For those that know me, I have never been a huge fan of Hotel Champagne Brunches or Buffets as the food is often dull & boring, with majority of the places offering the same type of food & format. The truth is, I never expect a true gastronomical experience from hotel brunches just simply because you know there is every reason to why such set menu or buffet menu is created (to make revenue of course) & the worst to come is the Champagne buffet gets you wrecked so no ones really gives a toss about the food. Hotel buffets play a very big part in the lives of Hong Kong people, check out various hotels in Hong Kong on the week nights & it is packed with animals who haven’t eaten for months.

Recently, I recieved an email from a friend of mine of whom has recently joined The Mira on the F&B side & he very kindly invited myself overself for a catchup + tasting. I want to reiterate that just because it is an invitation does not mean that this review will necessarily be a good one! I have heard many things about WHISK, blah blah blah about Justin Quek this Justin Quek that, majority of the times, I don’t even believe that the man is in the restaurant & nevermind does he actually really cook your dishes. It must have been my lucky day because on my visit, the big commanding Chef was right in front of my eyes!!

At first when I found out about the price for the Free-flow Champagne Brunch which was $550 + 10% & definitely not the cheapest considering I thought it only consisted of an Anti-Pasti Buffet, 1 choice of starter (Eggs), Soup + 1 Main Course + Freeflow drinks judging by the layout of the menu. BANG – what was wrong was that the Main Courses was ALL YOU CAN EAT – YES I REPEAT – ALL YOU CAN EAT! Just wrong, very wrong in every way as one is often difficult to resist such temptation.

So let us start with the free-flow Appetiser Corner – very neatly setup with its focus on breakfast items including croissants, muffins, danish & on the other side, antipasti which includes the usual suspects Smoke Salmon, Parma Ham, Foie Gras Terrine, Salad Bar etc. Nothing to write home about but what caught my eye was the Carving Station & instead of regular roast or ham that is being served, at WHISK, they like to carve up a whole baby pig instead. This is proper food to the max & as much as I detest a roasted pig due to my hatred towards pigs after the movie Pulp Fiction, its golden & shiny colour was calling out for my name & how could I resist this. To describe this in simple terms, I have never ever have enjoyed a roast pig as much as this, the skin was so ridiculously crunchy & crispy & the meat was so juicy & sweet! So good that I ran back for seconds, now that is special it was & highly recommend to all that enjoy a slice of roast pig or 2.

The Appetiser Corner was only the beginning of this calorie binge & the food is about to get more interesting. Next up was a choice between Eggs in Any Style with Accompaniments (Bacon, Sauteed Mushrooms & Sausage) or a Gourmet Fried Egg with Parmesan Foam with Shallot Confit Sauce & Parma Ham. Not even a remote contest & easy decision, if you are a food lover, you will go for the latter just because it sounds so much more interesting & appealing especially featuring a fried egg with Parmesan Foam, very special. Very creative, fancy & well presented this dish was taking a simple item such as fried egg to another level which I truly admire WHISK in doing which not many restaurants will have dishes like this. Personally, taste of the Parmesan Foam with the egg was absolutely superb BUT the shallot confit in my opinion was slightly on the sour side which ruined the flavour of the natural sweetness of the egg.

Next up was a cooler from a good start to the meal which was a Home-Made Soup. The sound of it should be something light, HAHA, it was not as it was a beautiful & very delicately presented Coffee Cup of Mushroom Soup + a rather generous portion of Prawn Tempura which was golden on the outside. I love tempuras & this one was special as the batter is slightly different to the ones you get in Japanese restaurants. The Prawn was absurdly large & damn, it was tasty, juicy & full of flesh, best to be dipped into the mushroom soup to be enjoyed together. Every dip of the prawn tempura into the mushroom soup was a match in heaven, so delicious & a perfect combination together!

When you think there aren’t enough food on offer, special touch by WHISK is that they even bother to arrange pass-around “canapes” during day time. I put inverted commas in the word canapes because they weren’t your average canapes – the usage of very fine seafood & hearty nibbles was the theme of the day as there were non-stop grilled prawns, Cheese baked Oysters, Fried Scallops as well as Croque Monsieur – where have you been in my life? This is a special touch – I have never seen any pass-around canapes during day time in a all you can eat brunch & the quality was decent. Special highlight must go to the Deep Fried Scallop & the Cheesy Oyster, be reminded to add a good pinch of rock salt onto your oysters for sure. Somehow I think this is a tactic adopted by the hotel group to make you eat so much that you fall asleep & to book one of their hotel rooms to cross-sell, my opinion!

Perhaps the most interesting part has arrived, regular brunches that I have been & witnessed, you tend to choose 1 main course to company your meal. But as WHISK, they like to do things differently & to completely stuff your face with good food. At first, I thought WHISK screwed up the Marketing 101 error, proof read your menus when it states - “Choices of Main Courses” – which in English terms technically means you can choose more than 1 course. Asked our lovely waitress on the day & she explained that we can order as many mains as we can eat which I was baffled & was scared to find out this truth. To make things even more interesting for photography purposes, we decided to order ALL the Main-Courses, a total of 7 main courses on top of all our appetiser buffet + eggs + soup + canapes. Quite how we managed to finish this, I did not know but I for sure know that it was an Amazing Food Battle.

What Main Courses we liked?

Braised Beef Cheek in Bordeaux Sauce – Delectable, tender & the beef cheeks were soft & full of flavour. To match with a simple Red Wine Sauce, it was very delicious.

Angel Hair with Sauteed Sukura Shrimps in Spicy Aromatic Oil - Simple terms, this is similar to a X.O Sauce with Angel Hair, nothing wrong with this as this is the regular home-cooking dish which I love to cook at home because it is simple & so delicious. The usage of Sukura Shrimps definitely helps to add a lot of flavour to this simple aromatic pasta dish. Brilliant & don’t worry about the portion size as it is small consisting of a few bites only.

