普天同慶 "溏心風暴"

There are three facts to string together here:

• My cousin and his family are in town again from San Francisco for Christmas;
• Mom is old-school and is the kind of person obliged to return favours, say, if someone treats the family to a big meal; and
• A pot of dried abalone has been stewing in the electric slow cooker for 3 days.

It actually took me three days to realize that mom was making abalone for my cousin, who loves the stuff. The key question for me was, would I be able to get my hands on some of the lion's share? Thankfully, I was home in the afternoon and gladly took up the role as official taster of the abalone sauce as mom started reducing the jus in a saucepan.

Mom got it right this time. My verdict was that the sauce was totally delicious. It was sticky thick (from the chicken feet in the slow cooker) but not overbearing, and full of the intense flavour of good Chinese ham. We got to kept half of the "loot" and gave the rest to my cousin. Some delighful midnight snacking ensued, and the extra abalone sauce (in easily meltable jello form from the fridge) made rice at dinner taste a whole lot better suddenly. =)

Childhood Snack: Mom's 蟹粉 + Instant Noodles

Excuse the potentially snobby but true headline. What I really wanted to say to start off with, is that eating healthily is a difficult notion, and a somewhat depressing one also. In the summer, I yearn for yummy ice-cream; in winter time, fatty hotpots reign. One would think Autumn is a tame season but hairy crabs (大閘蟹) always creep in to ruin the health run for me.

I think my mom's homemade 蟹粉 (cooked crab meat) is special because of 3 things: mom always uses large, fresh 大閘蟹 so the 蟹粉 is always chunky and never fishy, she has good technique when extracting the meat so there are minimal shell fragments, plus she possesses the correct Shanghainese "taste" when cooking it. I almost despise the paltry, puny and overpriced varieties at restaurants as they simply cannot compare in my biased opinion. Actually, come to think of it there are many picky tongues within the family and friends circle who can attest to her 蟹粉 being indisputably #1.

We can eat 蟹粉 in lots of ways: solo from the fridge (midnight snack), on toast (hors d'oeuvres snack), stir fried with bean curd (dinner dish); but my favourite combo has to be with instant noodles, sans soup (Mom likes it avec soup). It has to partner only with 公仔麵 (replaced by 出前一丁 from Nissin now). Anything else like egg noodles, spaghetti etc. just misses the plot. You see, when mixing 蟹粉 with the piping hot 公仔麵, its ability to soak up the oil and flavour means you end up with a rich and satisfying concoction. I think this is a simple but decadent lunch, or a super after-school snack.

So with a bit of nostalgia, I had exactly this for lunch. Yummy.

P.S.: the westernized foodie in me tried to make 蟹粉 risotto myself many years ago. It was good, but you know what, it was not 公仔麵 good.

Late Surpise at 和幸 Yakiniku Restaurant

For Sunday family lunch my brother suggested a "Japanese place" in Causeway Bay, my dad announced around noon. Having overeaten on Friday and Saturday, especially at Japanese restaurants in Causeway Bay, I was initially a bit reluctant to go. But it was family day after all, so I plodded along eventually.

It turned out that my brother had chosen Wako (和幸), a yakiniku restaurant famous for a walking piece of Kobe beef outside Sogo department store. To me, the human prop was where the attraction ended. My brother had not been to the place before actually; I knew the choice was an nice, innocent gesture to try something different on his part. As such I tried hard to keep my mouth shut in an effort to contain my pre-conceived biases.

Admittedly however, there was really nothing I wanted to write about this place - that is, until our server decided to give us pro bono some homemade cheesecake and started grilling them. "Stop, I will just eat it like this," shrieked my mom - but I sensed something more interesting than the set lunches eaten, and insisted that she let our server continue the task.

The grilled Japanese-style cheesecake was yummy! Toasty on the outside, soft and melty on the inside; it was neither too sweet nor heavy. Kudos to Wako's chef as I had not tried this before at other yakiniku restaurants in HK or Japan. Redemption for an otherwise mediocre lunch menu, or reward for my lip biting? Anyway, the best part of lunch was actually chatting non-sense with my brother, since he is a busy bee at work and I usually only see him once a week.

Wako Yakiniku Restaurant: 3/F 496 Jaffe Road, Causeway Bay. T: 2117 4268

Two Pieces of Real Japan in Causeway Bay

My good friend DGT
organized dinner with me and another partner-in-crime last night. The evening turned out to be a charming experience evoking the "feel" I have of Japanese urban life, which I quite miss as I haven't travelled to Tokyo much since my work project finished a few months ago.

