Sushi Sase

My husband wanted to go to Japan for a last-minute weekend trip but I talked him out of it. I didn't want to spend half the weekend in transit, even if it did mean eating amazing food for the rest of the weekend - crazy as it sounds, all I wanted to do was sleep in, do laundry and get some R&R right in our own home. To make it up to him, I decided to surprise him - if we couldn't go to Tokyo, perhaps I could bring Tokyo to us.

I often hear expats - especially those who previously lived in Tokyo, of which there are many in Hong Kong after the 2011 earthquake - complain that there is no good sushi in Hong Kong. I used to be among them. Sushi Kuu serves decent sushi but is bogged down by too many distractions on its menu - a sushi restaurant should really only serve sushi. I'd heard from friends that Sushi Yoshitake and Sushi Rozan are both excellent - that is, if you don't mind spending your kids' tuition money on a single meal. I needed to find something in between - sushi good enough to be considered very good sushi on par with Tokyo, but at human prices.

Surprisingly, I found just the spot, and it happened to be under our noses all this time. Sushi Sase, located on Hollywood Road in central Hong Kong, is a quiet sushi oasis - as soon as you step past the curtain and the automatic sliding door, you are transported to an authentic sushi-ya in Japan.

Chawanmushi (savory egg custard)

 First course of the Hokkaido set (available at lunch) - uni and ikura donburi

 Kai (red snapper)

 Uni

 I forget what this was - looks like hamachi

 Hairy crab with roe

 Delicious hand-cut udon

 Tamago and unagi

It was a win-win for all - hubby's desire for Japan was temporarily but very satisfactorily quenched, and instead of getting on a redeye flight, we only had to walk down the street!

Food rating: ****
Bang for buck rating: 4

The essentials:
No website
Location: 49 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong
Omakase - HK$1400 (~US$200); Hokkaido set (lunch only) - HK$400 (~US$50); Mini-kaiseki (lunch only) - HK$650 (~US$85)

Cilantro corn rice (and thoughts on food critiques)

I've become that person. A person I hoped growing up I'd never become: an ajumma. Ajumma in Korean means "married woman" or "middle-aged woman" - and like many Korean words, is perfectly fine when used in certain contexts and carries a negative connotation when used in others.

When I think of the word ajumma, I think of opinionated middle-aged Korean women who tell you what's up, even if you never asked. And that's exactly what I've become.

On a recent visit to one of HK's hottest newly opened restaurants, when one of the owners came to ask how the food was, my dining companions all answered as they were expected to, with assurances of "everything's delicious." I answered with a half-hearted "umm...it's good." pause. "I mean, some things could use some work, but generally the food was ok." I'm sure my friends wanted to hide under the table. But honestly, I thought I was being kind because: (1) the food was actually terrible, and I at least softened my response by saying it was ok, and (2) if a new restaurant wants to stay open in the long run and their food sucks, they need to fix it - but if people keep telling them that their mediocre food is good, they'll never know they have anything to fix.

The owner actually seemed interested in my response and asked what I would suggest. I told him their albondigas were too dry and needed to be made with fattier meat and that the potatoes in the tortilla espanola were undercooked, as were the onions, which should reach a caramelized state before the eggs are added. I could have gone on, but I thought I'd stop with the two most glaring shortcomings. The owner took my comments graciously and even sent a round of drinks our way. I hope the restaurant improves their food and succeeds, because I am a huge supporter of anyone trying to start a new food business, especially because I know how hard it is. And really, I'm trying to keep my ajumma comments to myself because I don't want to be that annoying opinionated customer!

When I opened love at first bite in Berkeley, I listened to people's suggestions, whether they were good or bad, reasonable or farfetched. Because as a business owner, that's what you have to do - you have to be open to both customers' praise and complaints. Sometimes, even when you want to tell people to go away, you have to smile and listen. And then you have to make a judgment call - whether their suggestion is worth taking into account or not. Sometimes, it's not.

