RyuGin, Hong Kong (2 Michelin star, 2016)

Tags

Hong kong, hong kong restaurant review, japanese, japanese restaurant review, Michelin, Michelin star, restaurant review, ryugin, two michelin star

This was my surprise birthday dinner! Since I had completely ruled out Japanese restaurants while researching for restaurants to try in Hong Kong (good Japanese food does not come cheap in Hong Kong), I was completely unprepared but pleasantly surprised when I was shown in to this restaurant. Despite the glamour of its two Michelin star status, the setting was simple, save for a great view, it being situated 101 floors up. It claims to offer traditional but unique kaiseki cuisine. Unique it was indeed! And yet it retained all the clean, seasonal and delicate aspects of traditional kaiseki that the Japanese pull off so well.

This is the first overseas branch of the Tokyo restaurant, which boasts a full spectrum of Michelin stars.

http://www.ryugin.com.hk/about_e.php

We weren’t given a choice on the food. Everyone had the tasting menu.

The tasting menu consisted of 10 dishes, which change according to season:-

1. Cold noodles topped with white shrimp, caviar, abalone and abalone liver sauce
2. Foie Gras flavoured with porto and wasanbon sugar served with fresh figs and sesame cream sauce
3. Charcoal grilled Alfonsino with matsutake mushroom in ichibandashi soup
4. Assortment of sashimi
5. Charcoal grilled Amadai brushed with Miso-yuan sauce
6. Cold Kegani crab egg custard with grated fresh apple vinegar
7. Wagyu beef shabu shabu, lotus root cake and onion ponzu sauce
8. Steamed rice topped with Ikura salmon roe
9. RyuGin Specialty -196 °C pear candy and 99 °C pear jam
10. Chestnut ice cream with roasted chestnut biscuits

We chose to have sake to go with our dinner and they presented us with a choice of sake cups which I thought rather lovely. Weakness for tableware.

Chilled sake this time.

First course: Cold noodles topped with white shrimp, caviar, abalone and abalone liver sauce

This to me was the star of the night! I’m not usually a fan of cold noodles but this blew me away. Something about the delicious salt brine of the caviar mixed with the sweet creaminess of the shrimp and dashi scented savouriness of the liver sauce coating those perfect cold noodles. The herbs, which I’m guessing is mitsuba, adds a heightened flavour to the dish and the abalone is cooked to a tender perfection. Now that I’ve tasted it, I’m wondering if I’ll ever be able to satisfy my newfound craving for it 😦

Mmmmm….Second course: Foie Gras flavoured with porto and wasanbon sugar served with fresh figs and sesame cream sauce.

I loved this as well, but it could be because I’m partial to foie gras. Popped the entire thing in my mouth. It tasted like peanut butter. Delicious but the foie gras to fig ratio could be better. The fig came dangerously close to overpowering the foie gras. Overall a nice mouthful (or two, the second is not pictured here).

Third Course: Charcoal grilled Alfonsino with matsutake mushroom in ichibandashi soup

Now this is what I’d expect from a top notch kaiseki restaurant. This is quintessentially kaiseki to me. The soup is clear, clean and yet flavourful. Ichiban dashi just refers to the basic stock that is used in most Japanese cuisine, made from katsuobashi (dried bonito flakes) and kombu (kelp). I had to look up the Alfonsino’s more familiar Japanese name, Kinme. It’s a type of sea bream, thus its taste is of a white-fleshed fish with enough fat to keep it tender but not as fatty as the cod. Well balanced fish cooked just right with a lovely charcoal aroma from the very slightly charred skin.

Fourth Course: Sashimi, standard offerings of hirame (I’m guessing here), akagai, hotate, ebi and saba sushi.

They’re all good and fresh, although special mention has to be made for the akagai and the saba sushi. I’ve not had the akagai cooked lightly like this before and I think it vastly improves its flavour and texture, making it easier to eat. The saba sushi is also done well, meticulously balancing the vinegar seasoning with the usually strong tasting fish. Absolutely nothing fishy about it, perfectly fatty and good use of seasoning.

Fifth Course: Charcoal grilled Amadai brushed with Miso-yuan sauce

All I can say is that the chef knows how to cook his fish well. Juicy and thinly glazed, it has none of the cloyingly sweet miso glaze I was dreading when I first saw the menu. I also liked that crisp that came along with it, it’s like a healthy ikan bilis cracker.

