Sher.eats

Back from a 2 day trip to Macau... Fernando's (worth going? Yes) Food is decent, suckling pig was tender and skin was well cracked ($130/quarter pig). Sardines were reasonable ($40 /2) and the roast bacalhau tasted authentic ($130/"serving"). The environment inside and the immediate areas of the restaurant quite relaxing, nothing like the run-down or under-construction or flashing-lights parts of Macau, but the "black sand" beach is quite umm "black" so don't plan to walk along it for digestion. Food is comparable to to Ole in HK @ half the price so why not... ~ Lord Stow vs Margaret's (worth going? Definitely for both) Lord Stow has the superior crust: the layers are flaky with nice butteryness in between layers, bitting the crust snaps crisply. Margaret's crusts are more dense and "tough", biting though the pastry requires force. The custard on the other hand is superior in Margarets with more eggyness and a better caramelized surface, Stow's was rather bland. ~ 洪馨 (worth going? Yes) They're a small shop selling coconuts but also makes coconut ice cream, more like a gelato really as there's not much cream but the ice crystals are surprisingly fine. Very coconut-ty and refreshing even on a cold winter's day. The taro version is also popular but no longer made. I don't know of any coconut gelatos in HK so yes it's worth going. ~ 保健牛奶 (worth going? Slightly) By far superior to 義順牛奶. There's a "milked coagulated by ginger" and "double skinned milk", both lactose rich. The ginger one was coagulated on demand and the curds were nicely soft. It's similar food and quality to Australian Milk Company in HK, so no real reason to go. ~ Robuchon a Galeria (worth going? Definitely) Definitely 3 Michelin stars worthy, we had a 20 course tasting, of which 6 were white truffled, yes definite gluttony. Robuchon and Bouchenoire being there doens't hurt either haha ~ 三元粥品 (worth going? Slightly) We had pork balls+fish+raw egg and beef balls+pork liver. The pork balls were excellent, with a rillette rather than a quennelle texture, the beef balls were good too but not as excellent compared to the pork. The best congee in Macau no doubt but nothing special compared to HK. ~ 強記咖啡 @營地街市 @新馬路 (worth going? Slightly) When you're walking down 新馬路 (yes eventually you will be there), and need a 'fix, then instead of starbucks you can try 強記咖啡. The coffee beans are boiled whole (not grounded) in a ceramic pot, yielding a surprisingly fragrant and non sour beverage. Not worth going just for it though. ~ 祥記 (worth going? Slightly) Prawn roe are very nicely roasted but lack the flavours of prawn roe, rather it added "smokyness" to the noodles instead of roe. The noodles itself were alright but not comparable to HK's famous one. The 炸鯪魚球 was quite actually, similar to Lau Fu Gay in Central. ~ 大利來記(worth going? Yes) A game of expectations here: the bread is simply worse than ordinary, it's pre baked then toasted in the oven at 3pm, not crispy not yeasty not tender and not gluton-y. The pork chop though is excellent a whole 1.5 cm thick, bone-in, well brined and full of Maillard reaction. No queueing needed if you order a pork chop bun (ordinary bun) or even a pork chop "pineapple" bun =) For those who still wanna queue up, arrive at 2:30 and take a seat inside the restaurant (most seats are outside), tell the boss lady you're queuing for pork chop bun but will order a drink first. The queue starts inside the restaurant (where you're seating) so it takes <5sec for you to react and join the queue, which the boss lady starts at ~2:45) ~ Santos (worth going? No) We went at 8pm Saturday night so it was busy, do not let them seat you upstairs, the room is small with no curtains so it is NOISY, not helped by the shouting of mainland/HK tourists. The duck rice "au pot" was a huge dissapointment: the rice was precooked and simpled warmed in the pot, the salamander was too weak to brown the surface, flavours were bland the dish tasted simply of chicken stock. The chorizo was of cheap quality and fried on an overheated pan, the Portugese chicken was again pre cooked and simply slapped with sauce and warmed in the oven. Maybe it's Saturday night so they weren't cooking the usual way, maybe. For proper portugese go to La Lorcha or even Galo's. ~ 氹仔峰景 (worth going? No) We considered 誠昌飯店's 3 type of crab blend congee but it seemed very touristy and the service was known to be crap, 氹仔峰景 seems more like a "locals" place. But 峰景's congee only uses coral crab (whose meat isn't tasty) and the final product was rather bland ($90 for small pot, = 6 large bowls). The steamed eel was quite nice but expensive at $140. Service is good, but of no important when the food is bad. That's it!!