One day, in the early days of the bakery, a person walked in and asked if we had any items that did not contain any of the following: gluten (which is in wheat), eggs, dairy or sugar. Um, an item that doesn't contain any flour, sugar, eggs or butter? In my head I screamed: "We sell cupcakes! What the hell do you think cupcakes are made of?!" But to the lady, I answered with the nicest smile I could muster: "I'm really sorry, we currently only have cupcakes and cookies that include those items, but you know what, we really should look into developing recipes that don't have any of them." She nodded in agreement and left the store. And I mentally checked her suggestion into the box called: NEVER.

Which is not to say that someone out there shouldn't open a bakery that is wheat-free, sugar-free, dairy-free and egg-free. Especially in Berkeley or the SF Bay Area, where there is certainly a market for it. But it just wasn't going to be me. In fact, one of the main reasons I decided to open love at first bite was because I felt that the area didn't have an old-fashioned American bakery - fancy French patisseries, artisan sourdough bread bakeries, vegan collective bakeries, yes. But not a good old-fashioned American bakery specializing in exactly what the woman didn't want: butter, sugar, flour, eggs.

However, in order to be successful, you have to take your customer base into account. And having lived in Berkeley for awhile, I knew that meant that I'd have to come up with at least a vegan cookie. But I refused to compromise on taste, or specifically, the down-home comforting taste of a lovingly made cupcake (which normally requires copious amounts of butter and sugar). In the end, I fiddled around until I came up with a recipe for vegan chocolate cake that was still sinfully rich and chocolatey, as well as a flourless almond orange torte that was moist and decadent. But I never could come up with a decent baked item that managed to be gluten-free, sugar-free, egg-free and dairy-free, which is why we never offered them (and to my knowledge, still are not offered at love at first bite). It's just not possible: it will not taste the way a cupcake should, in which case, you're better off not eating it.

Happily, the majority of my wonderful customers were perfectly content with what we were offering, and the niche we were trying to fill in otherwise vegan, hippie Berkeley (as a side note, I have absolutely nothing but respect for vegans and maintain a vegan diet myself, except that it includes meat, poultry, fish, eggs and lots of dairy).

These days, I cook mostly for my husband and myself, and the occasional dinner guest. And as fate would have it, I married a person who has an extremely sensitive palate. I've never been as nervous that someone would like my cooking or baking as I am with my husband. Mostly, because he's always right (don't ever tell him I said that).

There's rarely a meal that I prepare where when I ask him how the food is, he doesn't reply with "You know what would make it better? If you added a little [sugar/salt/garlic/soy/cheese/etc.]" And I have to admit - almost every single time, when I really parse the flavors in my mouth, I realize he's right. So when I put something in front of him and he says "this is good" without any other comment, I feel like I've won the James Beard award. And I can count on my fingers exactly how many times that's happened.

One of the first times he asked for seconds without any suggestion of how to make the dish better was when I made cilantro corn rice as a side dish to blackened Cajun catfish. The catfish itself had a little too much spice (the recipe I found called for WAY too much cayenne, and I really should have known better than adding the whole amount!), but the cilantro corn rice was delicious, and is a regular on our dinner table, especially with Southern or Mexican food. And best of all, it's extremely easy to make. I tossed this together because I happened to have cold leftover rice in our fridge, as well as a fresh bunch of cilantro (or coriander, as it's called in these parts) and a cob of sweet corn. It was a happy accident of flavors that compliment each other perfectly.

Ingredients
Leftover white rice - preferably long grain and at least a day old and refrigerated
Cilantro - chopped fine (I usually use just the leaves, but it's fine to throw in some stems too)
Lime or lemon
One ear of sweet organic corn (if you don't have this, you can use canned corn, but the results will be noticeably poorer)
Sea salt
Extra virgin olive oil
Butter (optional)

Preparation

1. Heat a glug of olive oil in a pan over medium high heat (about 1 tablespoon for each cup of cold rice). If you want a richer flavor, add a pat of butter.
2. When the oil begins to form small bubbles, thrown in the cold rice. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, break down any clumps of rice.
3. Squeeze lemon or lime over the rice (about 1/4 of a lime or lemon for each cup of rice).
4. Sprinkle a generous pinch of sea salt over the rice and mix. Add the chopped cilantro.
5. Using a sharp knife, cut the kernels of corn off of the ear and add to the rice. Mix and continue to cook a minute. Ideally, you want the heat high enough that some of the kernels will start to brown but not burn. Turn off heat and serve immediately.

