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The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G.K. Chesterton

Friday 31 December 2010

Christmas 2010

This Christmas was our busiest one yet, and we entertained two Japanese families and my father-in-law's family from Brisbane who is visiting us over the Christmas and New Year period. It seems that we have developed a bit of a tradition of inviting Japanese families to share with them Aussie-style Christmas-at-home. For the fourth year in a row, we have introduced roast turkey to Japanese friends who have never eaten from a whole roast turkey, and I will never tire of seeing the looks on their faces every time I bring the turkey out to the table. I did not roast this year's bird because although we recently bought a table-top Delonghi oven (the largest one we could find in Hong Kong), it is still smaller than our table-top oven in Japan (which was barely big enough for the smallest turkey). Instead I ordered a 6kg roast turkey from Main St Deli at Langham Hotel, and prepared everything else at home. The turkey was flavourful and thankfully not too dry, but hubby and I weren't too keen on the stuffing and gravy. Everyone seemed to love everything though! I spent 99% of Christmas day (and night) in the kitchen, but I would happily do this many times over again!

I made a Cobb Loaf Dip in addition to the usual snack fare. I made a healthier less calorie-laden version, and everyone loved it! Recipe here:

The roast turkey came with sage and chestnut stuffing, cranberry sauce (with whole cranberries!) and gravy. Homemade side dishes included roasted butternut pumpkin and sweet potatoes with honey and rosemary, steamed cauliflower and broccoli with cheese sauce, coleslaw and mashed potatoes:

Hubby is getting quite pro at carving turkeys!

Everyone in our living room - it was a tight squeeze in our tiny apartment:

Dessert was a Peach Trifle using homemade cake, a can of sliced peaches, mango-flavoured jelly, homemade custard and topped with crushed digestive biscuits:


I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas, and I wish you all a fabulous 2011!

Wednesday 22 December 2010

Italian buffet brunch @ Joia, Hong Kong

It sometimes amazes me just how small the world is. What are the chances that earlier this year while we were still in Tokyo, I would be assigned to teach English to a young Japanese mum - who has a daughter around my son's age - for a couple of months before she moved to Hong Kong? And what is the likelihood that we would end up living not only in the same area of HK, but in the very same apartment complex? Here's another story. In August, a month before our move to HK, I was introduced (via the organiser of the English playgroup in our area which had only be formed a couple of months prior) to another young Japanese mum who was making her move to HK at the time. (What, is everyone moving to Hong Kong?) By coincidence, we now also live in the same residential area, and I recently discovered that my ex-student and this other mum had already met each other here in HK before we even moved here. Is the world really that small?

Anyway, two Sundays ago, the three of us along with our respective husbands and toddlers, met together for the first time as a group at Joia, a nice Italian restaurant at the nearby Elements mall. We've eaten at Joia once before, and it wasn't hard to notice then that Joia had laid out a gorgeous spread of desserts and a nice variety of antipasti and salad on the buffet tables for those who selected Weekend Brunch Menu. It's a very popular option as you get all-you-can-eat appetisers, salad, dessert and coffee as well as a main course from a choice of six dishes.

Basket of delicious carbs served to our table, not that we need any help to fill up our tummies!

There was an impressive variety of salads on the buffet table which included chicken, beetroot, roast beef, shrimp, seafood and Caprese, corn and ceasar. There were also grilled vegetables and roast potatoes as well as olives. We could also have ham and melon, cured meats (e.g. smoked salmon, salami) and cheese. The main course took a long time to get to our table, and we were in danger of filling up with just the antipasti and salad.

The antipasti and salad buffet:

Rob's plate, round #1 (of several):

For main course, Rob got the Petto d'anatra in slasa all'arancia (duck breast in orange sauce). Duck and orange are the usual food partners, so there's nothing too extraordinary here. Decent serving size of the protein, but the duck was done a little too well so it was bordering on the dry side.

