aprilmei

Okay, here's the list of Bibs Gourmands - it's very strange - completely random. Why are some of these places on the list? And why are many others NOT on the list? Cafe Siam Cheung Kee Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao Farm House Golden Bauhinia Gunga din's Ho Hung Kee Jashan Kin's Kitchen Lei Garden in Elements Lei Garden in Mongkok Le Soleil Lian Luk Yu Tea House Naozen 1/5 Nuevo Tandoor Tasty (Happy Valley) Tasty (Hung Hom) Tasty (IFC) West Villa Yee Tung Heen Ye Shanghai Yunyan

Sher, do Michelin reviewers go on their own? is that how they were recognised? At Atelier, I've never had to talk to Hugo about the food (because I always know what I want) - but he's a really good "people person". re: Yung Kee, with that restaurant you have to trust your waiter to guide you to the best dishes. I've had some really good meals there (not always having the goose) - their liver sausages are the best i've tasted, their rice birds are excellent, so is the mutton casserole and some of their hairy crab dishes, too. but I've heard of people having bad meals there, too. Until the last time I went, I never even looked at the menu before - would just ask the waiter what's good. This last time, my normal waiter wasn't there so I tested out someone else. I've never been able to figure out how Felix got on any guide to top restaurants. People go there for the view, not the food.

I've eaten at Atelier - several times upstairs but more often in the Salon de The (I love the steak tartare, besides, if I remember correctly, it's cheaper downstairs than upstairs). But I go to Atelier because I absolutely love the oursin: I think it's as good (in a different way) as the original caviar version (but the oursin one is more affordable). At Atelier, you have a really good manager (not sure of his title) named Hugo. Do you know him? But if I had to choose, I'd much rather make the trip to Macau to eat at Robuchon a Galera. I've had the most wonderful meals there, including the 16-course degustation, many five-course lunches (for the amazingly reasonable price of HK$588 [something like that]), a black truffle lunch (where we ate a whole foie gras poached en cocotte with black truffle jus) and the opening night dinner (ages ago), where I met Mr Robuchon for the first time.

I like Gaddi's - the chef is very talented. I was just saying I wasn't too impressed last time I ate at Spring Moon.

Hi Sher, whether the list is "right" is difficult to say. As you mentioned, there are many other Shanghainese restaurants that are much better than Shanghai Garden - and there are also better restaurants in the Maxim's chain than Shanghai Garden. (I really like Hunan Garden). It is disappointing that the majority on the list are hotel Chinese restaurants when there are other independent restaurants where the quality is just as good. I'm not saying some of the hotel Chinese restaurants are undeserving but that there should be more independent restaurants. There's been some criticism in other media about restaurants that didn't make it on the list: private kitchens were mentioned. I think that's unfair because we don't know if Michelin covers private kitchens. I, for one, never cover private kitchens except on boards like this, because the restaurant could get closed down if it's brought too much to the attention of authorities. Right now, the authorities might know about them but turn a blind eye, but if they become too big, the restaurants are difficult to ignore. Hrtz8w, Bo Innovation has moved to Wan Chai. I'm actually in that episode (eating at Bo) - but it's "blink and you miss it". Even my mother had a hard time seeing me! I am a big fan of Alvins, the last few meals I've had there have been excellent. But I haven't tried his food at the new place yet. One restaurant I think should be on the list but which isn't is Yin Yang. It used to be a private kitchen in Yuen Long (called Cuisine X at the time) - very small and extremely difficult to find, but it's since moved to a really great space in a heritage building. Funnily enough, it's very close to Bo Innovation.

What surprised me most when I first saw the list was lack of restaurants from three of the big hotels: Peninsula, Grand Hyatt and InterContinental. Not just Gaddi's at the Pen, but also Spring Moon (I don't really like it that much but some people do, although to be fair it's been about seven years since I was there). And One Harbour Road at the Grand Hyatt can be very good. I am glad, however, that Zuma and Nobu didn't get on the list. It's been irritating me that those two restaurants are the representatives of Japanese cuisine in some of the other guides. Do you consider Lei Gardens to be independent? I thought they were part of the Lei Garden chain? The quality is very good. I'm very glad Bo Innovation is on the list and like you, didn't think non-Chinese would "get" some of his combinations. Like if you don't know what lap mei fan is supposed to taste like, then how can you understand his lap mei fan ice cream?

Thanks for these ideas. I ended up salting two of them, as for Moroccan preserved lemons (just quartered them and stuck them in with some Meyer lemons I was preserving). The other two I'm going to put in a jar with some sugar then will top up the jar with vodka. I love the idea of yuzu madeleines.

Prawncrackers, Xiao Nan Guo is a chain of about eight to 10 restaurants but the quality is mostly very good. I've seen some very famous (famous in HK, I mean) Shanghainese people eating there. Quality can be erratic, though, and for awhile I avoided it because it had gone down but then when I ate there again recently, it was excellent. HKDave, I actually like some of the Maxim's restaurants. For such a massive chain, the quality is pretty high and consistent (I'm talking about their proper restaurants, not the fast food places). I really like their Hunan restaurant in Central. Hi Spike, welcome! I do read your blog (but very rarely your BC column). But sorry, I can't help you on where to eat in Sai Kung.

