Geoff's Twitchen

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Food Journey #32 - Steak Feast at Bistecca Steak House

Bistecca is the Italian word for "Steak" & a perfectly grilled steak is a champion dish in my opinion. Bistecca Steak House is the latest steak house in town, located in the heart of Lan Kwai Fong & opened up by the guys behind Dining Concepts (How many steak houses do they need after opening BLT Steak House, Craft, Bistecca etc). The restaurant's cuisine is heavily under the Italian influence, especially from the region of Firenze therefore, do not expect this to be ilke other steak-houses in town such as Ruth's Chris or Mortons as here, they serve up hearty Italian dishes.

Since Saturday was Halloween and I very happily was recovering from my hangover on Sunday afternoon when Texas Chainsaw Massacre - The Beginning was showing on HBO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZYAuHKWxHA). Stepping into Bistecca reminded me of scenes from movie above especially their waiters & waitresses are all dressed in butcher uniforms and with all the raw, bloody beef stored in the fridge & on display. LOVELY!

Diners: If you want to see the restaurant with stacks of beef hanging out, please visit Bistecca during dinner hours only as due to our very unique Hong Kong law, raw beef is not allowed to be displayed in the public inside a restaurant. How messed up is this?

MUST ORDER & Highly Recommended Dishes

My lunch experience at Bistecca was indeed a very positive one for a brand new restaurant despite all the rumours & negative comments I heard from fellow food critics & diners.

Deep Pan Foccacia with Fresh Grapes & Rosemary (Starter): Foccacia has got to be one of the greatest bakery product from Italy at Bistecca, this is served as your fresh basketthe foccacia is served up relatively similar to a pizza infused with strong flavours of Rosemary. Interesting touch is to pair the deep pan foccacia with grapes which is something that I have never tried before and the pairing works well. The foccacia was warm, soft with great flavours but one let down in my opinion is that the bread was slightly greasy but nonetheless, it was a great start to the meal.

Iceberg hearts with roasted red peppers, anchovies and balsamic vinaigrette: I love this salad as the chopping & dicing part with the iceberg leaves, anchovies & red peppers was so much fun. Not only was the action part a lot of fun, the taste of the iceberg leaves was extremely fresh, complemented with the saltiness of the anchovies and the mild flavours of the balsamic vinagrette. A very refreshing salad for the heat of Hong Kong and I am in love with this dish and will definitely order this salad for many times ahead.

American certified U.S.D.A. Rib-Eye 14oz - Served Rare: Bistecca did not disappoint by my standards & as a lifetime confessed carnivore, this is definitely one of the better steak houses in Hong Kong for sure.

My grain fed USDA 14-oz rib eye was done just the way I like it - cool in the centre and bright red through out. Texture of the steak was soft with the meat being extremely juicy. All the steaks are prepared with sea salt & Kerala peppercorns, charcoal grilled & drizzled with Olive Oil & Lemon for the ultimate flavour.

Presentation was unpretentious & no-nonsense! The 14-oz steak placed on a wooden chop board which is a proper home style cooking without ponsing around with the presentation. Served with 5 pairing sauces on the side which included Porcini Sauce, Chianti Mustard, Spicy Tomato Catsup (same meaning to Ketchup), Spicy Yellow Pepper Catsup & Gorgonzola Cream. Personally, my favourite was the Gorgonzola Cream as Steaks + Cheese are literally best mates and work well together! To be honest, a good slab of beef does not require any sauces to pair as it can potentially ruin the taste of a good quality slab of meat.

Overall, a good quality steak for sure as it was meant to be a "tasting" session but somehow, I ended up finishing the whole portion which I did not regret for sure.

Improvement Required Dishes

Grilled mozzarella with Marinated tomatoes (v) - Do not get me wrong, this wasnt a bad dish but my slight comment will be to top-up on the seasoning & flavour of Mozzarella as the cheese itself is tasteless therefore the grilled mozzarella skewer becomes very bland. The good side of this dish is that I like the presentation - simple, hearty home cooking style and the marinated tomatoes are juicy & succulent. Good appetiser to kick off your meal for sure but Chef must work on the seasoning.

Spinach and ricotta ravioli with roasted cherry tomatoes (v) - I did not expect a Steak House to be cooking up good pasta dishes and in general, this dish did not disappoint but with a slight let down which was the strong flavours of the tomato sauce completely overwhelmed the Spinach & Ricotta Ravioli which was disappointing. Chef must also be a little more generous on the ricotta stuffing as I could barely taste the flavour of the cheese. Not a bad choice of a vegetarian dish to choose from a Steak House!

Summary of Meal

Suprisingly for a brand new restaurant in town, I think Bistecca has done a marvellous job in terms of food quality & attentive service. The steaks are always on my hit-list for sure no matter for lunch & dinner and I also highly recommend the Iceberg Leave Salad as that has the word "fresh" written all over it. In fact, there are quite a few other dishes on the menu which I would love to try out on my next visit such as 32 Oz Porterhouse Steak, Grilled whole Italian seabass with lemon vinaigrette etc. I definitely would like to re-visit Bistecca again on a regular evening as a normal customer instead of a food tasting session to see whether the food & service is as consistent as my lunch. THUMBS UP to Bistecca and keep up the good work guys!

Special Note: BLT Burger (under same group as Dining Concepts) will be opening in Harbour City on 20th November and stay tune for some proper New York City Burgers by Master Chef Laurent Tourondel.

UPCOMING REVIEW: SUSHI BATTLE BETWEEN MI-NE SUSHI & ITAMAE SUSHI

Happy Eating!