yeah, less than 100 words per restaurants is not very useful, and the only negative comment is Gaddi's: "celebrates a bygone elegance". for example, for L'Atelier HK: "The hallmark colours of red and black are once again evident at this branch of the Robuchon empire. A rexlax salon de the leads on to the main restaurant which is divided into two sections: Le Jardin and L'Atelier. The first is elegant and intimate with views of a roof top garden, the latter gives you a ringside seat at the show kitchen. Construct your own menu from dishes sch as sea urchin in lobster jelly or the beef and foie gras burger" they had to eat here 9 times to write that? Those who already knew about L'Atlier didn't learn anything and those who didn't know wouldn't know why they got 2 **s. likewise for Lung King Heen vs Spring Moon "Translated as 'view of the dragon', it now offers a panorama of Victoria Habour whilst the interior is smart and uncluttered, with hand-embroidered silk, columns and glass screens. Ingredients here are the highest quality - particularl the seafood which is impeccably fresh; all dishes are expertly crafted, nicely balanced and enticingly presented. The serving team is highly professional and describe dishes with great care and obvious pride" "An elegant and luxirious Cantonese restaurant very much at home at The Peninsula. YOu can admire the tropical hardwoord or the bamboo flower arrangements while sipping tea at the ttea bar. Dine in the restaurant or on the more intimate mezanine floor. Refined servcie oversees authentic dishes loaded with flavour. Different soy sauces are porposed t bring out the flavour of speciliites, which include shark fine or roasted pigeo with osmanthus. " One for a *** and the other for a 0 star hmm. Personally it's more a detailed listing than a guide, together with the useful-less-ness of Miele guide I think forums and foodblogs have "replaced" guides?

Would you wait for me????? Oct or Nov 2009. Promise to be there... ← haha sure! btw have there been eG "eating trips" in HK?

ummm one requires a bit of experience/knowledge to appreciate/critize a dish no? I'm pretty sure some Frenchmen have considered "tourists" to not understand their cuisine? My previous argument was that given time the Michelin people will give "better" or "closer to a local's perpspective" ratings, I don't see how you disagree with this?

It's not often i'm reduced to grunting noises but those pictures have done just that!! Thanks. ← hahaha it's $800 for the whole pig, they recommend serving one to about 8 (desperately hungry) to 12 people. we should organize an eG tasting.

I'll start! As this is for absolute best the locations won't be very convenient... Best for beef brisket 1) 群記清湯腩 at Tai Po, the have their own cow farms in the mainland and thus have good availability of the best cuts: the deckle of the brisket, the 爽腩 which I'm sure what it is in english but it's 2 thick pieces of tendon sandwiching a piece of skirt like meat, the cheeks (it melts in the mouth), the shank etc. The broth is not oil-free but is very rich. 2) Kau Kee at Central, I think most ppl know about this already. The food is still very good but not as excellent as the pre-tourist crowd. Best for beef balls 德發牛肉丸 in Tsim Sha Tsui, they used beef brisket and short ribs (local call it han-lam) as well as mixing in dried orange peel. The balls are squeezed with many internal layers which gives an excellent "bouncy" texture. Best for fish balls It used to be Shan Loon Tse Kee but the quality has severely dropped. I've tried many other places like Cheung Chau Island but don't find much difference compared to the major chains Best for roast pork Lung Kee at Central. There are quite a few places that do a nice roast pork but Lung is consistently good. Make sure you eat it at around 11am when it's freshly roasted and ask for the 7th-9th rib. A whole "rib" costs $60 you get the whole "arc" of rib eye, short rib, spare ribs to brisket. 永合隆飯店 at Mong Kok is equally good. The best roast suckling pig is at Kimberly where they roast the suckling pig stuffed with glutenous rice. Just look at the pics. Best for char siu 再興燒臘飯店 at Wan Chai has the best but its quality has a high variance. Ideally you go at 11am or 5pm when the cha sius are freshly roasted and you choose the upper neck meat parts with a "beads" of meat, fat, meat, fat... 龍門大酒樓 has good cha siu too with a nice charcoal aroma. You don't have to go into the restaurant, they have a takeaway stall on the ground floor. Best for wonton Some people swear by 麥奀雲 in Central but I don't think it's that good. My favorite is 劉森記麵家 in Sum Shui Po (also have the dried prawn roe noodles tossed with lard). more to come...

Try San Xi Lou (Coda Plaza), and you may change your mind... ← Yes that too! haha Do we on eG China have a "definite best" thread for HK like on the NY forums? The best cha siu, dim sum, wonton etc...

ah right, so do you have the book yet? are they listed? i ordered mine from PageOne and am collecting it tmr.

