[Maison Es] Japanese Tasting Menu

Maison ES is led by Esther Sham more popularly known as Chef TATA. The 6-COURSE TASTING MENU I had is available until the end of this month which has been created to celebrate her 10th year at Maison ES. This restaurant is tucked away behind Star Street with beautiful French Vintage decor which makes it a perfect get away from the city.

I was quite impressed by the experience because every course was well executed. We were a table of 12 and considering there were so many of us, everyone's dish was still hot and we all got them at the same time. Here was the [6-COURSE TASTING MENU]
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Started with the [HOKKAIDO SCALLOP ceviche] topped with salmon roe, sweet corn, okra, mizuna and honey yuzu dressing. Dinner started off well with this ceviche because everything tasted in harmony, especially the sweetcorn puree which was really comforting and the sweetcorn pieces which were a bit like Mexican corn while the okra added the charred taste to the whole thing and the silky scallops.

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FOIE GRAS TAMAGO CUSTARD with Asian mushrooms Steamed egg and foie gras sounds heavy but the foie gras has been turned into foam which turns into liquid when you spoon the egg hence every spoonful is infused with foiegras and the earthy mushrooms on top makes it even more delicious.

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BACALAOS confit served with chorizo garlic crumbs, clams, steamy dashi fish broth & charred spring onion oil For this dish, I like the way they have selected Bacalaos which is a slightly salted fish topped with crispy chorizo garlic crumbs and surrounded in a clams fish broth. Hence strong flavours here.
The crispy fish skin is real good!

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UNI SPAGHETTI topped with nori Unlike other pastas, this one is not creamy, again rich flavours in play here.
I think I could taste grounded dried scallops as something made it quite sweet.

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USDA PRIME SHORT RIB grilled served on hot spring stone with acacia honey roasted pumpkin & spicy nanami spinach Although, the beef was the star of the show, the vegetables were just as good because the spinach was really flavourful with a hint of spiciness and the pumpkin was out of this world. I have never tasted pumpkin as delicious as this because it was so soft that it just melted in your mouth and there were other flavours infused in the pumpkin.

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DESSERT SURPRISE:
Finished with the dessert which was a great ending.

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I would definitely recommend this place as all the courses were fantastic.

[Maison Es]
http://www.maison-es.com/
Address: 1A Star Street, Wanchai
Reservation: info@maison-es.com
Phone: 852-2521-8011
Opening hours:
Mon to Sat: 12:00nn to 11:00 pm
Sun: 12:00nn to 5:00 pm

[New openings] bakehouse in Wanchai

A new bakery spotted in Wanchai!
Fresh croissants.

bakehouse:
14 Tai Wong St. East, Wanchai
Hong Kong

[My cup of tea] Hong Kong style tea

Tea shops are trending at the moment and Hong Kong style milk tea is served here.

The owner seems quite proud of his tea as he claims it is award winning tea.

To be honest, Hong Kong style milk tea is not my cup of tea but I had to give it a try because he said it was an award winning tea.
It was served pretty fast after I paid.

The guy at the front poured milk etc into the tea.

The taste was very strong with a good bitterness to it yet you could taste the balanced milk flavour.
While I was there, most of the Hongkongers said it was really good but as I am English I don't know how a good HK milk tea should taste.
I wonder if the prices will increase after the soft opening.

#wanchai

[My cup of tea 我杯茶 - 港式奶茶鴛鴦專門店]
G/F, Wing Hing Building, 6 Spring Garden Lane, Wan Chai
灣仔春園街6號永興樓地下

[Gloucester Luk Kwok] Sorrowful Rice 2.0

Sorrowful rice 黯然銷魂飯 is a bowl of Cantonese barbecued pork, with an egg, on rice.inspired by Stephen Chow’s 周星馳 1996 movie, The God of Cookery 食神.
This dish was launched a year ago hence this is version 2.0.
To be honest, I haven't tried version 1.0 and it was my first time trying Sorrowful rice so I was really excited.

It will be available from 30/10/2017-24/01/18 on Mondays to Wednesdays for dinner which includes a crispy crab claw, soup and puerh and osmanthus dessert.

The roast pork is served in a big slab just like the way you buy it from the shops and it gives the satisfaction of having a whole piece of roast pork to yourself.

They use pork collar butt which is the best cut and the the roast pork is served with this glistening almost translucent glaze that is too beautiful and mesmerizing to eat.

To eat, you have to mix everything together especially the liquid yolk and the finely chopped onions underneath the roast pork so the sweetness of the onions come out and the creamy yolk lubricates the grains of rice.

For me every spoonful of rice was heaven because of the onions, egg yolk and the crisp egg white. There was also some lard which brings out all the flavours.
Moving onto the pork, it was just sensational, the meat was lean but tender and I finally satisfied my roast pork craving with this huge piece of pork!!

Saying that I desperately needed a knife and fork because the chopsticks were a bit difficult for me.

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Canton Room, Gloucester Luk Kwok:
https://www.facebook.com/GloucesterLukKwok

Loyal to Loyal Dining

Loyal Dining used to be in Central but they have now moved to Wan Chai.

They pretty much serve everything because I would go there for the all you eat dimsum when it was on promotion and I would take my friends there for roast pigeon.

At this new location, we decided to make it a memorable dinner so we ordered the Giant Sizzling plate as it was on promo for $498.

