bc magazine

Treating Your Tastebuds

The Taste of Hong Kong festival returns for it’s second year to the Central Harbourfront. This year there are 16 restaurants participating and all will offer four taster portion sized plates: three standard items at prices $50-$200 and one iconic dish that could cost up to $420.

Payment this year is only by credit card, if you don’t have a credit card then you can buy a prepaid ($200, $300, $800) one at the festival or from any bank. The remaining balance can used after the festival at other shops around town.

So the big question is how to enjoy and get the most from Taste and sample all the dishes you want to… There are two main approaches to Taste, the casual wander where you sample and join the queues that take your interest. But really this relaxed approach while enjoyable does not bring the best out of the festival.

To get the most from Taste, you need a little advance planning and it’s best to go with three or more friends. Firstly download and peruse the menu, chose which dishes you want to try and then ‘rank’ them in a rough order. This gives you the restaurants you want to visit, and with around 3,000 people per session, you’ll be queuing, which realistically limits one person to 4-6 restaurants.

But this is where your friends come in. Choose a meeting/eating point and then each of you joins a different restaurant queue and buys 4 (or more depending on your friends orders/preferences) of each dish. Meet-up, eat-up, enjoy and repeat… Remember to bring a tray, or something similar, with you to help you carry all the dishes!

To whet your tastebuds here’s a list of some of the dishes that are available:

Amber: Fukuoka line caught Spanish mackerel cured & torched, Miyazaki Hyuganatsu.
Arcane: Rangers Valley wagyu short rib served with green beans, confit garlic and pepper sauce.
Café Gray Deluxe: Brittany Diver scallop, XO emulsion and Amalfi lemon.
Chino: Uni/ truffle/ spicy lobster tostada.
Duddell’s: Pan fried M9 Australian wagyu wasabi soy sauce.
Kaum: Ikan Belut – Sambal Hijau, pan-fried eel fillet served with char-grilled chilli, shallots, tomatoes and coconut oil relish.
Mercato: Black truffle lobster carbonara
Okra: Sea urchin a la mode – Murasaki uni with smoked jelly and sea water.
Rhoda: slow cooked Hawke’s Bay lamb shoulder, spiced cauliflower and cumin.
Tin Lung Heen: Barbecued Iberian pork with honey.
Tosca: Prime beef in pizzaiola sauce.
Yardbird: Yuzu chilli hot wings with fermented yuzu chilli sauce.
Zuma: Grilled Hakkinton pork skewer with miso and pickled daikon.

As well as these tasty dishes there’s several food shops, importers and a market offering a wide range of products to take home and enjoy. There are also food demonstrations and talks.

A little planning will treat you and your palate to a fine, if teasing, meal.

Taste of Hong Kong
Date: 16-19 March, 2017
Venue: Central Harbourfront
Tickets: $678, $198, $168 from Ticketflap

Edited: The menu card only list 15 restaurants, there are 16 participating. We have updated the article to reflect that.

Goût de France 2017

Goût de France / Good France returns on the 21 March to tease and tantalise tastebuds globally. Orchestrated by chef Alain Ducasse and the French government with the intent to showcase the French way of life, regional produce, and France as a tourist destination. Goût de France is inspired by Auguste Escoffier, who launched a Dîners d’Épicure (Epicurean Dinners) initiative in 1912: the same menu, on the same day, in several world cities, for as many guests as possible.

This year over 2,000 chefs on 5 continents are creating a special menu to celebrate French gastronomy and joie de vivre. Locally 15 restaurants are participating at a wide range of price points, with some menu offerings only available on the 21 March, while others are on offer all week.

