Peter Verey

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

Lung King Heen is renowned for their dim sum but I must admit I haven’t been there for lunch for around a decade . In any case with evening seating infinitely easier to book I thought I would give dinner a try .

First things first is the service , easily the friendliest and best service I have had in a Cantonese restaurant in HK. Smooth, assured and very confident FOH team . Hats off …

As for the food , played it very conservatively with the ordering so didn’t really given the kitchen a chance to wow, but everything that did arrive hit the spot .

First , excellent suckling pig skin which really elevated when lightly dipped in sugar , it’s not a move I usually prefer but in this case the pork and sugar was truly a 1+1=3 scenario .

Stir fried pork belly with loofah and black fungus was a very tasty stir fry, the belly thinly sliced and overall the dish had terrific textures.

Roast chicken was kindly deboned and very well cooked , it did lack some of the fatty lusciousness you can find in local NT chicken but I suggest that was by design.

A veggie dish to wrap things up with braised tofu and morels being a soignee combo .

Nice to have a chilled dessert on a hot night , coconut cream with aloe Vera and green bean . Hella refreshing. Less

@cailbruich is headed up by Lorna McNee , the first female chef to obtain a Michelin ⭐️ in Scotland .

tuna tartare, Isle of Wight tomato , perthshire strawberry, elderflower - this is a brilliant start to the meal , fresh and floral , the dish is dominated by the tomato and strawberry broth, the tuna adds texture and mouthfeel , an excellent combination.

west coast lobster, carrot XO - lobster meat and bisque combined with a carrot XO sauce , enjoyed the XO , nice touch

hand-rolled cavatelli pasta
hen of the woods, peas, black summer truffle

Just not a fan of summer truffles , they don’t bring much to this dish , this one felt like a bit of misstep , too similar to a midweek mushroom pasta that you may whip up at home . It killed the momentum of the menu .

peterhead cod
courgette, clams, hispi cabbage, dashi

Nicely poached cod , salty clams , really enjoyed the dashi which was flavoured with vanilla and lemongrass

vendée heritage poussin
alsace bacon, baby gem caesar, jus gras

The poussin came with a farce of poussin trim and lardo, once again the sauce stole the show with an amalgamation of two jus gras ( a light one with lemon thyme and a dark one with apple cider )

cashel blue
apple tarte fine, apricot, frangipane

Lovely cheese but the tarte fine was a little lost

lavender honey
lemon, bergamot, olive oil

This one is a cracking dessert , balanced flavours, honey not overly sweet and beautiful presentation

valrhona caraibe 66% chocolate dulcey, vanilla, praline

Final dessert also terrific, a take on a snickers is not new but this one focused on the caramel notes more so than chocolate. Less

Glasgow has two ⭐️ Michelin restaurants, and I was super impressed with the Chefs table experience @unalomebygc last night .

Contemporary food with a backbone of French sauces, all well crafted , and service from FOH and the chefs was terrific .

Cured Royal bream , avocado , horseradish , sorrel and sea lettuce sauce started off the 9 course meal , this was vibrant and acidic and matched with a terrific finger lakes Riesling , a buzzy first dish that hit the mark

Scarlet prawn - raw and in kataifi pastry , with Isle of Wight tomatoes , dashi custard, prawn consommé
was a good transition towards heavier dishes , the consommé and fried pastry is well matched .

Chargrilled Langoustine with
Miso Hollandaise - Buckwheat - Egg Yolk- the caramelised Miso and buckwheat crisp really tie this dish together , echoing the char on the langoustine .

Roasted Veal Sweetbread , Asparagus
Girolles - Walnut - Vin Juane

This one is a certified banger , beautifully cooked sweetbread , absolutely luscious sauce , matched with a quality aged sherry , this dish is a core memory .

John Dory is topped with a light scallop and crab curried mousse , Fennel - Green Asparagus - Brown Butter. Not a show stopper but a nice balanced plate .

Saddle of roe deer , Beetroot - Raspberry - Confit Potato, sauce bordelaise . Found the raspberry ketchup overly sweet and powerful but the Sauce bordelaise was terrific .

An excellent primarily British cheese board followed, had a terrific salty goat cheese , a blue made by the bass guitarist from Blur , and a cheddar made from the milk of only 4 cows .

Strawberry mousse , rhubarb and rose parfait was light and bright .

As was the Lime parfait and pistachio-
Oakchurch Farm Raspberries - Mint finale , however both desserts were plated similarly and shared many textures making it hard for them to stand out . Less

Enjoyed @restaurant_alliance when I visited in 2022 so was keen to get back , delicate and well executed dishes where vegetables tend to drive the flavour profile .

A pea/creme fraiche and caviar tart got things off to a clean start , peas are on every menu right now and they are terrific .

Langoustine was engulfed with a kohlrabi mousse of terrific structure with strands of shiso leaf .

White asparagus had some very unlikely plate mates but this combination was terrific . Asparagus , almonds , dried apricot and passion fruit sauce . I expected the sauce to be very sweet but it was only just perfumed with passion fruit . Creative and successful dish

John Dory and celeriac are great match , with a little chive and samphire garnish for piquancy.

One of the best Foie Gras dishes that I can remember having followed , foie gras , turnip ,chive and duck broth. Soft and comforting and amazingly light .

A well cooked pigeon breast was simply complimented by cabbage and pigeon jus. Classic

A small cheese board was a nice side step on the way to dessert .

Finally a Croustillant , ganache and sorbet of chocolate wrapped up a lovely meal . Less