HK Sevens (23-26Mar12)

Hong Kong has never really been at the top of our travel destinations (since it's kinda touted as just another Singapore) but who can resist the festive HK Rugby Sevens held annually? We couldn't. So off we went on a 4D3N trip to this vibrant city. Before we talk about rugby, let's run through some of the eating places that we conquered.

I have been aggressively promoting a restaurant called Sushi One in Tsim Sha Tsui just below our hotel (stayed at Citadines Ashley btw), simply because of their 50% off sushi sashimi & other dishes after 10pm! To avoid disappoint, please arrive at 930 and start queueing. See photo to believe. Was afraid that quality & portion might be compromised due to the promotion, but boy were we pleasantly surprised. This must be the cheapest uni (or sashimi for that matter) I've ever eaten. Can't remember but it's about 10 or 20+sgd for a crate?! That's just insane. The menu is diversified, sashimi portions are big, and freshness is there. What more could we ask for? We ordered mostly premium items. But even with sake, total bill came up to be less than sgd60! Last order 1130pm. Plenty of time. I just did a check online and found they have other outlets but not sure if the same promotion stands. Do not miss =)

- Somewhere near our hotel there's this really good meat stall so we packed half a suckling pig and a fat goose leg back chez moi. Paired with red wine. Pure enjoyment.
- One morning, we went to this really traditional dim sum place (can't remb the name) but not quite a fan of it as the portions are HUGE and food's not to our taste. But interesting setting that brings you back to the old times.
- Headed to Harbour City for some window-shopping. Great view of Hong Kong's night skyline from the Star Ferry Pier/Avenue of Stars.
- Dinner at Al Mono Ristorante Italiano by the waters. Good crowd on a weekend night. A tad expensive but nice atmosphere.
- Lunch at 南海一号 (Nanhai no. 1) on level 30 of Isquare (in Tsim Sha Tsui as well). Awarded a Michelin Star recently, you can expect steeper-than-average prices. But I recommend going for their lunch menu that's extremely value-for-money. Spent arnd sgd30 per person. Superb view and good food!

Here comes the rugby at the Hong Kong Stadium. Love.The.Atmosphere. It's half rugby, half party! See the South Stand? If your com's good enough to zoom into the photo, you'll find lots of qwerky & hilarious costume-dressers. What a sight. Spot, also, some dudes balancing god knows how many beer jugs!

The real rugby action. Huge Chinese firecrackers were set off to signal the start of the exciting finals between Fiji and New Zealand. Fiji won convincingly. Nice. Ended with a very pretty display of fireworks. Wooo. We will be back.

More food coming your way. That, to us, is what HK is all about.
- Japanese BBQ at Yakiniku Gyukura (also at Isquare). Not bad but not the best. Price is a lil steep.
- You may not believe it, but we managed to bring an entire goose back to Singapore, UNCHOPPED. Yes, we hugged and lugged it all the way back! Worth every effort. Bought the prized possession from a meat stall in Happy Valley. Tops. Stuff it in a cooler bag to avoid oil leakage (get from the supermarket).
- Simple but oh-so-yummy Wan Ton Mee from around our hotel.
- Last meal at Maxim's at the airport. Shouldn't have, because the food there totally paled in comparison to what we had been eating the past few days...

HK Sevens 2013 perhaps??

Restaurant week Mar12

The bi-annual Restaurant Week is here again and we managed to snap up 2 places of our choice. The first one is tucked in a small corner in Outram near the Majestic Hotel. All the courses were great, except that the ribeye portion was a tad too big. Taste-wise, they passed with flying colours. Don't mind being back there again for the next Restaurant Week :)

Name: Absinthe

Location: 48 Bukit Pasoh Road  Singapore 089859

Expenditure: SGD$55 pp for restaurant week dinner promo (excl. wine)

The 2nd restaurant is located on the 56th floor of ION Orchard. Beautiful view. Love the sea tasting plate and the beef tenderloin. Very nicely grilled to medium-rare. The barramundi fillet was average. What a nice bird's eye view of Orchard Road at night..

Name: Salt grill & Sky bar

Location: 2 Orchard Turn Level 55 & 56 ION Orchard, Singapore 238801

Expenditure: S$55 pp for Restaurant Week dinner promo (excl. wine)

A unique wine dinner (19Feb12)

One fine day a bright idea came to mind: To bring fine dining into the comforts of our own home! And so I set out to gather all necessary "ammunition" required for this task. Didn't have to look far, because everyone in the household has their own hidden talents! We have... JD as the head chef, his friend CJ (a real restaurant chef) as co-chef, Joanne as the pastry chef, S as the sommelier and myself as the coordinator. Not forgetting Tawa (our maid) as kitchen helper. In the days leading up to this event, I created some excitement among our diners by sending out the carefully-crafted menu. Rather fancy 6-course dinner dunch ya think? Battle half won :)

The dinner also featured blind tasting under S' full responsibility. She chose, with much deliberation, 6 wines to be paired with each course. She also painstakingly prepared tasting notes for each diner to ponder on and thereafter match with the wines.

Table setting prior to their arrival.. May I just mention that we did not expect preparations to be such hard work? JD thought long and hard about the menu, making sure ingredients are balanced and portions are right. Joanne played around with different desserts. Several trial runs took place. And as the menu changed now and then, S also had to re-think her wine choices! After everything was finalized, S and I went supermarket-hopping. Seriously in order to get all ingredients we had to search high and low at cold storage, ntuc, seng siong & marketplace.

I had the honour of commencing dinner with my scallops amuse-bouche (adapted from Tetsuya's recipe book). Followed by JD's lovely dishes. Happy that  the food was well-received :) Couple that with enthusiastic wine discussions. I must say the event was a success!

Non-stop kitchen action. Effort ttm. The entire crew should really be given a pat on their backs. Great job.

Pretty lizzy and her signature 3-finger twist. CHEERS!

Au Petit Salut (28jan12)

Went to Au Petit Salut on a Sat afternoon to celebrate Joanne's birthday. Pretty good ambience for a casual day-dining especially with the outdoor garden setting that is typical of many Dempsey restaurants. Not so practical in the day, of course, if you're familiar with Singapore's weather. Probably much nicer sitting out there in the night.

Felt like mentioning this restaurant as the food is up to standard, at a good price ($35 for a 3-course set lunch), and you could get wines at $7 per glass during lunches! Ok the cheap alcohol is the real pull factor. Good value food and drinks..me like :) Things that we tried that were not bad: homemade duck rillettes, braised lamb shoulder, seared Onglet beef and choux buns. The Burgundy snails were very lacking because of the weird tomato topping. Not recommended.

Name: Au Petit Salut (website)

Location: 40C Harding Road Singapore 249548

Expenditure: ~SGD$50 pp

Les Amis Simply Black (11Feb12)

The weekend before vday, S brought me to Les Amis for a very fun & fine lunch. Called SIMPLY BLACK, this exclusive blind tasting wine luncheon is only held every Saturday. Wines are carefully paired with your choice of 3 or 4-course menu. Simply black because the wines are served in black glasses! Interesting. You'll be surprised to find that in these special glasses, you won't be able to tell a white from a red. There was no wine top-ups, but we both love the novelty experience. Analysing wines over a nice meal surely makes for an intimate & enjoyable time together. On top of that, the food was really good. I know this is rare but the one course that left a deep impression on us was the "Fancy lemon tart"! Definitely something to crave for.

Name: Les Amis (website)

Location: 1 Scotts Road, Shaw Centre, Singapore 228208

Expenditure: At S' discretion :)