Adventure #78: Bombay Dreams Indian Cuisine

Updated on 30 April 2013

After the excellent dinner last night, G refused to go back to our maid's cooking. So, he looked through the various guides and finally settled on Bombay Dreams.  Bombay Dreams has been around for a long long time but for whatever reason we never tried it.

Anyways, here we were tonight hoping to keep our culinary adventure going.  When we got to the lift lobby, there was an Indian family (including grandma and grandpa) going to the same restaurant. A good indication of the food quality.....I hope. Decor was modern and classy - not the traditional Indian joint.

They started us with a very refreshing free appetizer which consisted of crispy sliced lotus root, sweet potatoes chunks with yoghurt and tamarind sauce - yum!

Lukhnowi gosht biryani, the lamb briyani was full of flavour and yet not too spicy on the palate.

Palak Paneer, home made cottage cheese chunks with spinach. G's all time favourite. Very creamy......refused to think of the calories.

Chicken vindaloo, unlike the ones we used to have in England, this is the real McCoy - fiery hot!!!

Lucky it came with yoghurt and chopped onions.  Interesting how the yoghurt was able to neutralize the spiciness and yet bring out the flavour.

The mains were really filling but could not resist our favourite Jamun-E-Gul. An excellent dish to finish dinner with.

Update on 30 April 2013

The older one will be leaving for a 2-week school trip to Xian this weekend. So, today we took her out to dinner to spend some one-on-one time with her.  To prepare her for the food in Xian (we were told some of them spicy), we decided to go for curry at our favourite curry joint, Bombay Dreams.

In addition to our favourite dishes such as the lamb biryani and the home made cottage cheese chunks with spinach, we also wanted to order a not-so-spicy dish for the older one. 

G settle on Kadhai Gosht Kali Mirch, bonesless lamb marinated in yoghurt and crushed peppercorns cooked in a Handi without consulting the waiter. And as it turned out, this dish was very delicious, meat tender and the sauce delicious but it was more spicy than a curry. Lucky the older one had a lassi which helped cool her down.

For dessert, since there were 3 of us, in addition to our no. 1 favourite Jamun-E-Gul, we also ordered our no.2 favourite Rasmalai, cottage cheese dumplings in rabri (sweetened milk). 

Rasmalai - this is made slightly different from the ones we had. The milk had a slightly more salty taste to it. A bigger contrast of sweet and savoury. 

Bombay Dreams Indian Cruisine
4/F, 77 Wyndham Street
Central.
Tel: 2971 0001
Buffet lunch 12.00 Noon – 3.00 PM
A la carte dinner 6.00 PM to 11.00 PM daily
Sunday Bubbly Brunch Buffet 12.00 Noon to 3.00 PM

Adventure #77: The Chairman Restaurant

I have heard some very good feedbacks on The Chairman Restuarant, a 1-star Michelin restaurant. So when my secretary was trying to get a table, I told her to get me one on a Friday evening - and that was a month ago.

Finally, the day to sample good food arrived. With 11 hungry mouths, we were able to order a good selection of dishes.  The weather was nasty but it didn't dampen our mood. While waiting for all to arrive, we lined our hungry tummies with 3 starters.

The crispy enoki mushroom 酥炸金針菇 was very interesting - crispy, didn't really taste like mushroom though.

Next came the pan fried minced pork cakes with salted fish 馬友咸魚煎肉餅 - favourful and of course salty but when dipped in Italian vinegar, the flavours just came together and everything seems to gel.

The crispy shredded beef with honey and dried chilli 脆皮乾辣椒胡蘿蔔牛柳絲 was excellent. 

 

The 2 fish dishes were together  一班两食.  Again, very fresh and the fish was cooked just right.  However, at over $2,000 I didn't think it was value for money.  Maybe next time, we will stay away from the "market price" dishes.

This was an interesting one - BBQ chicken liver with Chinese bun 古法金雞配炸饅頭.  It was supposed to be an appetizer and had to be pre-ordered.  However, as the restaurant only cooks this dish once a day (i.e. all orders for the day altogether) and at around 8.15pm, we had to have it as one of the mains.  For those who love liver........yummy!

Next came the wild clams stir fried with chilli jam and basil 九層塔辣椒膏炒紐西蘭蜆.  Clams were meaty and the sauce excellent - not too spicy.

Pan fried whole crispy chicken stuffed with shrimp paste 香煎百花雞件配魚露. Again, this had to be pre-ordered.  A rather unique dish, each piece was made up of half chicken and half shrimp paste.

