Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Le Soleil

This Vietnamese restaurant is located in Royal Garden Hotel in TST, and in fact is the branch of the award-winning San Francisco restaurant of the same name. On the mezzanine level overlooking the atrium, the environment is a bit of the lobby cafe ambiance but still fairly comfortable. Because it is close to Christmas there are some nice decorations and lighting which made the general mood much more festive and cozy.

On the night we ordered the Deluxe Set Menu, starting with the Appetizers Combination, including Crispy Fried Saigon Spring Roll, Steam Rice Flour Rolls with Minced Pork and Dried Shrimp, Rice Paper Roll with Roasted Pork Fillet, and Pomelo Salad with Seafood. The portion is appropriate, sufficient for one to enjoy while not over-taxing one's stomach for the coming main courses. All of the four appetizers are tasty also, combining a good contrast of texture from the crispy spring roll, soft steam roll, and chewy rice paper roll. The fillings are delicious, full of flavors and overall a great beginning of the meal indeed.

Next comes the Baked US Jumbo Scallop. The scallop is seasoned well, though the sauce is a bit too salty in my opinion. There are some young asparagus shoots accompanying as well, which are tender and delicious. It is a smart garnish as the asparagus gives a nice color to the dish and help to balance the richer flavors of the sauce. For some the scallops may look a bit over-baked, with some blackened surface but I personally did not find it offensive.

The second main course is Grilled King Prawn with Garlic Butter and Stir-Fried Vegetable. I personally like this dish the most among the others in this meal, with the prawn grilled perfectly, well-cooked but not drying up the prawn. It is also seasoned beautifully, with the garlic butter significantly enhancing and highlighting the flavors of the prawn. You can also squeeze in a few drops of lime juice which help to explode the flavors. The Chinese kale is also terrific in taste and very tender. A great dish!

The last main course is Crispy Beef Brisket in Curry Sauce and Garlic Bread. Maybe because it came after the wonderful prawn, I did not find this particularly appealing. The 'skin' of the beef brisket is crispy as expected, and the curry sauce is also decent. But as the beef is not cooked in the curry it could not absorb the flavors so I find the two did not integrate well. Maybe I am just too old-school but I still prefer the traditional way to cook the curry with the meat.

Next came the Seafood Rice Noodle in Tomato Soup. We opted for this instead of the beef pho. The soup is rich, and you can add the condiments provided like chili, onion, basil and bean sprout to create your own favorite taste. The seafood however are not particularly impressive and in a way is a bit of a let-down. Maybe the restaurant believed that the soup itself would be sufficiently satisfying?

There is also a Dessert Platter, which includes a dragon-fruit jelly, a coconut cake and a coffee creme brulee. All of the three are quite nice, refreshing and delicate for the jelly, while having a good bite and intense coconut flavor in the cake. The creme brulee got a crunchy burnt sugar on top of the creamy texture. It is a good wrap up to the meal.

In general the food quality is good, though I think the restaurant can certainly review the speed in which the dishes are served. Not sure why since the restaurant is not exactly full-house on the night, but we have to wait for quite a while between dishes. Considering that I could not stop wondering what would be the experience if we come next week during Christmas?

The bill on the night was $1,123 with the two deluxe set plus a bottle of water and a fresh lime soda. Not cheap for sure but not overly expensive. There are many elements I found the restaurant can further improve, and if those could be changed I am sure it would be at the higher notch in my ranking of top Vietnamese restaurants in town.

Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Ozone

This rooftop bar is located inside Ritz-Carlton Hotel, on the 118th floor of the tallest building of Hong Kong. Certainly the highest bar in town, and maybe the world, one has to first take the elevator to the 103th floor before switching to another lift to the roof.

Upon arriving the staff took us to our table. As the bar is popular we made the reservation in advance, but still we were seated right outside of the staff entrance, so throughout the night we were blown by the wind whenever someone open the door. With plenty of other tables not taken when we arrived, I cannot stop wondering how come we were so 'lucky'.