Orange duck:

I ordered the Ravioli di pesce con pendolini e rucola (home made fish ravioli with tomato and rocket salad). This was pretty simple but quite good.

Fish ravioli:

We were pretty stuffed by the time we were done with the main course, but Rob found his second stomach to fit in dessert. And boy, did he exercise his rights to all-you-can-eat with not one but two full plates of cakes, cookies and tarts. I was pretty well done, so I just nibbled on some fresh fruits and a tiny taste of each sweet on Rob's plate. It was all good, but by this time I was cursing my lack of discipline at all-you-can-eat buffets.

Tower of mini pastries, tarts and cookies:

Dessert table: Fresh fruits, blueberry cheese cake, mango mousse cake, passion mousse cake...

... opera cake, white wine jelly, chocolate tart and tiramisu (yes, that is smoked salmon on the kitchen bench at the top of the shot, being sliced and prepped for the antipasti table):

Rob's dessert plate #1:

And mine:

We'd forgotten all about the tea and coffee until our waiter came to take our orders. Coffee at Italian restaurants have always been pretty good in my experience, and this was no exception.

This cappuccino was my second cup of coffee that day:


The food was quite good for a buffet, and pretty good value for the choice of variety. We enjoyed the company the most though, and I hope that this group will get together more often especially considering how we met each other.

Wednesday 15 December 2010

Harbour view

It seems almost a shame that we live in an apartment with a fairly good view of the harbour because we're not terribly fussed about having a view. When we were searching for apartments to live in Hong Kong, having a scenic view ranked at the very bottom of our list; we just wanted a comfortable abode that is conveniently located. It just so happened that this particular apartment fulfilled the highest combination of our preferences, and comes with a view too. Well, I'm not complaining, as a view of the harbour is far better than a view into someone else's apartment! It's another shame that HK's skyline is often blanketed in a haze, mostly due to air pollution from mainland China. Sundays are often the clearest day of the week, which makes sense as most Chinese factories are shut for holiday.

Here's a panoramic shot of the daytime view from our balcony on one of the clearer days (click image for larger size):



Every night at 8pm, buildings across Victoria Harbour participate in a light and laser show, 'A Symphony of Lights'. Running for 14 minutes involving 44 buildings on both sides of the harbour, it is one of HK's major tourist attraction. We can enjoy the light show from any window in our apartment, but sad to say we usually miss it because we're often too busy with our daily evening routine. I do often catch snippets of the show from the kitchen window - the one with the most limited view - while washing the dinner dishes, but Rob misses out completely as he's usually occupied with giving the 2 year old his bath and bedtime routine.

A short 2:34 minute snippet of the world's largest permanent light and sound show from our balcony:

Friday 10 December 2010

Fine Dining Yum Cha @ Man Wah (Mandarin Oriental), Hong Kong

I had never thought yum cha could be a fine dining affair until I came to Hong Kong. It's something about dim sum eating - in the old-fashioned sense where trolleys of bamboo baskets containing various bite-sized goodies are pushed around the noisy dining floor with waitresses yelling out their trolley's contents - that doesn't quite fit into the fine dining culture. And unlike French and Japanese restaurants where you can universally expect to "pay through the nose" (as my mum would say), you can get dim sum for cheap quite easily, especially in Hong Kong. But it's also in Hong Kong that you can find five-star dim sum restaurants that thrive very well, thanks to the wealthy businesspeople and holiday-makers who often stay at luxury hotels where these high end restaurants are located. I remember once getting to yum cha the expensive way at the Marriott (courtesy of Rob's aunt and husband) when we first came to Hong Kong as honeymooners more than 6 years ago, but have not since had the opportunity to do it again, until last weekend. We were scheduled to meet up for brunch with one of Rob's colleagues from New York whose girlfriend had never eaten dim sum before, and we'd voted on a yum cha brunch since it is a fairly typically Hong Kong thing to do. We needed a nice restaurant that serves good dim sum fare, and there are many good things said about the yum cha at Man Wah in the Mandarin Oriental. It was a fairly no-brainer choice then to go to Man Wah, because you can only expect the food to be at least excellent in a restaurant belonging to a five star hotel.

