Peter Verey

Chef @chefvickycheng had been the hottest name in HK F&B for a while now , even when I visited Paris earlier this year Bruno Verjus was absolutely raving about him .

So I was well overdue for a first taste of his food , rather than kick things off at Wing , I thought starting at Vea would be a good introduction.

A very impressive meal it was , the dance of Chinese and French ingredients and techniques interplayed beautifully , every dish was thoughtful and delicious . Love the restaurant long counter set up as well .

The first dish of the night may have been my favourite.
Shima Aji and cucumber were both served as carpaccio and tartare , and dressed with longan juice and chive oil . Savoury and sweet , this reminded me of childhood cold cucumber soup , absolutely visually striking as well .

Brittany blue lobster was touched with only a whisper of heat , and combined with local squid , snap peas and snow cabbage , terrific again .

Sea cucumber is stuffed with a Tiger prawn farce but thankfully the farce keeps a lot of texture , served with a light crustacean broth and then augmented with sprays of aged yellow wine . This one hits all the senses .

A surprisingly thick cross section of Rough Scale Flounder was topped with a stuffed zucchini flower ( miss seeing this on menus ) , and served with tiny Bo-Kak mussels , these little seasonal gems are barely the size of a pinky nail but they make their presence felt !

Before the main course , a little comfort food . Yunnan matsutake mushrooms are prepared in a variety of textures and well matched to congee .

French pigeon is perfectly grilled and paired with carrot, apricot and five spice , all these flavour profiles are firm friends . Bulletproof dish .

We ease into dessert with a simply stunning piece of fruit , end of season Nagano peach is the floral sweet flavour that you wish all peaches would be , simply served with a dollop of jasmine infused cream , the dual floral notes soothe and inspire.

Final course is a petit bateau of Tarte Tatin camouflaged by fresh slices of Granny Smith apples .
Accompanied with burrata ice cream as well as apple and Chinese celery ice cream.

Terrific meal !! Less

There’s a lot of change in the F&B offerings @wynn.macau this year but it’s great to have Wing Lei celebrating 15 straight years at the Michelin 2 star level . It’s a blessing to have such a quality venue where you can pop in for a 40 minute lunch and be completely satisfied .

The Ha Gao looked pristine and tasted just as good .
The carp fish balls in fish broth are probably not everyone’s favourite as the dish is unapologetically fish forward but i very much enjoy it .
Layered bean curd skin with fish paste in soy soup was new to me and i will certainly order again .
While bean curd skin was also the carrier for a nice traditional melange of crab meat and matsutake , can’t fault .

Suckling pig and toast was sandwiched with mango and cucumber , this traditional suckling pig preparation almost tasted western and gave nostalgic Porchetta sandwich vibes which brought me back to many a farmers market .

Chilled abalone marinated in sake lees rounded out the lunch , the abalone was super tender and almost creamy . Less

Anan Saigon was the first and only restaurant in Vietnam to be bestowed with a Michelin Star last year ( has been joined by a handful more this year ) .

Chef Peter Cuong Franklin has a varied CV which includes Caprice in HK, Nahm in Bangkok and Alinea (Chicago ) . His tasting menu seeks to reinterpret classic Vietnamese dishes in a fine dining context which is a tall task . I find these type of concept menus are very difficult to pull off and they pigeon hole chefs into a corner rather than really allowing their creativity to shine and just cook !
However this was a fun interpretation with a mix of traditional and molecular techniques , which resulted in a largely successful meal even if the soul of these dishes were sometimes missing .

Best courses were the Caviar Banh Nhung - street waffle filled with smoked salmon mousse , salmon roe , caviar and crème fraiche . Haven’t had salmon dip for years and honestly this was just delicious .

Canh Chua river prawn had delicious sweet and sour soup alongside well grilled prawn , clam, prawn mousse and okra . Fresh and lively this dish really sang .

The Bun Cha Bourdain was an homage to both Bourdain and Obama who had the OG dish in Hanoi , this was a terrific one bite dish but would have preferred a larger format version .

Grilled Saigon pigeon was served with betel leaf , sticky turmeric rice and excellent sticky pigeon jus . This was a great French Vietnamese riff of a dish . Less

Was in the mood to go hit up the wine list at @grandlisboahotel and landed on a lovely Chassagne-Montrachet at around 40% below current retail price .