Sixth Course: Cold Kegani crab egg custard with grated fresh apple vinegar

This dish is your usual chawanmushi, except that its cold. The crab meat didn’t do much for me, and the orange stuff on top of the egg custard could be smoother. However I did like how it tasted of kaffir lime zest and juice, although it could have just been from the grated fresh apple vinegar. Interesting combination.

Seventh Course: Wagyu beef shabu shabu, lotus root cake and onion ponzu sauce.

I thought this was good! My dining partner said it could be more tender. If it were done yakiniku style, with the same sauce and garnish, I think it would be perfect. Needed a little boost to further melt the fat, but delicious otherwise. By this time I was too full to do justice to the lotus root cake, but I didn’t really fancy it much anyway after taking a small taste of it.

Eighth Course: Steamed rice topped with Ikura salmon roe

This is standard fare in kaiseki. The rice course comes out right at the end before dessert. While I’m not wowed by this course, I do love my ikura on warm fluffy rice rather than on cold, vinegared rice. Very satisfying and comforting along with the most delicious soup! The depth of flavour in this unassuming soup is unrivalled so far!

Ninth Course: the RyuGin Specialty -196 °C pear candy and 99 °C pear jam

It comes shaped as a beautiful, frozen pear which you tap and break into the insides before the waitress ladles the warm pear jam (which is more like poached pears) on top.

I love pear and I loved how the differing temperatures of the two components came together in a pleasing mixture to show off the pear ingredient. Very clever. My dining partner is harder to please though.

Tenth Course: Chestnut ice cream with roasted chestnut biscuits.

This tasted like chestnut ice cream, with chestnut shavings and roasted chestnuts cooked in some kind of alcohol. I loved this and would have finished the lot had I not been bursting at the seams. Dining partner didn’t seem to like it however. Not a fan of chestnut it seems (or the bill, since I didn’t pay for dinner hahahaha!!)

Conclusion, I really liked it! Fresh ingredients cooked well and on the mark, sometimes with a twist. The chef skirted with his cooking techniques, pushed boundaries and yet managed to execute the dishes with such finesse. The sake helped it all to come together I must say. And there’s nothing like an authentic Japanese meal to end a wonderful day.

I can’t speak for the value for money aspect of the dinner as I still do not know how much it cost. Ignorance is bliss.

Opening Hours / 12nn-3pm (Private Lunch Only) 6pm-9:30pm (Dinner Last Order)
Address / 101/F, ICC, 1 Austin Road West, Kowloon
Reservation Telephone no. / 2302 0222
Number of seats / 48 ( including 2 private rooms, 1 for 4 guests and 1 for 12 guests)
Parking / 4 hours Free Parking

Quick post: Roasted chicken thighs!

Tags

butter, carrots, cast iron pan, chicken gravy, compound butter, cream, gravy, gravy from scratch, mased potatoes, mash, pomme puree, potato rinser, roast, roast chicken, sieve, thyme, young carrots

Been a while since my last post! Coming up: myhumblefood recipes for pomme purée (basically an incredibly light and creamy French version of mashed potatoes), chicken gravy from scratch and the roast chicken. 

 

Rurouni kenshin seaweed art

Tags

anime bento, bento, character bentos, cheese, creative food, cute food, food art, himura kenshin, Home Cooking, Kyaraben, rurouni kenshin, samurai x, seaweed, seaweed art

Another seaweed art I did over the long weekend. I’ve been wanting to do a rurouni kenshin one for over a year now and finally have some free time to stay home and mess around with seaweed. Perfect time for rurouni kenshin as two of the movies are out this year!  

 First step? Again, draw the character of your choice, it should be either a line art or just black and white, not grey tones or anything cuz you can’t distinguish that in the seaweed.

2nd, I skipped this step because I plain forgot… trace out your character on a clean sheet of paper using ink, then block the black parts in. Since I forgot, I just used this as a topper and didn’t eat it (couldn’t bear to anyway!). OR you can combine the first and second step by just printing out the lineart/black and white image of your choice and just use that if you’re not particularly comfortable with drawing freehand.

 3. Next, prepare your tools! My brother and sister got me a new set of bento cutting tools (a great design cutter!) and pincers since my older set is in Singapore. Clip the drawing on top of the seaweed against the cutting board.

 4. Start cutting all the WHITE parts out! This is a particularly intricate piece and had many tiny details. I accidentally cut out some seaweed lines which could have been rectified by snipping small lines of seaweed, but of course by the end of it I just couldn’t be bothered anymore.

5. Cut the small white pieces first. If you cut out the large pieces, the seaweed will shift around and make it impossible to cut the tiny ones. Use pincers to remove the paper and seaweed as you go along.