There were none of the chaotic noise of the trolley push-cart system in this restaurant; instead the neatly-dressed maƮtre'd showed us to our seats and a waiter took our order. There were not that many tables, and the dining area maintained an intimate atmosphere. On the menu were a few yum cha classics such as char siu bao and egg tart, but most of the dishes had been given an innovative twist, such as the xiao long bao with hairy crab mousse. All the items we ordered were nothing short of excellent, and I was pleased that D's girlfriend got a good introduction to dim sum eating (although I hope that it hasn't set the bar too high for her future experiences with dim sum). Her favourite item was the ubiquitous char siu bao (barbecue pork buns), which was probably the best char siu bao I've ever eaten!

Freebie Candied Walnuts at the start of the meal:

Luxurious version of the Lormaikai (glutinous rice in lotus leaf), with abalone. It was difficult to get a good shot of it without hot steam fogging up the lens:

Barbecue Pork Bun - seriously fluffy buns with perfectly seasoned filling:

D's favourite - the Beef Tenderloin Puff with Black Pepper Sauce:

Scallop and Shrimp Dumpling with XO Sauce:

Single serves of the Shanghainese Soup Dumpling with Minced Pork and Hairy Crab Mousse - bursting with umami flavour (and hot liquid!):

The Egg Tart made perfect! Light, flaky multi-layered pastry crust with silky eggy custard, fresh from the oven:

It wouldn't be fine dining without petit fours served at the end of the meal - Coconut Milk Pudding and Cashew Cookie:

This was a very nice dim sum experience, something to try at least once! Now if I could only find another restaurant just as nice that doesn't break the bank, so that good dim sum brunching can be a regular thing for us.

Friday 3 December 2010

Surf and turf @ Wildfire, Hong Kong

I love to cook for my family, but sometimes at the end of a particularly busy day, I am just too tired to even think about preparing dinner. And on those days, I am so grateful that we live above a mall where we can just head into one of the many restaurants, sit down, relax and enjoy a meal while someone else cooks, serves and cleans up. A couple of Sundays ago was one of those days. We'd gone into Harbour City on foot, and not only did it prove to be an unproductive trip, we also had to battle the weekend shopping crowd with a stroller! By the time we decided to head home in the late afternoon, I was tired from being on my feet for a few hours (and home was still a 30 minutes' walk away!), feeling crabby from having to deal with the crowds, and stomach was hungry for dinner. Cooking dinner at home was the last thing I wanted to do. So it was an easy choice to eat out that night, and we chose Wildfire which was the closest restaurant to our apartment. The interior was interesting, with dominantly red and yellow decor to simulate flames. Service was attentive enough, and our waiter was very helpful with regards to allergenic ingredients in the dishes.

The menu appeared to be predominantly Italian of mostly pizza and pasta, as well as a decent variety of appetisers, salads, soups and mains. The restaurant was also having a limited promotion steak menu featuring grain-fed beef from the US. We were eager to eat and then head home to wind down for the day, so we didn't take very long to order. We got a plate of Crostini with Mozzarella, Tomato and Parma Ham to start with, which was simple with standard toppings, but a good light appetiser to start the meal. The 2 year old found the toasted bread a little too hard.


Rob went for the special steak menu's Surf and Turf (beef tenderloin and king prawn) with mushroom sauce (choice between black peppercorn, mushrooms and bourbon), and it came with corn on the cob, grilled vegetables and baked potato (choice between baked potato or french fries). My first thought when I tasted the steak was that it was quite salty. Second thought was that it was pretty dry for a steak cooked medium-rare. We can only deduce that the dry texture was due to improper storage, not the cooking.


