bc magazine

Morino Yose Soju Launch @ Torihana – 2 February, 2016

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Morino Yose Soju’s Hong Kong launch @ Torihana in Wanchai – where the smooth flavour went well with Torihana signature fried chicken.
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Megabites: Sai Wan Ho Tortillas and Roti

Many of Hong Kong’s commuter towns are soulless towers filled with thousands of people living on a concrete platform or a-top a shopping mall. Carefully regulated and controlled they’re not places that allow HongKongers entrepreneurial spirit and hard work to thrive. To find that you’ve got to look for the older buildings. In Sai Wan Ho for example one such building close to the MTR is Tai On Building (57-58 Shau Kei Wan Road) whose ground floor is a warren of shops and businesses including many small restaurants and food stands. Two among these are Sek Ho Di and 艾·蜜思手抓餅 – both open around midday.

sai-wan-ho-tortila-shop

Sek Ho Di, located at shop A63A has been open for almost a year and serves up tasty savoury and sweet tortillas Hong Kong style. The savoury options are char sui and mozzarella in BBQ sauce ($20) and chicken and mozzarella in hot sauce ($20) while those looking for a sweet tortilla can enjoy green tea and mozzarella ($16) or citrus paste and mozzarella ($16). The 12inch tortillas are filling and flavourful – although the char siu would be better with a bit more meat – and make a perfect lunch, snack or meal. The lemon and mozzarella is a tasty not too sweet dessert perfect after a bowl of rice or noodles.

艾·蜜思手抓餅 located at shop A3-A7 offers a massive range of stuffed roti. Take care when ordering as the owner speaks no English, although there is an English menu. They have two types of roti plain and taro, you’ll need to ask for taro when you order otherwise you’ll be served a regular. Fillings on offer run the full gamut from egg to duck to tuna to tinned mushrooms.

I ordered a sausage, mushroom and bacon roti ($22) but as the owner cracked an egg onto a roti that already contained a slice of cheese I realised he hadn’t understood the bilingual menu. However the stand is small enough that you can point to the fillings you want. Egg and cheese instead of mushroom was fine and the resulting roti was hot, delicious and full of flavour. As you can see from the photo they don’t stint on the fillings. The taro adds a different texture and flavour to the roti, it’s not any ‘better’ than a plain roti but visually it looks awesome. Surprisingly and perhaps disappointingly there are no sweet options – maybe because there’s a lovely egg waffle stand next door – but a taro red bean roti or a plain roti with condensed milk and peanut butter would be delicious…

Neither shop is perhaps good enough to warrant a special visit to Sai Wan Ho but if you’re in the area both are well worth checking out, as are the other food stands that fill the building.

Va Bene Re-Opening Party @ Sheung Wan – 15 January, 2016

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After many years in Lan Kwai Fong, Va Bene has moved to Sheung Wan. The ‘new’ Va Bene celebrated it’s reopening with a party on the 15 January.

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Megabites: Howard’s Gourmet, Bistro D’indochine

Howard’s Gourmet opens in Central
Founded by Mr. Howard Cai, who started ‘Howard’s Gourmet Workshop’ in Guangzhou in 2005, Howard’s Gourmet looks to offer simple and distinctive Chinese cuisine in an elegant environment. The restaurant’s design includes white wooden paneled walls, French windows and crystal chandeliers. Howard’s Gourmet offers tasting menus, with a mix of ‘classic’, ‘seasonal’ and ‘creative’ dishes, comprising of 6-8 courses for lunch at HK$800 up and 10-12 courses for dinner at HK$1,680 up respectively. Signature dishes include: Crispy Sea Cucumber, Golden Bite, Pan-fried Fish Fillet with Herbs, Hot & Sour Noodles, Braised Fish Fillet in Tomato Sauce, Braised Blue Mussels, Avocado with Stewed Bird’s Nest.
Howard’s Gourmet: 5th Floor, CCB Tower, 3 Connaught Road Central, Central. Tel: 2115 3388 www.howardsgourmet.com

Bistro D’indochine, Macau
Stephen Anderson’s new wine bar Bistro D’indochine opened in Macau just before Christmas. The wine bar has a large outdoor area and features an asian fusion style menu with lots of noodles. The house speciality noodles offer a choice of egg or rice noodle and flavours include Vietnamese beef noodles, tom yum soup noodle and laksa noodles – all MOP$62. There’s also a daily lunch offering.
Bistro D’indochine: The Garden, Patio Da Lenha downtown Macau www.facebook.com/pages/Bistro-D-indochine