The braised spare ribs with preserved plums in caramelized black vinegar 話梅肉桂糖醋排骨 were GREAT.  Only flaw was the crispy sweet potatoes were no longer crispy when the dish was served.

Even the braised Chinese vegetable with salted fish paste 瑤柱咸魚醬炒芥蘭 was good. The vegetable was very fresh and the dish was flavourful but not too salty.

Our last mains, a carb dish, fried flat rice noodle with beef 豉油王牛柳邊炒陳村粉.  Kinda looked like a 乾炒牛河. Very well cooked, not oily at all.

For dessert, I had the young ginger ice cream 子薑雪糕.  I could taste the ginger but the ginger taste was not strong enough.  Instead, it was over-powered by the milky taste.

As expected, G went for the almond tea 生磨杏仁茶.  Given the excellent dishes we had, he was hoping the almond tea quality would be on par with the food.  Sadly, no, still not as good as the one in Forum.

Food was really good and we had an excellent dinner - of course the company was superb too! There are still many dishes on the menu to try. So, will be back to try them out.

The Chairman
G/F, 18 Kau U Fong
Central
Tel: 2555 2202

Mon - Sun: 12:00-15:00, 18:00-22:30

Adventure #76: 牛料理(火鍋)私房菜

Last night we were invited to a very unusual dinner party.  The party took place at a very local "restaurant" known as 牛料理(火鍋)私房菜 or beef hotpot private kitchen.  It is located on the ground floor of one side of an industrial building, in an industrial area in Tsuen Wan (a place I have never been to and know only because it is the last stop on the red MTR line).  It is a 茶餐廳 or canteen by day, serving food only to the employees of that building but a private restaurant by night.

I was told that the chef was unable to give us the menu for the evening because he won't know until he goes to the market that morning! Talk about freshness!

Anyways, there were 24 of us (and we only know the hosts) that evening and we booked out the entire restaurant which was not very big to start with. We were all to bring at least a bottle each to the party, a rough estimate indicated that we had a least 30 bottles that night.  G and I had no expectations of tonight's dinner (only know that it was a beef dinner) and it turned out to be a great experience for us.

Hanging around the restaurant, chatting to the chef and sampling wine while waiting for everyone to arrive

1st starter - beef tartare.  Not your usual beef tartare, this one came in big slices. I very rarely eat beef tartare as I am not a fan of raw meat but this one looked rather appetizing.

This is the chef's son. After each dish is served, he would explain which part of the cow the meat is from and how best to eat it.  The beef tartare was "made" from the middle part of the tenderloin 牛柳心.  To eat this, he recommended a 3-way tasting.  First, eat it as it was 原汁原味.  Next, break the raw egg yoke and coat the beef with it.  Eat the beef coated with yoke with or without the slightly sour soy sauce that came with it.

Finally, eat the yoke coated beef with the onions and dipped in the sauce.  We found that the onion and the sauce actually brought out the beef-taste 牛味. Amazing!

Next came a veggie dish - grilled aubergine with Japanese sauce (the one used in grilling eels, I think). One of my favourites.

The hotpot journey began with original and satay soup base.

For a beef hotpot dinner, I was rather surprised that they started us off with white eel.  However, we were told that this is one of the chef's specialty.  In any case, the eel was very juicy and crunchy.

Next came the 聖子, I don't know the English name.  Dropped it whole into the hotpot and it would detached itself from the shell when cooked.  Again, extremely yummy.

Next is a combo dish.  First came the 胸軟骨 some kind of soft bones or cartilage from the cow's chest.  This had to be cooked a little longer to get the oil out.

Then, meat from the cow's shoulder (during the presentation, I thought I remembered all the names he mentioned but after one too many glasses of wine later.....I struggled to remember). This one just a quick blanch will do.

Put the soft bone and the shoulder meat together and eat. The combination of soft and crunchy was quite remarkable.

Then came something very unique, I don't even know the name. I just know that this came from or near the muscle which controls the diaphragm.  This can be cooked for any duration and will still be very soft. Amazing texture.

Cow's tongue - not an unusual dish in HK. Interesting taste for me, again crunchy. Slightly different from the BBQ one I tried a few weeks earlier - by mistake!

Some veggie dishes to neutralised the taste buds.

After the short interval, we were served meat from the cow's bottom, apparently not so unusual in HK - 金錢展. Also execellent were the balls: the squid balls were bouncy with chunks of squid, the black pepper beef balls were firery and the beef balls very crunchy (not sure this is the right word to use but in Chinese 爽)

This was the highlight of the dinner.  And no, this was not wagyu.  This came from a local cow and somewhere between the 5th and 8th rib.