The decor was magnificent, providing a vibrant, luxurious and hip ambiance. There is also the famous outdoor section but the day was too windy and cold probably to sit outside. But I am sure the view was spectacular and worth the extravagant price of the drinks and food. I ordered the signature cocktail to begin with, Dragon's Back. It was nice but I would say it was a bit too sweet. Ivy ordered the mocktail Emerald which was refreshing and good too.

While the bar provided some truffle-flavored popcorn we could not just survive with those, so we also had a few tapas. The Deep Fried Prawn Popcorn with Sweet and Sour Sauce is essentially deep frying the prawn with batter, and then paired with a Thai-style sweet and sour sauce. Well, without the sauce the prawn is simply tasteless, but honestly I remind myself that this is a bar and not a restaurant so we should not be rating it on the same scale.

Hoping the next one would be better in quality, the Braised Pork Taco in Mexican Style didn't disappoint. The pork is shredded and seasoned with chili sauce to give a kick to the taste, and it was wrapped in a taco and put on top of a lime cut in a way to hold it nicely. The portion is of bite-size making it easy to manage without creating a lot of messiness eating them. This tapas managed to savage some of my faith in their food.

The last tapas is the Omakase Sushi Selection, including five different sushi: salmon, yellowtail, scallops, tuna and snapper. The fish are fresh and tasty, and overall they are surprisingly good. I like the scallops the most as it got great texture and rich in flavors. My only criticism is that the size is just too small, and even as finger food they were a bit too tiny.

The service was good with the staff attentive, friendly and courteous. And I also ordered a half-pint Stella Artois in addition to the cocktail, with the final bill of $1,503 which honestly is expensive. Even considering the really phenomenal view the overall experience would not justify the price in my opinion. Maybe it is more for those bankers having their offices in the same building rather than commoners like me.

Chinese Home Cooking Recipe - 6. Three-color Vegetables, Two Ways

Ingredients (for 4):

• Garlic sprout - 1 bunch
• Pumpkin - 1
• Bamboo shoots - 3
• Ginger - 1, to mash and get the juice
• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Salt - 1/4 tsp
• Chicken stock - 1/4 cup

Procedures:

1. Break the garlic sprout into stripes of about 4 cm, until the section where the fiber is too tough.

2.  Use only the top part of the pumpkin, peel the skin off and cut into slices of 5 cm long, 0.4 cm thick. Then further cut into stripes of 0.4 cm.

3. Peel the bamboo shoots and cut into 5 cm sections, then cut further into 0.4 cm slices, then further into 0.4 cm stripes.

4. Heat the pan to medium heat, then add the bamboo shoots to toast until softened.

5. Add 1/2 tbsp of oil and then add the garlic sprout, continue to stir fry.

6. Season with salt and then add 1/4 cup of chicken stock, continue to stir fry.

7. Add 1/2 tbsp of oil and the pumpkin stripes.

8. Add the squashed ginger juice and stir well.

Ingredients (for 4): 

• Lotus root - 1 section
• Asparagus lettuce - 1
• Carrot - 1
• Oil -  1 tbsp
• Garlic - 1 clove
• Salt - dashes
• Fish sauce - 2 tsp
• Sugar - 1/4 tsp

Procedures:

1. Peel the lotus root and cut into halves. Then cut into thin slices.

2. Peel the carrot and cut into 0.3 cm slices, then cut into two halves.

3. Peel the asparagus lettuce and cut into diamond shapes.

4. Boil a pot of water and when boiling, add the lotus root and carrot. When the water is re-boiled again, remove the vegetable and drip dry.

5. Heat the pan over medium-high heat, then add the oil and garlic slices to stir fry until fragrant.

6. Add the lotus root and carrot and continue to stir fry.

7. Season with the fish sauce, salt and sugar, then continue to stir fry.

8. Add the asparagus lettuce, stir well and serve. 

Chinese Home Cooking Recipe - 5. Stir-fried Salted Fish

Ingredients (for 4):

• White small salted fish - 75 g
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Bean sprout - 350 g
• Ginger - 20 g
• Garlic - 2 cloves
• Long red chili - 1
• Small red chili - 1
• Sugar and salt - dashes
• Spring onion - 2

Procedures:

1. Wash the salted fish and drip dry. Use kitchen tissue paper to wipe it dry. This is to reduce the saltiness of the fish.

