Foodle

A great restaurant may yet emerge from David Toutain’s @feuillehk . Whether it has already done so remains less clear. Three years into its run in Hong Kong, Feuille still seems caught between his vision and the hazards of exporting it. For every Cristal Room — an arguable success — there is Plaisance, a rogue byproduct of Mauro Colagreco’s global apparatus. And for every gougère and fatty fish drowned in beurre blanc enriched with ikura, there are progressive, welcome dishes like local lobster with pumpkin gut and guava, crowned with flowers that looked suspiciously like the feathers plucked from Big Bird.

What’s admirable is that Feuille does not seem eager to concede to the local palate except, nominally, in terroir. Even the gougère is anointed with sobacha, though how it was applied escaped me, as did the sermon I had hoped for on Toutain’s “Grains and Seeds” philosophy.

With enough prodding, a kind server may eventually produce Toutain’s doctrine of layering odd ingredients — nutmeg, sea grapes, kombucha, fig leaf — into savory dishes. These can muddle things: corn custard blighted by cumin; caviar steamrolled by salty potato crumbs; and an excellent cauliflower sorbet with no business beside smoked vanilla ice cream.

But Feuille can also thrill. A threadfin lavished with a foam of sake and elderflower that barely registers may be one of the city’s great fish entrées of late. Sweet green peas stood in loving contrast to the ma yau’s bitter finish. I admired, too, Feuille’s use of pumpkin, especially in the lobster, which recalled the one Hélène Darroze did with tandoori.

And with tighter calibration, the prawn tartare might seem less muddy beneath cucumber and fig leaf; the clam custard might yield more gracefully to the caviar; and the gentler acidity of the sabayon — a Toutain leitmotif — might allow the wampee berry to sing. The local-ish ingredients are indeed there, and welcome: mango from Hainan, pigeon from Shiqiao, lobster from Sai Kung. What Feuille needs now is not less ambition, but more confidence in the ideas already on the plate. Until then, it remains one of the city’s more compelling unfinished thoughts. Less

🇳🇿 NEW LOVE OF MY LIFE: NEW ZEALAND FOOD!
Heaps Pies has quickly become one of my favorite discoveries in metro Atlanta.
The fish and chips may be my new #1. The biggest difference from the English version is the lighter, thinner, almost tempura-like coating, making it noticeably less greasy. The chips stay true to the British style, and the haddock was outstanding.
The steak and mushroom pie and sausage roll were just as impressive. Both had beautifully flaky crusts that tasted homemade, with rich meat filling and gravy that complemented rather than overwhelmed. The sausage roll is nothing like the American “pigs in a blanket” or Texas kolaches—it’s classic New Zealand style with seasoned minced sausage wrapped in pastry.
Heaps Pies has earned a spot among the very best Grubberies in metro Atlanta.
Have you been? What’s your favorite thing to order?
#AtlantaGrubber #HeapsPies #NewZealandFood #KiwiFood FishAndChips MeatPie SausageRoll AtlantaEats AtlantaFoodie AtlantaRestaurants DecaturGA AvondaleEstates DeKalbCounty HiddenGem FoodReview SupportLocal EatLocal ComfortFood Haddock MetroAtlanta Less

“Next time you’re walking around Huntington village thinking about what to eat for dinner, may we suggest going to @ikka.li to see the biryani in a tube ... It’s rather dark inside the new restaurant, but when a server comes out carrying a half-charred tube made from bamboo, pay attention, because they’re about to pour the steaming rice from its cooking vessel into a serving bowl.

By the time we saw it, we’d already eaten our fill of coriander cakes and a deeply spiced goat curry served in a miniature pressure cooker that’s cracked open at the table. But the Thalassery chicken bamboo biryani ($28) is just one of the many spectacles at this ambitious Indian restaurant and cocktail bar.”

This is one to watch!!!

Read more at the link in my bio. Less

If you’re down the shore, you absolutely must try the Spicy Chikcen Hero from Qua Pizza because damn is this sandwich phenomenal 🥪🤯 Buffalo Chicken & Chicken Caesar Salad together as one…almost every real sandwich lovers dream 🤤😍 The mozzarella sticks are also a must-try too 🔥 You have to check this spot out next time you’re in the area and click the bio link for more on Qua Pizza‼️

#spicychickensandwich #mozzarellasticks #quapizza #manasquannj #jerseyshorefood Less

Three years ago, I sat in a room that wasn’t even open yet, eating a tasting menu with Jason Atherton and Dan Birk watching. I wrote 1,300 words that landed somewhere between admiration and a warning: a genuinely good restaurant, hiding inside one doing far too much.