Asian Laksa - Very difficult in Hong Kong to find a decent bowl of Laksa & my craving for this often leads me to Katong Laksa on Jaffe Road. Very surprisingly, they do a rather decent Laksa maybe because Chef Quek understands what a real Laksa is given his origin from Singapore. The mix of coconut juice + chilli oil gives it a wonderful colour & a worthy mention must be the freshness of the prawns and the fish cake which also added magic to this small bowl of laksa.

Steamed Cod in Ginger Nage - Healthy option main course this was comparing whereby the cod is steamed & is paired with a fragrant yet light ginger puree with tomatos. The fish was soft & fluffy, perfect texture which you expect from using cod. Strongly recommend this dish to ladies of whom are conscious of weight.

What Main Courses we didnt like?

Pan Grilled Seabass with Braised Cabbage & Sea Urchin Emulsion - Very disappointed with this dish as the name was fancy & attractive but however, it was perhaps slightly too overcooked & hence the flesh was extremely tough. You can observe that the seabass was over-cooked , just look at how dense the meat is. Most importantly, the sea urchin emulsion was rather weak & I couldnt taste much sea-urchin in the foam which made the fish much more difficult to be eaten given its lack of flavour.

Braised Chicken in Shao Xing Wine - Kudos to the Chefs & I admire their creativity in mixing Western & Asian dishes in this Brunch menu as this is a Chinese dish presented in a Western manner. Shao Xing Wine is one of China’s finest rice wine & its fragrant & sweet taste makes it extremely interesting for Chefs to be used for cooking & marinating. The flavour of the Shao Xing Wine was strong but however the chicken meat (breast) was dry & lacked any real seasoning which was disappointing. Perhaps a Chicken leg piece will be more suited to this dish is my humble suggestion? 

Grilled Hunter Steak & Fries  - Very difficult for myself to dislike a piece of steak & here is the first for sure. The steak is wrapped with a layer of bacon & is then char-grilled, sounds mouth-watering huh? But what turned out was this piece of steak which was slightly bruised in colour & slightly on the purple side & the taste was somewhat not very appealing full of burnt flavours. The fries were somewhat dull despite its golden colour & it wasn’t crispy which was slightly disappointing.

We did manage to conquer all 7 main courses which was somewhat unbelievable & of course, we continued to binge through the dessert buffet after. Highly recommend to try out the Chocolate Tart, possibly one of the very best ganache tarts I have had in Hong Kong & of course, I managed to squeeze an extra one into my belly after!

Despite some minor hit & miss in the main course, I thoroughly enjoyed this experience at WHISK. I totally admire & respect on how they are very creative in tackling the brunch issue & unlike other major hotel establishments, they have gone about their business differently with this unique all-you-can-eat maincourse deal. For HKD550 + 10% including all you can drink & eat, this is an absolute steal & I was stuffed for the whole day & night. Interior & environment is also very comfy & warm, especially the live DJ on the decks adds a special touch to the restaurant. Too bad that it was raining the day we went as apparently the outdoors of the WHISK is normally used for outdoor BBQs, now that is worth a returned visit!

Happy Eating!

Geoff

Upcoming Review:: Brand New Roast Restaurant in Causeway Bay

Address: 5F, The Mira, 118 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui (尖沙咀彌敦道118號The Mira5樓)

Tel: 2315-5999

Food Quality (5* the highest): 3/1/2*

Price for Meal (5$ = very expensive): *** ($550 + 10% per head for a ridiculously heavy meal)

As a Wan Chai resident, one cannot doubt the area is a mega-food hub along with Jordan in Kowloon, with uncountable number of good cheap eats & very relatively unknown restaurants which serve up simple yet wonderful food. It is a privilege & honour to be part of Wan Chai neighbourhood for sure.

As always, our usual leisurely walk on Wan Chai Road on a fine Saturday led us to the relatively new-ish opened 譚仔雲南米線(三哥) (badly translated to Mr Tam’s Yunnan Noodles) & what a good way to cure a minor hangover with some serious spice, heat & sweat. Yunnan Cuisine & dishes can be extremely spicy & the spicy flavour is not your average spice kick, it is the Mala flavour (麻辣) which does the most damage. Similar to other Sze Chuan noodles shops in my previous visits (http://geoffstwitchen.com/?p=841), you can choose Mala Flavoured, Spicy Sour Flavoured or Boring Original Flavoured Broth to pair with your noodles & on top to show that you are true warrior, pick your level of spiciness ranging from 5 Mini Chilli Level, Low Chili Level, Medium Level Chilli & High Level Chilli but of course, if you are such a macho-man, you can secretly request for the Extra Hot Chilli Level which I advise you purchase a few packs of tissues to wipe off your sweat during the course of your meal.

What we liked?

Chilli Oil Infused with Millenium Egg - These are not Sze Chuan Millenium Eggs due to the difference in colour but are the regular millenium eggs you have in regular Chinese restaurants which were well infused with spicy chilli oil with a good handful of garlic & spring onion! The bright red chilli oil was spicy, not to the level that it wasn’t edible but was extremely flavourful & delicious which warmed up my digestive system prior to the bowl of noodles. 

 

 

 

That’s special, the ”Golden Boy of Pastry” , Will Goldfarb will be a Guest Chef at W Hong Kong for the month of June & we caught up with him prior to his visit to Hong Kong on his love for food! Will Goldfarb will be creating menus to pair it with the finest wine & rum at Fire & Living Room & call us W Hong Kong for your reservation today!

1) Tell us in 1 short sentence about what your cooking is all about?

    Communication, relationships, passion, beauty, technique, flavor and generosity

2) Where are you from?

    Strong Island, New York

3) Tell us about your excitement to partner with the team in W Hong Kong for the month of June?

    I am bursting with aged rum flavor! 

4) What are your signature dishes & desserts?

    Plat du jour, voyage to india, tootsie roll featuring sex panther streusel, infance, epoisses vanille, virtuality, silver medalist, pom-pom yeah!, bali-would, are some of the more widely circulated dishes and iconic images

5) Tell us the 5 most important elements that are always in your kitchen?

