Pulled "Meat" Burger @ Mandarin Oriental (Hong Kong)

When it comes to technicality, pulled burgers are often referred as pulled-pork burgers commonly found in the Midwest of the States. As the name suggests, pork is often the main ingredient. However, with a touch of creativity, fundamental concepts can be modified into new creation. We often describe culinary as an adventure and it is, chef continuously think of new approaches to improve or create interesting dishes based on familiar items. Chef at Cafe Causette at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong is preparing to offer a few of his versions of the familiar pulled "meat" burgers. No just pork anymore! As part the early bird tasting offer, between the 12 - 25 March 2012, you can try out the 5 mini Pulled "Meat" Burgers for a mere HKD88!! Cast your vote for your favourite flavor and the winning two (2) will be placed on the menu starting in April 2012!!! (don't worry, the final version will be full sized, not mini burgers!) ... Tried it already? Now cast your vote here > http://on.fb.me/zc0V2G 

"For Chang" Hot Pot 火井火鍋海鮮飯店 (Hong Kong)

The sudden drop of the temperature recently not only increased my appetite for something hearty, it made me crave for something more! Right now all I can think of in my head at this hour is a bowl of instant noodles with a few slices of spam and one fried egg sunny side up. But the lazy side of me took over because it would take too much effort to make those at this late hour. The next thing that appeared in my mind is hot pot because all we need is a pot of boiling water or stock to be exact and some fresh raw ingredients. A good soup base is very important indeed for such a cuisine and recently I discovered a new personal favourite here at "For Chang" Hot Pot tucked somewhere inside the Western district.

Flavours Asia (iPad App) - Wine Pairing made Easy

Wine pairing was never my thing but I have been learning, trying to pair different wines with different sort of food whenever possible. No, it is not an excuse to drink but part of a learning process. I think many would agree that Chinese food / wine pairing is difficult likely because of the wide range of flavors one would experience in one single meal. In many cases, quite a number of different types wines would be selected in one single Chinese meal to match the many individual dishes. Not an easy task for any sommelier in my opinion, not to mention for an average diner like myself with limited knowledge of wine.  A new iPad app named Flavors Asia may be able to assist those trying to enjoy matching wines while having a Chinese or even other Southeast Asian cuisines. This newly launched iPad app developed by Estates and Wines, the Moët Hennessy Wine Division, attempts to provide a solution for wine lovers when having difficulties in pairing wines with Asian food. It is this very app that interested me in attending the event. Without making a fuzz about it, I am sure it is quite obvious that the suggested wines in the app are all from their own unique collection such as Cloudy Bay, Cape Mentelle and Chandon.

Fat Siu Lau 2 佛笑樓餐廳 (Macau)

There are currently three outlets of Fat Siu Lau 佛笑樓餐廳 in Macau which serve so-called traditional Portuguese cuisines, but I would not call that authentic or by any means traditional per se because they are somewhat localized for many years already. My previous visits to the original outlet a year ago was boring and this visit to the newer outlet was utterly ... disappointing! I rarely use such strong words but it was not a good experience in my opinion. It is true that the restaurant has plenty of history to it but without good food or great services to offset each other, there isn't much history left to it. I have a feeling that the establishment / franchise has been expanding too rapidly over the last few years targeting tourists from all over Southeast Asia that the management has lost focus on its food.

Beijing Kitchen 滿堂彩 (Macau)

After my recent visit to Beijing Kitchen (滿堂彩) at Grand Hyatt Macau, it marked the end of my Hyatt's Peking Duck journey at three distinct locations across the Greater China region, namely, Sha Tin 18 (沙田18) at Hyatt Regency Hong Kong as well as Made in China (长安壹号) at Grand Hyatt Beijing. All 3 restaurants specializes in what we commonly known as Beijing cuisine 京菜 which is heavily influenced by Shandong cuisine 魯菜, the technically correct reference as to one of the Chinese Four or even Eight Regional Cuisines. I will leave this topic to a future post, for the time being I will focus on Peking duck. So in addition to the same cuisine specialization, all the 3 restaurants of different geographic locations have almost the SAME decor, same utensils and the identical semi-open kitchen design. Talk about uniformity and consistency ... except on the services aspects which I will shamelessly write about in details because I had two cups of coffee at 9pm and I am pretty awake now at 3:10am!

Celestial Court Chinese Restaurant 天寶閣中餐廳 (Hong Kong)

After my recent quest for suckling pig at the Kimberley Hotel, not only did I dream about it in a delicious way, I kept on thinking of returning soon. We named the little pig "Pepe the Piggy" for those interested to know and we were all looking forward to name another piggy asap! Some of my friends returned soon after and met "Kimmy the Piggy". While I am still planning for a return visit, I had the honor the meet "Cici the stuffed Piggy" at Celestial Court. It was a short encounter but a much needed one for me to realize how much I miss Pepe the Piggy.

Kimberley Chinese Restaurant 君怡閣中菜廳 (Hong Kong)

Slurp! Yeah, I overused this word recently but that is the most appropriate word to describe my experience at Kimberley Chinese Restaurant 君怡閣中菜廳.  Perhaps "Oh Slurp"would be more fitting? It was a foodies gathering with Mochachocolata Rita, TomEatsJenCook (+ the great coverage of the meal as well), HK Epicurus, @Supercharz, @Stegersaurus and @DimSumDiva. Not only did we enjoy the meal, we left with smiles and a few extra inches of waistline! This place has been awarded Bib Gourmands with Michelin 1* (thanks to Peech for pointing it out, a careless mistake on my part) but honestly not much of a meaning to me other than another ... reference from yet another food guide. Even when I am writing about it, I am thinking about the thin, crispy skin of the roasted piggy! Not just another piggy but Roasted Suckling Pig Stuffed with Sticky Rice (金陵乳豬)! Okay, I am way ahead of myself here! Let me start from the beginning!