Adventure #99: Gold by Harlan Goldstein

Since I missed out on dinner at 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo BOMBANA, G took me to Gold by Harlan Goldstein the following Friday and we were joined by Betty.

A lot of effort had gone into the decor which was suitably oppulent. Service was good, waiter attentive although a bit local (he could have easily passed as your local chah chan tehng waiter). He introduced the menu in Cantonese which although we understood him (btw - we have nothing against chah chan tehn waiters) seemed a bit out of place with the luxurious "western" style decor.

Fresh warm bread with pesto which the restaurant generously refilled.
Tasted real good.

I wasn't very hungry - legacy of last week's stomach flu, so, I skipped starters and opted for dessert instead. As this was our first visit, we mainly ordered the signature dishes.

Betty ordered the Hokkaido Sea Scallop Carpaccio with slow-cooked egg and white truffle dressing. It looked really fresh. I didn't try it but G said it tasted as good as it looked (yes, he took a bite of Betty's).



G ordered the Foie Gras French Toast with polenta bread, apricot jam and maple vinegar jus.  Foie gras was fried just right and the pairing with the fruity jam and jus was good although G thought the texture of the jam and heartiness of the bread was too robust for the foie gras.

The Lobster Spaghetti with Napoli tomatoes, fresh herbs, crispy garlic and extra virgin olive oil was good but I felt that my lobster was a little undercooked.  G thought the dish was very well presented but the lobster flavour did not sufficiently infuse the pasta.  Good but we expected better.

The “12” Hours Slow-Braised Wagyu Beef Cheek with foie gras and black truffle sauce was good, albeit a little too salty.

My Black cherry and Nut Cannolo with mascarpone, black cherry gelato and mint was nice but nothing great. Seems like dessert was not their strong point.

Food was good but not exceptional.  May be back again but not in the near future.  Better options in HK for the price range.

Gold by Harlan Goldstein
2/F, LKF Tower
33 Wyndham Street
Lan Kwai Fong
Central
Tel: 2869 9986

Adventure #98: 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo BOMBANA

G and I have been invited to 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo BOMBANA (just got its third Michelin star and one of only 3 notaries in the whole of HK) for dinner and I have been looking forward to this outing for weeks! And such is my luck.....the day before the big day, I got stomach flu and thus had to give up on dinner....a tragedy of Shakespearean proportion!

 

Well, my misfortune sure didn't stop G from going.  As some of you know, we are always hungry at dinner (especially G) and so much so that sometimes we (especially when I first started the blog) tend to forget to take photos of the food before we dug in.  Without me there, G's worse! Luckily our fellow dinners reminded him and at least we have a few photos to show (excuse the quality, taken with an iPhone as I wasn't there with my Nikon).   

Unable to give you the full name of the dishes and how it all tasted but G's verdict was that the meal was really good.  So, I guess I will have to try it out for myself! I am going to call and make a booking for October!

 

The dishes had fanciful names befitting a 3 star Michelin restaurant but as G was to busy pigging out, he couldn't remember the names of all the dishes save for the layman's description.  So do excuse us if the dish description doesn't do the food justice.

Lobster salad

Tajima short rib and beef tenderloin - I got this name coz this is one of the signature dishes.  G said very well done. 

Veal cutlet

A ravioli dish

More photos of the desserts, all looked good.

Lemon souffle, one of the best G said he's tasted in his life and well worth waiting the 20 min for

Dessert freebies that came with coffee

Pear tart

 

The dessert G ordered although he can't quite remember what it was because it was overshadowed by the incredible souffle

 

8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo BOMBANA

Shop 202, 2/F, Alexandra House

5-17 Des Voeux Road Central

Central

Tel: 2537 8859

Adventure #97: Tasty (IFC) Congee & Noodle Wantun Shop

Kids had piano class today at around lunch time. So, G and I left them at home and went to look for lunch...hopefully some where not so crowded.  I had always wanted to try Tasty at IFC but it is always packed at weekday lunch - office people plus tourists.  Today was Sunday and we left home rather early, so we decided to try our luck.

Got there as fast as we could, there was already a queue. The queue was not too long but we still waited for about 30 minutes.  This is mainly because the restaurant does not have a "share table" policy.  Rare in HK but a wonderful policy!

The interior is very tastefully decorated.

Wall lined with chopsticks!

Boiled liver and kidney, G's favourite.  Very nicely done.

Stir fry beef and rice noodle 干炒牛河. This is one of the signature dishes.  It was good but expected it to be a bit less oily.

We ordered a 皮蛋咸瘦肉粥. This is a simple dish but not all taste good. This one was of excellent quality.

Very good food.  If not for the wait, we would definitely be here more often!

Tasty (IFC) Congee & Noodle Wantun Shop
Shop 3016-3018, Podium Level 3
IFC Mall
Central

Adventure #96: Lei Bistro

It's Sat and as usual we tracked to Timesquare for lunch.  Rather sick of sushi at Sen-ryo, so we thought of trying out something new.  A few doors down from Sen-ryo is a dim sum place called Lei Bistro, a spin-off of the famous Lei Garden restaurant.  Sounds good.

Didn't quite enjoyed this as I thought the eggplants were slightly under cooked.

The BBQ pork 燒肉, one of their signature dish, was very good.  Skin crispy and meat soft. However, seemed a bit pricey at $90 for such a small plate.

The BBQ pork bun was just ok lah

Fried turnip cake.  I didn't get to eat any coz this is the kids' favourite dish. And since they finished it all, it must have been good.

Lobster noodle.  One of the signature dish.  Noodle was chewy and soup base different.  An interesting dish.