    Hygiene, organization, information, taste and technique

6) So, why do they call you the Golden Boy of Pastry? Don’t be shy on this, please.

    Because of my blazing spatula

7) Tell us about your culinary background

    I spent the better part of ten years working my way around the world to find the best chefs and experiences, including, but not limited to: Gerard Mulot (Paris), Cibreo (Florence), El Bulli (Roses), Tetsuya (Sydney). I then continued in pastry chef positions for esteemed chefs in New York: Craig Shelton (Ryland Inn), Paul Liebrandt (Papillon), Masaharu Morimoto (Morimoto), and Shea Gallante (Cru).I was able to open my little dessert bar – Room 4 Dessert – to widespread acclaim, and subsequently developed Willpowder, the Picnick Brand, Willequipped, and The Experimental Cuisine Collective with New York University

Share with us about your restaurants in New York?
    My partner, Kevin Pomplun is managing the Picnick brand, which includes our two uber-kiosks in The Battery, as well as Smoked, our rockin’ bbq trailer

9) What is the latest dessert trend in 2010?

I havent the foggiest – I have tried to move into setting the trends rather than following them – or at least ignoring them and focusing on developing my own style – I think iconic imagery will mark this decade in dessert.

10) What is your favourite Comfort Food & dessert?

    Vanilla ice cream

11) Your favourite ingredient in the kitchen?

     I love all and serve all

12) Your favourite cooking technique in the kitchen & why?

     It is a top secret!   

13) Have you ever used your cooking skills to impress a woman?

     I routinely try to use my cooking to impress my daughter, Loulou

Long have I heard about Xiao Yang Pan Fried Bun (小楊生煎) & some claims that it is a true representative of Pan Fried Dumplings of Shanghai. So, after our chow down on the Ah Lang Mein (http://geoffstwitchen.com/?p=2349), we immediately drove to the closest Xiao Yang Joint which was located near Nanjing East Road (on the corner of JIA Hotel) on the 3/f of a shopping mall complex. The word goes that the average waiting time to be served & to pick up your dumpling is approximately 30 – 40 mins & we got lucky as there wasn’t a massive queue on a Tuesday morning.

The queuing system in Xiao Yang was relatively simple, you make your orders at the cashier on the left hand side & queue up to pick up your pan fried buns on the right hand side. The Open Kitchen resembled with the pickup windown resembled a look of a drug pharmacy whereby you pick up your share of medicine for the day whilst enjoying all the heated actions in producing the pan-fried buns. By this stage, I still did not understand what the fuss was about – surely afterall it is only a PAN FRIED BUN & what’s all the craze about. Our first round’s order was 8 pan fried buns to be shared between 4 people, and within 10 mins, we had to order our 2nd & 3rd round. This was special, & unlike any other pan fried buns I have ever had before in my entire life, this was rather addictive to the extent that it was like a drug.

Why was Xiao Yang Pan Fried Bun so special?

Imagine a cross & combination of a Juicy Steamed Xiao Long Bao x Pan Fried Bun, this is what you get at Xiao Yang. The outside of the Pan-Fried Bun is so ridiculously crispy, hot & with a slight burnt flavour to it which is what you expect of a normal Pan Fried Bun & by the looks of it, it looks very ordinary. BUT, once you take a bite of the bun, you will realise the inside is rather special. The normal Pan Fried Buns has a slightly dry texture on the inside with very minimum soup contained whereas at Xiao Yang, their approach to combining both essence of Xiao Long Bao & Pan Fried Bun is extremely admirable which with the end result, an absolute splurge of soup within your first bite. Pictures speak better than words & check out the photos below.

Also, when you pick up the Pan Fried Bun using your chopstick, you will also notice & feel the difference in the thickness of the skin of the bun. Your normal Pan Fried Buns are dense in texture & hence, very bread or bun like whereas in Xiao Yang, the skin is so soft & thin that it appears like a regular Xiao Long Bao which led me to fire away a few questions to the Chefs which weren’t prepare to disclose the “secret” of how to make this lovely thing!

Based on our quick chat & with the addition of my knowledge, my theory for the Xiao Yang version would be to first of all steam the bun like a regular xiao long bao until the pork is thoroughly cooked on the inside. The Bun will then be placed onto a steaming hot pot (see photos above) whereby it would brown up the surface of the bun creating the appearance of a pan-fried bun but yet a wonderful & juicy inside with all the juices oozing out.

Xiao Yang was addictive & quite possibly one of my signature highlights for 2010 as of this moment. Nothing beats some great great cross-over dumplings & who cares about the calories huh? It’s such a shame that we do not have such eats in Hong Kong as of yet, it will sell like hot-cakes! Xiao Yang has enough to convince me to re-visit Shanghai once again!

Happy Eating!

Rating: 4*

Upcoming Post: Search for Good Old Spicy Noodles in Hong Kong

Post 2– Ah Lang Mein (阿娘面)

Our final morning in Shanghai was another feast before our departure & we were toured by our friend for some real local delicacy which a Shanghainese person will regularly eat on a daily basis. So by noon, we arrived at Ah Lang Mein (阿娘面) on Si Nam Road (卢湾区思南路36号(近南昌路), a very local looking noodle house comparable to a local fish-ball noodle shop in Hong Kong in the wet market areas of Hong Kong, particular the ones located near the wet market. Don’t expect “ambiance or service” in such noodle houses as the real deal is the food on offer. I was equally surprised to see that air-conditioning existed in such establishment. There was a line of around 20 – 25 people & with an no queuing system in place, we fought like soldier for our table of 6 & especially in main-land China, expect fist action & blood must have spilt during the months of steaming summer in Shanghai!