I got the Roasted Cod Fish with Fennel Pepperonata, which was served on top of mashed potatoes and topped with caramelised onions and capsicum. This was quite nice, except for the fact that it was a bit too salty. Everything else was pretty good - mash was soft and creamy, fish was moist, and the pepperonata was lovely. I couldn't help but think that this is very similar to one of the easy fish meals I serve for dinner at home.


Rob could not resist ordering dessert before leaving, and after much deliberation over the desserts menu, he settled for the Chocolate Torte. I loved the presentation of the plate, and the chocolate gelato on top of the cake was lovely, but the cake itself was too dry. You really need to eat the cake with the gelato together to offset the dryness of the cake.


So this turned out to be an unspectacular meal, with over-salty and dry food, but I was still grateful that someone else was doing the dishes that night.

Wednesday 1 December 2010

Jiangnan Cuisine @ Zhou Zhuang Kitchen, Hong Kong

Although I have Chinese heritage, I am ashamed to admit that I have a rather limited knowledge of the Chinese cuisine. Limited in the sense that I have only been exposed to Chinese food that are well-known internationally, such as Szechuan, Cantonese and Shanghainese. Because China is geographically large, to say a dish is "Chinese" would be quite broadly speaking. In fact, Chinese cuisine can be divided into eight regional cuisines, each one having its own distinctive characteristics based on produce and cooking methods used in each region. I think there is no better place than Hong Kong to try out the food that each region has to offer and to expand my experience with the Chinese cuisine.

I'd recently read a Time Out review on Zhou Zhuang Kitchen, a restaurant that specialises in traditional homestyle dishes from Jiangnan, a region south of the great Yangtze River. The restaurant's location on the 10th floor of one of the many commercial buildings along Canton Road and its name in Chinese characters could have meant that - under ordinary circumstances - we would have easily overlooked it in favour of something more foreigner-friendly. Zhou Zhuang Kitchen's interior is fairly understated, with basic and simple decor, but the food is clearly the draw as we saw the place fill up with people in search for a good no-frills meal. It certainly seems that this restaurant doesn't get many foreign customers, but I was relieved to find that they have the menu in English (although I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't list all the dishes from the Chinese version). We were assigned a waitress who could speak some English, and with my fledgling Mandarin, we could communicate well enough. Having lived as an expat in non-English speaking countries for more than 4 years, I'm always grateful to people who took the time and effort to learn English (and yes, it applies to Hong Kong too, especially when venturing away from popular tourist and expat areas). Our waitress was happy to suggest dishes, so we didn't take very long to place our order.

I ordered a serving of Smoked Duck Egg, which had been cooked perfectly (opaque whites but soft silky yolk), and then smoked to a brown tint. It had a lovely smoky aroma, something which only I appreciated (neither Rob nor the 2 year old was a fan of the smoked egg), so I had the privilege of eating most of it. A dash of Chinese black vinegar was all this egg needed. Simple but pleasurable.


The Spicy Cold Zhou Zhuang Noodles with Smoked Duck was really good and refreshing. The mound of al dente noodles were covered in a sauce that had a good balance of sour and sweet with a nice spicy kick. The crunch of the fresh julienned cucumbers provided a textural contrast to the noodles.


We also got a plate of Spicy Fried Beans, which was greasy but in an irresistible way. I'm pretty sure the health benefits of this vegetable dish had been nullified by its oil treatment, but I couldn't stop picking at the tasty beans!


For meat, we ate one of Zhou Zhuang Kitchen's signature dishes, the Beijing-Style Roast Mutton. The skin was roasted to a perfect crisp, and the meat was tender. Even though I'm not a fan of red meat, I must admit that this was pretty yummy. I could only handle eating a couple of pieces as the meat was quite rich and fatty.



I quite enjoyed this experience, as it's always fun trying something new. I look forward to eating more Chinese cuisine from other regions!