Geoff

Address: 2/f, Hip Hing Building, 15 Lan Kwai Fong, Central, Hong Kong(中環蘭桂坊15號協興大廈2樓
)

Contact Number: 2525 1308

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

Price for Lunch (5$ = very expensive): **

Website: http://www.diningconcepts.com.hk/newweb/bistecca/index.php

Food Journey #31 - Exotic Lebanese Cuisine at Marouche Grill on Elgin Street

Happy Halloween everyone and it was also my birthday yesterday evening! Thank you very much for all the messages on twitter, facebook wall messages, SMS's, phone-calls, emails, fax, letters etc.

Every now and then, I love a good old adventure enjoying cuisines that I normally would not eat on a regular basis. I was excited to recieve a press invitation by the ladies behind Marouche Grill for a lunch tasting session. Lebanese Cuisine is also known to be a slightly healthier cuisine due to the amount of vegetables, pickled vegetables, olive oils, herbs, spices & fresh fruits used. Now, let me make this straight & precise and I want to let you guys know just because it is a press invitation, Geoff's Twitchen will always remain true to its roots with brutal honesty on the quality of food in our restaurant reviews. No Bullshit will be allowed on the twitchen!

When I stepped into the restaurant, I was worried that Marouche Grill's business will not last until Christmas as there were 2 table of customers including us on a Monday lunchhour. Very worrying sign and it was exactly like a scene of Ramsay's Kitchen's Nightmare
- http://www.channel4.com/food/on-tv/ramsays-kitchen-nightmares/

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED DISHES

a) Hommus Beiruty - Chickpea Puree with Hot Pepper, Parsley Tahine & Lemon Juice

b) Hommus - Chickpea Puree with Tahine & Lemon Juice

Above Cold Mezze has made Lebanese cuisine reknowned world-wide and at Marouche Grill, they were the perfect starters to your meal going. To be honest, I could carry on eating this until the end of the meal and have totally lost count on how many slices of Pita bread I had with the Hommus. If you clearly do not care about your health & waistline, you will have the same thinking as myself. The Pita bread was fresh & warm and paired perfect with the hommus and both hommus starters were excellent and were my personal favourites for the meal. I couldnt stop eating this from start to the end of the meal! THUMBS UP!

RECOMMENDED DISHES

a) Grilled Halloumi Cheese served with Fresh Water Melon

Halloumi Cheese is a traditional Cypriot Cheese that is made from a mixture of goat & sheep's milk and due to its high boiling point, most Halloumi cheeses are eaten either grilled or fried. It has a similar texture to Mozzarella but slightly saltier due to the salty water content. Here, the Halloumi Cheese is grilled and is paired with whole sliced Watermelon - a traditional method eaten by the Cypriots and is an exceptionally refreshing dish for the heat of Hong Kong. One slight area of improvement for this dish in my opinion would be to serve up the halloumi cheese & watermelon diced up as it will be much easier to eat. For recipes of such dish, see http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2008/07/grilling-halloumi-cheese-watermelon-salad-recipe.html.

b) Falafel - Deep Fried Fava Beans & fine herb croquettes served with tahine sauce

For those that commonly are mistaken for what Falafels are, it is a deep fried "ball" made of Fava Beans or Chickpeas and is an extremely popular fastfood & appetiser in the Middle Eastern region. Fava bean falafels are mainly used in Egypt or Sudan region and chickpeas in the Middle Eastern region. As a main dish, falafels are served as a sandwich stuffed in a pita bread with lettuce, tomatoes & tahine sauce. My falafels at Marouche Grill were served alone & drizzled with tahine sauce which I thought would have been better to be served in a pita bread to achieve to double your waistline. The taste was good and it was deep fried to perfection as it was not too greasy with very strong flavours.

DISHES I DIDNT LIKE

Kafta Meshwi - Charcoal grilled skewers of seasoned minced lamb with onion & parsley - Had high hopes when my lunch partner ordered this dish as lamb is signature to Lebanese cuisine. However, was majorly disappointed when the dish arrived:

a) Portion Size were far too small or maybe it was because the chefs decided to reduce the portion sizes due to the nature of the lunch. Priced at HKD170, this was very over-priced.

b) The flavour of the lamb may not be appealing to the Asian crowd as the strong flavour of the lamb over-shadows the onion & parsley flavours

Wark Inab B'Zeit - Wine leaves filled with rice, tomatoes, parsley, min & onion, cooked in lemon juice & olive oil -Had a debate in what to order in between the Grilled King Prawns & Wark Inab B'Zeit and I now regret in not ordering the King Prawns as I wanted to explore something which I do not eat on a regular basis.

Lesson #1 of Eating Out - always choose dishes that you are familiar with at times, think twice about ordering dishes that you are not familar with.

To my palate, this was the only dish whereby I wish I didnt order during this lunch. It was similar to the Chinese dimsum - Steamed Lotus Leaf with Glutinous Rice where I enjoy eating on a regular basis but the Lebanese version was very strange. It was sour by taste due to the lemon & tomatoes & the texture of the rice was also very sticy & slimey which was unusual. Food is a very subjective matter and this dish definitely did not please my palates. If you have different opinion on this, do let me know as everybody has different palates.

Coffee is a big part of Lebanese cuisine and there is a saying that One could Lose their Nationality if they do not drink coffee in Lebanon. Our meal was finished off with a fine Lebanese Coffee (Ahweh or Kahweh) and it is truly a great coffee with thick texture, trong pungent taste & flavour & usually unsweetened and will take some time to adjustif you are a coffee amateur. This has got to be one of the best coffees in town & much much better than the usual commercial junk you get around town.