The Good France menu should include an aperitif with finger food, a starter, one or two main course(s), a cheese platter and a dessert, accompanied by French wines and champagnes. The outlets taking part locally this year are:

Akrame (Wanchai)
AOC Eat & Drink (Wanchai)
B.A.M le garde manger (Sheung Wan)
Brasserie on the Eighth (Admiralty)
Chez Raymond de Paris (Sai Kung)
Epure (Tsim Sha Tsui)
Fleur de Sel (Causeway Bay)
La Cabane Wine Bistro (Central)
La Table de Patrick (Central)
Le Bistro Winebeast (Wanchai)
Otto Restaurant & Bar (Causeway Bay)
Petrus (Admiralty)
Privé (Ponte 16, Macau)
Rech by Alain Ducasse (Tsim Sha Tsui)
Stan Café (Stanley)

For more details on the individual menus see each restaurants website and for more on Goût de France see www.goodfrance.com

The Pond @ Elements Civic Square

It’s difficult to know what to make of The Pond, Maxim Group‘s new outlet at Element‘s Civic Square. It’s marketed as a Chinese Gastro Bar, which is an interesting concept – but the result is a venue yet to find its identity.

The decor at the two floor outlet is sparse. A large downstairs area is the drinking/ dining area and features a bar, an open kitchen – which you can’t really look into because of a service counter positioned infront of the window – and a large outdoor seating area for when the weather is accommodating. The smaller upstairs is more dining centric, with large floor to ceiling windows offering a semi-green view.

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The menu features a broad range of nicely presented Chinese dishes served for want of a better description ‘western style’. There’s a lack of oil, salt, msg but also sadly a lack of flavour. The dishes are nice, but there’s sadly nothing here that you must come back for or recommend to your friends to go eat. Portion sizes are not particularly large for the price.

Among the signature dishes is Sichuan Translucent Beef Slices ($98), the beef served on ‘lighted’ plate is sliced so thin as to be translucent and it becomes nicely crispy served this way, The mixed dumplings are meaty but somewhat bland. The Sichuan Spicy Crispy Chicken ($88) is good, but the dish is more chilli than chicken. There’s also fresh seafood, with daily catch options.

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The drinks menu is extensive and features a wide range of beers and wines with a few crafted cocktails served in amusing glasses and interesting ingredients including wolf berries, snow white fungus and fenugreek.

The Pond looks to bring a bit of ‘gastro’ style to a range of regular Chinese cuisines and it’s done ok. The food is nice, the venue is nice, although the location a little out of the way unless you live or work in Elements… It’s nice, but just lacks that bit extra that has you smacking your lips to return.

The Pond
Shop R002-003, Rooftop Garden, Civic Square, Elements, 1 Austin Road West, Tsim Sha Tsui. Tel: 2258 2278
Opening Hours: 11:30am-10:30pm (Weekends 11:30pm)

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/The-Pond-Elements-21-February-2017/i-pj9pDxp

Taste of Hong Kong 2017

The Taste of Hong Kong returns for a second year to Central Harbourfront from 16 to 19 March. This year’s festival features an increased number of Hong Kong’s top restaurants, confirmed so far are Amber, Arcane (Sunday only), Cafe Grey Deluxe, Chino, Duddell’s, Kaum at Potato Head (Thursday & Friday only), Mercato, Okra (Saturday only), Rhoda, Tin Lung Heen, Tosca, Yardbird and Zuma with perhaps three more to come. Each restaurant will serve four taster portion sized plates: three standard items at prices $50-$200 and one iconic dish that could cost anything…

So what is Taste? The concept is that you can sample taster size portions of dishes from restaurants that you might never visit and create a meal from a range of cuisines. It is a interesting idea, sort of like changing restaurants between each course of a meal – and organisers IMG have turned it into a very profitable global concept.

bc was underwhelmed by last year’s event, not by the concept but by the execution – read the report here. We do love food though, so we spoke to IMG about how they’re looking to ‘improve the experience’ this year.

As HongKongers we’re accustomed to queuing but IMG have said they’ll be working with the participating chefs and restaurants to improve the service efficiency. Increase the information about which dishes are still available, including having far more of the icon dishes per session. As well as having drinks carts serving people in the queues.

There is to be more seating, covered and uncovered. A wider range of entertainment and more artisan shops to purchase food and drink from. Plus an expanded range of talks about food and wine.

The invited chefs look to have a better understanding of the concept and several of the icon dishes show they’re looking to offer something unique at Taste.