Basically a huge plate of meats enough for six. There was Grilled Australian Sirloin Steak, Grilled Spring Chicken and British Tenderized Pork Loin. As well as that there were German sausages, bacon, sunny side up eggs, baked potato, broccoli, tomato and zucchini served with a choice of 3 different gravies (black pepper sauce, BBQ and garlic sauce).
The pork chop was really good because it was soft and tenderized.

On the side there was Waldorf Salad Served with Homemade Deep-fried Shrimp Balls.
The pairing was interesting but I like Waldorf salad because of the crisp apples and celery while the shrimp balls were springy and crispy.

Next was a favourite of famous Hong Kong actor Chow Yun Fat.
There were two different toasts, one was sweet and one was savoury.
The sweet one was peanut butter with condensed milk while the savory one was preserved bean curd and sugar.
I always spread preserved bean curd on my toast so clearly I loved it because it has a salty taste which you can think of it like Chinese marmite or blue cheese.

The Loyal Chicken Wings Simmered in Homemade Sweet Soya Sauce are a popular item.
Everyone orders that but I was quite full after having all that steak.

I was really looking forward to the dessert because they had the Loyal Soufflé (Ovaltine).
It had a lovely Ovaltine aroma to it and it was not too sweet.

Loyal Dining:
5 Tonnochy Road

[Oriental House Arabic Halal Cuisine] Consistently good Arabic food

This restaurant has been here for years serving the best Arabic Halal food in Hong Kong.

I used to eat at Sham Fast Food which was owned by them before this restaurant popped up in 2004.

Went here for dinner because I haven't been here for years and nothing has changed except for the improved decor which gives it a stronger Middle Eastern appearance like Simurgh in London.

That guy who served me a few years ago was still there.

Dinner portions are quite big.

Started with lentil soup which was starchy and creamy with a hint of cumin.

Next was the silkiest hummous which I just wolfed down.

It is too good to be shared.

Also had the mutabal and babbaganoush. The babbaganoush tasted sweet and sour while the mutabal was more savoury, both delicious with their fluffy pita bread.

For mains had the Shawerma which was tasty chicken, lamb and beef.

All were nicely spiced.

The mixed kebab paired with Arabic salad was grilled minced meat drizzled with tahini, again with cumin paired with refreshing salad and tasty Arabic rice.

Finished with the Halawat Al Gibn which tasted like a chewy glutinous rice cheesecake that was not too sweet.

https://www.facebook.com/OHFoodArabic/

YAMATAKA x Hello Kitty Sakura Festival

I saw photos of Yamataka seafood market doing Hello Kitty themed food so decided to check it out as it is only available from now until the end of May, 2017.
The location is above the Wanchai Ferry pier which I find unpleasant to walk from Wanchai MTR at the moment because of the construction works and industrial dust.
Instead of going from Wanchai, I got the ferry from TST which turned out really good because when I got off the ferry, there were flower petals on the ground and lots of these flowers on the way towards Yamataka market.

The entrance was really cute and there were Sakura flowers that you have to walk under.

Evidently it was busy because almost everyone loves Hello Kitty.

It was definitely a good day to eat that day because these pretty flowers were blooming outside which made it feel even more girly and there was this beautiful blue sky.

On the Hello Kitty menu, there was tamago, hand roll, seafood don, Mizu shingen mochi and strawberry pancakes.

I got the seafood don and Mizu shingen mochi.
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Hello Kitty seafood don:

The Hello Kitty was just too cute to eat, it was basically sushi rice in a Hello Kitty shape with sashimi laid around it with sakura shaped egg and cucumber.
As for the taste, you are getting fresh seafood supplied by Yamataka seafood market so it is fresh.
I just wish the rice was a little bit softer.
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Hello Kitty Mizu shingen mochi:

The dessert was equally as pretty but hard to photograph because it is a clear piece of mochi!
It had a faint peach taste which is how I like it but there is bean powder on the side if you need it.
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Video of the food and environment:

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https://www.facebook.com/yamataka.hk/

[Pici] Bring on the full pasta experience

Seeing lots of expats have visited this place I decided to go early one evening.

Luckily I got there at 6pm because it was full within an hour.

The menu is simple with appetizers, pastas and dessert.

There were four of us so we got a pasta each while we shared the starters.
It is really hard choosing a pasta because they have Gnocchi, ravioli, orecchiette, lasagne, tagliatelle, parpadelle and pici!!

We sat at the bar where we got a view of all the pasta being made and the cooking at the far end.
I seem to recognize one of the Chefs from Pirata.

Fresh hand rolled pici which looked like fat spaghetti being made:

Ravioli being prepared:

Parma ham sliced to order:

Began with bread, olive oil and balsamic vinegar while we were waiting.

Started with the burrata cheese which was creamy, soft and supple:

Next was the Chefs selection which was served on a board comprising of parma ham, salami, taleggio and parmesan.
You can evidently see the difference of freshly sliced parma ham because it is moist and radiant in colour.

Moving on the the warm starters, we had the meatballs which were made of pork, beef with tomato sauce.
They were big and tasty.

Now to the stars of the show, we had lasagne, ravioli, gnocchi and orecchiette
The gnocchi was one of the best I have had because the texture is not stodgy and there are bits of potato in it.

The ravioli was also exciting, there were two choices for ravioli so I chose the one with truffle because it was filled with delicious asparagus and shallots.
The filling was silky smooth complemented by the fragrant truffle.

My friend had the lasagne which was very hearty and meaty.

Last but not least was the nduja orecchiette which had a spicy touch to it while the orecchiette pasta pieces were al dente.

Despite being quite full we had the tiramisu which was a perfect end to the dinner.

PICI:
https://www.facebook.com/picihk/