This dish goes well with fish and Mexican food, especially with burritos or tacos.

Black truffle croutons

I used to throw away the remains of day-old baguettes, until I discovered that they are a perfect vehicle for bread pudding (although my favorite bread pudding is made with fresh toasted challah). But bread pudding, while wonderful in its dense, homey deliciousness, isn't something you can make every time you have leftover bread, unless you happen to have a couple marathon runners in the house (which I don't). Plus, while I love baking sweet goods, I actually prefer to eat savory foods.

I craved a lot of salads the past few weeks - the warm fall weather in Hong Kong reminds me so much of summer in Northern California, which made me want to eat as if I were in Northern California. That meant replacing boiled vegetables in broth (in HK, they even boil lettuce - and it's surprisingly delicious with a little bit of oyster sauce) with fresh leafy salads. I think that because salads require assembling more than cooking, I often forget to plan the ingredients I need carefully. So I usually end up chopping up whatever vegetables and cheeses I happen to have in the fridge with a bag of mixed lettuce, boiling a couple eggs, and tossing everything together with a homemade vinaigrette (on a tangential note: homemade salad dressing is the easiest thing to make in the world - I'll include a recipe later in this post. I never buy bottled dressing anymore!).

But a couple weeks ago as I was putting together a salad for dinner, I had a craving for panzanella - that wonderful, hearty tomato and bread salad that the Florentines ingeniously came up with as a way to use up stale bread. But I also wanted something a bit...meaty, without actually having meat in it. Truffles, that would do the trick.

I happened to have 1/2 a French baguette left over from the previous night's dinner. I had a bottle of black truffle oil and a jar of Maldon sea salt. And so I proceeded to make black truffle croutons for the salad. I tossed some mixed greens (romain, radicchio, frisee), sweet heirloom cherry tomatoes, shavings of pecorino cheese, fresh kernels cut from an ear of corn, avocado and a generous serving of black truffle croutons with dressing. What I ended up making was not so much a panzanella as a mixed summer salad starring truffled croutons. I decided then and there that my favorite salads from that day forward would not star vegetables, but bread. Stale bread.

It was so delicious that I've made it 3 more times in the past couple weeks, until my craving for truffle oil was fully satisfied.

Ingredients
Day old baguette or other hard-crusted bread (in HK, I especially like the baguettes from Little Mermaid Bakery inside IFC CitySuper, Il Bel Paese, or Po's Atelier for this recipe)

Black truffle oil - I like the brand Elle Esse, available at CitySuper (pictured)
Good quality extra virgin olive oil
Maldon sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C.

2. Cut the bread into cubes, about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch and place in a mixing bowl.

3. Pour a generous glug of black truffle oil and a generous glug of extra virgin olive oil over the bread.

4. Sprinkle a generous amount of sea salt over the bread and oil. Toss thoroughly, until all of the cubes are coated lightly with oil.

5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Spread the bread cubes on the lined baking sheet evenly. Make sure there is only one layer of cubes.

6. Bake for about 10 minutes, until crispy outside but still with a little bit of chewy pull on the inside.

The finished croutons. Looks so humble, but packs a powerful and delicious truffle punch to any salad.

Recipe for simple vinaigrette
Good quality fruity extra virgin olive oil
Good quality French mustard (Grey Poupon will do in a pinch, but try to get the best quality you can find)
Honey (any will do, but I am really partial to lavender honey for this recipe)
Sherry, apple cider or white wine vinegar
Sea salt
White or black pepper
Fresh herbs, whatever you have (thyme, rosemary or parsley work best)

Preparation
1. Add a tablespoon of mustard, a teaspoon of vinegar and a good glug of olive oil to a big mixing bowl and whisk together until well-mixed.
2. Drizzle in some honey and whisk together.
3. Add a pinch of salt, a turn or two of freshly ground pepper and about 1/2 tablespoon of fresh chopped herbs and whisk.
4. Whisk in more olive oil until the dressing is the consistency you want. If the olive oil is too fruity, you can use a blend of 3/4 olive oil and 1/4 vegetable oil.
5. Taste the dressing and add more vinegar, honey or salt to your taste. If you're making bread salad with black truffle croutons, don't make the dressing too sweet or the sweetness will overpower the scent of the truffles.

