Thursday, October 24, 2013

Brunch @ Madam Sixty Ate

入到十月,是C的生日月份,代表會有很多餐生日飯要吃了。有名氣的餐廳去過很多,但當CD族要去C期待已久的Madam Sixty Ate吃午餐時還是興奮無比!這趟Madam Sixty Ate之旅猶如置身愛麗絲的仙境或童話世界的糖果屋內,雖然菜式很簡單,但真的全都很奇妙又自成一格,別樹一織,成為芸芸高級餐廳中最印象深刻,是我們近來最欣賞的餐廳之一,特別適合愛奇特趣怪的朋友。餐廳是以一堆圍繞著這個女仕發生的奇異事情故事為主題,而它的食物就以古靈精怪的賣相見稱,用料很特別,又能把烹飪與藝術煮出新境界,菜式份量不大,價錢午餐大概每位$200-$300

October is C's birthday month, thus, meaning there will be lots and lots of birthday meals coming up for us.  We have been to many high-class popular restaurants, but we still couldn't help but feel very excited when we visited C's long-awaited Madam Sixty Ate! What made it so special? 




Some restaurants are so quirky and fun that they are so deeply affecting as you are eating. Madam Sixty Ate is one of those restaurants. Located on Ship Street in Wan chai, Madam Sixty Ate does not have a big venue,  but the decor is anything but ordinary, filled with surrealistic paintings of animals, exuding both weird and modern sense of coziness as we immediately felt like we were in someone's living room, dining room and kitchen.  



The theme of the restaurant is based on the fantastic events surrounding a heroine, Madam Sixty Ate, and the dishes were inspiration of those fictional events happening to her. The food here was known for its strange and variable appearance. Chris Woodyard, Chef Director of the restaurant succeeds in expanding the artistic, or artsy, vocabulary of culinary, to explore both wonder and the food that makes wonder possible.  The portion of each dish is not big, weekend brunch is about $200 to $300 per head. 



(1) Each meal came with a complimentary loaf of bread and it was quite huge and full of fragrance with olives hidden in it. Even it did take a long time for the bread to come, it was very satisfying because you could still feel the leftover warmth fresh from the oven steaming from the bread.



(2) For the Eggs Benedict with Crunchy Hollandaise ($110), there's a choice of Cured Salmon, Pork Belly or Spinach. We chose to go with the Cured Salmon. Once we saw the dish, the first thing that came to our hungry minds was "Is this enough?"  But it proved to be remarkable because it was both a fantastic spectacle and an exquisite joyful taste. Not only were the poached eggs nicely cooked, the muffin was sweet like pancakes, which served perfectly with the cured salmon and hollandaise sauce. This attractive dish just made our hearts sing loudly!



(3) Another wonderful dish coming right from was the Pancakes with honeycomb, coffee cream and hot butterscotch sauce ($100). The beautiful taste of the smooth coffee cream, combined with the thick butterscotch sauce-soaked pancakes was just a match made in heaven, or at least the heavens. It captured the essence of pancakes and achieved such a "sweet" dish! 



VERDICT

Ambience: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Service: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Food: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★   

Overall remarks: A visit to Madam Sixty Ate felt like a journey to Alice's Wonderland or  Candy House in fairy tales.  Although its dishes were simple,  each of them was truly quirky and fantastic, and at the same time it offered something wondrous and imaginative, comforting and intimate, the kind of restaurant that made you feel connected to it and left both of us impressed.  Among so many expensive restaurants, Madam Sixty Ate really stood out to be different and fun, sending us to a mouthwatering and dazzling neverland, if such a thing is possible. 

INFO


Madam Sixty Ate  (website)
1/F J Senses, 18 Ship Street, Wan Chai

Monday, October 21, 2013

Lunch @ Shiro

在希慎廣場樓上的白鮨Shiro是近期我最喜歡的新餐廳之一。餐廳裝潢以白色為主,目的是要令顧客有摩登的感覺。餐廳設有多款傳統和創新的日本菜式供選擇。價錢合理,午飯每位$100$200,晚飯每位大概$200$300

Shiro was justifiably one of my new favourite Japanese restaurants in 2013, and this is not at all surprising, given its impressive clean decoration featuring white colour and its incredible location on the 13th Floor of Hysan Place.  It offers a variety of traditional and modern Japanese dish, costing on average $100 - $200 per head for lunch, and $200 - $300 per head for dinner.  





Be aware of its strange booking policy however, because when C or D made a telephone booking, we were often greeted by a waiter who would ask us what time.  And after we told them the time, the waiter would tell us we might have to wait at that time and advised us to come earlier.  The interesting thing was we found that most of the seats were still empty when we arrived. 



