Se Wong Sun 蛇王燊 (Sun's Snake Shop)

Christmas without snow I am fine with but I don't like warm Christmas unless you are referring to the warming love we share with each other! The weather is soon to turn cold in Hong Kong and hopefully the Hong Kong Observatory is accurate this time. In order to prepare myself for a cold Christmas, my friend and I ventured into the old neighborhood of Wan Chai for a more exotic and heart warming lunch: snake!



The store front was small with only a dozen or so chairs inside. I am not a person who likes to wait in line so I was already looking around for another restaurant near by that specializes in snake. Fortunately the man behind the counter informed us that we can go ahead with the orders and would be escorted to their secondary dining area across the street. Great! Among the various set lunches, I picked one which I can have as much snake as possible!! Wait! Where were the real snakes??? I came all the way to take some pictures of those snakes?? No snakes were in sight, very disappointed!!



(1) Snake Soup with & without meats
The set came with two soups, one with just the soup and one with snake meats plus other shredded ingredients. I started with the one with the meats and they tasted like chicken too me. The flavors were strong with traces of Chinese herbs. Even the texture of the snake meats was similar to that of chicken in my opinion. It was good, plenty of ingredients in the bowl and it really started to warm up my heart halfway through, perhaps it was the heat from the liquid or the snake meats were doing the trick!



As for the soup without the meat, wow, it was strong and rich! It was the same kind of soup but 3 times stronger!! I still don't understand why there were two soups in one set, there has to be a reason!



(2) Hot Clay Pot Rice with Snake Belly Meats and Fish Maw
It was sizzling when it arrived and the steam coming out of it made the picture taking process very difficult! The combination of snake meats and fish maw was rather interesting but surprisingly pleasant in terms of flavors and textures. Instead of the meaty part of the snake, snake belly was used. It was slightly chewy like fish skins (actually it looked like fish skins to me if I didn't know it was snake) and the same applies to the Fish Maw. A bit more soy sauce would be nice but the slightly marinated snake belly and Chinese mushroom provided sufficient flavors as well. At this point, my body was really warmed up!!

Likes:

• Rich and strong Snake Soup with Snake Meat, really warmed my body!!
• Very interesting combination of snake meats and fish maw.
  

Dislikes:

• Very few brunt rice sticking to the pot, those were the essence of hot clay pot rice!
• Disappointed that I did not get the chance to see those real snakes!!
  

Avg Spending: Below HKD 100 per person

Se Wong Sun 蛇王燊 (Sun's Snake Shop)
G/F, Fortune Mansion, Cross Street, Wan Chai
Tel: 2891 6639


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Sushi Takasei 孝勢壽司

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. Japanese cuisine at all level is one of the few which I think one can experience its culture, history and perhaps traditions all at once. Japanese dishes tend to be very delicate and detailed in every single aspect, be it presentation or the marriage of flavors & texture. It is in the details that the Japanese excel over many other cultures likely because of its history, nation's geography and its lack of natural resources which cause them to master the skills in fine details to create the necessary competitive advantages. Just my 2 cents!

My exploration for this day was Sushi Takasei at the Whampoa Garden!

(1) Free Choice Sushi Set KAKO
Chawanmushi is of my favorite Japanese dishes but the one served was average only with a well balanced flavors but a bit over-cooked / steamed.



Sushi did not originate from Japan but China, and it gradually evolved overtime to become one of the signature food items of Japan. The set let you select up two 12 different kinds of fish from the given menu. I selected some of my favorites such as Sardine, Chub Mackerel, Gizzard Shad, Sole Fin and Skipjack tuna.



The fishes were quite refresh in my opinion and the preserved variations were equally well prepared in terms of flavors. However, the rice of the nigiri sushi was a bit loose, not as tight as I hoped. Perhaps it was because mine was not prepared by the sushi chef himself but the sous chef? It was rather loosely shaped, very easy to break apart even when I use my hand to pick up.





One other thing worth mention was their use of freshly grind-ed wasabi which made a huge difference with the overall flavors.

Likes:

• Large selection of relatively fresh fish for the sushi set

Dislikes:

• Chawanmushi was a bit overcooked
• The rice was good but the rice of the nigiri sushi was very loose - rather disappointing
• location is not the most convenient for people living out the area.