Overall, an interesting meal as I have not eaten Lebanese cuisine for some time since my times in London in Edgware Road. Slight let down of lunch was the ambiance as the restaurant was very quiet and Wark Inab B'Zeit. Otherwise, it was an enjoyable meal with good flavoured dishes on offer. For those cautious of their calories, watch out for the Pita Bread & Hommus

Happy Eating
Geoff

UPCOMING REVIEW: BISTECCA STEAK HOUSE

Address: 31 Elgin Street, Central, Hong Kong (中環伊利近街31號)

Contact Number: 2524 4123

Quality & Flavour of Food (5* the highest): ***

Price for Lunch (5$ = very expensive): **

Happy Halloween! Godiva Fall Winter & Halloween Collection

Lovely sight in Hong Kong to see restaurants & bars all geared up the Halloween Bash and this year, I have decided not to review any restaurants with Halloween menus because of below reasons:

1) All dishes around town look very similar indeed

2) Lack of creativity from restaurants

3) You know that the restaurateurs are just decorating their existing dishes on the menu with a few extra pumpkins, tomatoes and red sauce pretending it was a splash of blood. How un-original

4) Ripping you off with astonishing prices on their set menus

Instead, I recieved a very warming surprise & special delivery from the PR Team of Godiva Chocolatier on their brand new Halloween Collection and their Fall Winter Collection which I must prioritise as Halloween is 2 days away. The beautiful package consisted of the following:

1) Milk Chocolate Covered Pretzels - Very interesting taste & flavour as the pretzels are salty flavoured but when drenched in dark chocolate, it provides an interesting chemical reaction. Texture was crunchy and not soggy or too dry which is good. However in my honest opinion, nothing was surprising about this new collection and certainly did not provide myself with a WOW factor. If you ask me, I certainly do not understand why Godiva has become so adventurous in selling such types of product because it will not appeal to the local population. The press release also mentioned the word "IRRESISTABLE", I strongly have doubts on usage of such powerful word.

2) Pumpkin Patch Truffle - I am at this moment eating this and blogging it at the same time. Don't get me wrong, the appearance is definitely very kawaii (Japanese word meaning Cute) as it is literally a golden pumpkin with a green leaf on the outside and once you take a bite, it is filled with a creamy pumpkin-spice ganache.

i) Far too sweet for myself and I am sure the entire population except Americans with a sweet tooth will find the same. If you are a diabetic, watch out as this can potentially harm your health by rocketing your sugar level.

ii) The creamy filling does not pair well with the chocolate and the taste of the chocolate is awful. How I managed to finish this truffle is an unknown mystery. Perhaps, rather than spending all this Marketing budget into packaging & advertising, they should hire a few people of whom will & can taste the chocolates properly before releasing the product into the market. Godiva Team, please do not take this personally.

iii) Charged at a steep price per piece ($135 per 100g), you would expect something rather special about the product and unfortunately, the price tag does not justify the end product.

If you are thinking about purchasing this chocolate for Trick or Treat, I am sure this will scare away all the toddlers & kids around your neighbourhood and will never return to knock on your doors.

3) Fall Gold Collection - Alas, we have come to the best part of the package. Why this is called Fall Gold Collection, I am not too sure as all the traditional Godiva boxes are all golden in colour but this had a special touch added as the box was wrapped with an orange satin ribbon & a "vibrant" ("vibrant" is the word used in press release but that got me thinking, how on earth can a leaf be vibrant) autumn leaf with small berries showcasing the theme of autumn where leaves change their colours.

Back to the chocolates, this is the traditional, classic & true heritage chocolates that I know from Godiva. Simple, delicious, hearty flavours including flavours of caramel, pralines, fruits, nuts, milk & dark chocolates ranging in various chocolate % content etc. Enjoyed every single chocolate in this Fall Gold Collection and what a turn-around in my encounter with Godiva's chocolates this time round.

An extremely elegant gift for your loved ones, family, friends over the festive seasons but my doubt is, will anyone pay $435 to purchase a box for themselves.

The Pretzel & Pumpkin Truffle was definitely a MISS for me but the Fall Collection was a DIVINE. My advice to Godiva Team, please stop dicking around with your chocolates and stay classic as they are your core, best selling products.

PS:: One interesting point from the press release which I recieved regarding the Halloween Collection, there were 2 other Halloween products which were Carre Dark Chocolate & Carre Milk Wafer which I was very interested to review about due to the cool packaging & flavour but was disappointed to find out that the PR Team did not carry such product. Major disappointment!

UPCOMING REVIEW: Exotic Flavours of Marouche Grill on Elgin Street

Quality & Taste for Halloween Products (5* the highest): **

Quality & Taste for Fall Gold Collection (5* the highest): 3/1/2*

Price for Chocolates (5$ = very expensive): ****

Website: http://www.godiva.com.hk/TC/Home/default.asp

Happy Eating Geoff

Food Journey #30 - "Shanghainese" Buffet at Clipper Lounge

Time flies when you are busy and another year has arrived for the Hairy Crab Season. I was invited by the hotel team to sample Clipper Lounge's latest Shanghainese Lunch Buffet. Least to say, my last visit to Clipper Lounge for a proper was easily 3 yrs ago and majority of my visits were really for their signature & legendary high teas. Before my visit, I was extremely curious on how the setting & food was gonna be and it just turned out to be exactly what I had in mind. Don't get me wrong, it is an interesting approach but the theme of Shanghainese Lunch Buffet could be slightly mis-leading to real Shanghai food lovers. It was a very traditional approach by a hotel group as there technically were only a few handful of dishes that were remotely Shanghainese and the remaining dishes were catered for their regular patrons, hotel guests, tourists etc such as Fresh Sashimi, Seafood Platter, Roast Beef Carving Section etc. If you are heading to Clipper Lounge with the hope of feasting on items like Beggar's Chicken (乞丐雞), Shanghai Style Nian Gao (Shanghai Style Fried Sticky Cake), Drunken Chicken (醉雞), Dan Dan Noodles (Szechuan Spicy Noodle 擔擔麵) etc, you will be disappointed.

