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PCL

eGullet Society staff emeritus
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Everything posted by PCL

  1. can't say much about sydney, but in my humble opinion, Cutler & Co could very well be the best place to eat in Melbourne at the moment... Nice blog Chris... ambitious, and with decent photography...
  2. This punter shows up in Ann Arbor, visiting friends, and was initially scoffing up anything and everything IHOP could offer, being the good foreigner enamoured with diner style eating that I am. Then came Zingerman's... Apparently the President ate here. Tony Bourdain also ate here. It's good. They purport to be purveyors of good American food, with a bbq oven out front, and oyster shells strewn liberally amongst the snow covered planters. The menu looked great, being a daily-printed affair. It looked like a diner or more to the point, a roadhouse, and it felt warm and wholesome. As a non-beefeater, my entree selections were either chicken or pork, and the bbq pork sandwich with a south carolina vinegar sauce was a no-brainer. For appetizers we had a selection of Malpeque oysters, Hudson Valley foie gras, sweet potato fries (which went well with the horseradish jacked cocktail sauce) and some paddlefish caviar served on crip toast with sour cream. Everything sounded too good to be true, with detailed recitations from our server, Marcus, and the appetite was suitably prepped. A whiskey/rum cocktail to begin with, and the ride began. The oysters couldn't do much wrong, and the caviar was suitably briny and minerally, which made for the perfect duo. The foie was a little disappointing, being paired with a mushroom roulade of sorts and rice. It really needed some sweetness and acid to lift the rich unctuousness of the just seared goodness (some sea salt flakes would have been great, failing which table salt worked just fine). Soups were wholesome and hearty, with chunks of potatoes and strings of leek doing battle with the creamy chicken broth. One shall return for breakfast and lunch this week to make some headway into the various plates involving smoked bacon and perhaps a little fish. A genuine surprise for a jaded diner.
  3. Cutler & Co.... miss it at your peril. there's a thread in here somewhere... i'd personally avoid anything at the Crown Casino, but others might beg to differ. in the City, Kenzan for their omakase sushi. also the French Brasserie for a great bistro meal and fine wine.
  4. I'm in town, and I wanna go check out this place. Anyone up for spin? Dan? Amarantha? Monday onwards all good. Tuesday??
  5. Wow!! See what happens when one is absent from the board? One misses out on a most fruitful and exciting discussion. I was recently in Penang, a week ago actually, and I'm still working off the food. Big contrast right now, as I'm over in Borneo, anticipating a dinner tomorrow night by ex-French Laundryman, Damon Campbell. Mind boggling away as I type.
  6. A very telling state of affairs, my dear friend. You're alone for the weekend. So you go for a meat fest. Cassoulet. And then 3 steaks in succession. I'm impressed. I'm going for steak tonight. Thanks for the inspiration.
  7. The new Michelin Guide for Hong Kong is quite laughable. Check out that thread over in the China Dining forum of eG.
  8. The title of this thread should be reviewed. It seems to invite 'reactions' as well as 'analysis'. I simply chose to provide a reaction, along with some of people not posting on a forum. Analysis seems to be the choice of others and that's fine, but at the same time, some of you decided to analyse my reaction, and that's fine too. It just seems that dissenting voices are not welcome, and established status quos have to be defended at all costs, which in turn reminds me of how the farcical HK Michelin guide came into being in the first place. I sat down to a nice New Year's dinner last night in KL with some friends visiting from HK, and believe me, we did spend quite a bit of time being outraged over various things, the Guide being one of them. But I'm sure as far as most of you are concerned, they are only irrelevant and anonymous strangers who's opinion don't matter. Much like how I feel about board huggers.
  9. Should check out the furor I started on the thread on the Hong Kong Michelin guide over in the China Dining forum...
  10. Good for you Sher. You can sure piss higher up the wall than anyone else with your substantiated positions. And they are very elegant positions too. I just can't see why by the same token you can't accept someone else's position without coming back demanding satisfaction that they prove why they do not agree with you. In terms of listing places I have a modest but very dear to me compilation of restaurants and stalls that I frequent, though not always of the fine dining category. So I defer to you and will continue to monitor your eloquently stated defences of the Michelin guide with great interest.