(1) The Houren sou no goma ae ($38) is a must-try item at the restaurant.  It meant in English "Spinach with self grated sesame sauce".   We thought they had a mix-up when they served us the dish, but we were pleasantly surprised that each interesting-looking "roll" contained basically numerous slices of spinach leaves and we got to grate the sesame sauce ourselves and it made a delightful taste in our mouths. 




(2) The seared scallops in the Scallop California Maki ($45) were extremely well-cooked, and the delicious flavours of the scallops created a fantastic fresh-tasting California roll.  



(3) Because C was a fan of scallop, so we ordered the Seared scallop with cod roe ($45). It failed to disappoint! It was nicely seared and delightfully tender.



(4) At first we were skeptical about the Gyuniku filet steak masutado sauce ($128), i.e. the Pan fried beef tenderloin with creamy mustard sauce, D ordered. But we were happy to know that we were wrong! Correction, very wrong! The creamy mustard sauce gave the already tender, chewy beef slices a light, yet attractive flavour. It was a perfect complement to the fantastically cooked beef that melted in our mouths right away! It takes a lot to achieve a dish like this and we highly recommend this dish to everyone! 



(5) As to the sets available during lunch, there was the Assorted Sushi set ($118). You can let the waiter know what sushi you want and what you don't eat. They were generous as to the size of the sashimi on top of each pieces of sushi. 



(6) The Chiroshi set ($128) is Sliced sashimi in rice bowl and this included sea urchin, salmon, and mackerel among other delicious and fresh pieces of fish.  

VERDICT

Ambience: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 

Service: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Food: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆   

Overall remarks: Shiro offers a reasonable-priced yet high quality option when it comes to Japanese dining in Causeway Bay. The place is definitely worth a visit for people who are tired of the usual Sen-ryo sushi bar! We just hoped that the sashimi rice bowl would be made available at dinner as well. 

INFO


Shiro  (website)
Shop 1301, 13/F, Hysan Place, 500 Hennessy Road Causeway Bay

Friday, October 4, 2013

Lunch @ Azure

近年香港仿效外國推出Restaurant Week,有超過50間餐廳以優惠價提供「定價套餐」,午餐由98元起,晚餐就由258元起。Azure 位於LKF Hotel的頂樓,通常都是下班週末年輕人來消遣的酒吧,平常晚上逼滿人的夜場,想不到它日間竟是一間感覺平靜的餐廳,而且環境簡潔,登上白色樓梯就看到幽靜的餐廳。

Diningcity.com has been hosting the popular Restaurant Week event for the past few years now, offering set meals from 50 fancy restaurants in Hong Kong. Lunch set starting from $98 and dinner set starting from $258. Booking a meal at one of these restaurants, however, is a near-impossible task as they were crazily popular and likely to be fully booked by the time you browsed through the other ones. So our advice is to act quick when it comes to booking one of them!


One of the perks about working in Central is that there are tons of nice yet expensive restaurants in our neighborhood. We picked Azure as it was one of the few left available on the list of restaurants. Azure belongs to Category A, and the lunch set is priced at $248 including a starter, a main and dessert with a drink. Located at the top floor of Hotel LKF, Azure is usually a bar/club where crowds of party-goers hang out over the weekends. During the day, it was a completely different picture-- it was peaceful and quiet. 




The grand white staircase offers a clean and elegant atmosphere and the luxuriously decorate restaurant was made even more spectacular by the view of Central.  There wasn't a lot of people when we arrived and the tables were given enough space from each other.


(1) One nice thing about the complimentary bread was that there were 3 interesting options for the butter they served with. Each of them had a different and delicious flair!





(2) We started with a Pan Seared Foie Gras which looked adorable with the plating and the Foie Gras was completely tasty and juicy too.  Unfortunately, C and D just came back from their trip in London and they had the phenomenal meat fruit by Heston Blumenthal. So it was a hard dish to top for Azure. Otherwise, it was a delicate dish and we just wished the foie gras could be a bit larger.  



(3) Another cute looking dish was the Carpaccio di Struzzo.  We enjoyed the raw beef with the tiny piece of chips. The green sauce beside it definitely added a twist in the taste, however, the quality of the meat was a bit mediocre compared to other carpaccio we have tried before. 





(4) The Lobster Linguini D ordered did not look as gorgeously breathtaking as the other dish; frankly it looked a bit ordinary. But we quickly changed our minds once we tasted the smooth and thoroughly cooked lobster with the faultlessly seasoned linguini. It was a superb and perfectly executed dish and it was for sure our favorite!




(5) C liked ducks but the Roast Duck Re-design was not as flavour-packed as the name of the dish would suggest. It was visually stunning and conceptually creative and playful dish having the duck cooked in three different ways, in particular, using duck meat as a filling for spring roll was a nice surprise. However, the taste of ducks was not consistent, perhaps due to the quality of the meat, and it did not live up to our expectation. 