Although, it was slightly disappointing that the choices for Shanghainese dishes were minimal, the usual suspects were lying around such as Xian Long Bao, Fried Dumplings, Sweet & Sour Fish Fillet, Shanghainese Stir Fry Noodles etc.

Highly Recommended Dishes / Selections:

To be honest, I didn't really try out the Shanghainese items on offer but instead, what caught my eye was the Sashimi Platter + Sushi Platter + Seafood Platter on offer.

Sashimi Platter - Very ordinary selection with no major surprises such as Salmon, Octopus, Maguro, Ebi, Surf Clam etc. Salmon was extremely fresh and melts in your mouth and I had to enjoy a 2nd round on this. Another bonus point is a kudos to their team on the speed in replenishing the sashimi to ensure they are always fresh from the chef's knives!

Seafood Platter - Oyster from Chile & New Zealand, Mussel, Crab Legs, Crayfish, King Prawns, Whelks were all on offer and special mention must be the Oyster selection as was so fresh that you can still taste the freshness of the sea-water. It is not easy to find restaurants or hotels in Hong Kong that has a good oyster selection but I can definitely recommend Clipper Lounge for this. The sizes of the oyster were also very consistent unlike other hotels or restaurants whereby the oyster sizes for your sea-platter vary a large range in sizes. Another bonus point was the speed in replenishing the seafood platter was a speed of lightning and the seafood was always on offer.

Roast Beef - Another surprise of the lunch was Roast Beef considering I have never been a fan of such item maybe due to the fact that I have eaten this every weekend for the past 15 yrs. However, this roastbeef was a lot better than my previous review on the ClearwaterBay Country club's roastbeef and it matched perfectly well with some good English Mustard The roast beef was tender, pink in just the form I like it.

Bread Basket - Believe it or not, the bread basket was for me the CHEER OF THE DAY and please see below photo of the rectangular shaped bread and a big thumbs up to the pastry chef who baked this fine piece of bread. This in my opinion has got to be one of the finest piece of bakery skills in the whole of Hong Kong as it was warm, soft & extremely floury. I cannot quite work out what it is exactly but it tasted like a combination of a combined scone & muffin. The bread was so delicious that I also finished my lunch partner's share and it has enough reasons for me to return to The Clipper Lounge for another meal.<
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Shanghai Hairy Crabs

The Clipper Lounge Shanghainese Buffet also included a Hairy Crab to each guests and it was quite an experience eating such delicacy as this is the best season for such item. Why are they called Hairy Crab - because they are an extremely hairy crustacean with hard as bristle hair on their legs and their pincers have hair as well, which is as thick as seaweed.

Such crab is a famous delicacy in traditional Shanghai cuisine and us Hong Kongers prey on the female crab roe which is the the GEM and the reason to why people pay thousands of dollars for such yellow or orange crab roe. The crab itself does not have much meat due to its relatively small size and is best served steamed with ginger vinegar sauce. From a Chinese medical perspective, the crab meat is also believed to have a "cooling" effect on the body which balances out the Yin-Yan composition of a body. One note on eating this, watch out on your cholestrerol levels.

Since the hairy crabs at the Clipper Lounge were complimentary to all guests, I didnt expect the crabs to be full of surprises. The Captain brought us the crabs skipping step 1 as below which was fundamental to ensure to guests the freshness of the crab. The size of crabs were relatively small which was disappointing BUT when I cracked open the cover, there was SO MUCH CRAB ROE which I was very pleased with. The flavour of the crab roe was extremely fresh & pungent and it was a definite treat on eating such delicacy. Very little meat in the hairy crab but again, who cares as I am a crab roe lover!

Steps in Eating a Hairy Crab!

1) Place the hairy crab flat on your table so that you both should be looking at each other as you want a crab that is alive and kicking.

2) Steam the Crab for 20 mins with simply ginger & herbs and should be more than ready!

3) Take off the crab cover and if you crab is a female specimen, you should find all the golden roe and get tucked in.

4) Pull off the crab legs and snap the legs in two. Use your chopstick to gently push the crab meat out or you can also suck out the meat. This is where you taste all the flavourful, sweet chunks of crab meet and please eat everything aside from the lungs, a brown coloured fat sac & intestines.

5) Beware that most of the juiciest flesh are in the claws and please ask your server for a delicate cracker to open this part.

6) Best wine pairing with Hairy Crab must be Chinese Hua Diao Wine or Sherry.

Key areas to improve are:

a) As a leading 5-star hotel operator reknowned for its services to guests, I found the service during the lunch slightly unattentive at times especially the speed in changing used plates & refilling hot water for my Chinese Tea considerably slow at time. Perhaps some of the speed in replenishing the seafood & sashimi can be transformed to this area.

b) Level of English ability from staff has areas of improvement as the Food Captain was explaining to us on how to eat a Hairy Crab and I honestly did not understand 50% of what she was mumbling about. Imagine what would a demanding hotel guest react to her mumbling! Not Good!

Despite what was a Shanghainese Buffet theme was perhaps slightly misleading as majority of the dishes on offer were not remotely Shanghainese. Nonetheless, the quality of the other dishes on offer were extremely fresh & full of flavours and I do highly recommend our fellow readers to check out the lunch buffet at Clipper Lounge. Remember, do try out the bread basket as that was the gem of the lunch experience at Clipper Lounge.