What’s Ah Lang Mein about? Despite its rather unappealing appearance, this place is HOT & is claimed as Shanghai’s Best Yellow Eel Noodle House.  Menu contains up to 5 types of noodle dishes +  few side dishes, that’s it, plain & simple. Expect locals & tourists flock to this place for a bowl of hearty Su-Chou style (Province in China) which the signature noodles dishes are Shanghai Yellow Eel Noodle with Pickled Mustard Greens(雪菜黃魚面 RMB16), Shanghai Braised Pork Liver Noodle & Crab Meat Noodle (蟹粉麵). Ah Lang (阿娘) was the lady of whom founded this noodle place & has always claimed that there is no usage of MSG in the noodles which I think is controversial & doubtful & that the soup is purely from the natural flavours of the Yellow Eel. Whatever the hype was, I wasn’t convinced as the noodle & soup were not spectacular but one thing which I did enjoy highly was the Yellow Eel which was very sweet in taste & delicious in flavour. Most importantly, each & every Yellow Eel was de-boned which was useful & easy to be enjoyed which requires a lot of prep work. The Yellow Eel noodle is best eaten with a bowl of side-dish, the Pickled Mustard Green (雪菜) as it creates a unique balance of flavour in the palate!

Same as the Yellow Eel noodle, the braised Intestine Noodle & Crab Meat Noodle weren’t convincing especially the latter which was priced at RMB38 per noodle, which is on par prices with Hong Kong. Noodle portions were extremely generous but lacking in any real general flavours & hence my thinking of the added MSG in the soup as a sweetener source. Must try the side dishes which we went for a Chilli Sauce Potato with a Tea Leave infused Boiled Egg, stole the spotlight completely over the noodles!

Overall, I will return to Ah Lang Mein (阿娘面) simply for its authentic & down to earth local flavours but the food on offer didn’t provide us with a WOW factor. What was good was that you can stuff your face with an average spend of RMB40 per person!

Address: 36 Si Nam Road, Lo Wan District, Shanghai (卢湾区思南路36号(近南昌路)

Tel: NO BOOKINGS AVAILABLE & PREPARE TO WAIT FOR AVERAGE 15 – 30 mins

Quality of Food: ***

Value for Money: ***

Our final day & night in Shanghai was the equivalent of commiting a calorie suicie, 3 meals within the space of 12 hours consisting of very high calorie, cholesterol food. Within such short period of time, we visited FUK 1039 (福 1039 上海),  Ah Lang Mein (阿娘面) Xiao Yang Pan Fried Dumpling (小杨生煎馆), with the first an upscale restaurant & the latter 2 are a complete down to earth foodie paradise containingly awesome & very interesting typical Shanghaiese food on offer. Since our wedding photoshoot has been completed, we went wild on the food & ordered as much as we could possible in all 3 places, just letting loose of ourselves really.

A name as FUK 1039 (福 1039上海), you know you are in for a bit of a trouble! An authentic Shanghainese home-style restaurant with the interior decoration which looked like an 19th century Shanghai style 3-storey French colonial style building. Eating in this restaurant resembled eating at home, so warm & comfortable but too bad there isn’t an indoor smoking ban in China as the furniture & wall stank of Double Happiness Cigarettes. The menu wasn’t anything exciting as the dishes are all traditional Shanghainese dishes with slight Western touches & presented in a rather Western manner which tourists & expats will rave about as always. We arrived at the restaurant at 1900pm on a Tuesday evening & the restaurant was full-house, good sign! What was better, the Chinese dude on the next table was already wasted when we sat down, LURVVVLY! Back to the food, some of my highly recommended dishes are:

Old Shanghai Style Smoked Fish (老上海熏鱼) - Possibly the best smoked fish (served cold) as of date which I had in Shanghai. Soft & tender in the flesh, sweet & juicy flavour upon the first bite. The fish is first deep-fried which is then marinated with a special sweet sauce, this was a special dish & I highly recommend this to you all!

Ice Chilled Chinese Yellow Wine Chicken (冰镇黄酒鸡) - Priced at NT200, you expect this to be a wonderful dish & well, it did not disappoint! When the dish arrived to our table, the intensity of the Chinese medicine was mind-blowing, such pungent smell which paired so incredibly well with the chicken. Unlike Hua Diao Wine (花雕), the Chinese Yellow Wine is also higher in alcohol volume which gave the chicken a real good kick! The pile of ice sitting on the top of the chicken also nicely chilled the chicken, giving it a fresh & ice-cool taste in the palate! Great Dish!

Red Braised Pork (红烧肉) – Proclaimed as Shanghai’s #1 Red Braised Pork & a signature dish at FUK 1039 (priced at NT330 per set), this is a must try. For those that are put off by the sight of grease, turn away. Expect a wholesome Chinese dish as such to be extremely fatty & oily – check & check! Presentation was in a traditional wine jar & the colour & shininess was extremely appealing in the eye. Despite the cubes of the braised pork of equal thickness between the fat & meat looking rather greasy, the texture of the pork was lean & very flavourful whereby the seasoning & marinated sauce infused completely with the pork! Dig deep into the wine jar, a pleasant surprise in a boiled egg at the bottom, as much surprise as a Kinder Egg for sure!

Lion Head Soup (獅子頭) – Name sounds frightening, Lion Head Soup is basically a meat-ball soup whereby the meat balls are mixed with crab meat, pork, pork fat & shrimp paste which are slowly brought to the boil in chicken broth. Simple dish this is but you will be surprised to how many restaurants can mess up this soup. Here, the Meat Ball is GIGANTIC, literally around the size of my fist. The Chefs were generous with the crab & shrimp paste as I expect 90% Pork + Pork fat & 10% the rest but at least I could taste it in every mouthful! Quite possibly the world’s most hearty “soup” & definitely one worth ordering!

Other dishes we ordered at Fuk 1039 were plainly ordinary such as the Xiao Long Baos, Pan Fried Dumplings, Steamed Fish etc. As a restaurant itself, Fuk 1039 is ordinary with highly inflated price tag which we paid around RMB1600 for 6 guests, by Shanghai’s living standards is somewhat equivalent to one’s 1/2 month wages. Beautiful interior & its location & building is truly unique, unlike anything you experience in Hong Kong. Definitely a restaurant to schmooze your clients, take your missus for a romantic meal (don’t sit next to the Chinese business guys) but if you are looking for some real, proper Shanghaiese cuisine, this is not the restaurant which I will recommend.