Oolaa

October and November are my favorite months in Hong Kong. In October, the humidity dissipates and the weather starts to cool down. If you're lucky, some evenings, the air can even smell fresh. In Central no less! But November is when Hong Kong truly becomes lovely. It's the month during which you should plan to have every meal al fresco and enjoy long, leisurely hikes. The weather is sunny but cool and breezy, before the chill of winter creeps in.

Hong Kong doesn't offer a ton of al fresco dining options, probably because for 9-10 months out of the year, it's either too hot, too humid, too cold or too rainy to enjoy. One of my favorite spots for a semi-al fresco brunch in Hong Kong is Oolaa, which sits on the edge of Sheung Wan and Soho. The seating is technically indoors, but the floor-to-ceiling glass doors open up completely so that you get the al fresco feel.

Oolaa is the type of neighborhood joint everyone should have in their neighborhood. It's a terrific spot to drop in for a cappuccino or glass of wine at the bar, or to spend the afternoon reading the newspaper, or to have a casual business lunch, or to meet friends for an after-work drink. But most of all, it's best for a leisurely weekend brunch. Unfortunately, I'm not the only who thinks so, as evidenced by the crowds that descend each Saturday and Sunday morning, well into the late afternoon. If there's a wait (and there always is on the weekends), I like to pull up a stool at the bar and have a drink while we wait for a table. There are three distinct seating areas: a formal dining room, a casual communal dining room and a lounge-y area in between. I like the casual dining room the best - it reminds me a lot of Fillmore Street in San Francisco.

Mimosas are made with fresh-squeezed orange juice.

Breakfast bruschetta - grilled bread topped with grilled tomatoes, avocado and red onion, poached eggs and hollandaise. Served with a side of cured bacon. Love this dish!

Brekkie burrito - full of meat, but would be better with sides of sour cream, guacamole and salsa!

Food rating: *** and a half
Bang for buck rating: 4.5 for brunch and weekday express lunch; 3.5 for dinner

The essentials:
http://www.casteloconcepts.com/locations/hong-kong/oolaa-hong-kong
Location: G/F Centrestage, Bridges Street, Soho, Hong Kong
Average price of brunch for two: $350

Blue Butcher

I walk by Blue Butcher several times a week but only finally got around to trying it tonight. I'm not exactly sure how we even ended up there - when we left the house this evening for dinner, the plan was to head to Life Cafe, an organic vegetarian restaurant in Soho. Instead, we somehow ended up at Blue Butcher, one of the most carnivorous restaurants in the city. I'm glad we did though, because the food was fantastic.

Belgian endive salad with candied bacon(!), oranges, blue cheese and truffle dressing. This dish was a fine starter, but not an absolute must-try. I did like the candied bacon.

 Lamb chops served with eggplant, mint sauce, au jus gravy and feta. The lamb is slow cooked sous vide, then finished over an open flame, and it is absolutely delicious. My husband, who hates lamb, loved this dish. The meat is melt-in-your-mouth tender, seasoned perfectly and complemented by the smoky eggplant.

 Beef tenderloin topped with ravioli. I don't recall how this dish was described on the menu, but it was basically a thick cut of tenderloin topped with a meat-filled ravioli and a sauce very similar to hollandaise. It was fine, but not the best steak you're going to eat in your life. The sauce was overly heavy, perhaps not the best complement to the meat. To be honest, while the meat itself was fine, we just didn't really understand the ravioli and sauce that accompanied it. The dish would have been better with a side of potatoes or spinach. The lamb chops were much, much better.

Granny smith apple crumble with port ice cream. If you could put an American summer in a dish and bake it, this is what you'd end up with. One bite and I thought of sunshine, apple orchards, a grandmother's love, a warm cozy kitchen. What's lovely about this dessert is that it stays true to the homey simplicity that is an apple crumble. Nothing gimmicky or overly creative - just well-cooked, sweet apples topped with a not-overly-sweet, cinnamony brown sugar crumble and complemented perfectly by the creamy port ice cream.