Avg Spending: HKD 100 - 200 per person

Sushi Takasei 孝勢壽司
Shop G22A , G/F, Site 11, Whampoa Garden,
Wonderful Worlds of Whampoa, 6 Tak Hong Street,
Hung Hom
Tel: 2363 6113


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Japanese Beef Curry with Fish Rolls!

Inspired once again by Mochachocolata Rita's recipe, I was back in the kitchen sooner than I expected. With my strong craving for curry this very evening, I decided to make Japanese Beef Curry with Cheese Fish Rolls. Why cheese fish rolls you ask? Why not? Spotted them while at the supermarket and thought it would go pretty well with the curry (and it did). Who's there to complain anyhow, me? nah! ^^

Recipe

• olive oil, pepper and Parsley flakes
• a pack of thickly sliced beef (saves time!)
• a pack of 5 Cheechiku [Fish Rolls]
• a pack of baby carrots (no cutting required! woohoo!)
• a box of Japanese curry brick of your liking (usually comes in long rectangular blocks, 2 long blocks should be more than enough for 1-person serving)
• one onion (chopped into chunks)
• two small potatoes (chopped into chunks, the peeling took a bit of time but not too hard. If I am doing it, it cannot be that difficult! Having a peeler would help!)

Step 1

Heat up the pot with some olive oil. Add in the sliced beef along with the fish rolls. You don't want to fully cook the beef, just want to trap in the juice, so just stir fry it for 2 mins or so until both sides of the thickly sliced beef turned brown. Set aside.

Step 2

Put in a tablespoon of olive oil back into the pot. Add in the chopped onion together with the baby carrots and potatoes. Keep stirring until the onion starts to turn brownish or you start to smell the scent of cooked onion. Add some pepper in for the flavors.

Step 3

I don't have a measuring cup so perhaps add about 1.5 rice bowl worth of water in (approx 300ml??) or just enough the cover the stuff in the pot. Now turn down the heat by one level and let it simmer for 15 mins without covering the top. You want to soften the potatoes by doing so. Now go watch TV, play Facebook or Twitter.

Step 4

Add in 2 long rectangular block of curry and let them do the magic! Let the semi-stew simmer for another 5 mins or so. Time for more TV!

Step 5

The curry should have thickened and excess water should have reduced quite a bit. Add in the beef and the cheese fish rolls. Stir and mix well. (I like my curry thick ^^)

Step 6

Let it simmer at low heat for 2 mins and serve with rice! Top the dish with some Parsley flakes if desired.

I should have skipped the potatoes because with the rice, it was really too much for my little stomach! Then again, I don't like to see my own cooking going to waste, so I slowly but confidently cleaned the whole plate! Carbohydrate overloaded!!

Posto Pubblico

I had no clue that it was the opening night for this restaurant when I stepped into it and no wonder it was so crowded! The front half of the establishment was occupied by the bar area so my friend and I had to squeeze through the crowd to get into the main dining area. It wasn't as big as I imagined, with only a dozen or so tables from a quick scan.

The first thing you will see when you enter the dining area is the open kitchen RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of the premise. A bold move indeed to have such a huge open kitchen smack in the middle of the restaurant. (Did I mention that there is a NO SERVICE CHARGE POLICY? and it said on the menu that "when it comes to tipping, whatever you feel reflects the meal") Yet another bold move by Hong Kong's standard of course! (the no service charge policy is how it always works in many parts of the world to my humble knowledge, ie: United States. TIPS are always extra, on top of the bill and not included)

Aside from the above-mentioned, the decor was very nice with brick styled walls and has a true bistro feel to it. There were many items on the minimalistic menu that I wasn't sure what they were so I asked the waitstaff in explain to us in details. Throughout our attempt to ask the waitstaff to translate many of the items in Italian that we were unfamiliar with, the following two words were being repeated many times: Organic & Homemade. Alright, I get it, your ingredients are mostly organic and most pasta (& sauces) were homemade (including the Mozzarella cheese). Hence the homemade bread basket arrived soon after ordering.