Catch our next post on Ah Lang Mein (阿娘面) Xiao Yang Pan Fried Dumpling (小杨生煎馆) real soon on Geoff’s Twitchen!

Address: 1039 Yu Yuan Road, Chang Ning District (长宁区愚园路1039号)

Tel: 021-52371878

Quality of Food: ***

Value for Money: **

Gastronommy Notable Dish:
Chai Tow Kway (HK$45)

Local Tips:

I was particularly interested when I first heard about SH!OK a few months ago.  As many of you know, I have a certain soft spot for Singaporeans and an even softer spot for their cuisine.  Despite Hong Kong’s close proximity to Singapore, I can still count the number of Singapore restaurants on less than two hands.  Even then, most of them consider themselves Malay cuisine or are South East Asian themed restaurants with a very broad and general menu.  Among these scarce choices, absolutely zero of them have stood up to the authentic Singaporean standard.

I soon found out about SH!OK on Peel Street, opened by the same owners of Bar of Soup on Staunton Street (now closed).  I remember when I first found the newly opened Bar of Soup two years ago.  In the quiet empty white restaurant, I heard the owners speaking to one another and I couldn’t help but immediately pick up on the familiar distinctive accent.  It turned out owner and cook, David Yip had set up fresh from Singapore, stirring up healthy soups without the use of MSG and minimal use of sodium.
 
David Yip, the chef with Indonesian Chinese and Singaporean roots, brought the same healthy standard to SH!OK.  Eager to see if Hong Kong finally had a decent Singaporean joint all its own, I squeezed SH!OK into my eating schedule asap.

The lime green exteriors and bright pink signage of SH!OK are more reminiscent of a tacky teenage accessories shop than a restaurant.  Upon entering, it was apparent that they didn’t relax on the interior either.  It suddenly felt like Easter with all the bright pastels on the walls, furniture and cutlery.  That’s certainly one way to catch attention on the otherwise quiet corner of Peel Street!  Inexplicably, I didn’t really mind the bright colors at all.

What surprised me even more than the bright green walls was the menu.  It provided almost every popular Singaporean, Peranakan and Teochew dish.  I grew wary… Even in Singapore, there are rare (if any) spots that try to cover everything from A-Z.  Most Singaporean food stalls or restaurants specialize in just a few select dishes and focus on doing those dishes as best they can.
 
In tow with me on my March 6th dinner visit was my Singaporean pal, Trina.  While we both have sinfully enormous appetites, there was no way we could cover even 1/10 of the menu fairly.  Not to mention that we were shaking our heads at the inflated prices compared to what were used to in Singapore (but this was later justified by the huge portions per order).

Cons: The service needed a bit of work when I was there nearly 2 mths ago.  It was as if our waiter had never served at all in his life before.  He originally placed us at a tiny table in a tight corner when the restaurant was completely empty.  Our waiter… and the other waiter he kept referring our questions to, were unable to answer basic questions without forming some telephone relay to the management somewhere in the back.  To top it off, much of what we originally wanted on the menu wasn’t available.  Sadly, the separate daily rotating menu of some of my favorite items such as laksa, hokkien mee, prawn mee or even char kway teow weren’t available at all (I’m a noodle fan, in case you haven’t noticed); and we weren’t in the mood to get messy with chili crab.  But Trina and I, both deeply involved in the F&B industry world, were very forgiving and chalked it up to settling in new staff at a brand new restaurant in a foreign town.  We narrowed our selections to three dishes: Sambal Okra, Chai Tow Kway and Mee Goreng.

Brief look at these two dishes: The sambal okra was done well, though I personally could done with a bit more of the homemade sambal chili ontop! mmm!  The mee goreng was tasty, but if I were to compare it to my favorites in Singapore and Malaysia, SH!OK’s wouldn’t stand a chance.  Then again, there’s absolutely no MSG… and to be frank, that bit of MSG does wonders at those little stalls down south (clearly, I’m not a health freak).

The chai tow kway ended up being the highlight of our dinner.  The fried radish cake came out in sweet & salty soft doughy bites and there was plenty of crisp fried onion to keep me happy.  David Yip has his radishes stewed for hours then steams it for a bit more, followed by wok frying… resulting in a ultra tender cake.  I was used to having my chai tow kway being a bit more crispy and hard around the edges at the local hawker stalls in Singapore, but I prefer it Mr. Yip’s way! — Despite being fried, SH!OK’s chai tow kway was lighter and cleaner in taste than the usual heavily greased up variations in Singapore.

Based on this small sampling alone, I’m glad there seems to be a decent Singaporean restaurant in Hong Kong now.  I hope this builds momentum to the point where HKers will be confident in demanding many more and only the best of the best Singaporean cuisine.

I actually visited on March 6 this year, but haven’t gotten around to writing about the restaurant until now, as you can see.  I’ve been meaning to make at least one or two more visits before making a post about it, but it so happens that I’m stuck in Singapore for yet another month.  So in the meantime, I wanted to give a nod in SH!OK’s direction.  I look forward to returning again in June for round 2 and for another Gastronommy entry on their other dishes.  And this time, I’ll have a much better camera in hand instead of my old camera or iPhone photos!  (Was gifted with a CanonS90 from my dear Adrian Mah! xx)

Happy Nomming!

Victoria

(Victoria Cheng is the contributing Editor on Geoff’s Twitchen from NYC.  Check out Victoria’s blogroll at http://www.gastronommy.com/)

SH!OK Singapore Kitchen + Bar
66 Peel Street, Soho
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2899 2001

First of all is this rather interesting restaurant which I have no idea on how we encountered because it was in the middle of nowhere but looked half decent on the exterior front - 金錨傳菜 (Jin Miao Shanghai Cuisine & if you read the Chinglish name card, it says Jin Miao Coffee & Bar) located on 新华路 Xin Hua Road. This was the 1st meal after our pre-wedding photoshoot which lasted a gruesome 8 hours in the rain & cold therefore a proper feast was much required. We arrived around 2130pm & with the last orders looming,unexpectedly, all the usual dishes such as Pan Fried Dumplings, Braised Pork were lacking in action which was disappointing but nonetheless, a right feast was awaiting. Some of the rather special dishes we had on the evening:

Pork Ear 豬耳 (Cold Dish) - Name off-putting but the Chinese eat anything with 4-legs & any part of the body counts. Delicious cold dish this was with a crunchy & fun texture. Treat this as a slice of gelatine with pig’s ears in it, doesnt actually taste foul with the pork ears thinly gelatined mixed with pork. Not your usual type of cold dish to kick start the meal & a recommended starter!