Wow, aprilmei! I gotta record that episode on my DVD and go through it frame by frame to see if I can guess which one you are! Is this one in Yuen Long also featured in a TV food show? I remember seeing a Chinese woman running her private kitchen/dining room (only 1 round table) in a small village near Yuen Long. What impressed me was that she made her own baking oven to make char siu with 2 big terracata flower pots (one upside down on top of another). ← yup that's her. here's the link to her new place http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=22106 . her terracotta oven was moved over too, a chickens roasts in <10 min w perfect crisp skin. dinner is 10 courses at $6xx per person but for 8ppl, lunch is $3xx per person 4 courses. she's been getting slack from so called critics who says her portions are too small blah blah, so if you call ahead and chat a bit that way she knows ur a foodie =) ← Margaret's chicken is amazing. She serves it whole - so you tear it apart, rather than cut it (so it doesn't lose its juices). Her suckling pig is also excellent. Sher, I think you said earlier you thought Yin Yang opened too late for Michelin - but I checked, it opened in April - that's plenty of time. re: Golden Bauhinia, I think that's in HKCEC. ← but michelin came to l'atelier in late feb to april...do you have the book yet, are they even listed? ah this is Bauhinia? http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=14106 any ideas why michelin thinks it's special?

Is that still 'Ming Kee'? It's been years since I've been there but I loved that place... the ultimate junk trip destination! ← yup!!

Cafe Siam NO. hardly thai at all at ripoff prices. Cheung Kee no. small beijing resto, much better choices out there Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao yes, not totally authentic but good food Farm House YES, almond pig lung soup and glutenous rice stuffed chicken wings Golden Bauhinia ?? which one is this? Gunga din's no. much better indian elsewhere Ho Hung Kee NO ugh hate this shop, their wontons are crap. no idea why tourists buy it Jashan yes. one of the "fine dining" indians. Kin's Kitchen YES well done michelin Lei Garden in Elements no. they've already given the other Lei's stars, there are other excellent Canto restos and Lei isn't cheap. Lei Garden in Mongkok no. same as above Le Soleil no. excellent viet choices elsewhere, high price goes to hotel rent. Lian yes. ok its not cheap but foods good. Luk Yu Tea House YES. but where's Lin Heung... Naozen no. this is the ONLY jap on the list (Bibs or *s) ............ 1/5 Nuevo yes. good food but Tapeo is better Tandoor yes. just for the naans.... Tasty (Happy Valley) yes. decent wonton congee and noodles Tasty (Hung Hom) no. chain of happy valley no way the quality Tasty (IFC) no. chain of happy valley no way the quality and double the price West Villa yes. good canto chinese here Yee Tung Heen no. its not cheap and its not the best for its price either. Ye Shanghai yes. not cheap but one of the best shanghainess Yunyan YES. excellent choice for sichuan (apart from Da Pin Huo) hmmmmmmm they should stick to reviewing French restos.

Ah.... Sham Tseng. Of course! My last visit there was in 87 when I still lived in Hong Kong. At that time, those were "dai pai dong" (food vendors under a steel canopy but no permanent building structure). Is "Yue Kee" the same still? Or they have their own restaurant store front now? Would you please provide the link? I can read Chinese too. Thank you! Different places for different food... Sham Tseng for roast goose Sai Kung / Lei Yue Moon / Aberdeen for live seafood Shatin / Tai Wai for pigeon Lau Fau Shan for oyster Yuen Long for wife cake Causeway Bay for ginger milk custard ← Yue now has a "building" for FOH but the back kitch is tge same, link http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=4171 for the best seafood one now has to take a boat to Po Toi Island , 40 min by boat from Stanley. There is only 1 restaurant (owned by a friend of our cousin, i'm not biased really!) that you call like a week before you go, tell them what seafood you want, they will catch it or buy it from fisherboats still at sea so you know its fresh, then the have a cage-thing in the water (the resto is right on the beach) where they keep the seafood alive... its an excellent day trip too as you can hike the whole island (quite hilly) in around 2 hours, "fresh sea wind" like no where else haha. Shatin pigeon sadly no longer can deep fry birds killed just 5 min before as gov. policy banned it, poultry's are now centrally slaughtered somewhere. the taste difference is apparent, so tey no longer have an advantage over other restos Lau fau shan oysters are still on! yes wife cakes at yuen long, its quite a foodie town now, i had to go 3 times to try everything worth trying Ginger milk custard at Yee Shung right? they have chains everywhere now so its convenient. I prefer Australian Milk Company at Jordan though