Food rating: ****
Bang for buck rating: 4

The essentials:
http://www.facebook.com/BlueButcher
Location: 108 Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan Hong Kong
Average price of dinner for two: $1400

Spaghetti with bottarga

I recently watched an episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations where he travels to Sardinia and eats a plate of spaghetti with bottarga. The way he waxed poetic about it immediately made me a bit obsessed with trying the dish. Luckily, just a week later I was assigned to review Nicholini's by Asia Tatler, where spaghetti with bottarga was on the menu. Nicholini's version included a dollop of sea urchin on the top, which I though made the dish metallic and bitter (even though I usually love sea urchin), so I didn't mix it in with the pasta. The dish itself was very simple: homemade spaghetti tossed in olive oil and bottarga. It's basically just aglio e olio, the most simple of pasta sauces, but with bottarga added in.

And bottarga makes ALL the difference. Bottarga is the dried roe sac of the mullet fish. It's reminiscent of Japanese mentaiko (cod roe), but a lot more unctuous and silky-tasting and a lot less salty. It looks like the photo on the right. The spaghetti with bottarga at Nicholini's was absolutely delicious - slick with olive oil and garlic, salty and savory from the bottarga. I was sold. But at something like US$50 for a plate, it's not something I can eat everyday, so I was obsessed with finding bottarga and making the dish at home. I went to every gourmet store in Hong Kong - the only store that carried bottarga was Il Bel Paese, an Italian grocer, but they didn't have the full dried sacs of roe - only a jar of shaved roe (and it was TUNA, not mullet).

But the heavens heard my plea for bottarga. Quite randomly, my husband and I decided to fly to Kaohsiung for the weekend, just to get out of HK for a day. And what do you know - dried mullet roe is a specialty of the region. So, I bought a sac of mullet roe and last night, I finally cooked spaghetti with bottarga at home. All you need are the 6 ingredients on the right: spaghetti, Italian red pepper flakes, good olive oil, parsley, garlic, and bottarga.

Ingredients/Sources in HK
Spaghetti - any grocery store
Red pepper - I found this bottle of dried Italian peperoncini at Apita in Quarry Bay
Italian parsley  - also available at Apita, but also at most other grocery stores
Olive oil  - we got the one pictured during our visit to France, but you can get good olive oil at any of the international grocery stores - CitySuper, Oliver's, 360
Garlic  - also available at any grocery store or wet market
Bottarga - sorry...not available in HK, except for out of a jar at Il Bel Paese. But you can buy bottarga at the airport in Kaohsiung, and you can also find it in Tokyo

Preparation
Slice 2 cloves of garlic as thin as you can. Chop a handful of parsley (not as much as pictured above - about half that amount) finely. Slice the bottarga into thin slices. I used about half the bottarga shown above.

Heat a pot of water with a tablespoon of salt. When the water boils, add dry spaghetti. Cook to al dente.

Meanwhile, heat a pan over medium-high heat and add a very big glug of olive oil (6-8 tablespoons). Add the garlic and about 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes and stir so it doesn't burn. Lower the heat to medium-low. Add in the bottarga slices and stir around with a spatula or wooden spoon. Some of the bottarga should start crumbling, and this is what you want. Add about 3/4 of the parsley, stir to mix, then turn off the heat.

When the spaghetti is cooked to your liking (I like very slightly al dente), take off the heat and drain, saving about two tablespoons of the water. Turn on the heat under the olive oil-bottarga mixture. Add the pasta to the pot of oil and bottarga. If the pasta is too dry, add some of the reserved water from the cooked pasta to loosen. Toss to mix, add the rest of the parsley. Serve immediately. I like to drizzle more olive oil on top. I think it would also be good with toasted breadcrumbs on top, though I haven't tried it yet.

Stewed prunes. Really.

I realize that this picture isn't going to convince anyone that the much-maligned prune can be delicious, but if you could taste it, I think you'd love it. I'm reading a food memoir (I love that there's a genre of books called food memoirs!) called A Homemade Life, which I came across when I was reading the blog of the author of My Berlin Kitchen, another food memoir.

