Sher.eats

LKH - good, but not the best. Are you focusing on Cantonese/Chinese cuisine? Depending where you're from and the level of international travel you've done, I'll suggest you not eat any French restaurants because even though they're good, HK's best offerings are its Cantonese food. The "street food" in HK is more like small shops on the ground level that specialises in one (or a few) dishes; like a wonton noodle shop or a roast pork. These places you can get a very good light meal/snack for $3 euros. Tell me how many days you have; how many grand meals you want and we'll see

The fresh ones can be - Battered and fried - Lightly battered, then "baked" in a hot casserole with ginger/chive/garlic with a demi glace of sorts; sometimes with port Baby oysters - Added to Chiu Chow style congee - Added to Chiu Chow "omelettes" Semi sun dried "Golden Oysters" - where the outside is dried but the inside is still "creamy" - Steamed - Lightly pan fried - Bbaked in a "pot with rice" - Honey roasted like cha siu Full sun dried, then rehydrated - Added to congee - Stews - Stir fried with vermicelli

Hi everyone, I'm from Hong Kong, and will be staging at a 4 star restaurant in NYC in late January. I've done one day "stages" at Robuchon a Galera (Macau, 3 michelin stars), but they were arranged by l'Atelier de Joel Robuchon where I was cooking then. This time my current restaurant in HK has no connection with the NYC restaurant, and I arrange the stage myself. - Taking notes/photos (not for publishing) Is that commonly done/not done? - Working hours Do I arrive on time or an hour before? When Chef says I can go can I stay and watch? - Taste testing Cooks should always taste (within reason), but can a cook staging taste (within reason)? - Equipment Apart from my knives, anything else I should bring? - Asking questions Is generally a good thing (within reason), but there must be some stuff which they want to keep secret and not tell me (totally fine with that). Are they usually frank about it "we can't tell you" or is there a more discrete message? - Staff meals Do I eat with the staff or is there a custom thing to do? NYC kitchen cultures in general, anything I should be aware of? Thanks all =)

Hi everyone, I have reservations for dinner on 28th January. If I want the "extended menu" who do I contact, and how far in advance do I have to tell the restaurant? Is $450 the "normal" price? On the current restaurant menu pdf download (Dec 22), there are no "or" dish choices on the chef's tasting, is this normal? If on the night the offal tasting is available, I will go for that (partner will go for normal tasting) - but is there an "extended offal menu"? THANKS!!!

There's definately a cost.That would put a lot more stress on the FOH. And single diners ain't a-gonna drink much either, and they won't go big on appies or desserts. Meh. Lousy profit. On one of your previous posts you mentioned a 50% price reduction if the dishes wouldn't come to the table at the same time. 50%?!! How much do you mark up the items in the first place? How do you expect to keep the doors open if you throw away half of your sales? 100 singles vs 25 4 tops is cheaper IF you run a self serve deli however..... ← hey Edward J the 100x1 vs 25x4 is purely from the perspective of the kitchen, I know the FOH and finance would not like the former. the 50% figure I was asking Maitr'D hell at what figure would guests not mind different times serving, I'm guessing at half price I wouldn't mind, not that 50% will actually be saved. back to the kitchen, you're saying 100x1 = 25x4?

I guess I should have asked: 100 single diners vs 25 tables of 4 will the former be easier/cheap, by how much? hey Florida, first person to acknowledge my point....any guesstimates as to the extra cost being paid for the current system (= potential savings)...I know it would be a restaurant-by-restaurant calculation... I have, but it is so infrequent that is does not come close to warranting a change. If it's happening too much, it means that you need a new employee, not a new system. ← hey whtsaMcGee, excluding the chucked dishes due to another late dishes, are you saying there will be no savings? (in the above scenario, 100x1 vs 25x4) hey Just Jim, point taken re: FOH, also point taken re: customers won't choose the minimal savings over inconvenience.

well normally the dishes go out when the slowest dish is done, if served separately the bottleneck is still the slowest slowest dish...no change...

hey Qwerty, whatsamcgee, i'm not saying its difficult on an absolute scale, most restaurants manage it fine yes. but do we not agree it is more difficult in comparison to if there wasn't this restriction? my main point is asking whether this extra difficulty (extent unknown) has a cost to it. Nothing. The OP has never worked in a kitchen before. ← haha well, you never had the scenario where something has to be remade cause something else took extra long or was rejected at the pass?

what if the price was 50% off if dishes came out at different times? (random number but there must be a tipping point) or what if the food will be better (inevitable, less stress = better food)?

Title should be "Serving main courses to all guests on same table at the same time" = Delivering (different) main courses to all guests on a table at the same time requires effort. Even at restaurants with no ALC, there could be both a vegetarian tasting and a main tasting. At most places it is very unlikely for a table to all order the same main course. Without this requirement, there would be less pressure on chefs, can this be quantified? Will the kitchen require less staff or equipment? At the minimum some dishes which would have been chucked because the other dish took extra long wouldn't have been wasted...