The dumplings 紅油抄手 were terrible!

Steamed rice with mince pork and salty fish was acceptable.

As always, we were full but who can resist dessert? G is always in search for a good almond tea......and once again he was disappointed.

I wanted to try the 流沙包 and.....

Just look at that! Best dish of the day!

On the whole, we were rather disappointed with the quality of the food here. Next time, we will stick with Sen-ryo.

Lei Bistro
Shop B217-B218
B2, Times Square
1 Matheson Street
Causeway Bay
Tel: 2602 8283

Adventure #95: La Marmite

The older one was in Central for one of her summer classes, so we met for lunch at the Soho area.  We picked La Marmite because it had some pretty good reviews.  And its lunch, although choices were limited, was very reasonably priced at 3 course for $118, 2 for $98!

G asked the French lady at the restaurant what La Marmite meant in French as we were such it had nothing to do with the veggie thingy called Marmite!  And we were right, it meant cooking pot or cauldron.

All 3 of us had Salmon Tartare with Capers and Waffle Fries. The tartare was very good and went really well with the salad.  The waffle fries were a little soft and bland, could do without.

The older one and I had Classic Chicken Chasseur with Black Truffles.  Chicken was nicely done and went well with the sauce and the creamy mashed potatoes.

G had the French Seabass Fillet with Cockles, Green Asparagus and Creamy Potatoes. Another great dish.

Once again, we all had the Roast Thin Sliced Pineapple with Vanilla Ice Cream. Hard to go wrong with this dish.

A very good value for money.  Will have to try the dinner some day.

La Marmite
G/F&1/F, 46 Staunton Street
Central
Tel: 2803 7808

Adventure #94: Awfully Chocolate

After several hours of shopping around the K11 Mall, we were ready for a sit down and some dessert. There is an Awfully Chocolate shop and an Illy Coffee shop on the ground floor.  We had Awfully Chocolate's cake before but not their newer items such as the Rich Chocolate Cupcake or the White Chocolate Cupcake.

We bought a couple of the Rich chocolate Cupcakes and got our take away Illy coffee and sat at the podium for our tea.  It was a deadly combination. 

The cupcake was made up of a chocolate cupcake base topped with thick melt-in-your-mouth chocolate and finished with melted dark chocolate in the center.......

.......have this with the wonderful Illy coffee.......AWWWWWW!!!

Adventure #93: Empire City Roasted Duck 大都烤鴨

Took the kids to K11 Mall today.  Since we were there, we decided to try one of the restaurants in the mall. Chose Empire City Roasted Duck because the decor looked good and Peking duck sounded like an excellent choice!

Chefs hard at work but these 2 ducks, I think, were for show only coz our duck came from the kitchen!

First to come was our braised pork with rice cake 年糕紅燒肉.  Presentation not as nice as the picture in the menu but kids loved it.  Rice cake was chewy and tasted great with the sauce.

We order half a peking duck烤北京填鴨. The duck pieces were thinly sliced, pancakes were steaming hot and came with the usual condiments and more. Very nice.

Most unusual dish of the day was rice in soup 鴨鬆鴛鴦米泡飯 which was prepared right by our table.

Loved it.  A nice finished after the Peking duck.

Empire City Roasted Duck
Shop 221, Level 2, K11 Art Mall
18 Hanoi Road
Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: 2628-0662

Adventure #92: San Xi Lou 三希樓

Haven't had Sichuan food for a while.  Tonight we gathered some fellow "eaters" for a Friday night feast at San Xi Lou at Coda Plaza.  Not an easy place to get to on a Friday evening - too close for a taxi ride (unless you don't mind being yelled at before the evening even started) and too far to walk in summer.  Anyway, in order to enjoy my dinner without guilt, I went to the gym at lunch time AND I walked from Admiralty.

And now, the FOOD!


The pork with mashed garlic 蒜泥白肉 was rather amazing.  Haven't had this dish for a while, most of us were deceived by the look of the mashed garlic which looked as tame as mashed potatoes.  As a result, most of us were taken by surprise on the first bit.  The garlic was deadly!!! It tasted much better subsequently once we were mentally prepared for it.

The spicy chicken 口水雞 was acceptable.  No surprises there.

The green chili pepper with century egg 青椒溏心皮蛋 was excellent.  The century egg yolks were suitably runny 溏心.

The dumpling 紅油抄手 very tasty.  Sweet and not too spicy.

Next came a herbal fish soup 天麻魚頭湯 which was very very delicious and a welcome break from all the spiciness.  These were the ingredients of the soup, the 湯渣.



The 干煸四季豆 was nicely done with mince meat and pickle veggies.  Not oily.

The smoked duck 煙燻樟茶鴨 was very fragrant - can smell the smoke before taking the bite. A little too salty for me.

I like this one 回鍋肉 a lot.  Seemed like a lot of fatty pork from here but didn't taste fatty at all (if that was at all possible!).  We also ordered a 粉蒸排骨 (the one we had at another restaurant the last time was terrible, so we wanted a second try) but the waiter forgot to put down the order. Bummer!

    川麻豆腦桂魚   This was the most amazing dish of the night. Tofu and spicy fish came separately.

Mixed together and eat. Amazingly good! The spiciness of the fish totally complement the silky smooth tofu.

Although already filled to the brim with excellent food, cannot resist the dessert 流沙包.

Just look at the runny yolk filling.....soooo good!

G also had a almond tea which he thought was pretty good.

San Xi Lou
7/F, Coda Plaza
51 Garden Road
Mid-Levels
Tel: 2838 8811