(1) Roasted Potatoes, Rosemary
The skin was crisp and the potatoes were still very hot. The waitress informed me when ordering that the potatoes would be a bit on the sweet side but I found it quite the opposite. The rosemary was more to show than anything else because I did not really notice much rosemary flavors. In any case, it was a nice dish to start with; o o o crispy skinned hot and mushy roasted potatoes, my favorite!



(2) Beets & Leaves, Ricotta, Salata, Pin Nuts
The organic beets, as repeated by the waitress, were nice but no surprised here. The Ricotta was not as strong as I hoped.



(3) Cacio e Pepe Pasta
So what exactly is Cacio e Pepe? It is a traditional Italian pasta with pecorino romano sheep cheese and black pepper. You really have to know your pasta in order to come here. I had to ask in quite a detailed manner to know what they are because I had no clue but I am learning new things about food everyday and I am enjoying every second of it! I tried some and the pasta was al dente indeed (perhaps slightly, just slightly undercooked). Cheese flavor was rich and strong. Simple yet satisfying.



(4) Bombardoni Pubblico Veal, Pork, Beef

The bombardoni was al dente but the sauce was rather salty to my likely, a bit strong in terms of flavors but by no means bad. Italian pasta sauces tend to be quite rich and strong to my understanding, but it was too strong for me. Obviously with the strong flavors I could not really distinguish the various meat being used but it was a comforting dish indeed.

Note to self: I think it is I either use the flash or buy a DSLR. Tough decision indeed!

Likes:

• Roasted Potatoes - skin crisp, hot and mushy in the inside.
• Cacio e Pepe Pasta - rich cheese flavors and a simple pasta dish
• The relatively massive open kitchen was a nice touch (and yet bold move). Every square inch is valuable real estate especially in Hong Kong.
  

Dislikes:

• It gets quite NOISY when full house!
• The table arrangement was quite packed within the dining area

Avg Spending: HKD 200 - 300 per person

Check out CNNGo's review on Posto Pubblico as well!

Posto Pubblico
G/F, 28 Elgin Street, Central
Tel: 2577 7160


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Drunken Chicken with Green Onion and Ginger

What to do with your leftover chicken? Simple, cook it with ginger, green onion and wine (or Japanese Sake)! Perhaps there are similar recipes out there but for me, it is inspired by the ginger and green onion sauce we dip our chicken pieces in at those Chinese BBQ / Roast Meat restaurants. I do wonder if this is real cooking but hey, I need to step into the kitchen and turn on my stove right? Also, I often add or take away steps when following a certain recipe, I guess I am making my own recipe in a sense. Perhaps this leftover chicken dish cab be considered as one of those creative dishes? Anyhow, before moving on, one thing to note, there are a few unique characteristics to my cooking:

1. Simple and Fast (usually preparation + cooking + TV time less than 40 mins)
2. Maximize the use of whatever I have at home (definitely not a lot)
3. As few dishes to wash as possible (very important element because I hate to wash dishes!)
   
   

Recipe

• Leftover chicken (cooked)
  
• Olive oil
  
• Green Onion (casually chopped) - depends how much you like onion
  
• Ginger (finely chopped) - a piece as big as a tablespoon should be fine for half a chicken
  
• Ready-to-use, Garlic Powder, Black Pepper and Parsley Flakes
• Japanese Sake - several tablespoons (feel like adding some since I have some at home and the rest? I am having a glass right now!)

The finely chopped ginger was a bit tricky because I don't have a blender and even if I have one I wasn't going to use it because it would be too hard to clean! What I did first was to chop them into smaller rectangular pieces then hold down the tip of the knife and pivot around the tip while chopping through the gingers.

Step 1

Heat up frying pan (med heat) with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add in the chicken. Make sure the chicken are dry if you want them to turn golden brownish. Add in 2 tablespoons of Japanese sake (or more if desired). Add some pepper then stir fry the chicken for another 2 minutes and set aside. Whether you want to clean the frying before moving on is entirely up to you. (I didn't ... hate to wash more than necessary lolz ... )

Step 2

2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil onto heated frying pan. Add the finely chopped ginger and let it simmer in the olive oil for 1 min or so before adding the chopped green onion. Mix it a bit and add some garlic powder.

