Ramato (上環)

Location of 208 finally showing a new name “Ramato”.


Definitely here because of Chef Antimo from Estro. As they said, “Ramato is brainchild of Chef Antimo”. Maybe having an expectation is not a good start.


Greet by lovely staff at the entrance. Service side they have done a pretty good job.



Burrata and Camone
I do love camone tomatoes and appreciate they use very fresh one to go with the burrata. Sadly burrata wasn’t really creamy. Quite disappointed.



Insalata di Polpo
Warm octopus salad with potatoes, celery, capers. Lemon dressing over the salad. Pretty simple, rustic dish. Not bad but nothing special.



Fettuccine Lobster
Pretty casual on the plating for a lobster pasta. Guess it’s because it’s $298 and it’s not expensive at all for a lobster pasta. Taste is more important right?


Flavour is there! Pasta is al dente. Lobster cooks nicely. Pretty decent dish.



Ravioli di zucca
Homemade pumpkin ravioli. Executing well. But do prefer they don’t garnish with sage. Prefer to take the sage away after cooking the sauce.



Grilled XL King prawns witj Mediterranean Herbs
Prawns are definitely in huge size. Prawns are fresh but flavour is ordinary. Would appreciate a twist on the seasoning part.


Overall, do feel it’s just another regular restaurant in Soho area. If you are looking for a casual, some good food in that area, Ramato is a good choice. Good service and good ambience. Sadly nothing special to let it stands out.

Sushi Mamoru (灣仔)

Thanks to a friend’s invitation, I can finally try Chiba San’s Edomae style sushi.


Greet by friendly staffs and be seated in this long wooden, cool counter. Only 8 seats at the counter and a private room to accommodate 4 guests. Brilliant friend already prepared some wine for the lunch. Let’s start!



Some sashimi to start. My favourite one is the bottom right, baby tuna! They explained it’s very rare to have it in restaurant as they are protected. But there’s chances the baby tuna accidentally went into the net so that’s why we had chance to taste it. We all prefer the akami one. It’s crazy it got otoro texture.


Sadly the otoro one didn’t melt in the mouth.



Steamed egg is silky. Love the plum on top giving a light sourness to the egg.


We add on an oyster. Very creamy and fat! Always love oysters!



Kohada
Pretty nice one. But not the best i had tho.



Kinmedai
Always happy to have kinmedai in my omakase. Flavour is quite light. Good to have it in the beginning.



Shiro Ebi
Big fans of shiro ebi. Really fresh and sweet!



Ishigaki Gai
Chef gave it a slap and it immediately pumping. Crispy and sweet.



Buri
My favourite of the day. I love all buri, hamachi. They have marinated it so the flavour is tense. Highlight of the day.



Akami
This is a marinated one. Taste just right!



Chutoro
Hmmm look at the cut! So fat and it melts in my mouth! Such a happy feeling!



Uni
Uni is great! Always want to have some more!



Anago, Tsukemono, Egg, and some rolls (and extra Karasumi)


Anago serving in 2 ways. One with sea salt and the latter one with sauce. Love both.


I have never had so much Karasumi in a day. The salty flavour go really well with wine actually.





At the end my belly is yelling good and so do my mouth! Thanks for Mamoru team for a lovely lunch and a warm hospitality.

大班樓 (中環)

Asia Top 1 baby! Really lucky getting a seat in last minute.



Do appreciate the flexibility for tailor made your own menu.


All comes with 3 starters of your choice, soup, 3 main courses of your choice, vegetables of your choice, rice/noodles of your choices and dessert.


$1180 (main course: 1 seafood + 2 meat)
$1280 (main course: 2 seafood + 1 meat)
$1380 (main course: 3 seafood)


Extra starter: +$80 per guest.
Extra seafood main course: +$200 per guest
Extra meat main course: +$100 per guest



My friend had chosen in advance, 2 seafood + 1 meat for main and extra starter for everyone. Menu is $1360 per guest.



