Adventure #221: l'Alchimie (Bayeux)

We chose to visit Bayeux on Bastille Day (French National Day).  This turned out to be a wise choice as the weather was gorgeous that day and I suspect most of the French were at the beaches! 


Bayeux is famous for the 68-feet long 58-scene tapestry which told the story of the Norman invasion of England in 1066.  But before we visit this famous tapestry, we seek out the restaurant first.

We had wanted to try La Rapiere, a restaurant recommended by the Michelin guide but unfortunately it was closed that day.  The next best restaurant was l'Alchimie which was recommended by my friend Elke who was there a month earlier.

We were the first customers that day and because the weather was so wonderful, we asked for a table outside and it was delightful.

The view of the street from our table on the pavement!

Cream puff with Normandy flavoured goat cheese - this was wonderful as I really enjoyed the goat cheese.

Duck foie gras with homemade chutney - deliciously rich!

Pork with apple and Agen prune confit - both the older one and I ordered this. The pork was tender and was delicious when eaten with the apple and prune.

Veal fillet flavoured with ginger and honey - G enjoyed his veal too. But by now we noticed that the accompaniments for all the main courses were the same. My guess is the main chef is off as Bastille Day is a major holiday in France and these were prepared for the day.

Chicken with rice - this was the kid's meal but the little really enjoyed this. Only day 3 of the trip and already she missed her rice.

Profiteroles with salted butter caramel - these were so delicious!

Chocolate souffle with green tea ice cream and coffee cream - nice but not as good as the profiteroles.

The starters were great. The mains were good despite the standard accompaniments. There was only one waiter working that day.  Service was slow but he was helpful and polite.  Still, we had a good lunch.  I believe the experience would be much better on a normal day.

Adventure #220: Le Bistretatais (Etretat)

We arrived at Etretat late in the afternoon. The sun came out and the weather was great. It was a long holiday weekend, so it seems everyone was at the beach and as such the seaside town was chock full of people. It took us awhile to get a parking space but the beach and the scenery was totally worth it.

After spending some time lazing about at the pebble beach and enjoying the view, we made our way to Le Bistretatais (ranked No 1 by Trip Advisor) for dinner.  We got there at 7pm and it was empty!  I wondered if our research was accurate. This is supposed to be a good restaurant.....how can that be???

We returned at 7.30pm and a few of the tables were taken, so we decided to give it a go.  We were told it was fully booked but if we can returned the table by 8.30pm we can have it! So I see, the French are late diners!

We started the meal with some local cider. A nice change from our usual red wine.

Since this is a seaside town, we decided to go for seafood.  We ordered moules mariniere with fries.  We weren't very impressed with this dish.  A very easy dish to make but the moules were a bit tasteless and the fries were soft.

This is 3 types of fishes in a veggie stew. It looked better than it tasted.  Bland.

Totally disappointed with this meal. Lucky we didn't order a lot as we were still full from our meal this afternoon at Gill Cote Bistro.

Adventure #219: Gill Cote Bistro (Rouen)

With this post, I commence our culinary adventure in France.  After 2 weeks of trying numerous restaurants, we made a few observations:

1. We find it a bit ambitious to go sight seeing in the morning and then make our way to lunch at a restaurant of choice (unless of course the restaurant is in the same town).  French restaurants generally do not take in customers after 1.30pm.  So if you want to eat good food, I suggest you eat first and then take in the sights.
2. Not all French restaurants are good. A typical 3-course meal costs between Euro25-35.  For Euro10 more, do your research and go to a recommended restaurant.
3. It is impossible to eat out (no matter how good the food) for more than 2 consecutive days.  A 3-course meal is a lot for us and we overate at almost every meal.  So, after every few days, a simple meal of bread, ham and cheese or local seafood with wine is heavenly, not to mention relaxing.

Anyway, on our first proper day in France, we visited Rouen, the town in which Joan of Arc was tried for heresy and burned at the stake in the central square in 1431.  In this town, G found a bistro opened by two Michelin star chef Gill Tournadre called Gill Cote Bistro.

Determined to have our first proper French meal, we roamed the town (without a map) and braved the rain (ok, it was only a drizzle) and 45 mins later arrived at the restaurant totally ready for a good meal.


Still full from the breakfast I made, we decided to skip starters and go straight for the mains.

I shared the braised lamb with honey served on a bed of ratatouille with the little one.  The lamb was so soft the meat just melted in my mouth.  The little one and I thoroughly enjoyed this dish.