(6) As for dessert, the Black & White Sesame Cream Brûlée Served with Mixed Berries & Almond Tuile had a very nice twist to the normal cream brulee, using black and white sesame as its main flavor. It was refreshing and definitely reflected the standard of the restaurant! 



(7) D ordered the beloved Mandarin Tart. Although it was a small piece, it was excellently chewy with a natural taste. Couple with a lime ice cream and chocolate bites, it was a nice dessert to round up our restaurant week lunch. 





VERDICT

Ambience: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 

Service: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Food: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ 


Overall remarks: Azure was admittedly rather pricey for what it had to offer, but if you don't mind the food, there was plenty to enjoy- the breathtaking view, a sumptuous decor, the elegant and classy design, the attentive staff and a convenient location in Central. It was quiet and peaceful, and you will definitely have an enjoyable and comfortable meal. But if you would like good quality food, then there is plenty of other options in Central. 

INFO

Azure  (website)
29 & 30/F, Hotel LKF by Rhombus, 33 Wyndham Street, Lan Kwai Fong, Central, Hong Kong 

Dinner @ 小平津 Koheitsu

位於銅鑼灣登龍街小平津是一間走平民路線的居酒屋。聽過很多身邊的朋友介紹這間餐廳,但是每次打電話預訂也爆滿,終於上星期六成功訂到了晚餐,十分興奮。小平津的面積不大,裝潢以柔和的綠色為主。六點鐘到,我們是第一位晚飯人客,但是其他人客們很快便坐滿了整間餐廳,氣氛好不熱鬧。晚餐價錢每位$100$200左右。

Izakaya means "Japanese pubs" in English. Circle Tower on Tang Lung Street in Causeway Bay housed a number of these Izakaya-style Japanese eateries which provided a showcase of authentic and local Japanese dishes, a refreshing change from the usual orders of sashimi or ramen.  Koheitsu is one such restaurant. 



Koheitsu offers a more casual and less expensive Japanese dining experience.  We have heard of this restaurant from a lot of friends, but almost it was full almost every time we tried to book it.  When we finally secured a booking last Saturday, we were both extremely hyped up.  It was a small but opulent place.  The room was still empty when we arrived at 6 o' clock, but the room was quickly filled up.  Dinner was reasonably priced as $100 to $200 per head.

(1) CD看到餐牌有不少吸引的菜式,首先點了一客自製雞丸 Special Chicken Meat Ball ($20/3 pieces) 。 這個雞丸很好吃,外面的一層自製燒醬汁十分特別,甜甜的又有點焦香,加上滑溜無骨的雞肉,做得非常出色,吃到我們都讚不絕口。



(2) 我們十分喜歡這個
鹽燒牛脷 Salted Ox Tongue ($27/3 pieces) 。牛脷十分爽口,而且牛肉很厚實,份量不少,陪上旁邊的沙律醬,非常好味道。



(3) 
煙肉荔枝串Lychee and Bacon ($24/4 pieces) 是一碟很有趣的串燒,以煙肉包著荔枝,外表十分吸引。C最喜歡薄煙肉,這個串燒果然沒有另人失望,荔枝的果甜加上香口的煙肉,沒有想過是配合得如此美妙,水果配肉,有點像小時候的菠蘿腸仔。



(4) 另外一碟出色的就是這客一點也不簡單的
鰻魚豆腐天婦羅Eel with Tofu Tempura ($68/4 pieces)。軟淋的鰻魚夾在豆腐中間,再包上一層紫菜,炸得外脆內軟,多重不同的配搭,口感及味道上簡直是一番與別不同的感受。



(5) 最後的
牛肉火鍋風味湯烏冬Beef Vegetable with Udon分四人份($95)跟二人份($60)。新鮮的肥牛在滾燙燙的湯中,香噴噴的,湯底很甜。又有蛋黃,令烏冬吸盡蛋汁和湯汁,十分鮮味,很好吃呀。只嫌份量不夠多。




Overall remarks:  要注意餐牌上的所顯示的價錢,因為很多只是一條串燒的價錢而已,如果人多的話可能要多叫幾份。小平津是一間很有趣,且有心思的居酒屋,來這裏不要期望可以吃到很多不同的壽司刺身,盡量試試它其他的菜色,可能更有警喜。這裏也有很多家庭來吃飯,看到老人家也吃的津津有味,然後拍照,很溫馨的味道。

Food: ★ ★ ★ ★ 
Ambience: ★ ★ ★ 
☆ 
Service: ★ ★ ★  

INFO

小平津 Koheitsu (website)
6/F, Circle Tower, 28 Tung Lung Street, Causeway Bay 銅鑼灣登龍街28號永光中心6樓
Telephone: 2893 9697

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