Christmas with Chiu Yin Mei @ Food Allee – 23 December, 2015

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Chiu Yin Mei owner of Food Allee celebrated Christmas with friends over mulled wine and food prepared by Yin on her wood fired stove. Good food. Good conversation. Happy Christmas.
Food Allee 22-28 Kennedy Street, Wanchai
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Last Minute Christmas

It’s late December, where has the year gone? The seasonal music and decorations that have been up for months have inured you to Christmas, yet suddenly it’s here and you’ve got nothing prepared… bc’s here to help with it’s ‘instant’ traditional Roast Turkey Christmas meal – no cooking involved, although you will need to warm some dishes up to fully enjoy them.

Starter
Smoked salmon + Rainbow Salad
Smoked salmon: IKEA offers packs of frozen smoked salmon (Lax Kallrökt) $66 for 200g.
Rainbow Salad: black chickpeas, carrots, peas, corn, potatoes, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, parsley from Maya Takeaway, $88.

Main
Roast Turkey, roast potatoes, parsnips, red cabbage, Brussels sprouts, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce.
Roast Turkey: Great Food Hall in Pacifc Place have around 12 cooked US Roast Turkey per day $120/kg (4-6kg). Buy at the cooked food counter including Christmas Day. They also offer cooked roast beef, lamb and gammon if you prefer something other than turkey.
Roast potatoes: Great – $18/100g (cooked); M&S – $45/300g (need cooking)
Parsnips: M&S – $50/300g (need cooking)
Brussels sprouts: Great – $18/100g
Red cabbage braised with Bramley apples: $45/300g Marks & Spencer
Turkey gravy: $69/540g Marks & Spencer
Cranberry sauce: $59/300g Marks & Spencer
Stuffing: sage and onion/ cranberry & orange stuffing from M&S
Bacon wrapped sausages: sadly we couldn’t find this staple side dish in a cooked version.

For vegetarians: mediterranean vegetable stew / chickpea patty simmered in tomato sauce both $88 from Maya.

Dessert
Christmas Pudding with Brandy Butter
Christmas pudding: Great: several choices, M&S: $379/907g
Brandy Butter: $59/195g M&S or you can make it yourself it’s just butter beaten with sugar and brandy, or pick up a can of classic Bird’s custard and add a dash of brandy/ rum for a good alternative.

Cheese
Great’s cheese room is one of the unsung wonders of Hong Kong, the choice is varied, delicious and if you’re used to US and European cheese prices, expensive – but it’s Christmas so indulge.
A cheaper alternative is www.cheesebytom.com: cheddar 250g/$35, Brie 250g/$50 and other cheeses. Deliveries to Central and Lantau.

Christmas Cake + Mince Pies
Finding a good tasty Christmas cake is hard, especially one with marzipan and Royal icing
Christmas Cake: Great and M&S have several choices at different prices from $89 up – including the Hand Decorated Bauble Bar Cake (left) with marzipan and royal icing at $379. Most are more like fruit cakes than Christmas cake which is a shame as the two are subtly different in taste.
Mince Pies: Again Great and M&S have several choices, but none have a taste that leap out and say buy me!

Store Details + Contacts:
Great Basement Pacific Place, Admiralty Tel: 2918 9986 www.greatfoodhall.com
IKEA Causeway Bay, Shatin, Kowloon Bay www.ikea.com.hk
Marks & Spencer various stores www.marksandspencer.com
Maya Takeaway 173 Des Voeux Road, Central. Tel: 2111 4553 www.mayacafehk.com

Edit: 24 Dec – Added Christmas cake photo and updated text

The Great European Carnival @ Central Harbourfront

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The Great European Carnival returns to the Central Harbourfront today for a three month residency. Unlike last year’s inaugural event which took several weeks for all the rides to open, this year’s carnival is almost fully formed – courtesy of seven months of liaison with the relevant departments to get safety and fire certificates etc approved.

The midway is far more engaging this year, there’s more energy, rides and games are closer together and better distributed through the fairground. Compared to last year there are several more rides and a better mix. A couple of new rides are the log flume and the rollercoaster. For those who love to scream, last year’s favourites remain so bring something for those vocal chords! There’s a considerably smaller ice-rink, while the dodgems are still the most legal fun you can have impersonating a HK taxi/minibus driver.