Shanghai style Smoked Fish 上海燻魚 (Hot Dish) - Your regular smoked fish is served cold & to my knowledge, this is my 1st ever Shanghai style smoked fish eaten as a hot dish. The fish itself was full of flavour with heavy doses of smokiness combined with the fresh flavour of the fish, unlike the quality of fish you get in Hong Kong. What was special about the dish was purely the fact that it was served warm & was very unique. Top marks for this dish!

Hua Diao Infused Chicken 花雕雞 (Hot Dish) - Lacking in serious Hua Diao Wine flavour was a major disappointment but what was bonus about this dish was the natural flavour & the chicken is so incredibly tender that it melts in your mouth. It bedazzles me on how the quality of chicken one can get from Hong Kong & mainland differs to such extent, this was unlike any chicken which I have tasted in Hong Kong. Too bad the Hua Diao flavours were missing in action!

Stewed Crab Meat with Tofu (蟹粉豆腐羹) - Natural flavours of the crab meat brings out the flavour of the dish. Shanghai is renowned for crabs & the crab meat stew with tofu is creamy & best served with a bowl of hot rice! I managed 2 bowls of rice with this dish – that says it all despite that I never eat rice in my normal diet!

Braised Shanghai Eel with Eggplant  - Massive lover of eel I am & a dish like this is not to miss out on. Again, best served with rice with the soya sauce which the wonderful texture of the braised Shanghai Eel carries natural sweetness. Only slight comment towards the dish will be the eels & eggplants were completely drenched into the soya sauce making it rather salty but still a very pleasant & tasty dish!

Above were my recommended dishes in Jin Miao Shanghai Cuisine & to be honest, we were bloody starving & thank god that the dishes were decent but not spectacular. For 11 dishes + drinks + rice, for 6 people, the bill was RMB600 – average of $100 per head, what more can you complain?

Rating: 3*

Address: G/F, Xin Hua Building, 543 Xin Hua Road (新华路543号新华大厦1楼 – 021-52581097)

Next Day in Shanghai was a nightmare, cold & pelting down with rain once again! Wanted to check out the Shanghai Expo area but the rain stopped us from doing so & being a tourist, you just have to cab it & check out the touristy restaurants in Xin Tian Di, a relatively more hip & cultural area of Shanghai featuring Western style bars & restaurants. They even have a Paul Patisserie (www.paul-uk.com/content/food-patisserie.php) which was a surprise! Wandering around Xin Tian Di was a nightmare as there are so many restaurants to choose from & we asked our local friend of whom recommended us to check out 小山 (English = Little Mountain), an authentic Tatami style Japanese restaurant on the 3/f of the Xin Tian Di Mall for lunch.

For a Tuesday lunch, the place was packed & we had to wait for 20 mins to be seated – good sign of a successful restaurant. Flipped through the menu & the lunch sets were not cheap, on par prices with Hong Kong averaging between RMB100 – 120 per lunch set.

Sashimi Don- Slight disappointment was the salmon which was not fresh at all & just look at the pale orange colour. But for RMB110, this was an extremely filling set lunch with a big bowl of sashimi rice, Japanese style boiled egg & Miso soup! The sashimi mix wasn’t anything spectacular but the biggest props of the sashimi don must go to the Japanese short grain rice, moist & sticky, its perfect condition to be eaten!

Beef Sugiyaki- Priced at RMB150, this beef sugiyaki set was a monster with way too much food! 4 generous slabs of beef on one side & the otherside with generous amount of tofu, leak & shiitake mushroom topped up with a bowl of rice, miso-soup & Japanese style boiled egg. Beef was of good quality & the sweet soya sauce & mirin combined very well. A pleasant choice for our set lunch for sure!

Japanese style Deep Fried Chicken – The best dish & a special highlight of the meal, althought a snack only but completely stole the spotlight of the lunch-sets. So ridiculously crunchy & crispy that it was simply a stunning appetiser. I have always thought the Deep Fried Chicken in 888 Ramen in Causeway Bay was one of the best in Hong Kong, this was at a different level with the batter was a lot more crispier!

If there was one dish that you can forget about ordering in 小山, my word of advice, do not order the Uni-Don (Sea Urchin Set). The colour of the sea urchin was not appealling with a nasty yellow colour unlike the normal fresh coloured uni which should be a mix between orange & yellow. Very much doubt how “fresh” the uni really was & how can they even serve this to the paying customers??

小山 is a typical Xin Tian Di restaurant whereby I will only go for lunch but not dinner due to high inflated prices. A Salmon Hand-roll will cost you around RMB45 per roll, which is again on par prices with some of the Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong with poorer quality. How does the restaurant survive the night business, I don’t know as the wages in Shanghai are not that high comparatively to Hong Kong & to have a decent dinner, you will have to blow your wallet. No wonder half the restaurant at lunch were filled with expats but not the local citizens.

Shame that I didnt have enough time on this trip nor luck as there were 2 ultimate Japanese restaurants which I wanted to try – one is called 魚藏 (Fish Gut in English as direct translation) which our friend raves about as well as Shintori (http://www.smartshanghai.com/venue/442/Shintori_shanghai). If you have ever eaten in these 2 restaurants, drop me a note & let me know if it’s really worth a visit as I heard Shintori is more for the interior design & question marks over the food?