Wow, aprilmei! I gotta record that episode on my DVD and go through it frame by frame to see if I can guess which one you are! Is this one in Yuen Long also featured in a TV food show? I remember seeing a Chinese woman running her private kitchen/dining room (only 1 round table) in a small village near Yuen Long. What impressed me was that she made her own baking oven to make char siu with 2 big terracata flower pots (one upside down on top of another). ← yup that's her. here's the link to her new place http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=22106 . her terracotta oven was moved over too, a chickens roasts in <10 min w perfect crisp skin. dinner is 10 courses at $6xx per person but for 8ppl, lunch is $3xx per person 4 courses. she's been getting slack from so called critics who says her portions are too small blah blah, so if you call ahead and chat a bit that way she knows ur a foodie =)

umm as in when one of the 14 michelin come do they bring along people not from the 14? yes. re: Yung Kee. Apart from the roast goose, the braised pork belly is good too, and there is a pot au feu of beef brisket too. 1 michelin star worthy... re: Felix well with a view like this i can't blame them =) (not the best pic)

I was trying not to out "anyone" I didn't realize Michelin reviewers were widely known. I always imagined they were a non-descript sort. How were the staff able to recognize them, and did their presence affect the food (i.e. did the staff work harder than usual to make the food perfect)? I'm a little surprised at Yung Kee's inclusion. I've only eaten there once, and only tasted 3 or 4 dishes (plus I had a bad cold at the time), but if Yung Kee is Michelin quality food, and if Michelin really does only rate the food and nothing else, then there should have been many many more restaurants included. I'm sure there are better places than Yung Kee out there. Just out of curiousity, is it known if dim sum was eaten at any of the starred places? ← haha prasantrin umm how should i put it. restaurants have "intelligence" (names, photos, phone etc) and restos share their intel with other restos... as to where the intel first started not sure?.... umm for l'atelier i don't think there was much difference, quality is kept pretty high all the time but the FOH might treat them different? there are some difference that applied to all western eaters like slightly more salt and rarer beef (medium rare to an average HKer = medium for French so) Yung's 1 star is IMO for its roast items (goose, cha siu etc). As to why other "yummier" places weren't given stars, my interpretation is a place has good food but its waiters can't speak english it isn't that "useful"...? The book is released tomorrow night, i'll report back if it mentions dim sum, and whether peninsula hotel is mentioned at all.

http://www.peninsula.com/Hong_Kong/en/~/me...463BEF1D5A.ashx menu Been once, food is alright, it's not a foodie place.

How do you know they came nine times? Did people at the restaurant recognize them, or did they let the restaurant know who they were? ← using "third party" language, yes the restaurant recognized them =)

The steak tartar uses onglet (hanger) from a Charolais cow, it's $200 upstairs and i think it's no longer available downstairs...ah yes the oursin, there was a thread on the cooking forums trying to reverse engineer the receipe...quite off though haha. Hugo yes he's now acting manager (the manger has resigned), he ummmm has his pluses but lacks food knowledge. robuchon macau totally 3 star worthy eh? they're moving to the new lisboa hotel next year.

From what I read, they said 2 inspectors were "Asian" - not necessarily Cantonese or Chinese. There's no way there were at more than a fraction of the reviews. There were 12 or 14 Michelin inspectors reportedly involved in the HK/Macau book. They claim to have visited 800 places, some up to a dozen times. Even if they averaged just 3 visits per place, that's still 180+ meal/visits per inspector assuming they dined alone each time - which would have been totally impractical at most Canto restaurants, so the visit count must have been much higher. ← They came to L'Atelier 9 times, all 14 of them came at least once. those 2 asians must be quite critical for the perceived quality, wonder if the media will find out who they are. btw have you eaten at l'atelier?

Of the michelin panel of unknown size, only 2 were Chinese. Now, there is no way the French dudes can review a Chinese resto without someone explaining to them what each item is and why it's special etc, were those 2 chinese present in all their tastings? I agree with you on private kitchens, the only reason they are private is finance. The selling points of menu custimiztion etc can still be done on a proper legal place... On BO haha yes I'm actually surprised the French understood his plays on Chinese food. Alvin is the one who pursuaded me to be a chef. I've had YingYang twice and both were excellent, but only oppened in March and the Michelin ppl came in Feb so next year?