I thought moving back to actual restaurant discussions (Tak Lung) would have done it... 1) As the starter of this thread, I do appreciate your opinion, I just want to know why you think it is so bad. Criticisms without reason = bashing/flaming. 2) I appreciate your changing of "all people" to "some people" 3) If you don't consider what we wrote on page 2 to be criticisms then....oh well 4) I'm pretty sure we post here not for ego, we genuinely love food and are willing to share information and opinion for the betterment of all. Coming from an admin, your comments were disappointing to say the least =\

Tak Lung Restaurant in Sum Po Gong is one of their biggest misses (bib)...smoked chapon; "mille feuille" of chicken liver, cha siu, sweetened pork and candied ginger; deep fried oysters in port sauce....it was $100 per person for 10 courses...

hey Robert!! do you think Michelin are running the guide as a profit making business or more for PR? which country do you think they're predicting will have most sales of the HK guide? I would guess probably proportional to the country of origin of tourists to HK...which would be China...the implication being if they do write the guide with a specific audience in mind, criteria will "deviate"...although following the China argument one would think places like Yu Kee and Fook Lum to do much better and Lung King Heen less, so I don't think that hypothesis is correct. I'm also curious as to the how "hardcore" a foodie are the people who buy their guides, and how much of the decision making is based on the guide. I will consider myself "serious" and I started my trip planning to Paris and Tokyo by cross referencing the starred restaurants with boards like eG CH and ZT as well as blogs and other print reviews... I can't find the source the source but I recall reading somewhere the stars have a common universal standard. The simplest comparison would be Le Cinq in Four Seasons Paris and Caprice of Four Seasons HK, both have 2 Michelin stars and saying they have differences wouldn't be controversial. I'm unfamiliar with the Makansutra, is it a "collective wisdom" driven or do they have "appointed" reviewers? Openrice is very useful (and i'm active there too) for researching a particular restaurant, don't just look at the =) and =( but filter the reviews by removing non members and perhaps only viewing the "well written stamped" reviews. It's less useful for finding a restaurant to eat, especially in areas like CWB where there are thousands, sorting by =) is not useful as a restaurant near the MTR is sure gonna have more reviews than one far away, using =) minus =( is better. But still if one were to search for "sichuan" one wouldn't give much much notice to Xi Chuan Cai Da Pin Huo, although it is truly excellent. My "solution" is to suscribe to the RSS feed of the daily reviews (around 400), it takes me 10 minutes to scan through them, most are of fast food chains which are ignored, occasionally they'll be an really interesting review of an unknown place, these I bookmark and form my to-eat list....

"Touchy. Oooh. Why?" Because your quotes: "the incompetence of a so-called expert guide" and "righteously outraged by the blatant ignorance and blindsided approach" are exaggerated and unjust. Saying "unspeaking masses that I so happen to represent" & "I'm not speaking on your behalf, just those who don't post here" has a touch of arrogance. What is the point of a discussion (that is why you're here right?) if one can/will not elaborate their arguments or provide details to substantiate their positions? If Michelin awarded stars to McDonalds and none to the rest then your wordings would be appropriate, however that is not what they have done. I've asked you previously and I ask you again, what restaurants do you think are over/under starred or represented? Actually, just tell us why you think it's so bad? "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." As aprilmei said, I am a local and I'm pretty sure (due to your lack of example usages) that I have experienced more of HK cuisine than you have. If you have read what I wrote: "Said who the Michelin guide is "definite" and I challenge you to find me a real foodie who uses a single source of information for his restaurant planning" it would be clear that I don't "eat and live by the Michelin guide" "Hong Kong will neither prosper nor falter by the pronouncements of the Michelin Guide" Proof? Here's my complete position: -It was a good first-time effort, but definitely needs improving. -The ratings for the French restaurants were correct (except Gaddi's) -Not giving a single star to any Japanese or Italian was surprisingly, but understandable. -Lung King Heen is definitely not a "local's" and appear more "foreign" compared to home favorites like Fook Lum Moon or Yung Kee. -Chinese food is difficult to understand for a first time westerner, and so good service is essential for a customer to be able to properly order and enjoy the meal. Because of this hotels restaurants are favored, as represented by the star awarding. - Locals who need not the English speaking will find this irrelevant. - There is some discrepancy as 3 stars sushi restaurants in Tokyo definitely have no English spoken, although the omakase style removes the need for ordering and there is no real Chinese equivalent. - The worst and actually "wrong" part of the guide is the Bib Gourmand section, a lot of real germs are missing and most of those listed are neither "of value" nor "real tasty". Although this does not justify the comments you have given. - The writing for each restaurant is totally insufficient, if it's a layout problem a separate English and Chinese guide should be released. Currently the guide is more like a detailed listing. - Finally as I cook at a French restaurant, the most useful part of the guide was knowing what level we were compared to the world.