Rating: 3*

Address: 3/f Xian Ti Di Shopping Centre (卢湾区兴业路123弄新天地南里广场6号3楼(近马当路) – 021-53821125)

Stay tune for our Part III of Pigging Out in Shanghai, coming real soon!

Happy Eating!

Geoff

Nan Cheung Xiao Long Bao 南翔馒头店 (No 85, Yu Yuen Road, Huang Pu District 黄浦区豫园路85号近九曲桥)- Nan Cheung is infamous for its Xiao Long Bao (Pork Dumplings) & is one of the city’s tourist landmark – similar status to Din Tai Fung in Taipei I say. If you ask me honestly, I think it is vastly over-rated, the skin of the dumpling is thick & the taste is distinctly average which is why I don’t understand what’s the big deal with it. Above all, the prices have slowed inflated year after year, from my memory, there wasn’t such thing as a minimum spending in the old days but unfortunately, such system has been applied. For example, if you want to be seated comfortably on the top floor of Nan Cheung, the minimum spending per head is RMB150, what a joke & that’s a sh*t load of dumplings to be eaten!

Anyway, I am not here to dedicate introduce to you the Xiao Long Bao but what I want to highlight from Nan Cheung is the top quality in 2 of the most random dishes on the menu – one is the Hua Diao infused Edameme & the 2nd dish is the Marinated Black Fungus! 2 very un-noticed side dishes on the menu but delicious they both were, full of essence of Chinese seasoning flavours & especially the Hua Diao infused Edameme which was simply stunning! So stunning that I did not even take any photos of it because I couldn’t resist in finishing the snack. I will return to Nan Cheung for these 2 dishes but not for the Xiao Long Bao!

Word of advice – what you order in Nan Cheung – DO NOT ORDER the deep fried Prawn balls with crab paste as it was so greasy which was simply unbearable – similar to one having a glass of oil!

Perhaps one of the more interesting dishes at Nan Cheung is the Xiao Long Bao, which is presented with a straw which a diner sucks up the beautiful soup or juice of the Xiao Long Bao. Again, very ordinary about the soup & I don’t quite get what is the fascinating part of it? 2 points to beware on – be careful on how hot the soup is & also, do not attemp to eat the skin of the Xiao Long Bao as it is seriously thick & dense, not pleasant!

Rating: 2/1/2*

Colabo Vino & Griglia (156 Fenyang Road near Tao Jian Road, Shanghai 汾阳路156号，近桃江路)- When our in-laws first suggested an Italian restaurant for dinner, I had my reservations & why on earth would anyone check out an Italian restaurant in Shanghai, my sincere apologies on this, I was wrong. Located in the Heng Shan Road district (nightlife scene area), not the easiest restaurant to be located as it is tucked inside an alley with a rather 18th century looking building at the end of the alley. This is the pure beauty in Shanghai & one of the major reasons for my love towards this city, to be dining in such spectacular architecture & environment whereby prices are cheap & cheerful & you know if such restaurant was located in such building in Hong Kong, the prices will be inflated as always!

So, this was the day before our actual wedding photoshoot therefore we tried not to eat too much. Browsing through the menu, I opt for a starter + main (salad + fish dish) which I want to specifically highlight from Colabo. I dare to say, I sent out a tweet on the night saying that I just quite possibly the BEST TOMATO MOZZARELLA Salad in the whole of Asia. Presentation of such simple dish was a beauty in the eye, full of wonderful colours! Tomatoes were fine riped, so juicy & sweet, but most importantly, the mozzarella was rather special & the seasoning was to perfection. I am extremely particular on this dish but this absolutely blew me away!

Another highlight from Colabo was the Fish Of the Day with Mixed Grill Vegetables which was something light & healthy! Messy presentation this was, with all the mixed peppers in big chunks spread across the plate. The seabass was very flavourful with a sweet taste to it & the pan-fry process gave a golden layer of crispy skin which added crunch & texture.

What impressed me the most with this meal was with such surrounding, architecture, quality of food & vinos, the total bill for 4 people was around RMB600, what an absolute steal!

Rating: 3/1/2*

Street Eating along Nanjing Road - If you are a passionate foodie & have no fear on hygiene in mainland China, streetfood in Shanghai is a must to check out on. Hop on a bike, be a local Shanghainese person & scooter along over 200 food stalls along Nanjing Road is the best way to out authentic & local cusine with such an abundance of food types on offer. Your usual suspects of Stinky Tofu, Xiao Long Bao, Pan Fried Pork Dumplings, Deep fried scorpians & of course, being China, one can find some rather bizarre food items such as deep fried scorpians, skewed beef rectum & perhaps the most distraught food type was the barbecued lamb’s testicles!

Rating: 4*

 Watch out for our Part II of Pigging Out in Shanghai, coming real soon!

Happy Eating!

Geoff

Small restaurant this was, possibly seat around 25 & was rather noisy at the time we ate due to the road construction on the outside. Have to confess, I am NOT in love with the restaurant but we have visited on 4 other occasions to make sure on the consistency of the quality of food & we go there so often that the owners recognise us! Simple & small menu featuring the regular suspects in any Sze Chuan restaurant such as Spicy Sze Chuan noodles, Red Oil Sze Chuan Dumplings, Marinated Couple Lung Pieces – basically, spicy dishes represent the core & essence of Sze Chuan Cuisine which is what we love & have a passion for!

Let’s start on commenting on the weak dishes which we tried at YU, most notably the Marinated Century Eggs with Green Pepper $28 & Chilled Slice Pork Belly in Garlic Sauce 46. My advice is to forget ordering below 2 dishes as it wasn’t anything special & for those that are curious about the Yellow fermented eggs, these are special fermented eggs ones can only find in Sze Chuan province (http://geoffstwitchen.com/?p=841). Comparing to my previous to Wen Kui Tsuen (雲貴川), this dish lacked absolute flavour which was disappointing & the green-peppers were also relatively weak which was a shame. The lack of sauces for the eggs also meant the eggs lacked real flavour. As for the 2nd dish, props to the Chef that the pork was extremely thinly sliced demonstrating his handling skills on the chopping board but again, the dish overall lacked a real spice kick to it which was disappointing. Wasn’t to the point that it was unbearable but both dishes were distinctly average for our palate. 