  11. But yeah, candles, decanters, the unsolicited swirling of glasses... what else? Leave my wine alone I say.
  12. Happy New Year dudes. Julian, the song and dance really isn't worth going into. I had a second dinner at Lafite recently, and man, we should do a night there. Next time you're in KL, let me know. I'll tee up something with Damian and we can go to town in the kitchen and dining room. Would be good man. Seriously. Menu revamp is on it's way.
  13. I'm still puzzled however, by the seeming obsession over a simple term as 'outraged'. Maybe PISSED OFF should have been used instead. but really, it's just a little red book. there have been a lot worse in the world in terms of of little red books.
  14. Hallelujah. Great. So she should know how to form her own opinion then. Good for your relatives who are not outraged, but then again, there are people both in HK and elsewhere who remain so. Why is it so difficult for that to be accepted and so easy for casual praise and lauding of the Michelin swallowed like the smoothest tau-foo-fa? I did not fire the first shot in this debate by taking it personal, so as far as professional cooking and eating out is concerned, fine, they are entitled to their opinion, just as the unspeaking masses that I so happen to represent on this particularly irritable but somewhat poignant topic. April, your point on what was left out is exactly what has outraged so many. It is not so much a definition of a state of being (as in outraged) but an overall disbelief of the incompetence of a so-called expert guide. But rest assured all of you who have been clearly put out by my comments here; Hong Kong will neither prosper nor falter by the pronouncements of the Michelin Guide. If it provides the status-getters an extra merit badge to hang on their already overburdened epaulettes, fine.
  15. And oh, I'm not saying they got it wrong, it's just a crap Guide.
  16. Touchy. Oooh. Why? I'm not speaking on your behalf, just those who don't post here. I respect your right to eat and live by the Michelin guide, please do try to form your own opinions now and then and try to explore some Chinese food during your time in Hong Kong, with some Chinese friends. Now let's see the fireworks go off. Happy Year of the Bull by the way!!
  17. My response to the Michelin Guide to Hong Kong is that it is an appalingly arrogant and narrow minded misrepresentation of the state of culinary affairs on the island. To some, this could be an overblown reaction, but I assure you, the people of the island, and some fans across the globe, are righteously outraged by the blatant ignorance and blindsided approach to restaurants in the island. How can a bunch of foreign reviewers, with only 2 'Asian' 'sidekicks' hope to provide a definitive view of good eating in Hong Kong? The implication here is that they would only want to give the highest priority to 'molecular' or more traditional cuisines that fit the conventional definitions of 'haute cuisine'. Woe betide the Cantonese restaurants on a Cantonese island. The criticism here isn't that foreigners cannot assess good food, but hey, how much credibility can you give a guide, say, if Michelin were to send a bunch of Chinese or Indians around to assess the 2010 Guide for France and the UK?? The point here is that a balance is required, and obviously there has been none. I agree with all the statements made here against the credibility of the HK guide, and I am also glad to say that it has not made any impressions on my mind other than one similar to an annoying mosquito buzzing around an ear.
  18. You got it wrong Dan... not only had they not bothered to provide oil from olives not picked by virgins, but the crushing of the nuts in the pesto had not been carried out by voluptuous beauties. And talking about Michelin, the new HK guide kinda sucks... time to head over to THAT forum and raise some hell... Now, please carry on with regular programming. Don't post about anymore restaurants unless one can pay top dollar!
  19. Uh... my kitchen isn't ready yet... building a new home at the moment, the last one was destroyed Should be done by April though, but I plan to be back in Melbourne for a bit before then, if not just after.
  20. Where is this Dan? Judging by the excellent dinner we had L'Oustal a few years back, I'd love to give this place a whirl later this year.
  21. The issue with the oyster omelette, or 'ho-jian', is that it should be done with small to medium small oysters. Aussie oysters are just too big. Commonly, the oysters found in a good ho-jian are no larger than say 25mm across.
  22. I've had this dish (the Chinese/Hokkien signature) in Melbourne a couple of times, and as a result, I believe firmly that it's always going to be disappointing unless one travels to the following locales to sample it: 1. Xiamen, Fujian Province, China - arguably the birthplace of the oyster omelette, but with very little egg in the recipe. 2. Penang Island, Malaysia - the hawker food capital of the region, enough said 3. Port Klang, Malaysia - there is one restaurant, only one, near the old port, that does a superlative rendition of this dish, and the eggs are rendered crispy...
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