 Phew! There’s the face done.

Once in a while, flip up the paper to have a look if your seaweed is being cut cleanly and properly.

And you’re done!

Transfer the seaweed careful and stick it on a slice or two of cheese. I might try a harder cheese next time so it is easier to handle, but this cheese is sticky and the seaweed sticks very well onto it.

 6. Cut the cheese and trim it around the seaweed.

 7. Add to your bento! Or in this case, tomato soup. One of the many ways to jazz up boring canned soup. 

Although some croutons wouldn’t hurt as well!

 It was so difficult to photograph as the light kept shining off it! I wish I had daylight to take a proper photo of it.

8 1/2 Otto E Mezzo Bombana, Central, Hong Kong

Tags

alexander house restaurants, alexandra house, black truffles, butter, cavatelli, caviar, central, central restaurants, chanterelle mushrooms, fresh bread, Hong kong, Ice Cream, italian, italian cuisine, lobster, lobster bisque, Otto, Otto e Mezzo, otto e mezzo bombana, parmesan, Pasta, pear tart, restaurant review, risotto, scampi, seared tuna, shellfish, tagliolini, truffle, truffle emulsion, truffle ice cream, truffles

 Just got back from Hong Kong and had the opportunity to have a meal at this restaurant. It is apparently the only Italian restaurant outside of Italy to have received 3 Michelin stars, having been awarded 3 stars by the 2012 Michelin Guide Hong Kong and Macau. I was so lucky to get a reservation at the last minute, thanks to a friend of my sister’s!

My goal for the night… EAT ALL THE TRUFFLES! I’ve been so tempted by all the photos of truffles coming out on instagram from this restaurant, as well as my sister who also ate there a week before I went to Hong Kong. So yes… we didn’t go for the degustation menu but what we ordered seemed like a more expensive degustation by itself! Such that the Caucasian women on the tables next to us looked over at us in disgust at the amount of food coming to our table for just 2 of us ;D We are Asian, and we are naturally greedy. Plus the dishes are mostly dainty and in small portions!

We ordered 2 starters, 3 pastas, 1 main and 2 desserts. Even the waiter was aghast. No matter! I looked forward to a great meal and wasn’t disappointed at all. 

 The amuse bouche came first, though I didn’t catch what it was. Could very well be a blend of fruit and cheese? I can’t really tell what it was. Quite refreshing though.

 Yes, the bread basket…. the bread is warm! I loved the foccacia! Its the one on the top right. It had a crispy top with some sun-dried tomato and olive baked onto the surface and warm fluffy insides. It’s been so long since I had good bread at a restaurant! I only ate the focaccia but my friend loved the brown bread beside it. Again it had that crunch to it as you bite into the bread, but yet you don’t have to gnaw it to death to take a bite out of it. The waiter had to top up our bread basket with fresh warm bread. How embarassing… and we kept on eating even the 2nd basket.

 Luckily, our first appetizer arrived in time to stop us. This is seared tuna topped with caviar with some dainty salad. They were so nice to split the portion into two plates for us, so this was my portion. I could have sworn that the tuna is of the akami type, the leaner part of the tuna. It certainly had that ruby red hue to it. But when I bit into it, it had all the full flavour of seared fatty tuna. It was beautiful, along with that gorgeous mountain of caviar in unison with a slightly tart and rich sauce.

 Next, the scampi topped with truffle shavings. The scampi carpaccio is fresh, in some sort of olive oil emulsion if I’m not mistaken. It is similar to the truffle tai carpaccio at Aoki but I prefer the texture of tai compared to the scampi. Plus the flavours didn’t blend as well as the truffle tai carpaccio. So while this was nice, it wasn’t one of the must haves for the night. I hear that there is an octopus version of this that is really nice too.

Next up, the pasta dishes.

Shellfish cavatelli in a delicious seafood bisque with chanterelle mushrooms. Sometimes this is topped with sea urchin, but I think that could be seasonal. This was amazing! And also half a portion as my friend and I shared the cavatelli as well. The seafood bisque was full flavoured and bursting with ocean goodness. It wasn’t heavy at all and left us unabashedly scraping at the bottom of the bowl to get at every last drop. The pasta, while I wouldn’t normally order pasta in this style, is great with the bisque and the perfectly cooked shellfish. Nice bite and texture to it but I’d say the shellfish and bisque were the stars of the dish to me.