I can't stand the suspense. Please... tell me tell me... Where is the best-best for roast goose? ← I suspect Sher is alluding to Chan Kee or Yue Kee, in Sham Tseng. There are a cluster of famous roast goose places out there. One thing missing from the list above is Macau's Robuchon a Galera, which got 3 stars. Frankly, I find it hard to get excited about what a bunch of French guys think about our food. But I agree with the Peninsula getting shut out. They've been doing a lame job on F+B for at least a decade. ← yup Yue Kee, they have their own geese farm in the mainlands. The geese are roasted in the premise's charcoal "pits". If you call in advance you can have a just roasted geese on your table as you arrive and sit down, when the tea has been ordered and poured the goose will have rested enough for carving. Yes carving not chopping because more juices stay inside as supposed to "chopping" which is more violent...The skin is of course much crispier (like a crouton as supposed to a chip) than Central's Yung Kee and you get to suck on the rib bones which Yung has removed for you...I can give you a link to a local foodie website with much more info if I'm allowed... ~ yeah I left out the macau ones, thought someone living in Macau can start a thread instead...I'm going on Friday to Galeria for a 20 course "celebration" gala...will report back. ~ I was only interested in star ratings for the French restos (very very pleased). hmm Gaddi's and Spring Moon are quite good actually...what happened on your visits? Any clues as to why Intercont Penin and Hyatt got shut out?

Is "Bo Innovation" the one featured in the Anthony Bourdain's No Reservation show (one epidode on Hong Kong)? It is in Central, right? ← yes, but they moved to Wan Chai (2 MTR stops from Central). website: http://www.boinnovation.com/

hey aprilmei haha yes good observation, can't be coincidence right? you think those 3 hotels refused to be listed (it can be done, but unusual, unless you know you really screwed up)? you're right on Lei Gardens too, i should change that. so overall, except the issue of those 3 hotels, everything else sounds right to you?

*** Lung King Heen (龍景軒) , Cantonese, Four Seasons Hotel ** Amber, French Modern, Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hotel ** BO Innovations, Asian-flavored "molecular gastronomy", independent ** Caprice, Modern French, Four Seasons Hotel ** L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, French Modern, independent ** Shang Palace (香宮), Cantonese, Kowloon Shrangri-La Hotel ** Summer Palace (夏宮), Cantonese, Island Shrangri-La Hotel ** T'ang Court (唐閣), Cantonese, Langham Hotel * Fook Lam Moon (福臨門) Wanchai branch, Cantonese, independent * Forum (富臨), Cantonese, independent * Hutong (胡同), Beijingnese, independent * Lei Garden (利苑酒家) IFC branch, Cantonese, Lei Garden Group * Lei Garden (利苑酒家) Tsim Sha Tsui branch, Cantonese, Lei Garden Group * Ming Court (明閣), Cantonese, Langham Place Hotel * Petrus, French, Island Shrangri-La Hotel * Pierre, French Molecular, Mandarin Oriental Hotel * Regal Palace (富豪金殿), Cantonese, Regal Hotel * Shanghai Garden (紫玉蘭), Shanghainese, Maxim's Group * The Golden Leaf (金葉庭), Cantonese, Conrad Hotel * The Square (翠玉軒), Cantonese, Maxim's Group * Tim's Kitchen (桃花源小廚), Cantonese, independent * Yung Kee (鏞記), Cantonese, independent I live in Hong Kong and have eaten at most of the restaurants already: Caprice, L'Atelier and Amber are correctly given 2 stars, they are the best in Hong Kong but not good enough to get 3 (Robuchon Macau got 3). Missing is the famous Gaddi's of Peninsula Hotel, not sure yet whether they requested to not be listed or they didn't get a star. Petrus cuisine is solid but uninspiring, lucky they got *. Pierre has huge consistency problems (made worse when serving molecular) and hence only *. IMO the Chinese restaurants of the top tier hotels all offer very similar cuisine of similar quality, and the guide correctly allocated stars to them. I believe Four Season's Lung King Heen's edge was service and view. BO Innovations has always been a favorite among local foodies, no surprise here, but gourmands unused to Chinese flavours won't "get" the "play" on food (like how Keller hautes up "coffee donuts" 福臨門 & 富臨 are famous for their braised dry goods (abalone, shark's fine, bird's nest etc). Tim's Kitchen is a speakeasy-like small-ish restaurant serving hotel quality food but without the "Pomp and Circumstance" and at good prices. Yung Kee is famous for being second-best for roast goose (best requires 1 hour drive). Unexpected: The only starred Beijingnese restaurant, 胡同, is only Beijing-themed but has a spectacular view, food is fine but way overpriced, most foodies I know of avoids it for the "tourist trap" factor The only starred Shanghainess restaurant Shanghai Garden cooks good food but not no way is the best Shanghainess restaurant in HK. No Italian nor Japanese restaurants have stars, understandable actually...

hey Prawncrackers! yeah that's what i thought, the slow cooking will break down the skin collagen too so there won't be any build up of pressure during the roasting = no crackling.... the meat didn't "shrink down" the bone during the 30min of roasting, but was still tender enough anyway... thanks!!