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Meet the Contributors
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Fergus Fung
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Samanta Pong
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Vicki Williams
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Dane Alexander Clouston
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Gary Danko
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Prudence Lui & Anneliese O'Young
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The Gastronought
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Grégoire Michaud
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Catharine Nicol
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Debra Meiburg MW
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Jacqui Williams
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Seema Bhatia
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Natasha Loo
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Vicki
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Fideme Ngau
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Uwe Opocensky
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Kenji Yanagita
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Louis Ho
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Wilson Fok
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ILuvLubutin & SSB
Meet: Vicki Williams
Contributor
Bio:
I have had a passion for food for as long as I can remember. It began as result of my parents growing their own vegetables, fruits and herbs…the joy of gathering everything you need for a gourmet meal straight from the garden is sublime. The flavours, smells and taste of food plucked from their garden rivals anything I have tasted in a restaurant, even from the best chefs. I grew my own potatoes once, the devastation I felt when cows broke through a fence and ate them all is still vivid. As a university student I worked as a kitchen-bitch, although not for long as the head chef took great delight in throwing food and plates at the staff.
Today, my passion for all things gastronomic is continually refreshed by the talented and inspirational chefs I interview and by the restaurants I review…even the bad ones. I enjoy sensory stimulation, and I can only think of one other thing that stimulates as many senses as food.
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Tango
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Kee Club
Executive chef of the Kee Club's restaurant Gianluigi Bonelli, has worked in four 3-Michelin star restaurants - El Bulli, The Fat Duck, Le Calandre and Don Alfonso. Bonelli is an avant-garde chef whose culinary creations provoke all the senses and fully engage the mind.
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New Opening - Ayuthaiya
I place Thai food in my top five favourite cuisines, and normally after I eat good Thai food I want to call a travel agent and book the first flight to the Land of Smiles. My recent dinner at new opening Ayuthaiya (the latest offering from the Aqua Restaurant Group) did not leave me with that feeling.
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Gourmet Dining - St. George
The first time I tried chef Philippe Orrico's food was when he was a protege of Pierre Gagnaire. I did not enjoy the food and as a result did not rush out to eat at St. George when Orrico joined Hullet House. I was therefore surprised by my recent (and first time) meal at St. George.
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Meet Your Maker - Francesco Sabatini
Born in 1933, Francesco the youngest and most-travelled of the Sabatini brothers was in Hong Kong last month to celebrate a new kitchen, and to kick off the artichoke promotion at Sabatini. A vivacious man, with a sparkle in his eyes, and an obvious passion for food, wine and his restaurants. I found his energy impressive and his charming manner to be quintessentially Italian.
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Decadent Dining - Jordi Roca
The saying goes if you can't get into El Bulli try El Celler de Can Roca. The three-Michelin star restaurant is the brainchild of the three Roca brothers Joan, Josep and Jordi. It was voted the 5th Best in the world in last year's Top 50 Best Restaurants by Restaurant magazine, an increase of 21 places from 2008.
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Blood Oranges
I vividly remember eating my first blood orange when in Italy and thinking that this was the only orange for me. From its brilliant crimson-red centre to its balance of sweet, tart flavours with berry notes, it puts its pale cousins to shame. Every chance I had to eat one during my time there I did.
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International Dining - Sepia
Recently I have been questioning the Hong Kong dining scene, feeling that the standard of food has slipped and many new openings have been serving food that is average at best. Was I just jaded from several years of constant reviewing or was the quality and inspiration waning?
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Restaurant Highlight - Posto Pubblico
The first time I went to Posto Pubblico it was a hit-and-miss experience, featuring small portions, average service, and while some dishes were tasty one was so heavily seasoned I couldn't eat it. As a new opening I gave it a second try. It was an improvement on the first, the dish I found inedible was edible and the service was better. The portions were still small and the kitchen forgot our pasta, which when it did arrive was enjoyable. This inconsistency was the reason I went back for a third time.
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Meet your Maker - Pierre Gagnaire
Legendary, three-star Michelin chef, Pierre Gagnaire is known for creating dishes that often defy standard description, and his cuisine elicits words such as emotional, sophisticated, elegant, surprising and original. His signature, attention to detail.
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Meet your Maker - Massimo Bottura
Massimo Bottura's avant-garde cuisine has won him numerous awards, including two Michelin stars for his restaurant in Modena, Osteria Francescana. He has worked with, and been inspired by, leading chefs such as Alain Ducasse and Ferran Adria. His dishes are rooted in tradition yet his treatment and presentation of dishes is anything but, with his kitchen often described as a lab. Today, he is considered a key figure among a new generation of Italian chefs.
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Chef Spotlight - Uwe Opocensky
Executive chef of Mandarin Oriental (Hong Kong) Uwe Opocensky is one of Hong Kong's most talented and creative chefs. This talent was finally recognised by Michelin when it awarded him a Michelin star for the Mandarin Grill in the latest guide. I caught up with Opocensky over lunch at Mandarin Grill to learn more about his most recent progressive gastronomy creations and how these discoveries translate to the plate. We also talk about his desire to create a true total dining experience.
