Melinda Joe

In my 13-plus years as a food writer, I’ve experienced more than my fair share of four-hands dinners all over the world. But the collaboration between @sezannetokyo and @thechairmanrestauranthk was a highlight.

@chezcalvert and Danny Yip are both perfectionists with an intuitive sense of harmony and balance. What makes this event particularly special is the fact that they’re such close friends. They understand each other’s food and philosophy well, and it shows.

This synergy was evident from the first bite, a gougere (reminiscent of a miniature baked bun –Chinese peeps, you know what I’m talking about) filled with silky abalone soup and served with a glass of @krugchampagne. From there, the menu unfolded like a journey through Hong Kong via not only France and Japan, but the whole universe of Calvert’s fecund culinary imagination.

A caviar-filled tartlet, covered in finely chopped amber-hued century egg and accented with ginger, arrived at the table glimmering like a jewel. Botan ebi shrimp toast was a celery-flecked mousse of the decapods encased in crispy toast points and finished with a dollop of garlic aoli (where the idea for the aioli came from, I have no idea, but it was a nice touch).

Hidden beneath a layer of clam foam shimmering like pearls, the velvet of the Koshihikari congee was studded with chunks of clam and oyster and splashed with XO sauce oil. And then the foie gras terrine, wrapped around bites of Yip’s soy sauce chicken…no words. An ideal match for the Chateau de Fargues 1979 Sauternes.

Calvert is not big on story-telling, but these first courses felt like Proustian layers of flavor memory. I can imagine these two guys sitting down to a meal of these very things after one of their long Monday hikes through the Hong Kong hills.

The star of the first half of the menu was the steamed matsubagani crab, bathed in a
creamy vin jaune sauce enriched with chicken fat. This already decadent dish was made more so by the brioche flavored with Shanghai crab roe – a crustacean collaboration of sorts.

I’ll write about the second half of the meal in another (less lengthy) post! Less

Everyone wishes they had a place like @hisapolonka in their neighborhood. Behind a cheerful blue facade in the middle of Kobarid, the cozy dining room outfitted with wooden beams and charming rustic furnishings envelops you in a warm embrace. The genial @valterkramar runs the show here, pouring amazing Slovenian wines and glasses of Polonka’s excellent house beer (after greeting you with a huge bear hug). All of this pairs with the funky aged Tolmin cheeses and traditional local fare: golden frika with crispy edges, lovage-stuffed ravioli, braised boar. And the roast beef! A thing of glory. The food is exactly what you want to eat on a chilly evening with friends. Less

50 shades of light! 50 shades of love! It’s celebration time. Happy birthday to 🌟🌟🌟@hisafranko and @anaros40.

“We both became ladies this year,” Ana says with her characteristic grace.

The new menu brims with ebullience, along with the wisdom of the mountains. A stunning snapshot of Hisa’s past, present, and glimpses of its future. Here, meat is used sparingly, “like a spice,” to add Alpine depth and contrast to Ana’s plant-forward creations. The dishes take in the breadth of her travels with inspirations from Mexico, Japan, and India. It’s a wild ride, delivered with elegance and panache.

A few highlights: mussels and seaweed in lacto-fermented tomato water, a marvelous combination with the fig leaf kombucha that starts the “juicy pairing;” potato cooked in a summer hay crust with cultured cream and caviar, a Hiša classic; hand-cut tagliolini with mountain rabbit, cacao nibs and black truffle; roebuck with nori, kiwi, and beets.

The autumn harvest was a bounty of leafy greens and broad beans with umami from roasted yeast cream. Pasta Ana shows two sides of the chef, with fillings of tangy tomato and smooth ricotta, in two-colored stuffed pasta shaped like a kiss.

Ana has always been fearless and irrepressibly authentic. Together with head chef Yvonne Simon and mixology/fermentation wizard Anya and pastry chef Alessandra, the ladies of Hiša Franko are an inexorable force. Less

Why do we love truffles? One of the most compelling theories is that their enchanting, musky fragrance reminds us of, well, ourselves. This pheromone-like allure inspires us to go to crazy lengths in the pursuit of the diamonds of the forest.

Record-breaking heat has resulted in an exceedingly small yield for this time of year, what would normally be peak truffle season. Thankfully, I know a guy who knows a guy. ;)

@luca.fantin just returned from the heart of white truffle country in Piedmont with the mother lode. These precious specimens take center stage in the @bulgarilucafantintokyo truffle menu until late December.

And what a menu it is! An opening bite of matsutake, uni, truffles and a touch of hazelnut oil. Sweet scallops, redolent of the Hokkaido kombu forests from which they were plucked, are the perfect match with cauliflower cream and truffles. And I could eat an entire pot of the ravioli filled with 36-month-old @consorziovaccherosse Parmigiano, afloat in rich chicken consommé. With wonderful wine pairings by @yukio_oya.

Even the sweet courses were given the truffle treatment, generously scattered over Luca’s signature milk dessert and used to finish a dish of persimmon and vanilla ice cream. Such a treat! Less