I didn’t go back for three years. Partly pride, partly principle. When I finally did, I wanted to go with people who’d never been.

ROW stands for Refinement of Work. So the only real question worth asking is whether it had.

Sixteen courses are now twelve; the pricing is trimmed; the music still modern but less intrusive. There are other softer edges sanded down “refined, through the steady, unglamorous graft of moving one hundred things one inch forward.”

There’s enough Japanese produce to make one question whether this is still credibly a British restaurant, but then you lob in a kari buto cheese and onion “crisp” and a 540-day old jacket potato with what I’ll uncharitably call tuna mayo, meat and two veg with Saroma Wagyu A4, a meltingly pleasing blue cheese and — if it only matters to me — bread that once justified its own course now sits quietly as a side.

“The dining rooms remain admirably eclectic and unmistakably British, like a lounge in Saltburn estate, minus all that transgressive eroticism.”

Two people can eat here for less than one seat costs at FZN, Dubai’s three-Michelin-starred Frantzén outpost. That says more about FZN’s pricing than it does about ROW.

Full review, ROW on 45, Dubai, revisited — link in my bio. If you were at ROW in its first year, I am curious to know what stands out for you now. Less

【Ashiya Ninomae】I recently had the pleasure of visiting "Ninomae" for a lunch gathering, and I was filled with excitement!Don’t underestimate lunch!The dishes were incredibly well-crafted, bringing back vivid memories from about three years ago. ✨With every bite, I thought, "This is truly delicious..." and I deeply appreciated the gentle, satisfying flavors. ☺️Menu:- Shiga Natural Suppon Soup- Hokkigai Somen- Hassun: Sesame Tofu, Mozuku Vinegar, Biwa Lake Sweetfish, Asparagus, Lotus Root Kinpira, Tokobushi, Shrimp Chumaki- Soup: Awaji Island Okoze- Sashimi of Miyazu Horse Mackerel- Fried Akashi Ainame- Shin-damaki- Asparagus Mixed Rice with Meat Miso- Strawberry Daifuku with Gyuhi- Iced Coffee: Honduras/Costa RicaI am truly grateful for the invitation. ‍♂️It was a weekend filled with culinary delight that satisfied both my stomach and heart! I’m looking forward to the next visit in November. Store Information:Ninomae3-16 Omasumachi, Ashiya City, Hyogo Prefecture050-5589-4833#AshiyaNinomae #Ninomae #AshiyaLunch Less

El cielo Miami✨

Guajiras’s dry shrimp rice! 🌾

Flower fair! 💐

Stone crab empanadas! 🦀

Choco Spa! 🤎

Chocotherapy! Part 2🤎

Corn Chawanmushi (one of my fave)

Hiramasa – Golden Berry! 💫

Lobster encocado!🦞

Lamb, Sunchoke, Sawtooth Cilantro 🔝

Lulo 🧡

El Dorado… Guava & Amaretto Tart! 💛

Coffee field ☕️

Thank you! @elcielomiami … for an unforgettable culinary journey💫 Less

Visiting @bar1865nola , you arrive at a historic townhouse in downtown New Orleans that reveals an enchanting anachronism — a den of Old World elegance serving food and cocktails with a fresh, modern verve.

And it’s open only three nights a week.

The floor plan still resembles that of an old house, all steeped in a 40-watt glow against faded brickwork.

It’s as if the process of elegant decay was halted and the space refreshed, a mixture of patina and polish.

The ambience is so lush, it’s practically tactile.

The menu, from chef @thatcheflisa , is well-tuned for a self-guided tasting tour of small plates.

It’s a bit French, highly seasonal and creative and in sync with the cocktail focus at the bar.

Intensely flavorful and not heavy, these are dishes that glide in for smooth landings, paced out to have another round from the bar.

Here’s a look around, link in my bio has the story for the full read:

#wherenolaeats #igersneworleans #nolaeats #nolafoodie #downtownnola Less