UPCOMING REVIEW: GODIVA FALL COLLECTION & HALLOWEEN CHOCOLATES

Address: Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 5 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong (中環干諾道中5號香港文華東方酒店閣樓
)
Tel: 2825 4007

Food Quality (5* the highest): 3*

Price for Lunch (5$ = very expensive): ****

Website: http://www.mandarinoriental.com/hongkong/dining/bars_and_lounge/clipper_lounge/

Food Journey #29 - Spanish Fiesta Lunch at TAPEO

Wandering around Wyndham Street can always turn out to be quite a fun activity during lunch hours as there are restaurants in each & every single block with busy executives munching & drinking their way at speed of lightning to make their way back to office by 2pm. Typical lunch, I was doing my usual patrol around the hood and I decided to pay a visit to this little spot TAPEO which is not the easiest place to notice.

What appealed me was that first of all, something about Open Kitchens that really excites me as I love the smell of fresh food being grilled, cooked, deep fried, sauteed etc and a team of chefs preparing all the food for the diners. Tapeo is a very interesting. Look at the wonderful photos below and especially the very smokey photo of the mackerals being grilled, for me, that is the best part of culinary adventures is to see professional chefs doing their magic! At Tapeo, whatever you order, the chefs will prepare all your orders in front of you (aside from the desserts) and the only downside is that the ventilation system must be improved as I left the restaurant with a very strong smell of grilled food which is not the best!

First of all, I want to share with you all the best part of the meal which was the Jamon Serrano - a dry cured Spanish ham served raw in slices also known as Mountain Ham. Traditionally, the hams are trimmed & thinly sliced, best served in room temperature. Do not be mistaken with the Jamon Serrano with the Jamon Iberico as it is an entirely different breed and Jamon Iberico is also much more expensive. Originally, the Jamon Serrano was meant to be for "tasting" but somehow, we ended up finishing the whole platter as the taste was purely savoury & divine. For $98 per platter at Tapeo, this is not a bad deal at all

Now, on the rest of the meal, want to share with you the best part of the meal:

• Pulpo a La Gallega - Gently Confit Octopus with Capers & Paprika - This is one of the 10 dishes to try when you are travelling in Spain and is Galicia's signature dish. The octopus was slowly braised for 3-4 hours and cooked & reheated in virgin olive oil with a mixture of Spanish sea-salt, paprika & capers. This was my favourite dish of the day as the it is very difficult that the texture of the octopus is so tender & chewy and it was a special dish at Tapeo. (See recipe - http://gospain.about.com/od/fooddrink/ss/topspanishfood_2.htm)

• Lamb with Tomato & Spices - Grilled Lamb with Cayenne Pepper, Paprika & Chilli - The lamb is slowly grilled and is served in skewers along with halved cherry tomatoes. The flavour of the spices was extremely fragrant and the flavour of the lamb is alsy very strong. The combination of cayenne pepper, paprika & chilli gave this dish an extra kick for sure and this is a perfect snack to pair with an ice-cold beer after-work. Despite the positive side of this dish, priced at $68 for 2 skewers, perhaps 2 more skewers shall justify.

• Crispy Pork Belly with Quince Alioli - Slowly roasted pork with a Quince Garlic Mayonnaise - This was also a typical Spanish Tapas served and watching the fat slab of the pork belly being slowly roasted was a good source of entertainment. The flavours & the smell coming from the open kitchen is something that every foodie should be drooling over. Never have been a big fan of Pork ever in my life but since it was highly recommended by the chef, I gave this dish a shot and to my surprise, I enjoyed very bite of it asit wasnt extremely oily & fatty that I thought it would be. The pork belly was extremely crispy which was the best part of it. The Quince Alioli - in simple terms - an apple garlic mayonnaise which to my palate was a good pairing with the pork belly but for a garlic lover like myself, my advice for Tapeo is, please more garlic as the garlic mayo isnt very garlic flavoured.

• Other dishes which we also tried out was the Gazpacho - cold Spanish Tomato based raw vegetable soup which as originated from the southern region of Andalucia. a very refreshing cold "soup" to start off your meal for sure especially in the heat of Hong Kong. The bread basket was also very fresh & warm and the mix of warm bread & ice-cold Gazpacho provided an interesting chemistry.

• Chorizo & Tomato - Sauteed in sherry vinegar, parsley & spring onions. I have never been a fan of Spanish Chorizo as the texture is far too similar to the Chinese Dried Sausauges (Lap Chuen 臘腸) therefore I am definitely not too keen on this dish. The sauce of the dish was tasty and best for your bread dipping and my recommendation is more parsley should be chopped & used in this dish for a stronger intensive flavour
• Manchego Cheese & Honey - This should have been a starter in the traditional Spanish cuisine but however, I decided to eat this as a dessert. Manchego Cheese is a sheep's milk cheese, produced in the La Mancha region of Spain. Normally aged for 3 months or longer, this cheese has a very sharp taste, slightly salty but not too strong, similar to a feta cheese. Traditional method in consuming Manchego Cheese is to serve on toasted bread with drizzled olive oil - AHHHH -- these Spanish people do know how to eat like a king! Cheese & Honey pairing is a interesting pairing but again, I normally prefer my cheese with some form of carbs therefore this dish can be improved if some sort of bread or crackers are served together.