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New Opening - Alfie's by KEE
First impressions are important and people do make decisions (rightly or not) based on them. My first impression of Alfie's by KEE was that it was smaller than expected and certainly smaller than the photos I had seen portray. My second impression was, it was too noisy for a restaurant, having to shout at my dining companion for the first 1.5 hours not conducive to a relaxed meal.
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Meet your Maker - Greg Malouf
Award-winning Aussie chef, Greg Malouf, has been passionate about food ever since he can remember, and his decision to become a chef meant going against the wishes of his family. Although his early food influences were based around Lebanese cuisine it was a long journey for him to come back to his roots.
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New Opening - Blue Smoke Bar-B-Que
My dining companion jokingly said that restaurant group, Dining Concepts, should change its name to Meat Concepts, he has a point. Lately each restaurant that the group opens has been meat centric, for example BLT Steak, BLT Burger, and Bistecca. The group's most recent opening is Blue Smoke Bar-B-Que, perhaps the most meaty restaurant yet.
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Restaurant Highlight - Lime
Those of you that read my reviews on a regular basis will know that most of the meals I have had recently have left me less than impressed. On the plus side I was becoming more skilled at putting my critical views on paper, but at the same time it was starting to increase my cynicism towards life. I wasn't happy about this as I think of myself as a positive realist, sometimes even a dreamer. So praise and thanks to the powers that be, and my foodie friend (who is not afraid to venture outside of Central) for recommending Lime.
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New Opening - Nanhai No1
Nanhai No1 is the latest restaurant from the Elite Concepts restaurant group. According to the restaurant's fact sheet it serves contemporary Chinese cuisine, although I would add with some Asian influences. I had read one or two positive reviews of the restaurant before having dinner and after my meal I wondered if those reviewers had actually eaten there or had merely written glowing reviews based on press materials.
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The Bostonian's Sunday Brunch
It seems that Sunday brunch is becoming more and more popular in Hong Kong, and with a slew of restaurants and hotels recently introducing brunch it is now a highly competitive market. One of the most recent additions is the return of The Bostonian's Sunday Brunch.
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Dining at the Beach
From where I am sitting it is a perfect summer’s day…the sky is blue, the sun is shining, there is a gentle breeze, the soft sand stretches out before me to meet the waves breaking on the shore, while in the distance small islands dot the horizon.
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New Opening - Prime Steak House | Wine Bar
When you're onto a good thing stick with it, is one expression that restaurant group Dining Concepts seems to have adopted. The success of its recent openings Bistecca and Blue Smoke Bar-B-Que demonstrates that many diners in Hong Kong love sinking their teeth into meat.
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Whisk's Sunday Brunch
Dining trends can be as fickle as fashion trends, and to borrow a line from Heidi, one day you're in and the next day you're out. One dining option that is currently back in, is brunch, but not the humble brunch of the past. Brunch is now glamourous and in keeping with brunch's new look is the season's must have accessories: caviar, foie gras, lobster, Iberico ham, and let's not forget the free flow champagne.
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Zenku
There are certain terms used to describe food that always ring alarm bells for me, for example "playful". What does this really mean? It could mean that the food will make you smile, it will invoke childhood memories, and will be supported by enjoyable flavours and textures. Or, it could mean a gastronomic disaster.
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Lily & BLOOM
If I was going to write a recipe for a successful restaurant in Hong Kong it would include: money and lots of it, a sexy interior that is ideally the work of a known design company, the right location, and professional staff. Many new openings in Hong Kong get that part of it right. Surprisingly what is often forgotten about, or is relegated to the role of optional ingredient, is the food. It should be consistently good, ideally outstanding, yet so often isn't. BLOOM, however, is showing all the signs of getting the complete recipe right.
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Shore
One thing that I am sure about, recent opening Shore has left me unsure. I am unsure as to why the two meals I had were poles apart. One meal had me concluding that the best thing about the evening was the double espresso. The second visit I thought I was eating in a different restaurant. The first time I left disappointed and hungry. The second meal I enjoyed, and I ate more food than one should.
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Meet your Maker - Thomas Keller
Multi-award winning chef, Thomas Keller, is one of the most talented chefs in the US and arguably the world. There are soon to be ten restaurants within the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group, with a second Bouchon Bakery to open in New York. Both The French Laundry and Per Se have been rated three-star by Michelin, making him the only US-born chef to have multiple three-star restaurants.
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Alain Ducasse's Cookpot
Alain Ducasse must be a smart man. After all he has successful restaurants in France, Monaco, Italy, Japan, Hong Kong, Mauritius, the UK, and the US. His 27 restaurants have been awarded a total of 19 Michelin stars, with the most recent star-rating going to Spoon here in Hong Kong. As a smart man he knows how to make maximum impact and this he did when recently in Hong Kong to launch his new signature dish, the Cookpot. He invited select media, all of whom attended, and a French TV crew, to go shopping with him at Mongkok market.