2. Wash the bean sprout and drip dry. Then cut the red chili (both the long and small one) into thin strips.

3. Peel the ginger and cut into thin stripes.

4. Cut the green onion into thin stripes.

5. Chop the garlic finely.

6. Heat the pan to medium-high heat, then add 2 tbsp of oil. When the oil is hot, add the salted fish and constantly stir-fry. Turn the heat to medium.

7. Remove the salted fish.

8. With half a tbsp of oil, add the ginger stripes and stir fry until fragrant.

9. Add the chopped garlic, then add the bean sprout and continue to stir fry.

10. When the bean sprout is cooked, add the salted fish to continue to stir fry.

11. Add the red chili and continue to stir fry.

12. Season with sugar and salt.

13.Add the green onion and stir well.

 

Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Rech by Alain Ducasse

This French seafood restaurant is located in InterContinental Hotel, where the former Spoon used to be. The restaurant is part of the Alain Ducasse family, modeled after the one in Paris which was founded in 1925 and reborn by Alain in 2007.

Facing the Victoria Harbour, many of the tables have the wonderful sea view. The seats are arranged so that both the customers can face the window to enjoy the view. The setting and fit-out is contemporary, cozy and offering a comfortable environment.

We decided to go for the Seafood Platter and then see how it goes, as recommended by Jason, our attentive and friendly server on the night. When it was served we couldn't stop to give a wow. There are simply a lot of seafood, including a total of 12 oysters, comprising of four different types: Gillardeau, Creuses Speciales, Fine de Claire and Plates de Belon. All the oysters are super fresh, tasty with good brine. I also ordered a glass of Laurent-Perrier Extra Brut champagne to pair.

The other layer of the seafood platter includes a crab, 4 langoustines, 6 pink shrimps, 6 hard clams, 2 clams, whelks, periwinkles and grey shrimps. Everything is so delicious, fresh, and sweet, truly and fully demonstrating the quality of the seafood. Among these my personal favorite is the whelks, they got a good bite but not rubbery, and the flavors are delightful. I had a glass of wonderful Chablis Fourchaume to pair.

Finishing the platter we are already nearly full, and so decided to just have the White Truffle Risotto for something warm, as it is the season for this exquisite delicacy. There are 2g of truffle in the risotto, and Jason helped to arrange that to be split among two portions for us. The aromas are so intense that we could smell it before it got served, and the risotto is creamy, with the right bite and overall a remarkable dish which again showed that the ingredients would always be the determining factor for a great dish.

A pity that by then we did not have room for any more main course, so instead we opted for some dessert. I went for the signature Roasted Figs with Cottage Cheese Sorbet while Ivy decided to try the XL Chocolate Eclair. The roasted figs are essentially thinly sliced fig pieces, roasted and then sprinkled with flakes and small redcurrants.

With the redcurrants giving good crispness, the dessert is not overly sweet, healthy and nice. But it was the cottage cheese sorbet that attracted me more. The taste is similar to frozen yogurt but having a softer and more 'liquid' texture. The chocolate eclair is equally tasty.

Apart from the food, beautiful view and nice setting, the other thing I gave a high mark for Rech is the customer service. Jason is very attentive, replacing our plates frequently when we were having the seafood platter so we won't get embarrassed by the amount of shells piling up. He also offered to show us how to use some of the tools for the seafood, and suggesting to change the serving plate to take away a layer when we finished the oysters so the tray is not so high to make us difficult to get the seafood while sitting. Doing all the works with big smile and courtesy, he is perfect in balancing the service while not overly intrusive to the customers. A big compliment to the restaurant and their training.