The food hit the mark as well , Chicken with pomelo is a dish I first had here when visiting Macau 9 years ago and i still love it . The chicken skin is fried until it’s bronzed and crisp, the flesh is marinated in pomelo juice and quickly braised . It is jumbled together with in season Thai pomelo and is a lovely savoury, sour , refreshing dish .

Winter melon is hollowed out and filled with chicken broth and seafood , you scrape at the melon with every bite , nourishing and tasty .

Spotted garoupa is stir fried with a punchy XO sauce , the show is almost stolen by the accompanying snap peas , perfectly cooked and bursting with flavour.

The classic white and black sesame pudding rounded out a successful visit . Less

After 2 weeks barely leaving the house and binging on the beauty of the 2024 Paris Olympics , it’s nice to return to normal routine and hop across the border for a chilled lunch .

Man Wah @mo_hkg has held a Michelin star for 16 years now , recently refurbished it’s a beautiful room with a great view of HK harbour .

A large Hokkaido scallop cooked medium well rather than the en vogue mi-cuit , held up very well to a punchy porcini mushroom sauce . It’s Yunnan mushroom season now and I think they are outstanding so I would have been happy with mushrooms playing a larger role here but it was an excellent dish .

M9 Australian Wagyu was served with a fresh and floral black pepper sauce , with lily bulbs the main garnish .

Prior to this , a duo of excellent dim sum , Har Gao was fashioned into the shape of an edamame pod and the shrimp was paired with edamame and green chilli . Very satisfying .

Mushroom and crab dumpling was also very moorish .

The small sample of the dim sum skills was excellent and I would return just to make a solid dent in the 14 varietal dim sum menu . Less

A very memorable lunch and once again sometimes it only takes 1 dish , or in this case one food/ wine match to leave a long lasting impression.

Abalone liver sauce and chateau d’yquem is an absolutely astonishing pairing . The viscosity of both is similar , the clean linear abalone flavour absolutely swoons when in contact with the wine . This was truly one of the best matches I have ever had .

The aforementioned is the signature dish at the newly Michelin ⭐️ @sushikinetsu . Korean - Canadian chef Jay Myung is at the helm , he and his team previously ran Shinji by Kanesaka at the same venue pre-Covid .

Rumour is that a regular guest missed them so much that he took over ownership and brought back the old crew to resurrect the restaurant.

Sashimi and Otsumami dishes were excellent , a super sweet spot prawn , uni and caviar starter was a refreshing opening . This was followed by an excellent plump Hokkaido oyster .

Steamed Octopus and eggplant delivered in tenderness and flavour . Crab chawanmushi was perhaps a little pedestrian but the progression roared back with Ankimo stuffed into monaka wafer , equally cute and delicious . This was followed by excellent grilled Ayu and the aforementioned abalone .

Nigiri hit on all the seasonal fish of the moment .
The otoro was less fatty then I have had recently which was an interesting contrast .
Favourite pieces were the big reef squid with a little citrus and salt , and that tender yet sticky mouthfeel .
The Torigai and Uni were also excellent .

Didn’t realise until now that Suahi Kinetsu is open for lunch 5 days a week ( 11 services in all ) this is very welcome and dangerous news . Less

I will probably never have the privilege of dining at Sushi Saito in Tokyo but I have to say the HK outpost is very good . Maybe expectations are raised as it’s the sister shop to the legendary Tokyo institution but on face value the quality in HK is very high .

The lunch menu which seemingly caters to the finance bros who work in the area is a speedy affair , gone in less than 60 minutes .

A quartet of otsunami start the meal , the ankimo was of high quality and the grilled belt fish unctuous.

9 nigiri follow , loved the punch of the horse mackerel , the smoothness of the akami tuna and the uni was spectacular.

It’s a welcome development that Sushi Saito seems to be much easier to book these days with their reservation phone line now open every day rather than 1 day a month .

Menu below

Uni , ikura , yam and ice plant
Kegani and Karasumi
Ankimo
Tachiuo

Hirame
Shima Aji
Aji
Maguro trio
Uni
Anago
Maguro hand roll Less

Sometimes it only takes one dish to live a lasting memory .