The recipes in A Homemade Life are simple Americana - the kind of stuff that some foodies might scoff at (such as potato salad, which the author swears is the best, made with Hidden Valley ranch salad dressing). But that's exactly the point of the book, or at least one of the points, I think. These recipes are actually the recipes the author grew up with in her family, and I have to admit, I kind of want to try some. One of the recipes that fascinated me was one for stewed prunes. I mean, it just sounds gross.

And yet. The way the author described how juicy and plump the prunes are, and how they're so good that she thinks they're better than fresh plums...well, I was intrigued. So today, I cooked a pot of stewed prunes. And what do you know - they are really delicious. They really are nothing like the dried prunes in the bag - they are plump and juicy and sweet and homey. I kind of enjoyed eating a couple straight out of the pot after they had cooled a bit, but you could serve it with oatmeal or yogurt or vanilla ice cream too. I didn't follow the author's recipe exactly, which includes a cinnamon stick, because I wasn't sure if I'd like the spice mixed in. I love the way it tastes without cinnamon, but I might try cooking it with a stick next time too, just to see how it tastes.

Ingredients/Source in HK
A bag of pitted prunes (I used Del Monte) - I'm pretty sure you can find these anywhere in HK, I found them at an International grocery store
One orange, the sweetest you can find - oranges are in season right now and they are SO sweet! I got mine at the big Wellcome on Caine Road
Water

Preparation
Wash the orange (I use fruit & vegetable spray). Slice the orange into very thin slices. Put the orange slices and prunes in a pot, fill with water until just covered. Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about 30-40 minutes until the water has become sweet and almost syrupy. The oranges should be almost falling apart. Let it cool before you serve, or bring it to room temperature then refrigerate.

Gazpacho, a taste of summer in Spain

I fell in love with Spain from the moment I arrived in Barcelona the first time, back in 2006. Since then, I've tried to visit at least once a year - my trips always include a new part of Spain I haven't been to previously, but also always include at least a couple days in Barcelona, my happiest place on earth. This past summer, my annual pilgrimage to Spain included a drive down to, then back up to Barcelona from, the Costa Blanca, with stops in Alicante, Denia and Valencia, and ended with the requisite couple days in Barcelona.

Gazpacho is the ultimate summer food in Spain - refreshing, light yet deeply satisfying. There are many variations to gazpacho, but my favorite is a nice and simple traditional version made with day-old bread that cuts the acidity of the tomato and vinegar and makes the cool soup creamy and smooth.

My recipe is adapted from Jamie Oliver's jamie does...spain, italy, sweden, morocco, greece, france. After fiddling with the recipe, I found that adding a handful of marcona almonds to the blend makes the soup even creamier, and really gives the dish a nice richness.

Ingredients:

2 2-inch slices of day-old bread (I like to use rustic country bread - cut the crust off and just use the white part)

5 or 6 medium ripe tomatoes, the sweetest ones you can find

1/3 of an English cucumber or 1 kirby cucumber

1 bell pepper of any color, deseeded and chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed roughly with the side of your knife

A glug of good-quality Spanish EVOO

Apple cider vinegar

Maldon sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

A small handful of marcona almonds

Garnishes: mini mozzarella balls, cherry tomatoes, olives, chopped boiled egg, hardboiled quail egg, herbs, croutons, Iberico or Serrano ham

Sources for ingredients in HK:

• Bread - I love Po's Atelier, tucked away in a secluded, cozy corner of Sheung Wan. The fromage stick accompanying the gazpacho in the photo above is from Po's Atelier. 62 Po Hing Fong, Sheung Wan http://www.facebook.com/posatelier
• Tomatoes  - I usually buy tomatoes still on the vine from CitySuper at IFC or Oliver's in the Prince's Building
• Cucumber - buy organic, the firmest and freshest cucumber you can find. You can usually find decent ones at CitySuper
• Bell pepper - most of the international grocery stores around town stock organic green, red and yellow bell peppers
• Spanish EVOO - ok, so it doesn't have to be Spanish, but if you're making gazpacho, it just seems more authentic to use Spanish olive oil. You can find good variety at CitySuper
• Apple cider vinegar  - I like the bio-dynamic apple cider vinegar from Mock Red Hill stocked at 360 in the Landmark
• Maldon sea salt - you can find this at any of the gourmet international grocers (Oliver's, 360, CitySuper)
• Marcona almonds - CitySuper stocks these. I suppose you could use regular almonds, but make sure they are skinless

