Weekend Tea for love high in the clouds at The Petrus

February is all about love and romance.
At Shangri-La, they will be serving "Tea for Love" during the whole of February at the Island Gourmet and Lobby Lounge.
During the weekends you can experience this at the Lobster bar and grill where there is a spectacular view of Hong Kong.


It is served with Perrier Jouet which has a dry and savoury note that goes well with the items in the tea set.



Started off with raisin and plain scones served with preserves and clotted cream.
Each bite was divine because the scone was crumbly and soft with lashings of clotted cream and a tad of jam to give it some sweetness.


Here was the tea set.


★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
On the top tier, there was Perrier-Jouët mousse, Signature lychee milk chocolate sticks, Red berry fruit tart with Perrier-Jouët rose petal and
Lemon cake with red puff

To my surprise, they were not that sweet.
My favourite had the be the chewy lychee chocolate stick and mousse which was light and fruity.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
On the second tier, there was Manjari chocolate with frosted strawberries, Raspberry macarons, Cherry and Perrier-Jouët cheesecake, Swiss rolls.

The Swiss rolls were wonderfully soft with delicious strawberry whipped cream in the middle and the chocolate dipped strawberries were a treat with the champagne.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
The bottom tier were my favourite savouries!!
-Foie gras terrine, love apple and Perrier-Jouët jelly, chervil
-Jamón ibérico, green asparagus, quail egg, pink pepper
-Alaskan crab meat, rye bread, Thai basil
-Gravlax marinated with Perrier-Jouët, dill Sriracha mayonnaise
-Poached Boston lobster, vanilla infusion, pearls


The foie gras terrine was nutty and velvety while the lobster was springy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
As well as the Tea of Love, they have also created the AMOUR which is a refreshing light lemon sponge cake with Champagne infused cream.

Year of Goat Special Edition Cookie Gift Tin

My colleague was sent a tin of cookies by one of his clients so I got to eat them as well.
Apparently they are worth $238 and they come in a nice tin in a festive red bag.


In the tin, there are 5 chocolates with a sheep, Chinese gold coin and a peach blossom tree.




The flavours were Almond, Strawberry Marble, Chocolate Almond, Coffee Chocolate, Cranberry, Flax Seed, Blueberry and Original.
It was great fun sharing these cookies which were crumbly and delicious with a buttery scent.

Blueberry

Cranberry


Chocolate Almond

Flaxseed

Strawberry Marble,

https://www.facebook.com/LucullusGourmetShop?fref=ts

A Valentine’s Day Tale told at HMV Kafe

Out of all the Valentines menus I have seen this year, the one at HMV Kafe seems romantic because it is laid out like a scene in one of Shakespeares plays.
It is divided into ACTS, INTERLUDE and the FINALE.


The set is priced at $1288 for two including tea or coffee. Here was the set that we had.
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ACT I
Enchanted Garden (Tagete flower)

This was a beautiful array of vegetables on a bed of mushroom soil.
I just felt that the mushroom soil was not exciting enough because I couldn't quite taste the mushrooms. It could be improved by putting bacon bits to make it tastier.
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Perfect Pair (Begonia flower)

Next we had foie gras which was paired with vinegar pearls, the sharpness of the vinegar balanced the foie gras nicely.
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Chamomile Pond (Chamomile)

This was chicken consomme infused with Chamomile.
It was clear with a strong chicken taste.
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Interlude
Light Curry Gelato (Borage flower)

The curry icecream was a great kick to the tastebuds because the spices were alive and the potato foam on top was silky and viscous and which smoothed it all out.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
ACT II
Apples, Apples, Apples (Pansy)

OR
Steak and Flowers (Nasturtium)



There is a choice of steak or salmon.
Steak is definitely the one to choose because the vibrant potato jelly layer is mesmerising.
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Finalé
La Boulle de Chocolat (Lavender)

When this is served, they pour hot chocolate on top which melts the top away exposing the blood orange flavoured panna cotta beneath it with Kirsch caviar pearls.

The panna cotta was absolutely refreshing with a strong citrus flavour
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After a lovely dinner, it was finished off with tea.

