restaurant Akrame (灣仔)

There seems to be a lot of award winning chefs opening their own restaurants in Hong Kong as of late and Akrame Benallal has recently joined the party. His original restaurant in Paris was awarded one Michelin star just after a year of operations, and now he has opened Restaurant Akrame on Ship st!

A modest entrance, it's name stated in neat illuminated white writing on a dark background and his somewhat mathematical looking symbol, A to the power to R, decaled on the window.

We were lucky to get a table by walk-in since they were already fully booked for the evening, but we had to return the table to them by 8.30pm. No problems~

The restaurant was quite small with minimalistic decor, black furniture contrasting with stark white walls. It was smart to decorate like this, as anything else not so plain would make the already small feel cramped.We were presented with the 'menu', except there is nothing much to be seen on the menu... Guests can choose either four courses or six courses and you will be served whatever the chef has prepared for the evening Surprise~. Of course they will ask if you have food allergies and if you must know they can tell you what the main ingredient of each course would be, but Akrame is focused on seafood so either clap your hands in glee or sigh your frustration pending your preference for fruits de la mer.

Amuse bouche- squid ink cracker with smoked eel, Parmesan with salmon roe, anchovy with daikon (really fishy) and the one on its own olive with goats cheese.Two types of bread, raisin and wheat, the accompanying butter infused with lemon. The first taste was interesting, but after a while it became a little too cloying. And my thoughts on the communal butter knife, well unless I'm some nervous guy on a first date who is waiting for an opportune moment to 'accidentally' grab the girls hand, I didn't love it. Plain butter and my own butter knife please.

This was the first course. Cauliflower purée, Campari or cranberry jelly? I could be wrong on both accounts as I couldn't hear the server properly and vinegar sauce...Oh and soup, squirted from a canister.Creamy with a full cauliflower flavour, it had a hint of bitterness from either the purée or the jelly, but it really needed salt.

Baby pippies are hiding underneath all that foam, bathing in a passion fruit and herb sauce. Cooked perfectly they were very soft and I loved the tartness from the passion fruit.We requested a substitute for our fish course, and instead received lobster from the chef.

In it's raw sashimi state...Piping hot broth is poured in and left to cook in the sealed jar. Almost like waiting for two minute noodles.After two minutes (I think), a lemon sabayon cream with green apple and zucchini pieces was placed in front of us and this was the bed for our lobster. Wow~ this was good even for someone like me who does not love lobster. Lightly cooked, so sweet and tender, but the sabayon I loved~ Fluffy, the tart flavours from the lemon and apples went hand in hand and just worked so well with the lobster. I wanted to scrape up every smear of the sabayon, but the nasty grating noise my spoon made against the plate was not the most polite.A palate refresher of an alcoholic sherbet was served prior to our final dish.

Our last savoury course was beef. A twist on your typical meat and potatoes crowned with a crispy noodle nest. The potato was made into a foam while the cut of tenderloin albeit small was a perfect medium rare, but unfortunately there was a slight amount of gristle.Finally to dessert.

We are served liquid tar covered lumps. Just kidding

Charcoal ice-cream and cooked pineapple. If you ask me, the charcoal doesn't taste much like anything, just a strong fragrance of char and slightly salty. The blackened cookies were a clever touch, acting like lumps of charcoal with a gritty texture and the juicy pineapple helped rinse the palate from the heady flavour.A second dessert, two toned chocolate mousse~ Bottom layer cold, top layer warm, if they didn't point this out I doubt I would have noticed the temperature difference. This was really rich, easily satisfying my inner chocoholic, and digging inside I uncovered a thin caramel crisp and grapefruit segment useful in relieving the palate from the monotony of creamy mousse.Oh and petit fours~ lemon crisp on torched meringue, big madelines and sea salt chocolate. I loved the madelines~Akrame was good, well executed dishes nicely turned out, but nothing was great with the only exception being the lobster. For the price of $788 for four courses it veered on the expensive side with portion sizes being quite petite, but I would recommend it and coming for lunch would definitely be more value for money.