The Noodle dishes at YU were much more exciting, it was only to this moment whereby the few drops of sweat appeared in our foreheads. Similarly to Wen Kui Tsuen, you can also make a note to your server on the level of spiciness ranging from Level 1 – 5, 1 being not spicy whatsoever & 5 being the killer.On our 4 visits, we checked out 3 different types of noodles, regular noodles with a spicy sauce (Mouth Numbing Seasoned Noodle with Nuts & Sze Chuan Spices $32), regular noodles with broth (Sze Chuan Beef Noodle In Soup $36) & ice-cold glass noodle with a spicy sauce (Sze Chuan Spicy Bean Jelly Noodle $28). Now we are talking & this is what we really came for & the noodles did not disappoint at all which my only slight comment was that the Chefs should relax slightly on the MSG as after each meal at YU, we felt like we just went for a marathon in the desert, our throats were extremely dry & thirsty! All 3 of below noodles are all very different characteristically & take my word, if you can tolerate a high level of spiciness, order the Mouth Numbing Seasoned Noodle with Nuts & Sze Chuan Spices & will guarantee that you will breath out flames! For a nice ,cold summer dish, I recommend the Jelly Noodles, simply jelly noodles paired with chilli oil & plentiful of chilli seeds. Portion sizes of the noodles are relatively generous & extreme bargain for a good meal! 

The Main Dishes at YU are perhaps the climax of your meal - my below recommendations are all mouth-watering dishes which we repeatedly order on each of our visits as it was relatively cheap, good portion sizes & most important, the taste & flavours were superb!

Sze Chuan Marinated Beef Shank ($38) - Long have I seen Beef Shanks being sliced so thinly as we Asians believe that Beef Shanks are best when it is sliced in thick cuts when you are biting on the texture of the beef. A surprising but yet special approach by the Chef, the thin sliced Beef Shanks soaks up all the red chilli oil & the despite what the colour of the oil appears in below, it is really not a killer level of spiciness, moderate but delicious as you can still taste the the flavour of the beef!

**Sze Chuan Marinated Beef Tendon ($38) - If there is one dish that I have fond memories of at YU, this is my pick & words cannot describe the sensation of the beef tendons all mixed & stirred up with the red chilli oil. So delicious & so hearty this dish is & the premium quality of the tendons also plays an important role, so chewy & full of gelatin. I will visit YU anytime, simply for this dish!

**Married Couple’s Slices of Lung (夫妻肺片) ($46) - Despite the peculiar translation for this dish which is a traditional household Sze Chuan dish, this was also one of the highlights of our visit to YU which we ordered on 3 occasions. Also, despite its name, not a REAL PIECE OF LUNG is used, it is simply made of thinly sliced beef, mixed with a generous amount of spices, including Szechuan peppercorns. Here, the dish was frightfully spicy & the thinly sliced beef was very flavourful too!

So the question will be, why is this called Married Couple’s Slices of Lung? 

Story goes back in the 1930s, there was a married couple in Chengdu famous for making beef slices. The husband, Guo Zhaohua (郭朝華), and wife, Zhang Tianzheng (張田政), were particular about the beef slices they made, and often experimented with this. All of their beef slices had a distinct taste from the other beef slice vendors, and their business boomed. Often though, mischievous children would pull a prank on the couples and stick paper notes that read “Fuqi feipian” (Married Couple’s Offal Slices) on their backs, and sometimes people would yell the words out. Later on, a merchant tried the married couple’s beef slices and was so satisfied he gave them a gold-lettered plaque that read “Fuqi feipian”, and the name has stuck ever since (Courtesy of Wilkipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuqi_feipian)

**Marinated Black Fungus ($28) - A dish like this, you just cannot go wrong. Black fungus is a typical fungus used in Asian Cuisine, a rather healthy & nutritional item containing key nutrients such as iron, protein, potassium etc as well as aiding preventing cancer, reduces blood pressure, coronary heart disease. Such simple dish this is, the black fungus is boiled, stired & mixed with sesame oil, chili oil, fresh parsley, sesame & voila, your dish is ready! An extremely refreshing dish for the heat of the summer in Hong Kong as well!

 **Chilled Sweeten Bean Jelly with Osmanthus (HKD18) - Osmanthus (桂花) is a commonly used flower for desserts because of its incredibly fragrant smell. Similar to other typical Shanghainese dessert such as Glutinous Rice Dumplings and Osmanthus Flavored with Rice Liqueur 桂花酒釀丸子 , this was one of my favourite dishes with such a summer edge & touch for city like Hong Kong. To put this in a simple picture, it is a bowl of jelly with brown sugar & most importantly, the osmanthus has a leading role in this dessert as its incredible smell & taste dictates the overall taste of the dessert. The jelly should be broken up in the middle & you should mix the osmanthus & brown sugar evenly, once you have done so, the dessert is heavenly!

Cannot complain about the quality of Yu in Causeway Bay, definitely one of those hidden gems in town which not many people have discovered as of yet. Aside from the 2 weak dishes were we found particularly average, the rest of the dishes which we checked out on 4 occasions were particularly consistent & full of wonderful & most importantly spicy flavours. Yu has become one of my latest cravings, whenever I am in the hood of Causeway Bay, I always think of this place especially the Sze Chuan Marinated Beef Tendons. You just cannot go wrong with a meal, priced less than HKD80 & you could potentially stuff your face with! Was also informed that Yu will be launching some new Sze Chuan dishes real soon, stay tune & I shall check out & let you all know on this!

Upcoming Review on Geoff’s Twitchen: Tengi (喜磯味酒處)

Happy Eating!

Geoff

Address: No. 4 Yiu Wa Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong (銅鑼灣耀華街4號)

Tel: 2838 8198

Food Quality: 3/1/2* – has become one of my cravings in Hong Kong!

Price for Dinner: * (Around HKD80 per head for pure good food!)