More pasta dishes up next, we couldn’t decide between the risotto (which was highly recommended by my sister) and the more traditional tagliolini (which was highly recommended by the waitress), so she suggested we take both in a small size. We happily took her suggestion to heart….

When both dishes came, a waiter meticulously shaved… and shaved… and shaved more… and more black truffle all over the pasta until you can no longer see any pasta! How generous! (Obviously this was going to be expensive but when you’re eating, all good reason flies out the window)

 Truffle… with pasta.

This is the risotto, I’m not sure why its green again but it was well cooked with a nice bite to it. You can’t really tell in the picture but both pastas had a ring of dark sauce around it. I’m assuming this is the truffle emulsion and it tasted like a dense, truffled wild mushroom soup. Together with the risotto it added more depth to an already rich and aromatic dish. It is a really small serving, however, you can probably finish it in a couple of spoonfuls, just enough to savour and appreciate the mix of earthy and nutty flavours in this gorgeous dish.

 This is the homemade tagliolini in a creamy, smooth butter and parmesan sauce with truffle emulsion in a ring around the golden mound of al dante pasta. Classic pairing for truffles. It has that super cheesy and creamy taste that I love, but with the truffle emulsion, it helps to bring a different layer and richness to cut into the cheesiness. Very decadent! Along with the truffles, it was to die for. Too bad I only had a bite ;(

 Our lobster main, cooked perfectly, still had that balance between raw and cooked in the center which I really liked. Texture-wise the lobster had a smooth cut to it so that it is still retained that creamy texture. Again…that sauce/broth that came with it? Amazing. I’m not sure if its the same broth as before with the pasta, but it had that same full flavoured brine to it.

 Finally we were ready for dessert. This is the tiramisu ice cream which was actually not bad! I always scoffed at the idea of truffle ice cream. Lovely gold flakes in its presentation and nestled in fresh whipped cream and surrounded by fresh black truffle shavings. I still prefer my hazelnut ice creams though ;p

 This pear tart came highly recommended by my sister. Its got an almost wafer thin flaky crust topped with very delicately sliced pears. I must try to make this one day!!! Very warm, slightly spiced and crispy dessert which ended the meal perfectly.

 The waiter congratulated us upon finishing our meal. *Shy*

 Obviously it cost a bomb, but in comparison to some other top restaurants, this isn’t too bad after all. I think the a la carte would be better than the degustation. Also, if you go during the white truffle season, or black winter truffle season, the experience will be so much better as nothing beats the aroma of the Italian truffles! Our favourites for the night were the seared tuna, all the pastas, the lobster and the pear tart. ❤

8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana
Shop 202, 2/F, Alexandra House, 5-17 Des Voeux Road Central, Central, Hong Kong
中環德輔道中5-17號歷山大廈2樓202號舖
Reservation: Tel: +852 2537 8859 Fax: +852 2537 8895, info@ottoemezzobombana.com
Opening Hours: 12:00p – 10:00pm (Mon-Sat, Closed on Sun)

Just for fun, I’ve included a couple of recipes from Otto’s website. I’m sure I’ll never be able to make it as well as they do despite them openly sharing the recipes like this!

Homemade Cavatelli shellfish ragout and sea urchin

For 1 pax

70gr cavatelli

5gr sea Urchin
15gr scampi (no shell)
15gr octopus
20gr snapper
15gr lobster (no shell)
30gr diced cherry tomato
5gr chopped garlic
50gr lobster stock
50gr seafood soup
3gr basil
salt
white pepper
dry chilli

 

Preparation:

– Seafood: cut the scampi, octopus, snapper and Lobster into small dices, marinate with extra virgin olive oil, salt and white pepper
– pan-fry the garlic and dry chilli until golden color, put on side
– cook the diced cherry tomatoes in medium heat, add lobster stock and seafood soup
– separately, pan-fry the seafood and mix with garlic chilli, basil
– add seafood-tomato sauce
– cook the cavatelli in saltwater for 3 minutes
– mix with the sauce and cook for another 3 min
– transfer onto a plate, garnish with sea urchin on top

Tajima Short Rib and Beef Tenderloin, Red Wine and Plum Sauce, Whipped Potato

Red wine and plum sauce, whipped potato

160 gr short rib (big squared)
180 gr beef tenderloin (wagyu)
100 gr carrots
100 gr celery
80 gr onion
80 gr leek
100 gr Italian tomato
5 gr garlic
1 pcs bay leaf
20 gr parma ham
40 gr porto wine
40 gr red wine
160 gr veal stock
30 gr dry plum
8 gr rosemary
60 gr extra virgin olive oil

Preparation of base sauce:
•    Saut all the vegetables in a big bowl until they are soft
•    Put the ham, plum, porto and red wine in the bowl. Cook everything in the bowl until the alcohool is evaporated. After put the veal stock

Preparation:
•    Pan fried the short rib until a golden colour and put in the bowl with the base sauce
•    Put the bowl in oven at 200 degree for 2 hours.
•    Then take out the short rib cut big squared and the base sauce strim it
•    When the serve take out the short rib and heat again in sauce, and pan fried the beef tenderloin in pan.