22 Ships (灣仔)

I have finally boarded the ship (pun intended) and tried the oft talked about 22 ships~ in case you are wondering the name of the restaurant is actually its address. A cute touch.The whole outfit is somewhat casual, with bar seats surrounding the whole of the open kitchen and if you like they have a few seats facing out onto the street where you can people watch. If you are sitting at the bar be assured you will have the best seats in the house for watching the chefs prepare your food which may not be the best if you are hungry, but it is a tight space so be prepared to rub shoulders with your neighbours.The menu doubles as your place mat while daily specials are listed on the blackboard.Starting with something light. The beetroot salad was as pretty as a picture, a litte patch of Spring in the onset of Winter. Pairing creamy blobs of goats cheese and salt baked beetroot was a winning combination, but the pear jelly was a tasteless bystander.Roasted bone marrow from the daily specials. Oily, fatty goodness come to me~ Their version is a little different, meat mixed in with the marrow making for less of an oily mouthful. Smeared on the perfectly toasted bread spread with sweet mustard and a little of the caramelised onions, it was pretty damn good!People have waxed lyrical about these mini sliders filled with Iberian pork and foie gras, but... I wasn't so impressed. I mean the brioche was soft, and the meatball patty was tender enough with the familiar gaminess from foie gras, however it just wasn't special. I actually liked the side of creamy avocado and pickled cucumbers more...So did I like it? It's quite good, although I only had a limited amount of dishes from the menu, meaning I need to make a return visit. I was lucky that I didn't need to wait for a seat (honestly what is with waiting and HK restaurants) since they have a no reservations policy, but arriving at 2pm for a late lunch was certainly the right choice. 22 ships don't include service charge in the bill, so tip accordingly, there is creativity and the food is really not bad ;)

大班樓 (中環)

When talking to people who love food, it is always worth asking what kind of restaurants they visit regularly or someplace they would recommend. When I specified Chinese food, rather than a starred establishment or hotel restaurant, one name kept popping up, The Chairman.

Curious to know just how good the food was at The Chairman, it was lucky that Miss K had her birthday soon and when The Chairman came up in conversation she readily agreed to having her celebration there~ It was easy to see how popular the restaurant was since it took me one month to secure a reservation so please be sure to call ahead.

The restaurant is quite non-descript, you could say it has two levels, but the so called 'ground floor' only has a couple of two seater tables squeezed into the corners while the majority of seating is upstairs. The low ceiling makes the space feel quite cramped and don't expect too much in decor with its plain white walls, but it doesn't really matter so long as the food is good.

And it was.

Starting with century eggs with pickled ginger. The familiar pungent metallic tang of the gooey yolk, offset nicely by the sweetly spicy ginger.Cubes of ox tongue marinated in a dark vinegar sauce concealed a spicy kick. Succulent and fleshy, what's not to love about ox tongue?The best appetiser would have to go to the wild clams fried in chili jam. It looked like any ordinary stir-fried clam dish, but the flavour was amazing~ Tender morsels of clams combined with the chili burn from the thick sweet sauce... really addictive. I am normally not a big fan of shellfish, but this I would really recommend.One of The Chairman's most signature dish is the flowery crab steamed with ShaoXing wine and chicken oil. An impressive looking dish with the crab looking like it's hugging guarding the rolls of rice noodles. For those who were willing to get their hands dirty (a big thanks to Mr. K who was willing to crack everybody's crab ) they were rewarded with sweet soft flesh, while others ate the perfectly steamed rice rolls. I did find the broth to be overpoweringly alcoholic, almost as if the cook was a little too happy in pouring in the wine, if they tempered this down it would have been even more enjoyable.We had chicken~ The Chairman's soy sauce chicken to be exact. Well marinated, with supple skin and the slight chewy texture of the meat that may hint to free range chicken. This was pretty decent too.The pork belly cooked in preserved vegetables and dates was a crowd pleaser. Generous slices of pork with heart stopping layers of fat that just melted in the mouth... combined with the sweetness of the preserved vegetables this absolutely sinful. Oh and don't forget the fluffy man taos too~It seemed like we ordered a lot of spicy dishes without meaning to, as the beef stir-fried with peppercorns was served. The beef was actually very tender and the peppercorns made it similar to that of a Si Chuan dish. It was a pity I didn't eat more of this, but there were just too many dishes arriving at that moment that I sort of just forgot about it...Always need greens~ Stir-fried gai lan and they made the effort to shave the tough exterior around the stalk so we could just enjoy the crunchy fleshiness of the vegetable. Appreciated.Our last main dish was the caramelized black vinegar spare ribs. Everybody received one chunky piece, a good layer ratio of fat and lean meat, perfectly cooked through while still retaining a moist tenderness.Since we are Asian, it only seems fitting that we ordered rice somewhere along the way, two dishes in fact. Fried rice with conpoy and egg white, and fried rice with prawns trio- fresh prawns, dried prawns and shrimp paste. I think most of us were already too full to enjoy the rice, but it was nicely fried with evident wok hei and if you really love prawns, you should try the prawns trio version as it seemed like every grain of rice tasted of prawn.No Chinese desserts for us since we had cake~ Rose and Lychee cake to be exact~ Happy Birthday again Miss K~Really amazing food, there was no bad dish which nowadays is pretty hard to achieve. In terms of Chinese food with no starred status it is not overly cheap, but for the quality you are given I would say is worth it. Service is brisk and abrupt, with times that you do have to hand over your dirty plates to the server and they did forget to serve us soup that we had ordered, but other than that I wouldn't mind coming back.