IMG appear to have addressed a lot of the frustrations that dampened enjoyment last year with some more improvements yet to announced but it all sounds promising for a tasty event in March.

Taste of Hong Kong
Date: 16-19 March, 2017
Venue: Central Harbourfront
Tickets: $678, $198, $168 from Ticketflap

Checkmate Pizza Grand Opening @ Hung Hom – 2 February, 2017

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Checkmate Pizza celebrated the opening of it’s second restaurant in Hung Hom with free pizza and beer! Size matters in pizza parlours and Checkmate offers 30 inches of tasty delight.
Click here or on any photo for the full gallery of images.

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Chocolate Lovers High Tea Delight

Attention chocolate lovers, Three on Canton‘s latest offering looks to sate your desires. The ‘Divine French Chocolate High Tea Set’ features an array of chocolate-themed savoury and sweet treats. What’s immediately obvious when the three-tiered high tea arrives is the amount of food. Too often tea-sets feature micro-bites, here each is at least two bites and you’ll certainly not leave hungry.

The tea set features 11 beautifully presented offerings, 4 savoury and 7 sweet, and you can enjoy your food with a cocktail, mocktail, tea or coffee. The savoury chocolate bites are a chicken nugget in a delicious dark chocolate dip – what a fine combination – and a mango and prawn brioche with white chocolate yoghurt sauce, it sounds delicious and is. These are served with two popular favourites Toast with fig, blue cheese and Parma ham and Smoked salmon asparagus rolls.

The sweet bites cover a broad range of flavours and textures and include: Chocolate and pear panna cotta, Dark chocolate mousse with mixed berries pie, Double chocolate cream puff, Milk chocolate mousse with vanilla apple filling, White chocolate mousse with apricot cake, Dark chocolate brownie, Coconut and chocolate chip butter scone with real clotted cream and jam. All are tasty and while none stand out, there are also none you’ll want to ignore.

The ‘Divine French Chocolate High Tea Set’ ($488/2 people, 3-5pm daily) offers a fine way to spend a relaxing afternoon, sitting inside or out. The portions size are good and although there’s a lot of chocolate the chefs have cleverly balanced it with other flavours and textures to ensure that it doesn’t overwhelm your taste buds.

Three on Canton / Be on Canton: Level 3, Gateway Hotel, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui. Tel: 2113 7828

Crft Pit Tasting Brunch @ Ap Lei Chau

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With an expanded retail menu American BBQ kitchen Crft Pit, which opened in 2015, is now offering it’s wide range of BBQ’d meats for order online with home delivery.

Located in Ap Lei Chau the food factory, under the helm of Chef Leo Kam, also offers a Saturday tasting brunch (1-4pm) where you can sample their broad range of Southern BBQ’d and smoked meats on the terrace overlooking the South China Sea or inside watching the kitchen in action. The retail store also offers whiskey, wine, beer and soft drinks to pair with your BBQ.

Everything is served on metal take-away trays with paper wraps which matches with the working kitchen feel. bc sampled several items, sadly the tasty and popular pulled pork, which we sampled at Wine & Dine, had sold out, so well be back to have that again. What stands out across the menu is for want of a better description the cleanness of the meat. The lack of hormones, msg and additives, plus the light smoking allow the meat’s flavour to stand out. The beef is mainly from the US, while the New Zealand lamb and French spring chicken are both halal. The clean flavours are because Crft Pit is a food factory and sell their products to many restaurants across the city who then flavour them as they desire.

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The highlights are the pulled pork sliders and the sausages ($20 each), they’re superb meaty and full of flavour. The hot pastrami sandwich ($118) is pretty good, it’s hard not to compare it to the three inch thick pastrami slabs from New York, but that’s really not a fair comparison. The St Louis style spare ribs ($50) are meaty and not too heavily sauced so as to wipe out the meat. While the Texas short rib is a big slab of beef. For sides there’s Jalapeno Mac n Cheese ($30), Southorn Slaw ($25) and BBQ lentils ($30) – all tasty and good sized portions.