Preparation:

Cut off the crust of the bread and soak in a bowl of water. Prick each of the tomatoes with a sharp knife, then put in a bowl and cover with boiling water for about 20-30 seconds. Drain, then peel the skins off the tomatoes. In a food processor or mixer, add the tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper and garlic. Top with the soaked bread, and pour in a generous glug of EVOO and a little apple cider vinegar. Go easy on the vinegar - you can add more later if you like it more tart. Blend until smooth, add salt and pepper to taste. If you really need to, you can add a pinch of sugar, but if the tomatoes are sweet, it will not be necessary. Add in the almonds and blend again until smooth. The color will be a cool orangeish pink, slightly creamy looking. Add more EVOO or vinegar to your liking and blend. Put into a bowl or jug and cover with saran wrap and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours.

I like to serve this topped with a little bit of chopped hardboiled egg or half a hardboiled quail egg, a bamboo stick skewer of sweet cherry tomatoes, mini mozzarella balls and olives, and a freshly baked crouton or fromage stick from Po's, as pictured above.

The Pawn

Brunch at The Pawn isn't for the faint of heart, literally. The delicious fare at this wonderfully cozy, modern British gastropub is a cardiologist's nightmare: heavy on fatty meats, butter and other saturated fats. But don't let that keep you away, because you'd be missing out on some of the best brunch fare in Hong Kong. On a recent visit, I had an absolutely delicious (and artery-clogging) plate consisting of a crumpet topped with a thick slice of black pudding, bacon, ham, fried duck egg - and if that weren't enough, it came with a generous piece of seared foie gras on the side. The execution of the dish was perfect - every element was cooked to perfection and came together wonderfully. The eggs benedict was also solidly executed, although the hollandaise was just a tiny bit too rich. The Pawn's version of a Bloody Mary is made with freshly blended tomatoes, so thick that it was more like a big glass of gazpacho - it could use some spicing up with tabasco and worcestershire sauce.

The best thing about the Pawn though isn't the food, it's the atmosphere. In most cases, I absolutely don't believe in "paying for atmosphere," but I might make an exception for The Pawn - it's laid back yet slightly pretentious, cozy yet modern, shabby yet chic - contradictory but in a way that works. Definitely one of my favorite brunch finds in Hong Kong so far, and also a great place for drinks.


English crumpet topped with black pudding, bacon, ham, foie gras, sweet onion marmalade and fried duck egg - a delicious heart attack on a plate


Eggs Benedict with perfectly poached eggs and buttery hollandaise

Food rating: ****
Bang for buck rating: 3.5

The essentials:
www.thepawn.com.hk/
Location: 62 Johnston Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Average price of brunch for two: HKD$350

Posto Pubblico

I've been to Posto Pubblico three times now - twice for dinner and once for lunch (the photos below are from lunch). I thoroughly enjoyed my first two visits during dinner; not so much my most recent visit during lunch.

During my first two visits, the caprese salad was amazingly fresh and delicious, the antipasti platter was sublime and the pastas perfectly al dente. I don't know if they use a different chef at lunch, but the quality of the food was completely different. The mozzarella was tough and bland, the pasta was overly salty. And in my opinion, the lunch sets are overpriced for what they give you, and there are too many exceptions to the listed lunch set price - for example, if you order any of their special pastas of the day, you have to pay an "upgrade" price to the more expensive lunch set price of 180 HKD instead of 120 HKD.

There are better Italian restaurants in Hong Kong (my favorite so far is Pane Vino on Mosque Junction Road), but in my view, a visit to Posto Pubblico is still worth it for their fresh house-made mozzarella.

Caprese salad made with fresh house-made hand-pulled mozzarella (the primary reason I am a fan of Posto Pubblico)

Brooklyn Special sandwich (breaded eggplant, mozzarella and roasted peppers)

Tagliolini with peas and pancetta

Linguini vongole

Food rating: *** and a half
Bang for buck rating: 3

The essentials:
www.postopubblico.com/
Location: 28 Elgin Street, Central, Hong Kong
Average price of dinner for two: HKD$700 (~ USD$ 90)

Amber

From the very beginning (delightful amuse bouche) to the very end (perfect assorted petit fours), the degustation menu at Amber was absolutely perfect. Very few times in my life have I had a meal (especially a meal with numerous courses) where there wasn't a single flaw - dinner at Amber is one of those rare perfect meals that I can count on one hand.

