousin ordered the Tagliolini freschi alla pescatora (home made tagliolini with mixed seafood and cherry tomato sauce). He said it was al dente but flavor was a bit weak. Should have grabbed some from him to try myself!

I did not feel like pasta so instead ordered the Filetto di sofliola alla Riminese (fillet of sole with aromatic bread crumbs and vegetables). The fish was fresh, texture was tender with thin batter but the flavor was overly salty.

For dessert, it was buffet style again. The selection was fair but it was the view overlooking the harbor from the dessert section that impressed me most.

Among the dessert selection, it was the cute mini meringue tarts that made me smile. Although they were too sweet for my taste buds, they were perfect to end the meal with on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Likes:

• View overlooking Victoria Harbor
• Decent selection of appetizers and salads from the buffet
• couscous and more couscous!

Dislikes:

• Filetto di sofliola alla Riminese (fillet of sole with aromatic bread crumbs and vegetables) - flavor too rich, too salty
• Service was a bit slow, perhaps it was due to peak brunch hours

Avg Spending: HKD 200 - 300 per person

ISOLA Bar & Grill
Shop 3071-3075, 3/F
IFC Mall, Central
Tel: : 2383 8765
http://www.isolabarandgrill.com/


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Fire @ W Hotels

The last time I had Brazilian churrasco was many years in Montreal. Back then I can consume a lot of meat, way more than I can now. Actually back then, I can consume a lot of many things as well. I remembered how delighted I was too see all the meat coming non-stop one after another for my tasting. O well, that was then; now, I cannot even finish a 12oz steak together with the a few side dishes (plus a salad) without taking a little chewing break. With my friend's invitation to Fire for its Brazilian churrasco promotion, I was here to test the size of my stomach!



My previous visits to Fire was prior the start of my food blog so I treated this visit as a brand new adventure. To match its theme, the color red was predominately used throughout the restaurant and the space-tunnel like hallway accompanied by the red floor LED lights would lead to you the main dining room. Again, all you see is the color red everywhere mixed with black which was very trendy and hip in my opinion. The decor and environment was nice but the red chair was not the most comfortable in my opinion because the two so-called "arm rests" would block your elbows one way or the other when you are trying to cut your meat. You might have to sit very upright to avoid this situation. If you opt for the sofa seat, you would be fine and comfortable.



So what exactly is a Churrasco? It is basically grilled meat on skewers and in a Churrascaria (restaurant serving churrasco), waiters would walk around with the skewers and then cut & serve them directly at your table.



At a Churrascaria, it usually comes with a little chip with one side saying SIM POR FAVOR - [Yes, Please](Green) & the other NAO OBRIGADO [No, Thank You](Red). If you want more meat to be served, simply flip the chip to the Green side and your meat will arrive very soon. If otherwise, flip over to the Red side to take a little break which I took many times during this meal.



(1) Starters
The starters involve many items, notably deep fried polenta, deep fried banana, heart of palm salad and fried pastry with minced meat. Along with the starters were various sauces and salt but as I am going to review, many of the items were with strong flavors that such additions were not needed. The deep fried banana was very nice and the polenta as well. My favorite has to be the heart of palm which was a refreshing and delightful item to start the meal.



(2) Churrascaria cuts
The were a list of various meats and items that were being offered / brought to the table every 5 mins or so. Food will continue to come as long as you have the green SIM POR FAVOR chip facing up. Items include, garlic bread, lamb rack, chicken with bacon, pork rib, tenderloin (aka Fillet Mignon), top sirloin, sirloin, chicken legs, beef rib, sausage (pork & beef) and chicken hearts. I did not take pictures of all the items because they came so fast one after another and my plate was full of various meats and did not look pretty at all!



Among all the above items, the beef ribs were the best in my opinion. The meat was tender and juicy while chewy for those along the bones. Another positive thing was that it was not as salty as other items such as the sausage, lamb rack and chicken hearts. The chicken with bacon (aka bacon wrapped chicken, cocktail style) was nice as well in terms of the combination of flavors and texture. For the beef / steaks, there were three kinds and among them the tenderloin was the best because it was the least dry. The top sirloin was so dry that I could not finish it even though it grilled medium-rare. The sirloin was a bit moist but still in the "dry" category in my opinion. One possible reason can be because it was the most outer layer of the steak that was being served / cut. (maybe that was the traditional way to cut & serve it?) Anyhow, almost forgot to mention that the garlic bread was above average, likely the style whereby the use raw garlic and rub onto the bread before baking / grilled. Honestly, one round of each item was more than enough for my stomach!! My stomach has failed me, failed the elasticity test! (... hummm ... maybe such failure can be a positive thing actually, right?)



(3) Side Dishes
There were grilled egg plants, pot of Brazilian beans stew, marinated artichokes and braised cabbage as the side dishes. Most of the items were slightly vinegar-y which were great matches with all the various grilled meats. The stew was the only item we did not finish because it was very filling indeed.