To summarize, I was quite impressed by their creativity and the effort they put in creating a menu like that which surpasses an ordinary cafe.


http://www.hmvkafe.com/

Cheese craving satisfied at I.E. Kitchen Academie Culinaire

After having the cheese and ham brioche I was craving for cheese again so I attended the cheese fondue class ($650 for two ppl) where you get to eat cheese fondue as well as learn how to make it!

I was surprised to learn that the ingredients were simple, it was cheese, starch, white wine, Kirsche, black pepper, paprika and garlic.
NOTE THERE IS NO MILK IN THE RECIPE however local restaurants put milk in the fondue because they think milky is cheesy!!!
Err I don't think so somehow!

We started off with a plate of appetizers of air dried beef and bayonne ham accompanied by pickles to balance the waxyness of the meats.

After we finished the appetizer, the Chef demonstrated how to make the fondue!
It was simpler than I thought.


I have skipped the steps here but it is pretty easy.
Anyway, the fondue was finally ready to eat and it was divine dipping soft bread into the piping hot melted cheese.
The cheese was moreish because the acidity of the white wine decreased its heaviness.

There were three breads available: Brioche, white bread and walnut and rye.
The white bread and walnut and rye were good for dipping because it was soft with a good yeast taste but the brioche was a bit too heavy for the fondue because it was buttery.

After finishing the fondue we had the apple tart for dessert which was a sweet ending.

As well as the fondue classes, they also sell fondue packs for $200 which includes all the ingredients, fondue forks, burners and sufficient wine for the fondue experience.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/IE-Kitchen-Academie-Culinaire/672755172812437

Mind blowing lamb dishes at City Garden's YUE

As the year of the goat is approaching many restaurants are coming up with lamb or goat related dishes!!

Yue has done a bold approach with Cantonese dishes that I could have never imagined!!

They have come up wth BBQ lamb which is marinated the same way as BBQ pork (Char siu).
They have replaced the BBQ pork with BBQ lamb in the famous 金錢雞 so it now becomes 金錢羊!!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
粵味盆菜 Yue's poon choi ($2,888):

The items in the bowl were quite luxurious, there were tofu pockets filled with birds nest 內含足一兩燕窩的燕液福袋, prawns 玉簮明蝦球, prawn roe, abalone 南非鮑魚, BBQ lamb 蜜汁燒羊柳, pigs tongue 豬脷, chicken 江南百花雞, dried oysters 蠔豉, fish maw 花膠, sea cucumbers 遼參 on a bed of Chinese radish and lotus roots.
Here you can see the bird's nest inside the tofu pocket.

I loved it because it had all my favourite items especially the soft fish maw and bird's nest but the best item had to be the BBQ lamb because it was soft and tasted exactly like char shiu.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
薑凍金錢羊 ($168):
As mentioned earlier, this is a lamb version of 金錢雞.

There are four layers, ginger jelly 薑啫喱 on the bottom, a layer of fat 冰肉, a slice of mushroom 白靈菇片 topped with BBQ lamb 蒙古羊柳.

I was really happy they had this because I have always wanted to try 金錢雞 but not many restaurants offer that and you need to book in advance.
It had a delicious but complex mouthfeel because of all the different layers.
金錢雞 is a famous Chinese dish which consists of a layer of liver, pork and and fat skewered together and roasted.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Soup:

The soup that we had was chayote and whelk which was light and healthy.
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Lotus wrapped rice in abalone sauce:

The rice was really tasty because it was evenly flavoured with abalone sauce and there were bits of mushrooms and dried oysters in it.
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Tea smoked chicken:

The chicken was tender infused with a fragrant tea scent.
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紅菜頭年糕 ($168) Beetroot pudding:
以天然的紅菜頭打汁及打茸而成的「紅菜頭年糕」，味道甜香軟糯、

I was really looking forward to this and it turned out to be as good as I imagined.
Normally I don't touch Chinese New year puddings but this was mindblowing and delicious because it was not too sweet and it was soft with pieces of beetroot in it.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
珍品蘿蔔糕 ($218):
以羊肚菌、姬松茸為材料，加入香味四溢的菇水及上湯，混合足1斤的蘿蔔絲製成，

As well as the pudding the turnip cake which I never eat was also good because it was a vegetarian version and contains morel mushrooms and other fungi so the taste was amazing.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
YUE'

1/F, City Garden Hotel, 9 City Garden Road North Point.