Coffee Trio of Tiramisu, Warm Coffee Tart and Crunchy Coffee Ice Cream

 

For 4 pax

For the Tiramisù

•    48 gr yolk
•    40 gr sugar
•    120 gr whipped Cream
•    200 gr mascarpone

Mix up egg yolk with Sugar (Sabayon), melt the gelatin and combine all the ingredients together

For the Coffee Gelly

•    160 gr espresso
•    60 gr sugar

Heat the espresso with sugar

For the sponge

•    64 gr ground almond
•    20 gr cake flour
•    80 gr icing sugar
•    40 gr sugar
•    132 gr egg white

Sift all the dried ingredients. Make meringue with sugar and egg white. Fold in the dried ingredients with meringue and spread on the tray. Bake 180 degree for 12 minute.

For the Coffee tart

•    4 pcs egg yolk
•    80 gr sugar
•    128 gr milk
•    20 gr coffee powder
•    56 gr coffee bean
•    320 gr cream

Roast the coffe bean for 10 minutes at 200。and add into the boiling milk. Infuse 30 minutes. Mix sugar and egg yolk and add the cold cream. Mix the coffee powder with warm milk, combine all the mixture and sift. Bake at 110 degree for 35-40 min.

For the Coffee Ice Cream

•    800 gr milk
•    240 gr cream
•    120 gr coffee Bean
•    70 gr milk powder
•    50 gr yolk
•    180 gr sugar
•    20 gr coffee powder
•    30 gr water

Roast the coffee bean and add into boiling milk and cream. Cook like a custard

 

Bento assortment: Pandas and strange creatures galore!

Tags

bento, character bento, eggs, furikake, Home Cooking, japanese, Kyaraben, lunch, lunchbox, onigiri, panda onigiri, rice, sausages, seaweed

Never knew that bento-making could be made into a fun bonding session with friends 😉 At my age, bonding/get-togethers normally mean just meals or drinks so I was a little apprehensive at first. As it turned out, it was pretty entertaining!

We used several items, as I’ll list out below, to assemble our bentos. They may not be perfect but I think its the experience that counts ;D

This is just a short picture post as there aren’t any instructions… just do whatever you like and go crazy with your food!

Tools used:

• Cute and colourful picks
• Panda rice mold
• Seaweed cutters (panda shaped and various smileys)
• Small knife
• Small scissors
• Tweezers

Food used:

• Plain white cooked short grain rice
• cooked white short grain rice mixed with salmon furikake topping
• An assortment of fruits
• Shiso leaves
• Cheese slices
• Cocktail sausages
• Furikake
• Boiled eggs
• Wasabi peas
• Seaweed

So here’s my bento, the pandas, the failed hatched chick and cheese swirls:

Below are the bentos my two friends came up with.

I’m now all revved up to make cuter bentos soon! Its a nice change to seaweed art, but of course I won’t abandon that either. I’ve yet to make Rurouni kenshin bentos!

Pesto and Pine Nut pasta

Tags

basil, olive oil, Pasta, pesto, pine nuts, prawns, spaghetti

This is not so much as a recipe, but just something I made the other day.  Pesto pasta.

You could make your own pesto sauce, you just need to blend basil leaves, olive oil, parmesan cheese and pine nuts with some salt and pepper and you’ll have a delicious pesto sauce but I’m lazy, so I bought a jar of pesto. 🙂

Cooked the pasta until it is al dente and tossed it in the pesto sauce. In a separate pan I lightly toasted the pine nuts and set aside. Then I cleaned some prawns and made a slice down the “spine” to clean it and made another slice down the other side. With this, when the prawn cooks it will take the form of a “butterfly”.

Heat up some oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Dab off any excess moisture from the prawns before placing them into the frying pan, otherwise you’re going to get lots of violent oil splatters all over you. Cook for a minute on each side, more or less depending on the size of the prawn, then remove from the pan.

Sprinkle the pasta with lots of parmesan cheese and pesto, and top with the prawns.

Yummy!