Those who have visited The Chairman, are there any other particular dishes that I should try next time? I would love to hear your suggestions

Zurriola (尖沙咀)

In Hong Kong it seems whenever there is something that is associated with celebrities locals will naturally flock to it hoping to glimpse some of the stars or whatnot. With restaurants it is the same, like the group of three recently opened by actress Carina Lau up in The One. Two Spanish, the more formal Zurriola and the tapas focused Tapagria as well as a Japanese establishment Kyo-Shun.

All three are arranged together on the 18th floor, more convenient for management I guess and being so high up, a night view overlooking the harbour is almost a guarantee, an alluring aspect to most diners nowadays.

We were there to try Zurriola that evening, not so that we could glimpse the famous owner, but rather to try a dish that I saw previously which looked pretty enticing. Zurriola aims for contemporary Spanish cuisine and being affiliated with the branch in Tokyo, one Michelin star status, it has a certain standard to maintain.

The entrance is framed by an attractive glass wine cabinet and it is only a short distance before we reach the main dining room. The room is a lot smaller than I expected, with two private dining rooms sectioned off, coupled with the romantic mood lighting I would say it feels cozy even.Not feeling particularly inclined towards their tasting menu, we opted for a la carte so we could try more variety.

A variety of bread was offered for our choosing and while there was choice it didn't taste like they were made in house nor were they served warm. The accompanying olive oil was quite good though, thick with a strong olive fragrance.