(4) Grilled pineapple dusted with cinnamon powder
One of the highlights of the night, at least my own highlight, was the grilled pineapple!! I have been waiting for this to be served from the start! I am not a big fan of cinnamon, but when being served this way, I have no complaints! It was warm, sweet and juicy (literally!)!



The service was great and very attentive throughout the meal but apparently, the restaurant management is very serious in protecting the privacy of the guests, which is wonderful & thoughtful indeed in my opinion, but they are quite sensitive with picture taking activities within the dining area especially if your pictures would capture other guests. One better asks / informs them in advance just in case. Anyhow, it is just a friendly reminder to those wishing to come here. Overall, this place is a very nice and lovely place for two. I would definitely come back again and try their normal lunch offerings. Also, I hope they would come up with more joint promotions or special offerings in the near future.

Likes:

• Decor / Environment
• Beef Ribs !
• Grilled Pineapple !!

Dislikes

• Slightly salty for most meats
• The various items came too quickly, one soon after another. Of course we can use the Red chip to slow down the serving but I found myself checking out the skewers anyhow because I was afraid I was going to miss out something special!!

Avg Spending: Above HKD 500 per person

Fire
1/F, W Hotel (Elements),
1 Austin Road West,
Tel: 3717 2848


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Kitchen @ W Hotel (Revisted)

The Five Ws are Why, What, Where, Who, When and I ask myself the 5 Ws everyday. Why did I now start this food blog sooner? What cuisine should I try next? Where am I going to eat next? Who am I going to invite next? and When should I start exercising more after eating so much? For this Sunday brunch today, I headed to yet another W! My friend invited me to try W Hotel's Sunday Champagne brunch because she tried it a few months ago and enjoyed it very much especially with the various seafood selection. When I arrived at the Kitchen restaurant around 11:50am, I was kindly asked to wait for another 10mins until noon when the brunch session official starts. Fair enough. For the next 10 mins, I wandered around the floor and took some pictures with the beautiful sunshine flooding in. It was at the same time I realized that the Sunday Champagne brunch has a special theme for today, a New Orleans' Jazz theme focusing on New Orleans' cuisines. (bye bye to the wide selection of seafood!!)



I was the first one to arrive and got assigned a table at the very far end of the dining hall which was good because the center area was pretty noisy based on my previous visit to the Kitchen.



I took the advantage of my early arrival and invited myself to take a look at the buffet area hiding on the other side of the restaurant. There I met (Culinary Director) Chef Curt Saasak who was doing a final check on the serving area. I took this valuable opportunity and exchanged a few conversations with him. The most important information from our brief encounter was that in a month's time, the Kitchen is going to have a Seafood theme for its Sunday Champagne Brunch. Horray !!



Since it was a buffet style brunch, I would only review on selected items which I think are worth mentioning, both positive and negative comments. After my chat with Head Chef Curt, he now knows that I like seafood so he asked one of his sous chefs behind the counter to prepare us some Oyster Rockefeller. It was not as good as I expected. Based on my understanding, Oyster Rockefeller can be baked or broiled and for the Oyster Rockefeller being served, they were more like the broiled style but I think they were a bit under-broiled because the oysters were not heated very evenly. But hey, the special treatment made a world of differences to me.



Before heading back for another round of food, I took a few pictures of the serving area. I like its open kitchen arrangement but it would be tough for the staff behind the counter because it can be pretty stressful with all the customers watching their every move. Oh yeah, I really liked their freshly squeezed juice (without added sugar) in the pretty individual bottles.




I almost forgot to mention about one of the key items of this brunch, the champagne. Not bad at all. It is sightly sweet in flavor and easy to drink compared with the one being served at the Oyster and Wine Bar's Sunday Champagne Brunch at Sheraton. (I think the brand was Mumm's) Not bad at all.



Time to head back for more food. The raw oysters being served were not the best nor the freshest in my opinion. Also, a big thumbs down on the fact (or so I assumed based on my humble experiences) that they used distill water to clean the oyster, washing out the "sea-water" within the oyster shell. It is most often the taste and flavors of the sea-water inside the oyster shell that distinguish or even elevate the savoring sweetness of oysters and give the individual oysters their unique characteristics. Very disappointing on the oysters. As for the shrimps, they were not as big as the cocktail shrimps offered at the Sheraton but they were pretty fresh. Even for smoked salmon which I loved, they have various interesting flavors such as lemongrass and beet roots.



In addition to pre-cooked items, they also offer on-demand / made-to-order items ranging from salmon steak, rack lamb, steak and various other kinds of meat and fish. The way you pick them is to select the actual raw ingredient you want from the open fridge near the juice area and they will prepare it for you right away (and deliver to your table when done.) No worries about getting your hands dirty because the raw ingredients are all individually wrapped / sealed. A nice touch for great interaction. I order the rack lamb and with the current theme, it was made with special New Orleans' sauce which I am still trying to figure out what that is. (I think it is rosemary and mustard sauce, maybe? But what was the orange color came from? ... hummm ) Anyhow, it was very well prepared with a strong rosemary flavor to it. It was cooked medium the way I like it for lamb.



