Foodwise Wine pairing @ La Mer Restaurant & Lounge

As a FoodWise member, there are lots of events like wine pairing etc.
It was my first time joining the wine pairing event by FoodWise. I attended the event because I have always wanted to try the food at La Mer Restaurant & Lounge which is founded by celebrity Stefan Wong.

As well pairing it with fine wines from Bodegas Corral, the signature dishes from La Mer were also on the menu.Started with the beef tartare paired with Don Jacobo Crianza 2014.
By far this was my favourite beef tartare because it was made with tenderloin so the beef is lean and flavourful.
It contains capers and gherkins which make the tartare moreish.

Next was the French Onion soup, again flawless as it was loaded with onions which were soft and sweet, topped with a lovely piece of baguette with melted gruyere cheese.
The pairing of Don Jacobo Reserva complimented it nicely.

The main course was Wet aged US Prime hanger steak served medium rare to go nicely with the red wine.

The wine pairing was good because Carlos Rubio, CEO & Winemaker of Don Jacobo led us through the wines so for wine rookies like me, I ended up understanding more of the wine pairing journey and how different characteristics of the wine come by. The last act was my favourite!

Cheese.........

On the platter was smoked cheddar, goats cheese, Stilton and Parmesan.

Goats cheese and Smoked Cheddar were my favourites and went well with the wine.

Overall, it was a great event so I will look out for other events organized by Foodwise in future. All the wines we tried that night can be bought at FOODWISE.

 

La Mer Restaurant & Lounge:

https://www.facebook.com/Lamerrestauranthk/

FoodWise:

https://foodwise.hk

Sorrowful Noodles and GoodBBQ at Hofex 2019

There is so much going on at the Taiwanese section of Hofex.
Mandarin is not my strong point so I only managed to talk to a few booths!!!

To my surprise, I spotted GoodBBQ at the Shuangrenhsu booth [3E-305] !!
Shuangrenhsu is like the Chanel of Taiwanese noodles so the marriage of GoodBBQ, the Tiffany of Hong Kong's siumei results in delicious bowl of Sorrowful noodles (暗然銷魂麵).
Originally Sorrowful Rice ( 黯然銷魂飯) is a dish that came from the Stephen Chow's God of Cookery Film where it is a bowl of rice with egg and charsiu on top.

Everything is about egg porn these days, so the poached egg yolk mixed into the famous noodles were simply delicious accompanied by the chunky pieces of charsiu!

Both GoodBBQ and Shuangrehsu do ready to eat vacuum sealed products.

You will find a delectable home cooking charsiu kit which uses the same formula their bbq pork sold at their restaurants.

All you do is marinate the pork with it and then roast it at the comfort of your own home.
Tescos in UK should stock them soon so we shall see these products world wide at other Tesco branches!

Other interesting finds at the Taiwanese section were taro scented rice and colourful noodles.

Hofex 2019 Day 1

Organized by UBM, Hofex is bigger and better this year.

I only had time for the 1st and 3rd floor so I shall be returning to the 5th floor tomorrow.

There were so many booths showcasing healthy snacks and foods.

From Australia we have Human Bean Co with these delicious air puffed faba beans which are crispy.
There are so many flavours: salted, salt and vinegar, lime and black pepper and pizza.
Coming from UK, the salt and pepper were my favourite.

Jomeis Fine Foods has a wonderful selection of lattes.
My favourite picks are turmeric, beetroot and minty cocoa which taste good.

Moving on to the UK section, there were quite a lot of finds.

I loved the smoked cheese crackers from The Fine Cheese Co.
(https://www.finecheese.co.uk/)

There were Stilton and Cheddar crackers as well which are popular in UK and also my favourite cheeses.

Artisan Cheeses that they have.

On the sweets side, I found these Vegan, sugar free & gluten free sweets by Jealous Sweets.
(www.thejealouslife.com)

Now to the meat section, we have meatless products and meat.

I am so glad that UK has a meat free option by The Meatless Farm Co as well so there are other options apart from Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat!
I can't wait to cook something soon with the mince and meat free patties.

While I was there, I tried their Chili Con Carne which was so comforting so I hope to get the recipe for that and make it.

In the meat section, there were lots of familiar faces as they are all distributed by the Golden Pig in Hong Kong as well!

My favourite Snowdonia cheeses especially the Black Bomber.

Wicks Manor:

Healthy and Luxurious soups delivered to you door

HK CHAN CHI MEI 真滋味 is a local brand that has been in Hong Kong since 1973.
You will always see them at the annual Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo.

I didn't realize that I already have one of their products in my kitchen which I must have got at the expo before!

This time I got the Abalone fish maw & sea cucumber soup (鮑魚海參滋補湯) and the pork trotters in sweet vinegar (天禧醋豬腳姜) which are both ready to eat but have to be reheated.

The soup is delivered frozen as there are absolutely no chemicals or preservatives in it.

There are four in the box for HKD$480 but using the promotional code 368 you get a discount!

You can actually see the abalone, sea cucumber and fish maw on top.

I was surprised how easy it was to reheat, you just put the sachet in boiling water and serve when it is hot.

The soup tasted amazing because there isn't any msg and it was viscous and sticky because of the fish maw.
The fish maw was lovely and soft as well.

The pork trotters in sweet vinegar is another delicious treat especially the pieces of ginger.

Please note: More than one packet in this bowl!

As well as ready to eat items, they also have fish powder and sauces which you can add to rice to make it tasty.
I like to add the fish powder to oats to make it taste like congee!

Will definitely buy more online when I run out.

http://www.chanchimei.com.hk

Healthy Beverages at [Tea Days 小茶堂]

I was actually in for a surprise when I went here.]

They had slow pressed juices and you could order drinks that were 100% sugar free.

I was actually doubting if they would be sugar free as usually taro and purple sweet potato are made with powders but ordered anyway.

There was a choice of purple potato or taro.

Purple potato is trending now but I had the taro because it is not as sweet compared to purple potato and less shops serve taro these days so you have to go to proper Taiwanese joints.

To my surprise, both were the real deal.

The cold pressed OJ was sweet and thick in the sense you could taste all parts of the orange from the pulp to the orange membrane.

Then the taro was exactly what I wanted, it didn't have any colouring and there were real pieces of taro so it was very satisfying as well as healthy.


Will definitely be back for the Sweet purple potato milk when I am in the area.

Tea Days 小茶堂:

Shop 22, G/F, Ho King Commercial Centre, 2-16 Fa Yuen Street, Mong Kok