Amuse bouche was a slice of Joselito Iberian ham layered on a puffy cracker. It is best to eat this in one mouthful as the cracker breaks open to release a gush of chilled tomato cream. The Iberian ham was so soft that it melted easily in the mouth and its deep flavour paired well with the light tang of the tomato.The dish that I had come for, the sea urchin soup, was unfortunately unavailable that evening so we chose the only other soup option instead. Mushroom and porcini cream soup arrived as a medley of mixed mushrooms and chunks of sweetbread while the soup was poured table-side. We did tell them it was for sharing, but maybe they forgot or didn't pay attention as it only arrived in a single bowl. While the mushrooms were earthy with the sweetbread sharing a meatiness to the flavour, the soup itself was not smooth enough and a sour tang was noticeable in every spoonful. Not so good.Red prawns are always evident in Spanish cuisine so the red prawn carpaccio was a no-brainer. Appearance wise it reminded me of a similar dish served in another reknowned Italian restaurant also high up in the clouds in Kowloon side. Thin layers of raw red prawn dotted with an almond cream sauce, I wouldn't say it was spectacular, but the prawns were fresh.The Iberian Presa salad was possibly the dish I enjoyed most. Thin layers of black pork topped with a forest of fresh greens dressed in vinagrette with scattered kernels of caramelised hazelnuts. The pork was really tender and I liked the light sweetness from the dressing. A refreshing dish.Not much can go wrong with scallops providing they are of course fresh and cooked to the perfect temperature. The pan-seared Hokkaido scallops were just that, soft and velvety with a slight kick from the chorizo emulsion, but I found the smear of almond cream an odd addition to the dish.Rather than ordering a meaty main dish, we choose to try their broth rice. Choosing the seafood version, we were presented with a soupy concoction infused with saffron and topped with red prawns and calamari. The rice had the typical Spanish bite to it while the broth itself was rich in flavour. The first few spoonfuls weren't bad, but it became boring pretty quickly since the flavor was just one tone. Once again, the server did not split this into two portions for us.We shared two desserts. The first was a chocolate velvet cream paired with Williams pear sorbet. Essentially a mousse, it was creamy, but the chocolate flavour was dismal. If the main focus of the dessert is the chocolate mousse it should be more full-bodied and intense, but it tasted quite flat here. The pear sorbet was not too sweet, but it was too icy to be smooth. I think the best part were the caramelized almonds hiding underneath everything.The cheesecake ice-cream fared better, smooth and sweet with the cubes of cake giving a little texture. The berries reduction didn't seem necessary though as it didn't give much flavour and it just made the ice-cream melt faster. Maybe it would be better if they just had the fresh berries only.Finally to petit fours. Dark chocolate dipped orange rind, pistachio financier and mango bon bons. I would say only the chocolate dipped orange rind is worth trying.Although I could see that effort had been made, there were more misses than hits to this meal. Service was relatively attentive since they weren't so full, a little fumbly at times, but honestly is it so hard to split a portion beforehand for guests who are sharing?

Le Salon De Thé de Joël Robuchon (尖沙咀)

The people behind the Joel Robuchon name have certainly been busy. Only recently opening a branch in IFC, Elements now have their very own Salon de The too~ Happy happy for Kowloon-siders!

Compared with the others, the one at Elements occupies a much bigger space with the enclosed area giving more of a restaurant feel. Again gorgeously decorated with the striking colours of their signature black and red, it certainly looks classy~As we were seated, the server specially pointed out their new menu for crepes something I haven't seen at other branches so of course we had to try.

Bread was served first, a selection of three soft and warm from the oven. My sister and I both thought the cheesy herb roll was the best, with a mochi-like chew and it just smelled so good!The salmon crepe arrived as a big enough portion to be shared among two people. It looked so simple, yet the flavours were anything but... Chunky slices of potato baked to a melting softness, layered with smoked salmon and sprinkled with dill all surrounding a barely cooked Japanese sun egg. I loved how thin and crisp the crepe was allowing the actual flavours of the filling to shine through and best of all it didn't have the pungent odour of buckwheat which I really dislike.I wanted to try the chicken risotto, but it was unavailable that day so they suggested I try the chicken burger which is also a new item. First bite and I was smitten~ A fluffy bun hugging two pieces of pan fried chicken fillets with avocado (love!), tomato and lettuce. The chicken was really juicy with a crunchy crust and despite it being a burger I felt quite healthy eating this The burger is already tasty enough on its own, but they do have an accompanying egg and caper sauce which became my dipping sauce for the crunchy french fries.The corolles pasta was an accident since they placed it on our table by mistake. However when we told them, they let us keep it anyway. A mound of al dente pasta scattered with French ham cooked in a creamy butter sauce. Definitely comfort food and perfect for the upcoming cold weather.My sister having had a marvelous croque monsieur from another place, wanted to try the croque madame after seeing it on the menu. A toasty hot roll filled with a thick slice of french ham, sunny egg and smothered in melted cheese. Mmm~ the oozing yolk, slight saltiness from the ham, richness from the cheese and the pillowy bun... such simple ingredients, but combined together make for quite a yummy mouthful. If I worked at Elements this and a cup of their Blue Mountain blend coffee is what I would want for breakfast~Although they have some new cakes on the menu, I only wanted my beloved salted caramel tart while my sister chose the citron tart to balance out the sweetness of mine. The richness of the chocolate and burnt caramel never fails to please, while the pleasant sharpness of the lemon was enough to pull me out of my caramel induced haze So satisfied~ the crepe and chicken burger is really worth trying and although we were too full for coffee this time, there is always next time... preferably paired with a sweet crepe ;)