It was a very plesant experience to have a relaxing lunch in the middle of Central. Friendly & courteous service and it definitely has that home-feeling especially staff tries to strike a conversation every now & then. Food is hearty & very well presented with good flavours especially the open kitchen is a joy whilst you are waiting your food. However, the ventilation system must be improved and should also consider about enlarging some of the portion sizes as the Hong Kongers may find the portion size a little too small even though it is meant to be a Tapas. Aside from two minor issues, I do recommend this venue to my readers and I shall also revisit this place duly!

Happy Eating!

Geoff

UPCOMING REVIEW: Shanghainese Buffet at The Clipper Lounge at The Mandarin Oriental Hotel

Address: 19 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong (中環荷李活道19號)

Tel: 31711989

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

Price for Lunch (5$ = very expensive): **

Website: http://www.conceptcreations.hk/

Food Journey #28 - One Night in Happy Valley

Ever since my mother has relocated to Happy Valley, I have done my part to regularly visit many different restaurants in the neighbourhood to find interesting restaurants or venues for Geoff's Twitchen. Curiously asked my colleagues at work in which whether there are any interesting venues in Happy Valley which does a good curry as I was craving for curry throughout the morning & afternoon. Colleague responded that The Chapel Bar located Yik Yum Street apparently does the "Best Curry in Hong Kong" and is a must try. With such response, I visited The Chapel Bar to check out -- noted in inverted commans "best curry in Hong Kong" and my lord, I have never had anything as bad as this. No disrespect to my colleague or anything, but it was just purely utter sh*t!

Recommended Dishes

There were simply no recommended dishes from we ordered on the evening therefore enough said!

NOT Recommended Dishes

The food was so bad which I do not even know where to start. We ordered a traditional Chicken Tikka, Lamb Vindaloo (with 5 chilli signs on the menu), 1 portion of Garlic Naan Bread, 1 portion of Balsmati Rice & 1 bottle of Singha Beer. We waited for the take-away for around 15 - 20 mins which I was fairly impatient about and when it arrived, I thought - "this better be good". Opened up the boxes when arrived at flat, see below photos and all it is is just a big aluminium tin with lots of curry sauce and a few cutlets of lamb & chicken.

What was Wrong?
*
Everything was wrong about the curry! It tasted sour and far too much tomatoes were used in the cooking process. The curry sauce was far too "watery"!

*Portions were far too small for the price of $80 per portion
*
Both Chicken & Lamb was a disaster, both had no taste & was flavourless. I wonder where did The Chapel sourced such rubbish products.
*
Never knew that the Balsmati Rice was that expensive at $28 per bowl which was so small that I probably needed an extra 3 bowls for my usual meals
*
Garlic Naan Bread tasted more like a regular Naan Bread. It was only when I diced up so garlic from the kitchen made it tasted more like a Garlic Naan Bread
*
The good old Vindaloo gave me a a runny stomach all night and I dont want to go into much details on the aftermath

To sum up, the whole meal was so so bad that even at such small portion sizes, I could not finish the meal. I dont think I have ever had bad experiences with every single dish which I ordered and the Chapel Bar must be the first to achieve such standings. I have had much better experiences with Indian food in Hong Kong at venues such as Gunga Dins, Bombay Dreams, Gaylord, Curry Houses in Chung King Mansion and to have recieved such "best curry in Hong Kong" comment from a colleague of mine is a fellow foodie who recommended this visit was an embarrasement.

The Chapel Bar in Happy Valley may be a good chilled out place to have a few beers, I vow never to return there again for food

Address: 27 Yik Yum Street, Happy Valley, Hong Kong (跑馬地奕蔭街27號地下)
Tel: 2834-6565

Food Quality (5* the highest): 0*

Price for Dinner (5$ = very expensive): **

Wasakuraya 和櫻屋

No disrespect to The Chapel Bar, the meal above wasn't enough for me so I wandered out with my partner for some dessert to fill us up whereby we got attracted by the bright lights at Wasakuraya (http://www.wasakuraya.com.hk/index.html) , a small Japanese dessert house which serves up traditional Japanese style puddings. Just like my previous journey to Tai Hang area in earlier posts on Geoff's Twitchen, my evening was rescued by this visit to Wasakuraya.

Had a good chat with the staff and found out that all of the ingredients are all freshly imported from Japan such as eggs & milk from Hokkaido to ensure the best quality puddings are produced.

Highly Recommended Puddings:

*Sesame Flavoured Custard Pudding -- Not too sweet and very strongly sesame flavoured!

*Green Tea Flavoured Custard Pudding -- This was my personal favourite and for me, this is a better & slightly healthier substitute to a green-tea flavoured ice-cream. The green tea flavours was so pungent and the custard was smooth as silk. PERFECT!

*Classic flavoured Custard Pudding with Chestnut syrup -- This was my partner's favourite and her comment was similar to mine above. The custard pudding was smooth & creamy.

After finishing the Greentea flavoured custard pudding by myself, I also tried out my other 2 highly recommended custard puddings. My firm conclusion is that the usage of the eggs & milk from Hokkaido makes a huge difference in the taste. Such a simple dessert but yet with such intense flavours, this has become one of my recent favourite dessert places around the neighbourhood and I shall return very shortly.

Point to Note:: Hokkaido has become almost synonymous and is ranked the #1 region in Japan with gourmet food given the rich variety of dairy products and fresh seafood to be found on the island located in Japan's northern most regions. High quality & production of dairy products such as butter, cheese, ice-cream, yoghurt whereby most of the products are now exported to many countries around the world. If you are travelling to Hokkaido, please do check out, purchase & EAT their dairy products, it is heavenly! Hokkaido is also extremely infamous for its seafood such as Matsuba crabs, Uni (Sea Urchin), Botan Shrimp etc & its glorious weather!

