Just hours before our flight back to Singapore, we made a quick stop over at Australian Dairy Company for some steamed egg and iced tea.
The name, Australian Dairy Company, is quite a misnomer by itself, since it isn’t a milk or cheese company. The scrambled eggs at Australian Dairy Company are good, but we were just done with a satisfying meal at Yeung Kee just an hour before and had no space left to stomach more food!
A random late night supper stop brought us to Ming Yuen Noodles, a nondescript noodle house in Kowloon. Ming Yuen Noodles has quite a few branches in Hong Kong and by most accounts, the reviews of the other outlets seem rather similar – being rather average.
To be honest, we were rather famished by the time the food arrived, but even with that in mind, the meal at Ming Yuen did come across as being rather disappointing.
For those of you who like their rice, in particular ‘hot-potted rice’ dishes, do read a review of another Hong Kong establishment that specializes in it - Four Seasons Pot Rice
It is an undeniable fact that I am very, very fond of the dim sum at Tim Ho Wan. Having first blogged about it sometime back in December 2010, I have since revisited Tim Ho Wan two more times; this post documenting the latest visit in January 2012.
Instead of paying a visit to the first branch located in Mong Kong, we decided to drop by their outlet in Sham Shui Po. Benefiting from a significantly larger premise and more service staff, the outlet has reeled in the crowds since it opened. Of course, the Sham Shui Po outlet has its detractors – the main comment that the food served here pales in comparison.
“The goose that lost its star” was how a friend of mine called it. Well, star or no star, I’m pleased to report that the Roasted Goose at Yung Kee in Hong Kong is as good as I remember it to be – 10 months ago! It’s good to know that some things just, never change.
Last year, during my last trip to Hong Kong, I had my best meal at Liberty Private Works. It just so happened that a friend of mine (@3starbackpacker) asked on Twitter about the current whereabouts of Chef Makoto Ono. I did some digging and found the following information and thought that I might as well share the it with my readers.
Mandarin Bar and Grill is almost molecular gastronmy like in their approach but I loved every moment that I was there. I felt like I was transported into a different realm for that 3 hours. Liberty Private Works was my best meal in Hong Kong but Mandarin Bar and Grill is not a far second. Service was excellent too! Definitely worthy of their One Michelin Star (Which they retained in the recent 2011 Michelin HK/Macau guide)
Long renowned as Hong Kong’s favourite dining room, The Grill serves an exciting adaptation of grill specialties with a dash of progressive gastronomy from the talented Executive Chef Uwe Opocensky.
Source: http://www.mandarinoriental.com/hongkong/dining/restaurants/mandarin_grill/
If there is one thing that I miss from Hong Kong – it has got to be the avaibility of excellent dim sum! Choices are available, seemingly at every corner of the island to suit any budgets. On the one hand you have Man Wah and Lung King Heen etc. for Michelin-starred (and expensive) dim sum and on the other you have traditional tea houses like Lin Heung.
For those of you who get to have dim sum at the likes of Man Wah, lucky you; For the rest of us, Tim Ho Wan is here!
The perennial question – Where did you have the best meal in Hong Kong? My answer – Liberty Private Works.
I am sure that at the back of your mind you must be thinking, “Glenn, you have to be kidding”. But I kid you not, Liberty Private Works, hereinafter referred to as LPW, was where I had the best meal in my two recent trips to Hong Kong. Michelin starred it is not, but step into the 12 seater kitchen (and mind you, a kitchen is the appropriate word and not a restaurant per-se), and you can sense the passion of Chef Makoto and the humble albeit homely service of his crew of his girlfriend/wife and a wait staff.
So how did I come across LPW? Well, with the help of the Hong Kong food blogs and Openrice Hong Kong, of course! I was brought to the attention of this little gem in Central, Hong Kong!
So what is it like, dining at Liberty Private Works?
First and foremost, I apologise for the lack of a photograph of the restaurant interior as the restaurant was full that night and I did not want to photograph the diners there. Imagine a 12 seater bar top counter surrounding a bar and kitchen. Te entire restaurant takes up, probably somewhere in the region of 400 sq feet, tops. I dare say that the kitchen with came equipped with 3 stoves, an oven and an electric grill is no larger than a kitchen of a 5-room HDB flat. To put it simply, Chef was literally squeezed into a corner.
Copyright: http://www.jasonbonvivant.com/2010/05/liberty-private-works.html
When you’re in Hong Kong and you’re hungry, come Saturday morning, what do you do? Visit Amber for their Wine Brunch for that was what I did.
Alright, the sheer convenience of walking directly from my hotel to the adjacent mall, all in the comforts of an air conditioned sheltered above-ground walkway did it for me too.
For HKD$698++, you get to 6 courses (3 of which are desserts) all accompanied with wines selected by their sommelier.
For starters, there is the glass of champagne to accompany the amuse bouche – Jelliedfied melon.
Paired with n/v veuve clicquot ponsardin ‘brut’ chardonnay, pinot noir & pinot meunier ◦ reims ◦ france ◦ ◦
Continuing on from posts of my recent trip to Hong Kong, is a review of Chinnery’s Fish and Chips, served in-room.
Just the day earlier, I had an excellent weekend wine brunch at 2 Michelin Starred Amber at the nearby Landmark Mandarin Oriental. Feeling the effects of the alcohol, I decided to eat in.
The Deep Fried Battered Pollock was good, it was not excellent, but good enough! I was surprised that, even the time it took for them to send the meal to me, the batter remained crispy. I was pretty sure that beer was used in this batter – it had a hint of beer in it.
I too was happy to see that the fish was not too oily, which probably helped the fish to retain its crispyness too.
I was decently satisfied.
HungryEpicurean paid for his meal at the restaurant reviewed here.
Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong
5 Connaught Road, Central,
Hong Kong
Telephone: +852 2522 0111
www.mandarinoriental.com
glennleems