I have four fresh yuzu and am looking for suggestions on what to do with them. I'd prefer sweet dishes but am open to all ideas. This fruit is primarily rind/zest with very little juice, so four isn't enough to make a sorbet. TIA

It might be my imagination, but I think Coke in a glass bottle tastes so much better than coke in a can or plastic bottle. It's not easy to find, though - funnily enough, it tends to be the cheaper restaurants that have it (in HK, anyway)

I've cooked turkey fries before. What surprised me most - although I guess it shouldn't - was the difference in size among them. Some of them were about 2.5cm but others were 7cm! I guess one would be from a 10# turkey and the other would be from one that weighs 25 pounds? I thought they were delicious, though.

I was talking about white rabbits a few weeks ago with an Indonesian Chinese friend and she was surprised I knew about them too (I'm Chinese but from the States). She said she thought it was only an Indonesan thing - I said no, all Chinese kids ate them, no matter where they grew up.

Xi Yan has been around for years; I don't think it's still a private kitchen (in other words, it has a license) but it's a private kitchen concept (you eat what the chef, Jacky Yu, wants to cook). The space is much bigger than it used to be. Jacky also opened three "regular" restaurants, Xi Yan Sweets (it's not just a dessert place), Xi Yan Tastes and Xi Yan Flavours. Their food is quite good, with some dishes the same as what he serves at Xi Yan, except it's a la carte.

There's a company here in HK called GOD (goods of desire) which has a slogan of "Delay No More" (Cantonese speakers will know another meaning to this - it's extremely rude). Anyway, they've put an alternative meaning on "moon cakes" - theirs are in the shape of "the full monty", "t-back", "spread my cheeks" and "mind the gap". It's hard to describe them; you'll have to use your imagination. The filling of the mooncake, surprisingly, is "normal".

It's good in a sandwich - white bread (the squishy stuff) spread with butter (or margarine) and then lots of the pork floss. I've also eaten it with glutinous rice and on prawn crackers (the latter preparation is from Thailand).

I ate there last year - we stayed at the hotel for one night (it's a lovely setting). At the time it had one star, I don't know if that has changed. Funnily enough, I don't remember my food; i remember what my boyfriend's daughter ate (a plate of fabulous jamon and some "ravioli" of tuna and tomato - but it didn't have pasta, instead, the "skin" was made of thin slices of tuna and the inside was the tomato - or was it the other way around?). They served us lots of extras at the beginning which I recall we liked very much. Oh, i just remembered my starter - it was monkfish liver with monkfish - it was a sort of terrine. Good, but very rich. I don't remember my main course or desserts.

I love the slide-y thing - so much that every year when I go to the States, I buy a roll of it. As someone pointed out earlier, Costco carries it and because it's Costco size (big) the roll lasts until my next visit to the States.

Oh, you were here for the last big typhoon - that was a good one, wasn't it? My good, I mean "real" - sometimes they raise the typhoon 8 signal and it bypasses us or just sort of fades away to nothing. I have the type of job where I have to work during typhoons but I was finished with most of my work so I took the day off and enjoyed watching the the storm, happy that I wasn't out in it.

Does your lobster dish have noodles in it? Next time, order it with yee mien, it's better than rice for all that sauce. And I've only been to the Happy Valley branch too - it's right near the tram's final stop.

Wow, that was awfully clever and nice of the brewery people! The problem with US Customs is it is so unpredictable. I often bring stuff from HK when I go to visit my parents in California - stuff like laap cheung, moon cakes, Chinese mushrooms and scallops (I know you can get all of that in the States but it's mostly gifts from my auntie to my mother and besides, the HK laap cheung and mooncakes are very different). I'm stopped quite frequently. Customs has never had a problem with the scallops or mushrooms but the laap cheung is SOMETIMES tossed and other times it's not. A couple years ago, they made me go through the "something to declare" line and asked, "do you have mooncakes?" I said yes. "Do they have eggs in them?" I said "of course they have eggs!" He said he'd have to throw them away and I told him I've brought them in many times before and never had a problem. He said, "have you heard of bird flu?" Didn't matter, I guess, that the eggs are salted and cooked. But an even sillier incident took place at Charles de Gaulle - although it had nothing to do with customs, it was when I was trying to check in my luggage for a flight back to HK. The person at the check-in counter said, "do you have any chocolate in your carry on luggage?" When I said yes she told me I'd have to put it in the check-in luggage. When I asked why she said, "because it can be melted and turned into a liquid!" I didn't know they made chocolate explosives!

Oh, thanks for checking - I have some Bomba rice purchased a couple years ago and was wondering if it would still be good to use for tonight's paella. But I seem to recall a thread about old arborio or carnaroli and how it made the risotto taste bad or it didn't cook up right.

It depends - at least in Hong Kong. I think at the big chains, it's probably made at a central kitchen and is then distributed to the different outlets. Smaller shops might make their own - but not necessarily better. I went to a new restaurant today where the dim sum was made in-house but it wasn't very good. sometimes I'd rather have something made in a central kitchen because at least it's consistent - and often it's much better.

This looks wonderful - I'm getting hungry just looking at these pictures. Can you please also give some addresses?

Just FYI, sweet and sour pork is a REAL Chinese dish, although much more refined than the ketchup and pineapple versions you get at cheap Chinese restaurants. Made properly, with wah mui (preserved sour plums), it can be a revelation.

I think this is Soursop, not custard apple. ← You know, you might be right. I've only seen them whole and then as juice (I drink it constantly when I'm in Vietnam). I've never seen it cut up. ← I didn't have time to elaborate yesterday, but with custard apple, you don't usually cut it up. If it's ripe enough to eat, you'd just pull it open with your hands, so you'd not have straight lines. Plus, you don't get straight lines with custard apple anyway, because you'd probably need to cut through seeds--custard apple has more seeds. ← Well, I'm not persuaded on that point - I cut open custard apples!