The sommelier is also very professional, after checking with me on the types of wine I prefer offered good recommendation to pair with the food. We have a really great evening. An important point to remember is that there is special discount offered to certain credit card so you should check it out before paying the bill, and I am able to get a 20% discount because of that. My bill on the night was $3,256 which is very reasonable considering the total experience and food quality. I would definitely come back again for their other dishes.

Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - Ho Yin Seafood Restaurant (Provident Centre)

This Chinese restaurant is located in Provident Centre, North Point, where I used to live many years ago. Now coming back to the neighborhood there were many changes and I found there are many more restaurants along the street than it used to be. Obviously there are keen competition in the area. This is part of the group in which there are a total of five restaurants in different parts of HK.

The general setting is one of the typical Chinese restaurant, nothing special in decoration. On the evening there are not that many customers, and we got a table on the window side looking to the street. We ordered three dishes as there are three of us for this dinner.

The first is a Fried Chicken, cooked by hanging it and pouring hot oil over it repeatedly. It was in fact quite good, with the skin crispy and the chicken seasoned well, quite juicy and tender. And this is part of a two course special discount set. It is a good start and gave me a good first impression.

The next is the other dish of the special set, the Steamed Young Geoduck with Vermicelli. The geoducks were steamed to the right degree and not rubbery in texture. They were quite sweet and tasty. The only issue I got was that the geoducks were not cleaned well and so there were still some sand inside.

The other dish we ordered was the seasonal Braised Mutton in Clay Pot, accompanied with some Chinese lettuce. The overall taste for the sauce was reasonably good, but the mutton was not braised sufficiently and still a bit tough on texture.

With three bowls of rice, the total bill was $493 which is good value certainly. There are also some free dessert provided. The red bean soup however was just too sweet or otherwise it would be quite good.

This is your neighborhood restaurant you would come for dinner, but not one that you would make special effort to come visit.

Wineshark HK Restaurant Review - The Envoy

This British colonial-themed restaurant and bar is located in the Pottinger Hotel in Central, a boutique hotel on the side of the famous historic Pottinger Street, or stone slab street as commonly called. The concept is to highlight the influence of British to the South East Asian cuisines. There is a bar, as well as both an indoor and outdoor seating.

As the bar is being named one of the top 50 best, we started by ordering a cocktail. With me going for the Classic Mai Tai, which is beautifully mixed with Havana 3 Year Old Rum, Myer's Dark Rum, dry orange curacao, orgeat syrup and fresh lime juice. It is tasty, and true to the Mai Tai recipe with the rum base and orange and nutty flavors, with the acidity of the lime juice balancing the sweetness of the syrup. With the nice decor and ambiance, this is a good place to relax and enjoy good time with someone you treasure.

For the food, we had the signature Pani Puri, with Smoked Salmon, Avocado & Salmon Roe. This is an all-time favorite street snack in India. The puff balls are freshly deep-fried so really crispy, and the fillings, even though simple, are tasty and great complement to each other in flavors. There are three different condiments of green chili chutney, tamarind sauce and spiced yogurt to accompany. No wonder this is one of the most popular choices for the restaurant.

Then we have the Fish Fingers. The classic fish and chips are fried nicely with the batter thin and not overly oily on the palate, with the fish meat soft but not particularly flavorful. The curried tartar sauce has an interesting twist, combining the traditional western sauce with the eastern elements, achieving a magical combination of enjoyment. The chips also are great and I could not stop and in no time finished the whole portion.

The last dish we had was Mussels and Blood Pudding. The mussels are a bit larger than those from France, but equally creamy and fresh. The classic blood puddings are quite good but a bit too salty. There are fries and herbed baguette on the side, so overall it is very filling. One big issue for me, however, is that the dish is only warm and took quite a long while to come. Not sure what happened but I got the feeling that the mussels were cooked but did not get served until much later.

The service was reasonably good, and on the night the restaurant was also quiet and we are the only customers in the indoor section, giving us good privacy. With the three dishes, one cocktail and a glass of grapefruit juice, the total bill was $590, which is very reasonable. I strongly recommend this restaurant if you want to enjoy some nice cocktail but at the same time have some nice food served.