Address: 1, Fung Fai Terrace, Happy Valley, Hong Kong (跑馬地鳳輝臺1號地下A舖)

Tel: 2575 3328

Food Quality (5* the highest): ****

Price for Dessert (5$ = very expensive): ****

UPCOMING REVIEW -- Fancy some Spanish Tapas at TAPEO on Wyndham Street?

Happy Eating!

Geoff

Food Journey #27 -- Cafe Oasis of Clearwater Bay Country Club

An escape to the country-side on a fine Sunday in Hong Kong is always a brilliant outing. Out goes the skyscrapers, exhaust fumes and a big welcome to the countryside and the beauty of the green & blue colours of the hills, trees & the sea. ClearwaterBay Country Club has always been a hidden gem in the dining scenes of Hong Kong as 1) it is a private club 2) it s a major trek to drive all the way to the club. The Chinese Restaurant & the Cafe - Cafe Oasis are both a joy to visit and a few Sundays ago, we decided to hit the cafe once again to check out the Mid Autumn Festival Buffet which at HKD168, all you can eat, what a bargain!

Appetiser Buffet -- An abundance of choices including Fresh Mussels, Crayfish, Prawns, Crab Leg, Smoke Salmon, Variety of Salads, Italian Peppers, Fresh Pate on Toast, Meat Platter including Parma Ham, Salami, Ham which was indeed very attractive. The appetiser buffet itself had many items which I like and this itself can carry me through the whole meal without advancing to the mains. The taste was good, the seafood selection was fresh and the smoke salmon was a joy. This appetiser buffet was much better than the Antipasti Buffet which I had in my Food Journey #25a.

Downside to the buffet was that there was presence of a plate of Lo Shui (鹵水) or in real English, Marinated Tofu & Goose which was purely bizarre. Had no idea what this had to do with Mid Autumn Festival and it just some-how does not fit with other dishes on offer. Very strange!

Mains -- Wide variety of mains on show featuring the likes of Roast Beef, a Tum Yum Goong Noodle Corner, Roasted Pigeon, Tandoori Salmon, Pasta Carbonara, Soup of the Day which was Mushroom Soup, Chinese Dim Sum including the likes of Spring Rolls, Pork Dumplings, Chicken & Mushroom Pies. However, the food was very geared towards the Expat Community therefore definitely not a very traditional Mid Autumn Festival dishes on offer.

Three very important dishes which I want to point out -

Roast Pigeons are A MUST TRY - however, due to my audience being mainly Western therefore I decided not to upload such explict image of the pigeon. The pigeons are roasted as soon as you order therefore the skin & meat is very crispy & tender.

Roast Beef Corner - The carving section for the roast beef consisted of a small trolley with this fat piece of roast beef and condiments on the side. The roast beef was nicely pink in the middle meaning that the centre of the joint is warmed but not fully booked which is the real traditional roast beef. Traditionally, roast beef is best served with Mint but I like the unauthentic approach which is mustard & ketchup. Never liked Yorkshire Puddings before but at ClearwaterBay Country Club, they do a Yorkshire Pudding which is very rare in Hong Kong.

Tom Yum Goong - So far, I have talked about the good sides of the lunch and the major let down was the Tom Yum Goong and it was truly painful to eat this. Traditionally, Tom Yum is characterised by its hot & sour flavours and is quite possibly Thailand's best well known export. Your usual Tom Yum Gong will consist of Prawns, Chicken, Fish, Mixed Seafood and plentiful of Coriander as garnish. The Clearwater Bay Country Club version was simply very different to any other versions which I have ever had as 1) it didnt taste like Tom Yum Goong and tasted rather more like a Chinese Styled Noodle, 2) The spices were definitely heavily used as the taste was extremely pungent 3) Colour of the broth does not look anything like a regular Tom Yum Goong which should be yellow & red colour-ish. Very disappointed to what was a very decent brunch!

Dessert Buffet

This along with Tom Yum Goong was the major let down of the brunch experience at Clearwater Bay Country Club. Cheese cake, Tiramisu, Cone Ice-Cream, Chocolate Mousse Cake, Fresh Fruit, Minature Chicken Pies were all on offer but however, it all lacked substance & taste. Wouldnt go into too much details on the desserts as it was plain and definitely was not worth writing to home about. My strongest recommendation & hope is that ClearwaterBay Country Club will allocate resources and hire a half decent pastry chef, that can significantly improve.

Clearwater Bay Country Club is a members only club similar nature to the Hong Kong Football & Cricket Club which I have also previously visited for the Sunday Brunches. In my opinion, food quality here is better than both clubs and my overall brunch experience at ClearwaterBay Country Club has significantly improved from my previous numerous occasions eating here. Even though the so-called Mid Autumn Festival Brunch was not very authentic in anyway, the overall quality of the food has improved and there is also a much wider variety of dishes on offer which marks as an improvement.

A special point to mention is that for some very odd reason, I find that the Stellas (Stella Artois) are always much tastier in the club, could it be because I am drinking this on a Sunday morning?

UPCOMING REVIEW ON GEOFF's TWITCHENN : An Evening in Happy Valley!

Address: 139 Tai Au Mun Road, Clearwater Bay , New Territories, Hong Kong

Tel: 2335 3725

Food Quality (5* the highest): ***

Price for Dinner (5$ = very expensive): ** (Cheap Meal because you have to pay for a STEEP Monthly Membership Fee)

Happy Eating!