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GOLD by Harlan Goldstein
As individuals our identities are important. None of us would like to experience identity fraud, and the associated stress and potential damage to reputation that results. In the culinary world chefs often try to secure their identity by naming a restaurant after themselves, especially if they already have a good reputation before venturing out on their own. Sometimes however, that is not enough, as Harlan Goldstein learnt. Recently opened, Gold by Harlan Goldstein, sees the chef claiming back his identity in a way that is as big and bold as the man himself.
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Bouchon Bistro Francais
Rising like a phoenix from the ashes of Ocean Grill is Bouchon Bistro Francais, an intimate restaurant serving classic French bistro fare. It is the latest opening from Dining Concepts and makes a refreshing addition to the group's portfolio, which is heavily focused around beef.
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Star Anise
I find everything about Star Anise (Illicium verum) fascinating, from its wonderful shape to the appetising aroma through to the intriguing flavour profile. All of its unique characteristics makes me want to incorporate it into more of my cooking.
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Gourmet Bush Cuisine
For the past few years I have combined a trip back to Australia to see family with a two-week camping retreat to a secret location accessible only by boat. We spend our days walking along kilometres of white sand, swimming in immaculately clean waters and fishing in the river. I happily let go of aspects of my regular existence such as internet, phone, and DVDs. One thing that I don't let go of is good food.
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Amber's Weekend Wine Lunch
Value-for-money and two-star Michelin dining are not normally found in the same place. Also often at opposite ends of the dining experience is value-for-money and fine dining. To find them together is a treat, and is exactly what we found at Amber's Weekend Wine Lunch.
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The Gold Collection by Harlan Goldstein
In the world of celebrity chefs and their revenue-generating cookbooks Hong Kong's own 'celebrity' chefs have been slow to join the potential cash-cow bandwagon. There are a handful of known Hong Kong chefs who have published books, although most of these are in Chinese. This year things will change with a number of the city's more infamous chefs releasing cookbooks. The first of these chefs is Harlan Goldstein, whose self-published cookbook, The Gold Collection was released recently.
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La Marmite
One of last year's restaurant trends in Hong Kong was New York Italian restaurants, with several opening in a short period of time. So far this year, the French bistro is the current emerging trend. Entering the SoHo neighbourhood recently was Bouchon Bistro Francais, followed closely, both in terms of opening and location, by La Marmite, the latest offering from the Aqua Restaurant Group.
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Bistecca Italian Steak House: The Book
Bistecca Italian Steak House: The Book is the first self-published cookbook from Dining Concepts Ltd and is co-authored by the group's director of culinary operations, Chris Mark, and writer Andrew Sun, with photos by fine art documentary photographer Andre Eichman, and a forward by chef Umberto Bombana. According to the press release the book, "…captures the excitement and energy of the casual steakhouse's warm and rustic charm."
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Grand Hyatt Steakhouse
The classic steak house is a basic restaurant concept that when done right is pretty much guaranteed to be a success. There is a steak house formula, a formula that is followed time and again throughout the world for good reason, it works. The ultimate key to the success will of course be the steak and the chef's execution of expensive cuts of beef. It will be the primary reason that people visit and a factor in deciding if they will return on a regular basis. Added to this will be an oyster and seafood bar, a salad bar, and a good wine list, plus a side order of great service, presented in an environment of dark woods and leather.
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Tosca
Vittorio Lucariello, chef de cuisine of Tosca, fairly or not, has some big shoes to fill. This is not because he is heading up one of the premier restaurants in the newly-opened Ritz Carlton Hong Kong - the highest hotel in the world. It is not because he has to work with the challenges of an open kitchen and ensuring 114 diners are fed in a timely manner. It is because Tosca will be seen by many Hong Kong diners as the new Toscana - once the city's favourite Italian restaurant, and Lucariello will therefore be compared to its head chef at the time Umberto Bombana - one of Hong Kong diner's most beloved chefs.
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Cherries
One of the great things about Hong Kong is that we get to have seasonal fruits twice a year, and one of my top picks for summer are the wonderfully juicy sweet cherries, which are currently flooding supermarkets and wet-markets. Cherries are available in many species but only two kinds are commonly eaten - the wild cherry (also called sweet) and the sour cherry - which is used mostly in cooking. In this article I focus on the wild cherry.
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Angelini - A Revisit
A restaurant's reputation is often linked to the chef that heads up the kitchen, so what happens when a head chef moves on to explore other career opportunities? Sometimes the second in charge, who knows the recipes and the dishes, and who has been cooking them more than the head chef, will take over and this can create a seamless transition and ensure the continued good reputation of the restaurant. Other times, as is the case with Italian restaurant, Angelini, a new chef comes onboard.
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JW's California - A Culinary Journey
Some foodies are lucky enough to be able to travel to exciting culinary countries, regularly planning entire trips around food and restaurants. For those not so lucky, chef de cuisine of JW's California, Jordi Villegas, has what he considers the next best thing to travelling to eat with his 'Culinary Adventure'.