Just look at the marbling!  We were told that this was very rare and we were very lucky to have this.  Very fat but very soft!

Last came the meat from the cow's neck 牛頸肉.

Took a break from the beef for a group photo - before we all got too drunk!



The finale! Instant noodle. Never have I had such SWEET 公仔麵! 

It was a great dinner and an unique experience.  As they will be moving soon, I will not be listing the contacts here. 

Adventure #75: db Bistro Moderne (Marina Bay Sands)

One of my cousins was getting married in Singapore on May 18. As it is also the older one's birthday, the whole extended family decided to meet in Singapore to celebrate.  One of the meals we had in Singapore was at db Bistro Moderne at Marina Bay Sands.  G was there a couple of days earlier and thought that the food and service was excellent, so we booked a table for the whole extended family for Saturday.

db Bistro Moderne is said to be Chef Daniel Boulud's renowned re-interpretation of the Parisian classic. Among his many achievements, Chef Boulud is credited with elevating the simple burger into an art form--a new sophisticated take on an old classic. Sadly none of us felt like having burger that night. Actually we were all rather full from the very long wedding lunch.

Still, amongst us, we sampled the following dishes.

Starter - Heirloom tomato salad was well presented, tomato fresh, didn't quite like the mozzarella which was mouse-like

Starter - Lobster salad was much better with large chunks of lobster and fresh greens

Starter - Grilled foie gras was very good

Main - Veal hanger steak with foie gras, creamy spinach and fries was from the daily special. G had it a few days ago and highly recommended it. However, this one did not turn out as good. The beef was not as soft and the fries not fully cooked.

Main - Hanger steak from the dinner menu.  Tasted good but a little too cooked for our liking (despite asking for medium rare).

Main - New Zealand Scorpion Fish En Papillotte cooked in clam chowder with bacon and celery was also from the daily special.  It was certainly different. It was baked and came wrapped in some baking sheets.  It was very tasty, however the creamy taste became a little overpowering after a while with little carbs to neutralize it.

Main - Squid ink tagliolini with clams and mussels looked very appetising.  Mum liked this best as perhaps she is not used to too much salad and meat.

Dessert - Clafoutis Tout Chocolat or warm flourless chocolate cake with chocolate and vanilla ice cream.  Very good but no surprises.

Dessert - Vacherin made up of vanilla chantilly, hibiscus meringue and yogurt-rhubarb sorbet.  Now this was different and very very good.

And finally to compensate for the below expected service level, they gave us warm madeleines to share which by the way was very nice.

We were there on a Sat evening and the place was almost full when we left. We felt that although the food was good, it was not Daniel Boulud level and the service left a lot to be desired. G was there a few days earlier on a week day and had a completely different experience. So, I guess if you are in the area on a weekday night, this would be a good dinner choice.

db Bistro Morderne
B1-48, Galleria Level
The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
Tel: +65 6688 8525
Lunch
Monday - Friday: Noon to 5PM
Weekend Brunch
Saturday - Sunday: 11AM - 5PM
Dinner
Sunday & Monday: 5:30pm to 10PM
Tuesday - Saturday: 5:30PM - 11PM

Adventure #74: 怡寶

It has been a while since the Malaysian road trip and the older one is missing her Ipoh ho fan.  And lucky for her, I just happened to read that a new restaurant has opened in Wanchai called 怡寶.  According to the magazine, the chef is a returning Hong Konger and had worked in Malaysia for 4 years.  Amongst it specialties (it claims) are Ipoh ho fun and bean sprout chicken!

Even if I know it will never stand up to the food we recently had, for the older one, we had to give it a try.  We here we were at Labour day.



The Ipoh ho fun looked good.  The soup was tasty (very close to the real thing) and the chicken soft.  Unfortunately and understandably the chef didn't use ho fun from Ipoh for this dish.......so, a poor imitation, only good for those really home sick days



I wish they would just called it chicken rice.  The rice is well cooked and the chicken soft. Once again this dish cannot be made without bean sprout from Ipoh!

Call me picky but once again this restaurant is for locals who have not been to Ipoh.  The specialties from Ipoh are its ho fun and bean sprouts which are both of superior quality.  To use anything else is just an insult to the taste buds.

怡寶
G/F, Kwong Ah Building
197 Johnston Road
Hong Kong
Tel: 2892-1386