After several more rounds of food, it was time to for some desserts. I was surprised to see that they have Apple Crumble and Bread Pudding, both of which I heart. However, the apple mixture / fillings were too sweet and the bread element of the bread pudding was too "bread-y." Argh, where can I find a good bread pudding (or bread and butter pudding) in Hong Kong? Where can I find good bread pudding? Why is it so hard to find? Who can recommend me a place? When can have taste it? What makes it so difficult to make? The 5 Ws again!



To end the brunch, I order a cappuccino. Interesting use of cup for cappuccino but I guess it matched the decor of the restaurant with various silver wares hanging everywhere. The foam was of the creamy type (instead of the foamy) which I like; but the espresso blend used was rather weak in my opinion. Maybe an extra shot would do the trick.



The brunch was not the best I had before but it was decent enough considering the decor, service and environment. The food selection was rather limited in my opinion, especially in the seafood department. Maybe it was the New Orleans theme that they are doing right now, hopefully the seafood brunch in the coming months would surprise me. In the meanwhile, I think I will stick with Sheraton's Oyster and Wine Bar Sunday Champagne Brunch. (yet to be reviewed on this blog)

Likes:

• Champagne
• Rack Lamb - the sauce was new (although still trying to figure out what exactly the sauce is)
• the ambiance (because of the amount of sun lights and the background Jazz music due to the New Orleans theme.)
  

Dislikes:

• Raw Oysters - I think they cleaned them with distill water, the sea water taste was gone!
• Oyster Rockefeller - rather disappointing, a bit under-broiled
• Apple Crumble & Bread Pudding - Disappointing! One was too sweet and one was too bread-y
  

Avg Spending: Above HKD 500

Kitchen
6/F, W Hotel,
1 Austin Road West (Elements)
Tel: 3717 2299
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/whotels/index.html

The Lounge - JW Marriott HK

I am not a big fan of buffet, but I am a big fan of DIY buffet! JW Marriott's lunch buffet at The Lounge is one of very few buffets in Hong Kong I like. There aren't much I can comment on in terms of cooking quality because what they offered here are mostly raw ingredients, so I can instead comment on the freshness of the ingredients. Therefore, food quality is not the major reason that attracted me to come but the Do-It-Yourself concept. There buffet selections seem to have changed compared with my last visit. They now offer the following categories: Salad Only, Noodles Only, Indian Only and Complete Set which included all the options. No more steak / roast beef options. I picked the Complete Set as usual because I aim to DIY the Salad and Noodles!

One thing I don't like about having lunch here is that they might place your in the Q88 Wine Bar area where the tables are chairs are more suited for bar snacks and not for a proper meal environment. Really depends on your luck I guess, but it seems that there are less people coming here for lunch compared with a year ago, so there should be enough tables to go around. Anyhow, back to the buffet ! There were plenty of greens to select from as well as plenty of diced ingredients such as mushrooms, chicken breasts, hams, olives and various condiments. Also, it is always a pleasure to see watch your salad being mixed at the spinning station.

I like my salad with the following basic ingredients: various greens (randomly picked), eggs, black olives, chicken breasts, diced hams, diced turkey ham, sweet corn, cherry tomatoes, shrimps and mushrooms. Dressing I like balsamic vinegar. This my personal preference only ! Most of the items were fresh but the shrimps were a disappointment because they tasted so frozen !

As mentioned, there isn't much cooking skill required and that applies to the noodles bar as well. However, I do admire how the cooks remained so organized through the busy hours with random people shoving them the raw ingredients and still managed to cook different ingredients in the proper order to avoid overcooking items such as beef. Very impressed and enjoyed watching them prepare. For the noodles ingredients, the selections seem to be greater than the salad bar but many are not meant to be mixed together in one single round in my opinion, for example different types of noodles and soup bases. Then again, I guess nothing is stopping you from selecting little of each types of noodles into one single bowl to your liking. I don't have a particular preference with noodles selection but usually would include wantons, shrimps and fish balls. It was the same for today with a bit more mushroom and some beef slices. As for the soup base I picked Bak Kut Teh, but the soup was rather light. My friend picked the Laska soup but it was very light as well. The raw shrimps on the other hand were much better than expected, fresh and didn't taste frozen at all.

Likes:

• DIY concept
• Fresh Ingredients

Dislikes:

• Seating (if placed you in the Q88 Wine Bar area)
• Weak / Light Soup bases
• The spinning station line up can get pretty long during peak hours.

The Lounge
Lobby Level, JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong,
Pacific Place, 88 Queensway
Admiralty, Hong Kong
Tel: 2841 3846