G had the braised beef with carrots. It was tasty but the meat was a bit tough.  G was rather disappointed.

The older one had the beef tartare with salad. It must have been good as she refused to share it with a very upset G!

The dessert of strawberry tart with ice cream was a wonderful end to our first meal in France.

Although the braised beef was a bit disappointing, the overall quality of the food was great.  Definitely a good choice.

Adventure #218: 121BC

The other restaurant on the "choice" list of the SCMP which we decided to try is 121BC.  It was tucked away on a side street in Central.  First impression - small and cosy. Rather promising.

The restaurant only consisted of 1 long table sitting maybe 30 people and a long narrow table top with bar stools.  So it felt rather different when we were first seated as the restaurant was only half full at the time.

There is no menu, only a large chalk board at one end of the room.  With the dim lights it was quite impossible to read. So the lady gave us the ipad with a picture of the chalk board so we can order.

You can choose 8 dishes at $500pp but we prefer to order separately. The restaurant reviews indicated that their wine list was pretty impressive stocked with mainly boutique Italian producers.  What surprised me was how much a glass cost (well over HKD100 on ave).  The 2 glasses of reds we ordered was very mediocre at best and nowhere near the Chiantis, Brunellos or Amarones that we drink at home on a regular basis.  The waitress then let slip that these boutiques are much cheaper than the more well known producers.  It's  fine to promote your "boutique" wines if they taste on par or better but not when it is sub standard and cost even more than the better known producers. 

Homemade ricotta, eggplant, oregano, chilli.  Nice but pretty ordinary and nothing unusual.

Calamari, green beans, lentils, tomato.  A bit taken aback when I saw this dish.  Tasted worse than it looked.  Bland. Nothing Italian about this, like a fake Thai dish.

Caramelised lamb ribs, pomegranate, caraway.  This was the best dish of the evening but even then, we have had much better ribs elsewhere.

Whole sea bream.  This was the worst dish. The fish was not fresh (a crime in HK where fresh fishes can be bought almost everywhere!), the meat was mushy.  Totally lost interest in this.

Can't even remember which one this was.  By now, we just wanted to finish the meal and leave (not a usual move for us). Dessert was ok.

As the restaurant started to fill up, the place just felt so cramped.  Not a nice feeling squashed on both sides by strangers.  And the noise........

The food was absolutely disappointing.  Shocking that the SCMP reviewers rated this place with a "star".  For the price they charge, this restaurant would rank at the bottom quartile vs its peers.  No way I would recommend this place to anyone, even for half the price.

121BC
42-44 Peel Street
Central
Tel: 2395 0200

Adventure #217: Mayta Peruvian Kitchen and Pisco Bar

We are back from our 2-week trip in Western France but before I post all the great as well as not so great food we had in France, I am going to first post a few of restaurants we visited before we left! I am so far behind!

G saw a review of restaurants in SCMP the other week and decided to pick 2 to try.  The first one we visited was this Peruvian restaurant.  No idea what Peruvian cuisine is but let's give it a try!

Decor is modern and cosy

Order 2 cocktail to try.  On the left Mayta, made of pisco (a Peruvian liquor), chili amarillo, mango, passion fruits, lime and pisco sour foam. Very interesting.  Sweet with a hint of chili! On the right Chilcano made of pisco and ginger ale.  Tasted refreshing but the alcohol will hit you when you least expect!

Arroz con pato which consisted mainly of beer cilantro rice and duck leg confit.  Very rustic dish and very delicious too.

Seco de ternera, braised veal with cilantro beer sauce, rocoto mash potatoes and glazed carrots.  The veal was really soft, the mash smooth and the carrots were very interesting - they tasted a bit pickled.  This dish was delicious but not what I expected of a Peruvian dish, a bit too refined maybe?

On the waitress' recommendation we ordered a Suspiro de limeda, milk caramel and port meringue.  Delicious but we were unable to eat more than half as it was extremely sweet!

We also had a Amazonas which is kinda like a sandwich made up of roasted bananas, chocolate candy slices and amazonas nut cream.  Interesting.

The food we ordered were rather good. We weren't adventurous enough to try the more traditional food on the menu, so can't really comment on what Peruvian food is like.  Personally much preferred the cocktails.