Geoff

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT & BREAKING NEWS

If your Birthday is this month, you are one lucky bugger just like myself. Just recieved this eDM from Awfully Chocolate, very decent chocolate cakes & ice-cream with locations in Causeway Bay & Caine Road. Please visit Awfully Chocolate on 28 October at 8pm sharp and the first 100 people will recieve a FREE CHOCOLATE CAKE. This is very exciting stuff indeed and see you all there! Happy Eating! Geoff View Larger Map

Food Journey #26 - Dim Sum The Art Of Chinese Tit Bits (譽滿坊)

Have been exceptionally busy this week at work and thus, haven't had the time to blog about my previous adventure. For a change this round, I will be blogging about Chinese Cuisine with a peculiar name of Dim Sum The Art of Chinese Tit Bits located the heart of Happy Valley. Our group visited this restaurant on the eve of Mid-Autumn Festival and it was definitely worth every dollar spent. Chinese cuisine is not something which I particularly enjoy every so often as I always find it very time-consuming & greasy. My experience at Dim Sum The Art of Chinese Tit Bits changed me to have 2nd thoughts on this perception and it is a restaurant whereby I will re-visit very soon. Ambiance: Very traditionally Chinese styled restaurant in Happy Valley with wooden chairs & tables and even accessories such as teapots are also very authentic. Not a very large spaced restaurant but nonetheless, it was very cosy and our visit on the evening wasnt too busy which was perfect for the occasion. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED & MUST ORDER Dishes: 1) Chinese Soya Chicken (Signature Dish): Flavourful, Tender, Succulent and one word -- MARVELLOUS. Can totally see why this is the signature dish and why a 3-day in advance pre-order for this chicken is required. Only question which I have is, since the restaurant used a fresh chicken for this dish, I wonder how much more the taste will further improve if an organic chicken was used? 2) Steamed Fish Maw Stuffed with Minced Shrimp: This was a dish cooked to perfection -- the steamed fish maw was very tender & soft and the portion of the minced shrimp was very generous. The shrimp was also very sharp & fresh in flavour which was extremely important. Portion sizes were just perfect and everybody on the table at least had 1 portion. Ladies out there - fish maw is mainly consumed by woman as a source of collagen which is good for your skin! 3) Steamed Cod Fish: This sounds & appears like a very simple dish but yet I have seen many restaurants totally screw up on this. Key area is not to over-steam the cod fish or else the fish will become very dense & flakey which is not something you want. The timing of the steaming procedure was spot on and apparently, the soya sauce used on the fish is a secret recipe from the restaurant. This is the sort of dish I am happy with to pair with a bowl of rice! 4) Prawn Dumpling: Sounds very odd to have dim-sum at night time but this restaurant serves it up in style. At $35 a pop at 2 Prawn Dumplings, they better be good dumplings and I was not disappointed. The Prawns were MASSIVE, I mean absolutely massive and you know it is fresh prawns by thd freshness of it. Slight let down was the pastry was slightly too thick which is not to my liking. Perfect pairing for this will be some Gui Lin Chilli Sauce. Should Try Dishes: 1) Vegetable Stew: Refreshing, Healthy, Fresh vegetables boiled together with ZERO OIL CONTENT in the broth. Enough said. There is a sense of pure-ness about the broth and unlike many other vegetable stews around town, I am very certain this does not contact any MSG content. 2) Fried Scallops with Broccoli: This was a hit & miss dish because the broccoli's were skill-fully cooked as it was not tough & to the stage of difficulty to chew. However, the scallops were the let down as you can still taste the frozen flavour as it was literally just been taken out from the freezer in the kitchen. Disappointment! 3) Fried Egg with Prawns & Scallops: Egg dishes are always my #1 choice of comfort food when one is extremely hungover and I can never get bored of such dishes. Again, the prawns are generously large & fresh but the scallops were same as above which you can taste the frozen flavour out of it. Nonetheless, regardless of the scallops, this is my favourite dish to go out steamed rice with a dash of Gui Lin Chilli Sauce! Dishnes NOT TO Order! 1) Chinese Style Lobster & Shark Fin Clam Chowder -- When I first ordered this, everything was the name of this dish was attractive and thinking it was HKD35 per bowl, what an absolutel steal. When I got the bill, realising that it was $85 per bowl, I was stunned. This was claimed to be the restaurant's signature dish and I really did not see why this was so highly praised. The Clam Chowder was extremely watery unlike the thickness of the American style Clam Chowders. On top, it was extremely difficult to find or even locate where the lobsters were. MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT but if you have a fat wallet with cash lying around, please go ahead and order this. 2) Pork Siu Mai's (Pork Dumplings) -- I took one bite of this and was not pleased about it. It was extremely greasy and the taste of an inch of oil in your mouth is not very appealing. The Pig's skin that is used on the top of the pork-ball was in my opinion very grotesque. I dont think this will be the sort of dim-sum which the expat community in Happy Valley will be pleased to see. One should never regret about food but this dish is something which I will always regret in ordering. Our overall experience was very pleasant and it is the new discovery of Happy Valley. This restaurant has also become the hub of the Japanese and foreign expat community. Good hearty food along with flavourful Chinese tea is the key attraction. However, eating at this restaurant can be considerably pricey and some of their prices cna rival a 5 to 6 Star Hotel Chinese restaurants. Do check out the restaurant and let me know whether you think it is worth the money! NEXT UPCOMING REVIEW ON GEOFF's TWITCHEN : CLEARWATERBAY COUNTRY CLUB SUNDAY BUFFET Happy Eating & Drinking! Geoff Address: G/F, 63 Sing Woo Road, Happy Valley, Hong Kong (跑馬地成和道63號地下) Tel: 2834 - 8893 Food Quality (5* the highest): 3/1/2* Price for Dinner (5$ = very expensive): ***
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