DGT booked a table at Ajitomi, a Japanese homestyle fusion restaurant I haven't been to in years. It was nice to see the place still going strong, especially during these trying times. I also came to appreciate the level of care and detail only a Japanese owner-chef could instill in the food, decor and ambiance.

We ordered a lot of food as usual. Notable mentions included a Kyoto green salad with black vinegar and a Jap style ox-tail curry rice. The black truffle mushroom spaghetti was nice but DGT reckoned the cream-based pastas tasted better. Our absolute favourite was a stewed pork meatball, with a sweet and highly flavourful dark sauce. It almost tasted like a good Shanghainese "lion's head". We loved the dish so much we ordered seconds and ended up having 10 golf-ball sized meatballs between the 3 of us.

But alas, we loved the sauce even more. We ordered extra rice to lap up the remains and repeatedly banned the waitress from taking away the plate. The owner chef was quite pleased and told us that her sauce had been essentially stewing for 4 years - no wonder!

To continue the theme of the night, DGT suggested drinks at the nearby "b.a.r. Executive Bar" operated by Ichiro Hiidome, who used to be the bar manager at the Tokyo Westin amongst other hotel credits. Coupled by the mentioning of the fact that the bar served whisky with a ball of ice, I knew instantly that this b.a.r. should not be missed.

The meticulous and quintessential Ichiro-san did not disappoint. Watching him construct cocktails was like a mini show. He stirred glasses swiftly with his end finger stuck out, and his arms would vibrate an at ultra high frequency when using the shaker. The rest of his body would follow his arms and his mouth even twitched somewhat to one side due to the intensity. This was rather mesmerizing if you were witnessing the act for the first time.

As for the results: his "green tea milk" cocktail had distinct hints of the key ingredients without being overwhelming. A "Starbucks #2" had layers and layers of milk and rich coffee, a torched top, and coffee ice cubes to ensure no taste dilution until the end. My Yamazaki 12-years was no slouch, although I preferred something stronger for sure. Anyway, the chilled glass and ice ball made up for the experience. Subsequent orders of fresh mango champagne and Japanese pear juice with red passion fruit liqueur were of decent quality - but we were probably longing more for concoctions named "XYZ" or, simply, "Special" that Ichiro-san made for other customers. Hmm...next time, I know I will be back soon.

Ajitomi and b.a.r. both made me feel like I stepped into actual pieces of local Japan in HK, a rarity in my experience. My thanks to DGT for bringing me along.

Ajitomi - 7/F Circle Plaza, 28 Tang Lung Street T: 2836 0671

b.a.r. Executive Bar - 27/F Bartlock Centre, 3 Yiu Wat Street T: 2893 2080

A Japanese Lunch Thrill

Japanese food is just one of those fixes I need every now and then. I probably can almost eat it everyday, but I won't - don't ask me why because I can only give you a contradictory answer that I cannot explain. I was in a Japanese lunch mode today so I went to Sakaegawa in Causeway Bay, operated by the the same crew behind the namesake restaurant at the bygone Ritz Carlton. I have always wanted to try out this place but never got around to it until now.

I think Sakaegawa is a nice lunch thrill (I think Qube is the best lunch thrill, but that's another story). Its neighborhoody, rustic, fish-markety, rowdy ambiance is decidedly different from the typical attempted serenity at most other Jap eateries in the area. It is also unlike izakayas like The Mon, which tries to be dark and trendy instead. Being not completely authentic (as IMHO none are in HK) and a tad Hong Kong-esque (e.g. greeting in Canto-Japanese) actually added charm to Sakaegawa's personality. I quite like this setup, if in the mood for some fun.

I ordered the Hokkaido donburi @ HKD 138, and a stewed baby awabi for HKD 25. The awabi came first. Small indeed it was, not too much bigger than that "HSBC abalone" for online transactions. Cut in half, the taste was rather good, not overally chewy, but too icy cold - clearly it was served just out of the fridge. Anyway, this has the basics for a nice snack I think, maybe at dinner time it would be served at a better temperature.

The donburi came with the usual salad-soup-pickles accompaniments. The soup stood out for me because it was so MSG-sy, almost like the instant noodle variety except lighter in colour and came with good portions of tofu and kelp. Strangely this was a change from the norm and I liked the fact that it reminded me of childhood instant noodle fixes.

The quality of the sashimi in the rice bowl was acceptably fresh and fine for the price. Variety was nice - Canadian(?) uni on cucumber (a nice touch), hotategai, ikura, sake...the best bit was the big botan ebi. This was quite scrumptious, and not normally found in a donburi of this price. My picture of the bowl doesn't quite do the trophy botan ebi justice, with it hidden behind the shiso leaf!