Step 3

Add in the chicken and mix with the ginger and onion thoroughly. Add some pepper to it and stir it for a bit longer for about 2 minutes or so.

Step 4
Add in some Parsley flakes when plating.

A perfect dish to go with white rice in my opinion especially with the sauce! I think I put in a bit too much olive oil but good that olive oil is slightly better than vegetable oil, right? The amount of salt / garlic powder you need to add to the chicken depends on the type of leftover chicken you have. For example, if it was soy chicken, a bit of salt might be needed, if it was "salt baked" chicken, please skip the salt!

Tai Hing New Century 太興新世代

I really need to control my sudden cravings for certain food. It is not an easy thing to do but I need to try harder! However, my craving for roasted pork had won the battle for the night, hence my visit to Tai Hing New Century (太興新世代).

I always wondered about the meaning of "New Century" at this Chinese BBQ Meat joint, my first take on its meaning would be its selection of fusion dishes such a baked wasabi roasted pork with rice. When we talk about the origin of fusion cuisine, we often reference it to the rise of nouvelle cuisine in France in the 1970s whereby elements of French and Japanese cooking were combined. However, my foodie friend Babedolphin enlightened me one day by pointing me to look around more closely and one shall find that Hong Kong is perhaps the grandfather of all fusion cuisines! Highly possible indeed! Helloooo ... Baked pork chop with fried rice? Ham and egg macaroni in soup? Super tender steak drowned in baking soda? One of the best examples is famous Tai Ping Koon which was established in 1860 (or Qing Dynasty-10th year of Xianfeng if that makes a difference).

(1) Soy Chicken and Roast Pork with Rice

The rice was ridiculous hard, dry and overly crisp! It was perfect for fried rice but not as white rice!!! What else? The roast pork was hard, dry and overly TOUGH! Not that I count every time, I usually chew my food for about 20 - 25 times (for better digestion, perhaps 30 would be ideal) but for this tough piece of roasted pork, 35 chews would get you nowhere, 40 times would be more like it. I literally got tired of chewing after 3 pieces and let them as they were. The chicken was fair I guess, I had no more energy to chew through the chicken, the rice and the vegetables! Is that the meaning of New Century? Is that how the rice and pork should be??

Likes:

• afraid none so far, perhaps bright setting?? o well ...

Dislikes:

• Rice = hard, dry and crisp, perfect for fried rice but not white rice!
• Roasted pork = hard, dry and overly tough!

Avg Spending: Below HKD 100 per person

Tai Hing New Century
Shop 108-109, 1/F, Site 8, Whampoa Garden, Wonderful Worlds of Whampoa,
7 Tak On Street, Hung Hom
Tel: 2330 6502


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Caprice - A Journey into the Land of Cheese!

Just in case you don't know, Caprice at the Four Seasons Hong Kong was just awarded the Michelin 3-Star status. A big congratulations to the whole team! Only a few days after the announcement, I was back at Caprice for a cheese class taught by Jean-Francois Antony, son of the famous affineur Bernard Antony whose cheese can be found in many Michelin starred restaurants around the world, including Caprice of course. All I can say at this moment is that I had an amazing journey into the land of cheese. Not only were we able to try several types of cheese, they were accompanied by carefully selected wines to match them. As I mentioned before on my previous visit to Caprice, I am a newbie with cheese but I know for a fact that I have fallen deeply in love with cheese!



The class was held inside the cheese / wine cellar and as soon as I stepped into the room, I was surrounded by the wonderful scent of cheese. Sorry, I meant to say I was HUGGED by the scent of cheese all around me! I was indeed hard to concentrate on the history and details being taught when you are in a room full of cheese! In the middle of the room was a huge cheeseboard which I assume was cut directly from a very old oak tree. Each student was provided not just with lecture materials but ... o my, they have prepared sets of detailed description and history of each cheese we were tasting along with the pairing wines ... as well as Kodak pictures of the respective cheeses for our further reference! It is always the finer touch of things that made a world of differences in my opinion! Plus, we were all given a new Caprice apron! Woohoo! Time to put the apron to good use and start cooking more perhaps?