Mayta Peruvian Kitchen and Pisco Bar
3/F, Grand Progress Building
15-16 Lan Kwai Fong
Central
Tel: 2790 0928

Liebster Award

What a pleasant surprise! Thank you Stinky Spikes for nominating me for a Liebster Award.

Here are the answers to your questions:

What is your favorite fruit?

Durian (seriously!). But since it is not easy nor not cheap to get Malaysian durians in HK, next in line are mango and pineapple.

What is your favorite food?

You have to ask? I have a food blog, so I love all food as long as it is good.  However, having said that I do occasionally crave for Nasi Lemak.

What is your favorite drink?

My favourite drink after a long hard day is red wine.  Recently we have been drinking quite a lot of Italian.

What would you cook if a friend (eg. me ha ha!) was coming over for dinner?

Although I do like to cook, I rarely do. But if you were to come for dinner, I know just the place to take you!

What website(s) do you visit most often?

Google? I seem to be always looking up for something!

How did you choose the name for your blog?

As you will see from the introduction to this blog, it started one summer because we were bored and thought to ourselves: hey we have been living in HK, the land of good food, for what years, we should go out and try more.  And the blog sort of started from there.

What/Who inspired you to start and keep writing?

See above.

How many countries have you been to/ lived in in your lifetime?

Other than food, travel is our other passion.  We cannot not travel and having 2 kids never stopped us (well, other than the first few months after each birth). So we have been to quite a number of countries and we hope to add to the blog as we travel. 

How many more (which ones) do you intend to visit in the next 2 years and why?

Well, we will be going to France next week, so more restaurants reviews when we return in 2 weeks!

What was the biggest life changing thing/event that happened to/ for you thus far?

Moving to HK some 20 years ago (oh…am I giving away my age here?) and having my 2 kids.

What was the craziest thing you did with a friend/ family member recently?

Sorry, I don’t do crazy. Heehee

That's all folks!

I will give the award some thoughts and will post my nominations at a later date.

Adventure #216: Upper Modern Bistro

We came across this restaurant while going on this year's art walk.  We came in April to try it and loved it so much we brought the girls back for dinner in May.

Upper is located at the far end of SoHo, quiet but a little out of the way.  It is opened by chef Philippe Orrico and serves modern French cuisine.  The chic grey and orange decor was simple yet elegant.

The cheese table

The egg-like “petal” ceiling is a cheeky homage to Orrico’s signature dish, the 63-degree egg and he also uses 63 percent chocolate in his desserts.

Our starters: Clockwise from left. 63 degree egg served with sauteed mushroom, crab meat and ham, a signature dish. G is a big egg fan, so he really loved this. The combination of egg and ham with salad was great. A standard order of sausage rolls for the little one. Finally, the quail egg buns, small enough to finish in 2 bites each filled with the soft yolk, ham and soft bun, although this was another variation of 63 degree egg but still so good!

Cold white asparagus soup. Ordered this because white asparagus was in season.  Rather interesting.

Sole a la meuniere with potato sauce and crab meat. Fish was done just right and the sauce creamy and yet light. A delightful dish.

Milk fed veal shank served with saffron risotto, mushroom and carrots.  This was delicious, the veal soft and tender and the risotto tasty.

A side dish of roasted potatoes with olives. It was so delicious, G who never eats olives finished every last bite of this dish.

Miniature cupcakes with coffee ice cream. Simple yet delicious.

Something sorbet in lychee soup.  This was very different. Refreshing and delicious. Loved it.

Really enjoyed the food here. Will definitely revisit in a couple of month, hopefully chef Orrico would have changed the menu a bit. 

Upper
G/F Upper Station Street
Sheung Wan
Tel: 2517 097

Adventure #215: Handi

Today we dropped by the airport to send the older one off for her 2-week school trip to Kunming.  After that we thought it would be a good idea to try that "excellent" Indian place my friend Amy always rave about but never managed to take us there.  This time tough she and her son managed to join us for lunch.

We are boring people, we ordered some of our usual favourites.

The samosas

Pipping hot tandoree chicken

Poppadums.  This is delicious!

Lamb rogan josh

Spinach with cheese

A chicken curry...opps can't remember which

Garlic nan

Pilau rice

Our standard desserts

We had a great meal here. Compared with Bombay Dreams, our usual curry joint, the curry at Handi is not as good. But what Handi does really well are the starters - poppadums, tandoree and the breads - nans. A great find in Tung Chung area.

Handi
Tung Chung Road
Tung Chung
Tel: 2988-8674/2988-8675