Luxeat

Happy 2011 from Luxeat

The Menu Code

An excellent WSJ article by Amy Ma about the trend at contemporary restaurants to give their dishes nondescript names.El Bulli famously does that , Bo Innoovation so as many other modern restaurants. While I agree with the Hong Kong blogger Peter Chang that such menus are " really annoying" ,what i find most annoying is "carte blanche"menus - when you don't get any menu at all (and they would just ask you before the meal if you have any allergies or products you don't like). Many highly rated restaurants around the world exclusively propose such menus. L'Astrance, Passage 53,Yam'tcha in Paris, Momofuku Ko in NY or Quintessence in Tokyo to name a few.

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon at the Publicis Drugstore

 

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon Etoile  at the Publicis Drugstore in Paris (133, av des Champs-Elysées, 75008,Paris , tel. 01 47 23 75 75 ) is the lastest addition to Robuchon restaurants empire.

Ushiwakamaru New York

 Ushiwakamaru (136 West Houston Street,10012, tel. 212-228-4181, New York) sushi bar on West Houston  is one of my best discoveries  in NY this year.  If you are a sushi purist like me, you will love this simple place run by Japanese chef Hideo Kuribara where product is the king. The best sushi i've had in NY since the heydays of Sushi Yasuda.

Some more pics after the jump...

I love you,Umami Burger (L.A.)

Umami Burger in LA has completely changed my understanding what a good burger should be like. In fact , it has changed my life as i will never be able to enjoy any other burgers ( other burgers than Umami to be precise.) Soft Portuguese bread,amazing beef, grilled shiitake mushroom, tomato confit, caramelized onions, ketchup and parmesan tuile... Once you bite the burger, you forget all the miseries of this world. (Please keep in mind that the picture doesn't do the juctice. As there was no free table, i ate the burger in a car!)

Café Gray Hong Kong paradox

 
(Image from http://www.cafegrayhk.com/ website)

When i was in Hong Kong few weeks ago, i stayed at the Upper House .I adored the hotel for it's intelligent luxury, sincere service as well as for reasonable prices. The only drawback i thought was it's restaurant. I found the food at Café Gray too complicated and pretentious. And i think that there is nothing worse than "pseudo gastronomy", when a chef tries to cook creative and nice looking dishes, but forgets the most important ingredient- the taste. (I thought exactly the same about Café Gray in NY 4 years ago. It has been closed since then.)