Steamed grouper - perfectly cooked , still firm and retaining an almost fudge like texture . A sancho pepper sauce that was intoxicatingly fragrant , wide rice noodles that soaked up all that flavour .

The rest of the meal was perfectly fine .
Roast goose was a little dry but the accompanying aged radish and tangerine peel sauce was intriguing and interesting .
Sea cucumber and pomelo skin delivered in texture but the accompanying oyster sauce was a little thin .
The tofu pudding was fine but you will find better examples at street stalls .

But I will long remember that grouper . Less

Post 1000 on this app and very happy that it fell on a @rogan_simon restaurant as he is certainly one of my favourite chefs and L’Enclume his flagship restaurant sits snugly in my top 3 meals of all time .

To me the taste profile of Rogan food is its signature , with umami , acidity ( usually not from citrus) , creaminess ( usually not from cream) and a yeasty nutty notes usually playing predominant roles .
The meal @roganichongkong hits on all those characteristics.

My favourite course was the Yunnan potatoes cooked in chicken fat , pickled walnut , ransom oil and chicken skin . Rich but not cloying the chicken fat balanced the dish beautifully.

Yuniu young tomatoes with picked mud crab, Sunflower seed, roast onion broth and sugar kelp was the opening course . The Taiwanese cherry tomatoes were given various treatments and it’s a nice savoury starter .

Barbecued hen of the woods in miso butter, fermented horseradish and lemon thyme rounds out a trio of Vegetable forward dishes to start the meal .

Scallops from Hokkaido with chamomile, buttermilk and smoked pike roe is a favourite from the kitchen team , the room temp scallops are formed into a puck along with some scallop skirt mousse and gently warmed by the buttermilk sauce , dill and fish roe provide the herbal notes and the seasoning .

Local Spanish mackerel with Mr Lins white asparagus, salted plum and pickled mustard seed . The fish from an Aberdeen day boat fisherman is a staple on the menu with the garnish rotating thru the seasons .

Duroc pork loin with preserved haricot beans, Sanxing onion and fennel pollen, this is the only dish that didn’t hit for me , the pork loin is served as a ballotine and I didn’t love the texture , the jus which packs a punch with local flavours including Chinese black vinegar also lacked a little harmony .

Aerated Perfume lemon from Kam Je, frozen yoghurt infused with fig leaf. Lovely pre dessert , perfumed citrus was floral and the yoghurt gave a savoury note .

Zen Farm guava with 100 flower honey, cream infused with chamomile. Don’t see many guava desserts but honey and guava is a great combination . Nice finale Less

Salade nicoise is my childhood family salad . It’s certainly the salad I have had the most in my life , and in fact I had it at another restaurant earlier in the week . But I absolutely fell in love with the Salade Nicoise fine dining take at Robuchon au Dome .

The egg is perfectly soft boiled , the tuna belly and tomato concasee are a delicious combination, there is a vegetable driven sauce , spikes of acidity and spices . It is a terrific fresh and vibrant cacophony.

Prior to this was the iconic Imperial caviar dish - lobster jelly, cauliflower cream, parsley puree , king crab meat and caviar are a truly harmonious mouthful . The plating is stunning and for nerds like me who wondered there is 62-68 dots ( margin of error ) of the cauliflower and parsley sauces .

I don’t have frog legs often but the quote that they taste like chicken is a little misleading , I think they are closer to a mild white fish flavour . Here they were served with the claaaic garlic and parsley duo along with some girolles mushrooms.

A whole scampi was the filling of a proud raviolo , with some savoy cabbage and black truffle , what’s not to like .

Brittany lobster with a light lobster bisque , saffron rouillle , peas and squid ink tuile is a regular feature on Robuchon menus . It’s not usually my favourite preparation but today it almost made me change my mind . The bisque was nice and light and the interplay with the peas seemed to hit different .

Challans duck breast and foie gras were given the Rossini treatment , cherries were scattered in different forms including a cherry beer reduction , alongside almonds and the signature mashed potato .

Dessert was the usual choose your own adventure affair , whether it’s gorging on the cheese trolley or escaping with the dessert trolley , or both , it’s hard not to be satisfied . Less