Adventure #244: Private Dining

Just before Christmas we were invited to a private dinner at a friend's who "won" Chef Yaw through a charity auction! Chef Yaw is a Malaysia who has worked in many well known restaurants in Thailand and has just arrived in HK for a new chapter in his life.

The food was amazing and it was so good to be able to dine in the comfort of home that we had him again on New Year's Eve.  We repeated the starter and dessert from the first dinner.  Totally satisfied with the food on both occasion. Will definitely have him again.

For the first dinner, we had:

An intro (of course)!

Crab with micro salad, squid ink and curry aioli.  Really loved this. Had this again on the 2nd dinner.

Beetroot with strawberry, avocado, goat cheese and arugula.  A very interesting salad. Good combination of sweet and savoury. Yum

Warm bread and cherry tomatoes pickled in own juice. Served before the mains. The tomatoes were amazing!

Razor Clams with radish, chicken jus and watercress. Never had clams like this but delicious.

Cod fish with bacon, mushroom, ragout and parmesan. Cod is sweet and tender. A very good dish.

Pigeon breast with a variety of onion and garlic with poultry jus. Finally, the main course. By now, I am so full, I don't really know what I am eating! But I do know that everyone loved it. The meat was tender and juicy and the skin crispy.

Apple tarte tatin. Really loved this dish but because I was so full, I couldn't finished it. As such, I requested it again for the 2nd dinner!

For New Year's Eve dinner, we repeated the 1st starter and dessert from the last time and asked for beef as the mains. This is what we had:

Same as before and still good.

Prawn with pickle veg, tapioca and herbs. Was sure initially what tapioca means. As it turned out he was referring to the tapioca balls.  Very interesting dish. The pickled veg actually went very nicely with the prawns.

Abalone with angel hair, konbu and truffle oil. This was my favourite dish. The angel hair has absorbed the jus of the abalone, so tasty with a hint of truffle.

Consumme with ravioli of duck leg and peas. A good dish before the main.

Beef tenderloin served with parsnip, baby veg, pumkin and mushroom. Very rich dish but perfect for the occasion.

Apple tarte tatin. I paced myself and was finally able to enjoy this dish. Wonderful!

Chef Yaw
Tel: +852 9185 7525

Adventure #243: 外婆家 Grandma's Home (Hangzhou)

We were up in Hangzhou one rainy weekend to visit the school's campus in Hangzhou. As suggested by the school, we lived near the Wetland Park in Hangzhou. Whilst the hotels near the Wetland Park are near school, there isn't much out there, except for the flagship restaurant of a famous chain in Hangzhou known as Grandma's Home. 

The taxi situation in Hangzhou is not good thus we hardly travelled into the West Lake area.  As a result, we ate most of our meals at Grandma's Home. We tried as many dishes as we can and most of them are very good.

Veggie in fish soup. Yum

Potatoes - a little spicy but so yummy

茶香雞 - Looks a little dry but was very tasty. The little basically devoured the whole chicken!

Can't remember the name of this dish but definitely not 水煮魚 . It was not very spicy and the fish was sweet and tender. Loved it!

Fried fish. Very tasty, not dry at all.

西湖藕韵 - Lotus roots stuffed with glutenous rice. Wonderful starter

外婆紅燒肉 - one of the signature dishes, braised pork. The preserved fish in the dish (I don't think it is for eating) brought out the taste of the pork. Excellent!

This tofu dish is the only dish we thought to be not as good similar ones we have tasted.  A little bland.

龍井蝦仁 - prawns are fresh with a hint of tea.

A noodle dish, I cannot remember the name. I didn't think much of this dish but G loved it. So.....

醬鴨 - braised duck in sauce. A local cold dish hence a must have.

A northern dish, served slightly differently with a dipping sauce. I love spicy so I fished it! Haha

酸菜魚 - Preserved veggie and fish soup.  One of my favourite dishes. The sourness and the saltiness of the veg together with the sweetness of the fish, a wonderfully flavoured soup. A wake up call for the appetite!

Grandma's Home 外婆家
杭州市 西溪天堂旅遊綜合體20號
Tel: 571-8993 7660

Adventure #242: Mandarin Grill

My birthday was on a weekday and I was working on a deal, so I thought let's be safe and eat in Central. So G picked the Mandarin Grill. We haven't been for a long long time and remembered the food to be excellent.

After seated we were served amuse bouche of ham, cheese and olive.

This is most interesting as the object on the spoon is not an olive but contained something made with olive and hence served next to the little pot of olive plant. 

A selection of olive oil to accompany the freshly baked breads

This is simply called Bacon and Egg - made up of 18 weeks old suckling pig with duck egg and truffle honey sauce. Presentation is excellent (i.e. assembled right in front of me). Tasted very good but no element of surprise.

This I find more interesting.  This is called Forest Floor and it certainly looked like it. Made up of mushroom, foie gras, chicken liver and brioche.  All are not what they appear to be!

I ordered Turbot.  The dish (once again assembled in front of me) resembled the ocean floor.  Everything is edible, even the stones! Unfortunately, the turbot is a rather tough fish and I didn't enjoy this dish as much as I hoped.

G ordered the Calotte. It's beef. Served inside a "book".

Beef is good. Geoff didn't quite like the chocolaty sauce.

Soufflé - best dish of the evening

Loved the "Petite Four"!

Loved the service and the amuse bouche.  The presentation of all the dishes were excellent.  The taste however is slightly below expectation.  Food is similar to The Krug Room but for the price, I prefer the Krug Room.

Mandarin Grill
Mandarin Oriental Hotel
5 Connaught Road Central
Hong Kong
Tel: 2825 4004