I am going to try my best to describe my experience because it is not easy to do so especially when all you can think about was more cheeseeeeee please!!!



(1) Selles-Sur-Cher (paired with Joseph Mellot Sancerre La Chatellenie 2008)
Strong scent with a creamy texture which melt in the mouth; and the cheese made the wine less sweet, balanced out the flavor very well.




(2) Mimolette (paired with Egly-Ouriet Champagne)
The so-called king of cheese by many but I personally find it rather hard to my liking. Flavor was about the same strength as Selles-Sur-Cher. It was hard but slightly brittle as well with a rather mellow aftertaste to it.




(3) Comte de Grande Garde Exceptionnelle and Mont d'Or (paired with Chateau Chalon - Vin Jaune 1999)
The Comte was the long triangular one which was quite solid yet brittle, carried a slightly salty taste. The Mont d'Or on the other hand was soft and creamy like ice cream. Wonderful flavors! I even had several scoops of it afterward. I can imagine myself sitting in front of the TV at home holding a box of Mont d'Or and scooping it away into my mouth! :)



(4) Munster (paired with Albert Mann Alsace Grand Cru 2005)
WOW, the scent, no i mean SMELL, was very strong!!! This can be one of those many called stinky cheese! However, to my surprised it gets better after several bites. It was actually quite addictive with this cheese that I had to get more to go along with some bread! Don;t be fool but the smell, once you tried, you can't stop, at least I can't!



(5) Roquefort Vieux Berger (paired with Mas Amiel Maury 2006)
There were tons of crystallization which made it rather salty but at the same time enhanced the addictive flavors of the cheese. In this case the sweetness of the wine balanced out the strong salty flavors of the crystallization so it would make you keep drinking more wine.

Likes:

• Wonderful Service especially with the lecture materials
• a good variety of cheese types for tasting purposes

Dislikes:

• More cheese would be better perhaps? I know, I am being too greedy.

Avg Spending: Above HKD 500 per person

Caprice
Four Seasons Hotel,
8 Finance Street, Central
Tel: 3196-8888
http://www.fourseasons.com/hongkong/dining.html


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Swiss Cafe - 瑞士咖啡室

I wanted something quick,

I wanted something filling,

I wanted something Hongkie and

I just wanted something comforting ....

It was my third time here and I keep coming back every now and then because of the above reasons. Not the most healthy choice but it get the job done sometimes with a little touch uniqueness. I am picky with my food and if I keep coming back, there has to be for a reason. What reason is that? When you step inside this local Hong Kong styled restaurant you would find it to be fairly ... CLEAN!!! Yes, CLEAN!!



Another plus was that there were mostly movable tables of which you can actually see the floor around it instead of the shadowed leg area in other similar establishments which you don't even know what you are stepping onto when sitting down. Also, the seating arrangement was quite spacious as well.



(1) Minced Beef in Tomato Sauce with Rice + Fried Egg
There were 6 choices for the set lunches and I picked the first one mainly because of the "fried egg." Oh look at the Sunny Side Up Fried Egg, don't you just want to give it a BIG KISS right away!? I was taught not to play with my food but when facing this dish, I just have to shove my spoon a few times right into the yolk and mix it with the meat sauce & rice. It was FUN but most importantly, it enhanced the flavors and texture of the whole dish in my opinion. The sauce (after mixing with the egg yolk) was fair in terms of flavors, not too rich but it was rather thick. Plenty of meat was given and perhaps it was part of the reasons for the thickness of the sauce.



(2) Hong Kong Style Coffee
Surprisingly strong! It was creamy even when specially requested less cream. Oh well, I doubt it was the right place or time (peak hours) to ask for a replacement right?

Alright it was comforting indeed but FOOD COMA attack soon after! zzzzzzz ....

Likes:

• Very clean environment compared with similar establishments
• Very filling (if that's what you are looking for, this is the perfect dish for you)
• Fairly strong coffee (Hongkie style of course)

Dislikes:

• Sauce was a bit too thick
• Expect to share tables with strangers during peak hours

Avg Spending: Below HKD 100 per person

Swiss Cafe
No.12-16 Li Yuen Street West, Central


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