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This year’s food court is more compact and right next to the stage area (in the centre of the carnival) so you can sit and eat while enjoying whatever’s on the stage. Castelo Catering, the sole food concessionaire, is again offering big pans of paella ($40) curry and rice ($60), pizza ($60) kebabs ($60/$70) burgers and noodles. Portions sizes are good and while it could never be called gourmet it’s certainly edible and negates any need to bring your own food. Look out to for the English fudge shop, 3 chunks for $30. There’s a distinct lack of places to buy drinks, so on a sunny day bring some water.

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Rides and games are paid for in tokens, and as last year a token costs $10. Food, drinks etc are cash only.

This year’s GEC is a noticeable improvement on last year, even the ‘grass’ is better… But a few unsolvable kinks remain. It’s gonna be busy, so enjoy the queues! The games staff are salaried so there’s no ‘barking’ and hustle as they tout for your business. It would undoubtably be complicated to institute an individual commission system but it would incentivise away the apathy and maybe energise the game staff.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2015/Great-European-Carnival/i-ksgn9GJ

Great European Carnival
Date: 11am-11pm, 17 December 2015 – 21 February 2016
Venue: Central Harbourfront
Tickets: $125

Megabites: Kashiwaya, AnOther Place by David Myers, Le Canelé d’Or, Anchor’s Seafood & Beer House

Kashiwaya
It’s Osaka counterpart is known for high quality kaiseki, Kashiwaya the newest Japanese restaurant to open in Central is looking to create an “only-in-Japan” dining experience. The cypress wood interior of the 30 seat restaurant is a mix of Japanese high culture and tradition with sliding doors, shoji paper screens and a Japanese style waiting room.

Owner and head chef Hideaki Matsuo menu uses seasonal ingredients for freshness and to create the perfect balance between taste and presentation, through the sophisticated culinary art of kaiseki, that will please your eyes and palate. One of the special dishes unique to Hong Kong is Ise ebi, a Japanese spiny lobster.

“My philosophy is to provide the best quality of food and service to my customers as if it is a once in a lifetime chance for me to serve them.” said Matsuo.
Kashiwaya : 8/F, 18 On Lan Street, Central Tel: 2520 5218 [email protected]

AnOther Place by David Myers
Located in Tin Hau, AnOther Place by David Myers is latest in the string of openings where a Chef’s name is attached to an outlet he won’t be in the kitchen of, to inflate the prices and give diners a name to when to ‘impress’ friends with. Overlooking Victoria Harbour AnOther Place is designed to evoke the romance of a 1920s speakeasy, quite what the ‘romance’ of prohibition was why when it serves French Asian fusion cuisine are two questions you can ask yourself in Tin Hau. Menus start with a 4-course menu at HK$680, a 6-course menu is HK$880, and a gourmand-friendly 8-course menu costs HK$1,280. One of the house specialities is Peppered Kagoshima wagyu strip loin, parsnip and shiso salad, jus corse which is beautifully displayed but portion sized for a size 0 model. Currently AnOther Place doesn’t have a liquor licence so it’s BYOB with no corkage. Oh and it’s only open in the evening.
AnOther Place by David Myers: 5/F, Block C, Sea View Estate, 2 – 8 Watson Road, Tin Hau. Tel: 2979 0064 www.anotherplace.com.hk

Le Canelé d’Or
Looking for something other than macaroons to give as gifts this Christmas and New Year or just looking a sweet little thing to nibble on. How about some hand made canalés? Canalés are small French pastries with a dark thick caramelized crust that hides a soft custardy interior and are absolutely delicious. Locally they’re made fresh daily by Le Canelé d’Or and delivered direct to you. Made from egg, sugar, milk and flour and traditionally flavored with rum and vanilla, the custard batter is baked baked in small individual copper molds – canalés are best eaten fresh.
www.lecaneledor.com.hk

Anchor’s Seafood & Beer House
The Anchor’s Seafood & Beer House opens today on the Tsuen Wan waterfront. The 116-seat eatery features an indoor restaurant and bar area, as well as outdoor seating on a terrace overlooking the South China Sea. Located in the Bay Bridge Hotel the restaurant offers daily buffet breakfast & dinner and a semi-buffet lunch, in addition to an extensive a la carte menu. There’s also a brunch buffet menu ($398) available on weekends.
Anchor’s Seafood & Beer House: 123 Castle Peak Road, Yau Kom Tau, Tsuen Wan. Tel: 2945 1138 www.baybridgehongkong.com