Luxeat

Potatoes in a dessert

 

The most famous pastry chef in the world did it again. This time Pierre Herme married potatoes with lemon confit,saffron jelly, sweetcorns and pieces of potatoes cooked with saffron juice for one of his "émotion extravagante".(available since last December). I liked the lemony taste with saffron twist, but cubes of al dente potatoes seemed weird to me. The lemon and saffron taste was so stong that the boiled potatoes didn't give anything to the dessert. Maybe just a feeling that you are eating a dessert with potatoes!

China Club, Hong Kong

When I asked the hotel concierge to reserve a table at David Tang's China Club, he said "no" in the beginning. Only after insisting, he agreed "to see what he can do". We did get a table that night and in fact it seems that asking your hotel's concierge is the only way to get to the restaurant if you are not a member. The club is located on the thirteenth floor of the Old Bank of China Building (it is multi level) and when you get there , you feel like you have just been transported to the 1930s Shanghai.Beautiful place.What is more impressive is the contemporary Chinese art collection on the walls. It is worth to come only for that.

Half kilo of Wagyu beef anybody?

I wish I had a supermarket close to my home like City Super (the one in the IFC mall) in Hong Kong.  You can find there everything your little heart desires,including all sorts of Wagyu Japanese beef. Or maybe rather not ... as i would spend all my money there!(The prices are in Hong Kong dollars). Some more pics after the jump...

Lung King Heen-the best Chinese in the world?

Lung King Heen is the only restaurant in Hong Kong that got three Michelin stars. Obviously, it is the only Chinese (Cantonese) that i know who has such a high rating. So is it really the best Chinese in the world?

I am not a big connaisseur of Chinese food. Of course I've had dim sum, suckling pig and Peking duck with rice pan cakes and plum sauce uncountable times, but i've never had anyhting close to what i have eaten in Hong Kong since one week.(Its my first time in China.) The thing is that even if you go to a small and cheap dim sum place here, you are almost sure to eat fresh and delicious food.

So nothing to be surprised of that  rewarding Lung King Heen ( at Four Seasons Hotel) restaurant with 3 stars,Michelin has caused quite a controversy. Hong Kong is a very developed and international city and many locals i spoke to say that there are other Chinese restaurants that are of the same level or even better than Lung King Heen.(I've even heard such gossips that the team of Michelin guide was staying in the Four Seasons Hotel and some have been speculating that this is the reason why two of the hotel's restaurants got Michelin stars.Besides Lung King Heen, another Four Seasons restaurant,Caprice, got 2.)

Bo Innovation, Hong Kong

Update: 2009/11 Bo Innovation lost one Michelin star.

Alvin Leung is not a characterless chef.Not every cook is dressed in a black sleeveless t-shirt and has huge tattoo meaning "demon chef" on his arm.After dinners Alvin likes to socialize with his guests, with a thick cigar in his mouth. The chef of Bo Innovation is a "self made man". He doesn't have any formal training and started his career in a private kitchen called Bo Innoseki in 2003 in Hong Kong. Just after 5 years, his cooking in Bo Innovation was rewarded with 2 Michelin stars in the first Guide Rouge Hong Kong ever.  As the chef likes to claim himself, he "pioneered Xtreme Chinese cuisine- a combination of centuries old recipes with modern ingredients and cooking techniques".

The treasures and pleasures of rue Saint-Anne

Konnichiwa! I have been eating a lot in rue Saint Anne and its surroundings lately. Lunches, dinners, but mainly lunches as my Japanese courses are not far away.In fact, the main reason why i started learning Japanese is the Japanese food and in the little Japan of Paris you can find anything- teppanyaki,sukiyaki,tempura, sushi, yakitori,tonkatsu etc, etc.