Everything is served to be shared, the tables are big, the atmosphere relaxed and it’s a very enjoyable way to spend a Saturday afternoon, or host your own event there. The negatives it’s, in Hong Kong terms, in the middle of nowhere, although the 671 bus stops outside the door and there’s on street parking. Don’t want to go to Ap Lei Chau, see the online menu at www.crft-pit.com and have your food cooked for you and delivered directly to your door.

With Thanksgiving coming up see Crft-Pit’s Thanksgiving Turkey Set which feeds 4-6 people for $1998.

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Megabites: Dub concept by SAAM

The graffiti clad exterior of Dub is deceptive, for inside the space that used to be SAAM new chef Kaleb Davis has worked to combine the ethos behind his 5star hotel experience with the relaxed friendly street vibe of New Zealand where the Hong Kong native grew up.

The result, in combination with long term friends Bibiana Ling and Alex Gardner, is a relaxed comfortable 25 seat venue that offers a small but varied menu of comfort food. But expect the menu to expand as Kaleb and Alex experiment with the latest in food preparation ‘toys’, from restaurant owner Catering Depot, in their new kitchen.

Dub invited bc to sample some of the dishes on their soft opening menu. Upon arrival we were served with a 3 roll bread basket which included a tasty squid ink roll that went nicely with the herb butter. All the wines are available by the glass.

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For starters we had the quail scotch egg; quail eggs wrapped in homemade pork cheek sausage meat and then breaded and cooked and served on a bed of horseradish. A nice twist on the traditional scotch egg, with the diced cut pork cheek having a lovely texture and offering good strong but not overpowering flavours to start; with four halves to a portion there’s plenty to go around.

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Served with sourdough toast slices, the tartare is fresh and fairly spicy with the mix a little heavy on the onions and capers – which might not please those who prefer a more full meat tartare. The flavour is good and the portion size enough to share.

The menu currently consists of six main dishes Wagyu Beef & Pork Cheek Rissoles ($228), Crispy 24Hour Pork Belly ($228), Charred Spring Chicken ($228), Lamb T-Bones 140oz ($298) 1/2 Breaded Red Mullet Fillets ($198) andGoats Cheese Tortellini ($178). Fellow diners were effusive and vocal in their enjoyment of the pork belly and tortellini options.

bc tried the wagyu beef and pork rissoles served on bed of orzo pasta risotto with a smoked tomato sauce. Orzo pasta is a short cut pasta shaped like a rice grain, and makes for a risotto that’s a little different to that your taste buds are expecting. The wagyu beef and pork cheek rissoles are cooked pink and full of flavour with the meat juices enriching the risotto. A very enjoyable dish, although the smoked flavour of the tomato sauce was barely noticeable amidst the other strong flavours of the rest of the dish.

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bc can’t remember seeing lamb served locally as a T-bone steak before and the concept is intriguing and tasty – here two t-bones are served with beautifully roasted potatoes. But it’s a dish that’s a work in progress, the two t-bones were cooked rare, almost blue for the thicker one, making the meat difficult to remove from the small bones. While Dub has a street vibe, it’s not the sort of place where you feel comfortable picking up and chewing the bone to get at that lovely flavour. The sweet wine sauce served on the side was nice but overpowered the meaty flavour of the lamb. A slightly thinner cut of t-bones, maybe an inch thick rather two inches and the option to have the ‘t-bone’ steaks cooked to ones preference would let this dish shine.

There’s a range of sides including: Mac n Cheese Arancini ($68), Truffle Fries ($58), Eggplant and Buffalo Mozzarella salad ($128). While the dessert options include Pecan Pie ($88), Mango Creme Brulee ($88) and Apple Tarte Tatin with Salted Caramel Ice-cream ($88)

Dub is a friendly relaxed place with efficient but un-obtrusive service. The dishes are familiar but with a twist, the flavours complex but not so that you can’t relax over a meal. Portion sizes are good, and plated with care. There’s an understated attention to detail that promises more to come as Kaleb becomes comfortable with his kitchen and that subtle difference between working for someone and being Chef and Owner of his own restaurant.

Dub concept by SAAM
51d Graham Street, Central. Tel: 2645 9828
www.dubhongkong.com

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