Amber is perfect for special occasions - the service is impeccable, the decor is sophisticated yet understated, and the food is clearly the star of the night.

One of several amuse bouche - candied foie gras lollipops

Hokkaido sea urchin in lobster gelee with cauliflower, caviar and crispy seaweed waffles

Smoked Tasmanian salmon confit with avocado, horseradish and Granny smith apple

Seared Normandy diver scallop with toasted brioche, mousseline kabocha squash and dried basque country sausage

Langoustine and foie gras, steamed with cep ravioli, cep mushroom and dry sherry consomme

Kagoshima wagyu beef - sirloin MS A4 oven roasted with souffle potatoes au jus

Kagoshima wagyu beef - braised short rib with passion fruit-glazed root vegetables

French farmer cheeses

Fruit plate

Blood orange segments with preserved orange skin and rosemary prepared with Greek yoghurt as a vacherin 'coque'

Abinao 85% chocolate souffle with brown rum anglaise and cacao sorbet

Assorted petit fours

Food rating: *****
Bang for buck rating: 3.5

The essentials:
www.amberhongkong.com
Location: 7th floor, The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, 15 Queen's Road, Central, Hong Kong
Average price of dinner (degustation menu) for two: $500

VeggieSF

At Cafe Gratitude in San Francisco, the dishes are named with self-affirming labels such as "I am dazzling" and "I am sensational." 7000 miles away in Hong Kong, while perusing the menu at VeggieSF (named for San Francisco), I smiled at the inside joke - the most popular item on the menu is a dish called "I am Fabulous." VeggieSF is a cozy restaurant on the 10th floor of a building in the heart of Central serving creative vegetarian cuisine amidst a kitschy 1950's Americana backdrop. The menu is eclectic - although the most popular item is the "I am fabulous," a burger made with pureed beets instead of meat, topped with sprouts, tomato, lettuce and melted cheese, there are also Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Thai and Italian dishes.

Lunch sets include a bowl of soup (winter melon on the day we went) and a drink of your choice.

Winter melon soup (slightly bland)

Sawadika - red rice cooked in banana leaf and vegetable skewers with satay sauce

I am Fabulous - pureed beetroot cheeseburger

Food rating: ***
Bang for buck rating: 3

The essentials:
Location: 10/F, 11 Stanley Street, Central, Hong Kong
Average price of lunch for two: $30

Katong Laksa Prawn Mee

Prior to moving here, I'd only visited Hong Kong in the summer, so I have to admit that I had no idea that Hong Kong can get so cold. On a chilly winter day like today, I wanted a hearty, flavorful dish to warm me up - and what's more hearty and flavorful than a hot bowl of laksa? I headed over to Katong Laksa Prawn Mee after doing some research online for "best laksa in Hong Kong." Katong Laksa is located on a quiet street just behind the loud bar scene on Lockhart Road in Wanchai. Like so many foodie treasures in Hong Kong, it's one of those unassuming hole-in-the-walls that you might pass by without a second thought.

The laksa here is katong laksa - that is to say, a version of Singaporean laksa nemak from the Katong area. The curried coconut broth at Katong is flavorful - a perfect blend of coconut milk, spices and fish paste, hearty yet light. The broth is poured over thin rice vermicelli and your choice of toppings - in an attempt to start the new year healthier, I ordered the version with vegetables (morning glory), bean sprouts and egg. From the first sip of the broth, I was in heaven - an absolutely perfect meal for a cold day in Hong Kong (and any other day). Delicious food like this is exactly why Hong Kong is my favorite city to eat. It was so delicious that I ordered another bowl (this time, the Laksa Supreme, with fish balls, prawns, fried tofu and egg) to take home.

Laksa with vegetables, bean sprouts, egg and fried tofu

Food rating: **** and a half
Bang for buck rating: 5

The essentials:
Location: Shop D1, Ground floor, 155 Jaffe Road, Wan Chai
Average price of dinner for two: $20