The finale green tea ice cream surprisingly passed my "test". Often Japanese restaurants in Causeway Bay skim on cost at lunchtime and serve green gunk that looks like mint ice cream and tastes like plastic. This time the portion was small, but the flavour was dandy for me.

In all, I look forward to coming back for a proper, noisy dinner with a bunch of friends. The pictures I saw in Openrice.com (stewed kinki fish, tai sashimi etc.) looked very promising and the waitress said she would make sure the head chef gives me something fresh and special next time! There is a good sake collection too. Yeah!

Sakaegawa, 7/F Continental Building (aka Geech Building (private joke)), Causeway Bay

Freshness Burger....Fresh is Not Enough

Like many Hong Kongers, I have been a rather frequent traveller to Japan - for pleasure mostly and until recently, also for business. While I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the country, I have always enjoyed pretty much everything it offers in the culinary department.

It was in Tokyo a few years ago that I gained exposure to Freshness Burger as an alternative to MOS Burger, whose WOW factor (important for me when visiting Tokyo) had been gradually subsiding. Freshness had soft pumpkin buns, meat sauce and mayo to go with the beef patty, thick tomato slices, and even cute mini burgers - everything was made fresh. Freshness Burger to me equals yummy snacks in a cute package.

Well Freshness Burger was not quite the same though when it crossed the seas to Hong Kong, maybe more than a year ago. I have not really had the urge to retry it since my first experience was bland, which I attributed partially to an operation that was not run-in.

I had no idea what besotted urge came over me , but I decided to give Freshness another shot today. At 5.30pm the place was surprisingly deserted for a location in the heart of Causeway Bay, for good reason I was to discover. I waited more than 10 minutes for a supposedly freshly prepared burger - so much for fast food... Meanwhile I observed 4 or 5 teenagers in the back kitchen pretending to be busy but at a slow pace, slotting small salads in plastic boxes rather unsuccessfully into larger plastic bags. My patience was running out.

The clock struck 5.44pm, it was finally my turn to claim the prize. Alas I was rewarded with a lukewarm piece of beef, a frigidly cold tomato chunk, mediocre pumpkin buns, and onions that tasted distinctly independent from the whole package. To be fair, the store manager was attentive, and I felt the sincerity in her "thank you" when she gave me my burger. Yet something larger was missing. Is it the financial tsunami dampening motivation, or is it that young Hong Kong workers who grew up in this era of "instant gratification" just don't give a damn about anyone but themselves?

Chinese people stereotypically are more flexible than the Japanese, but we should probably learn from their heart, discipline and execution. Cultural and historical differences aside, recession or no, I really respect the Japanese people for their dedication. Anyway, I would rather go to McD's next time for my trans fat fix - at least everything is piping hot and I get instant gratification too!

Freshness Burger
Windsor House, Causeway Bay - ain't worth the wait

Davis - a Hidden Gem

I have known V and D through a friend since a few years back, when they ran (and still run) a quaint, cozy eatery on Gough Street in Soho. Thai fushion food, my friend claimed. Honestly, anything with the word fusion in it I approached with skepticism; but with D's cuisine, I have since been won over, and am a declared fan.

Recently the duo opened a new bar called Davis in the up-and-coming Kennedy Town neighbourhood. At V's urging, I checked out the place one evening, only to discover that D was there too, which meant a full food menu was available at this little bar - I was not expecting that at all.

The small tables and stools precluded extensive ordering, but I was able to sample quite a few new dishes from D. To itemize, V and D served salmon marinated with Chinese "fa diu" and rose wines, sardine bruschetta, warm beef salad, mixed sausages with toast, and M&M's cheesecake.

Nevermind that the sardine bruschetta had absolutely no fishy taste, was complemented well by a tomato sauce that was fresh and absent from normally detestable excess acidity; or that the sausage platter comprised of hearty, flavourful, sweet and salty varieties from Spain; what really impressed me was D's heart in this cooking.

I liked the fact that he seasons strongly but his food is never overly salty or peppery. I liked that he cares about the quality of side salads and garnishes, which were good enough to pass off as a standalone dish but he doesn't charge you extra for it. I appreciated that he is a chef who can make the best out of his ingredients. And I accepted the fact that he can give you a black face sometimes when you have done absolutely nothing more than being a normal customer.

I really hope more people will be able to see through the facade of V and D's rustically decorated bar and discover the real gems of the place. It would be a shame if Davis remained hidden for long.

Davis @ Davis Street, Kennedy Town, Hong Kong