Firstly I'm not "outraged" and I have no idea why you spoke on my behalf. You do know there are Chinese written food guides to Europe written by Chinese people? Said who the Michelin guide is "definite" and I challenge you to find me a real foodie who uses a single source of information for his restaurant planning. As for 'molecular', do you not believe BO doesn't deserve its 2 stars? And what do you mean by "more traditional cuisines that fit the conventional definitions of 'haute cuisine'" huh?? Why don't you give weighting to your arguement by listing which restaurants are over/under starred? and we're not just an island, you know that right?

Isreali Koshermart? I once resorted to BUYING (=/= being) ingredients from the Malouf Lebanese restaurant... Anything in particular you're looking for? = edited, thanks liuzhou =p

hey all, first post on the baking forums! I've been given some "fresh yeast" (from France apparently). it's "alive" as I mixed 1 tbsp of the yeast with 4 tbsp of flour and 4 tbsp of water with a sprinkling of sugar (I didn't know what the correct ratio should be), after a few hours the mixture was very alive and nearly filled the bowl (room temp around 20C), so the yeast is "good". I'm trying to make a no knead bread using this yeast (done it before with baker's yeast), and am using this recipe. 1) It asks for "1 cup fully active sourdough culture" <- how to I make this (yeast:flour:water:sugar ratio, time, temperature) 2) It asks the final dough to be placed in a cool oven for optimum oven spring, I thought that happens when the alcohol evaporates and inflates the tiny air bubbles, wouldn't a hot oven do that faster before a crust develops? = non-recipe related fresh yeast questions 3) how long will the butter-like yeast last in the fridge? 4) is there a difference in the bread flavour produced by using (a starter made by this fresh-yeast which I already feed/kept alive for days/months/years) vs (a "fresh" starter made a few hours ago) 5) yeast turns glucose into alcohol, bacteria turns alcohol into acid...in a starter flour is used up but the acid will build up over time (or where does it go) and eventually it'll be too acidic for the yeast and it dies...right? if so how does one keep a starter going.... very very beginnger questions... thanks!!!!!

same temp 56C even though it has higher fat content, right? thanks!!

so if i'm not curing the tongue, cooked to 70C it will be grey...? and you said to use 70C to "mobilize the fat" but short ribs are also quite fatty but are excellent at 55C? haha not going to serve it whole, planning to cut inch thick medallions, cut so that if the skin of the tongue was not removed it would from the ring of the medallion, then browned in butter on presentation side. thanks for escoffier link, v. useful for deciding the sides. finally, what makes tongue suitable for (or must be?) pre-brined compared to say short ribs? or is it a "tradition" thing? Yes, this works - I have done cheeks at 56C - needs 48 to 72 hours. Comes out great. tongue should be similar. Brining is to get the cured / corned beef flavor. Try it without first. ← Thanks, have you tried wagyu cheeks? I've seen ones from Australia @ $5USD/100g (Hong Kong) compared to local (China) cheeks at $1USD/100g. Ultimately not a big price difference but wondering whether sous vide will equalize their differences... Will get a tongue first thing in the morning!

hey jackal10, speedy reply! tongue/cheeks cooked to 70C, the protein part will it be grey but still "smoother" then conventional stove braising? I was thinking of "med rare" cheeks/tongue a la short ribs.... Tongue brining is that for flavour or tenderizing? Thinking about it tongue is much more fatty then cheeks and its collagen is more finely distributed compared to cheeks which does not have as much "marbling" and its collagen are in bigger lumps? I am planning to serve the tongue or cheek as main for xmas...

hey everyone would you recommend beef tongue or beef cheeks sous vided? both are full of fat flavor and collagen... If tongue should I remove the skin first (boiling for 5min?). For either cheeks or tongue should I portion them or cook them whole (bath is big enough and has circulator) Finally 56C for days sounds right?... Thanks!!

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hey SpikeHK, excellent report! When I ate there a year ago (old location), the century egg was paired with a "crisp" of Chinese preserved red ginger, did you enjoy the egg or did you "not mind it"? The toro preparation looks much like that of El Bull's haha The Xiao Long Bao, is it a sodium-alginate "raviolli" or a candy/jelly? The pork doesn't look sous-vided which is unexpected...

Bingo. Add to this the fact that the restaurant "reviews" in certain HK media are puff pieces where the reviewer is known by, and comped by, the restaurant... gimmie a break. I'd rather read what some blog-ranter has to say than that. No need to wait until Oct 09 if you want to hit Kimberly for stuffed pig... I'm ready! ← HKD - We'll go, too. I saw that picture and was right keen. Count us in for 3. Call me. ← yay! 1,2 Sher.eats 3 HKDave 4,5,6 Robert Esser just 4 more!! or you can more forward your trip haha =)

There have been individuals (myself included) who went to Hong Kong "just to eat" (sort of... ha ha) at different times. But I am not aware of any eG get-together in HK in the past. We can be the pioneers! ← haha ok Oct 09 will be the first huh?