I do have some comments on the serving sequence. Do think if you print the menu for guests, dishes should be served accordingly. And the way of serving is neat but quite all over the place. Mostly they just put dishes down on the table without placing at certain location or orientation. Guess it’s more liked a casual diner.




Cold Abalone Marinated with Geoduck Clam Juice
象拔蚌汁漬凍鮑魚


Quite refreshing as a cold starter. Clam juice not very pop out but abalone is good and tender.




Crispy Taro Cake with Smoked Duck
茘甫鴨盒


I really enjoy this one. It’s really crispy and the batter is so thin. Love it!




Cured Pork Fat with Sily Tofu and 2-years-aged Osmanthus Flowers
二年陳桂花冰肉豆腐花


And after a hot starter, back to cold starter. One of our friend really loves this one. I found it’s mored liked a dessert to me. It’s a good attempt tho.




Cleansing Soup
一口湯


Instead of serving last starter, the soup was served as they said more preparation time was needed.


Soup is great! We Chinese always love to have some “Lo For Tong 老火湯” especially in winter time.




Steamed Flowery Crab with Aged Shao Xing Wine, Fragrant Chicken Oil and Flat Rice Noodles
雞油花雕蒸花蟹配陳村粉


One of the signature dish in The Chairman. You can see it on almost every table and I have high expectations on it of course.


Fragrance is great! Definitely can smell the Shao Xing Wine. Visually the rice noodles still looked a bit hard. Normally the noodles is the highlight of the whole dish as it absorbs all the chicken oil, flavour of the crab and the wine. When I had my first bite of the noodles, did feel it’s a bit under.


The crab itself is beautifully done. So fresh and sweet!




Stuffed Layered Pig Intestines Grilled with Fermented Soy Paste, Mixed with Spicy Preserved Radish
麵醬燒猪套腸拌辣椒菜甫


Finally serving the last starter after first main course was done. But this is worth for the wait! The intestine was so crispy and the spicy radish gave a good kick to it.




Steamed Grouper with Marinated Peel and Salted Lard
陳皮鹹肉蒸海斑


Classic steamed fish but with a twist, steaming with salted lard. Sadly didn’t really taste the salty from the lard. But fish is fresh and fresh fish never goes wrong.




Beef Quartet in Chilli Sour Broth with Sweet Garlic
大班樓酸辣甜蒜牛四味 ( 牛肋、牛根、牛肚、肥牛 )


Great choice by my friend! Very traditional flavour
of Sichuan Chilli Sour. We even drank the broth! It’d be perfect go with some plain rice or noodles.




Gourd Juliennes and White Wood Ear Fungus cooked in Homemade Fish Broth
魚湯白木耳浸瓜絲


After some heavy flavour main course, this fish broke came in time to clean the palate a bit.




Stewed Pork Belly and Preserved Vegetables Claypot Rice
梅乾菜扣肉煲仔飯


Such a brilliant idea to combine this classic Chinese dishes with claypot rice. Perfect for winter! All the fats, essences go into the rice. Rice is perfectly cooked. A claypot full of flavours!!



End the dinner with dessert trio. Quite average so I didn’t finish all.



Overall, it’s an interesting dining experience. Do enjoy some of the dishes a lot while some is pretty standard and average. Will have to try some other dishes next time. Do thanks Chef Andy Ho for a great hospitality! 🙏🏻

Ninjito Mexican Ninja (中環)

Found this small cute Mexican/ Japanese restaurant just next to Honky Tonks. Curious to try out their food.



Relaxing weekday lunch



Chicken Karaage $98
Always my must order item in Japanese restaurant. Nicely done! Served with kewpie mayo.



Chicken Tacos Quesadilla $58
Crispy and so much cheese! Pretty nice! I actually prefer this quesadilla than the taco.



Wagyu beef Taco (up) $58, Miso black cod Taco (down) $58
Soft shell. Beef is nice but not easy to bite through. When I had my first bite, I couldn’t have a clean bite without pulling whole chunk of beef out.
Fish taco is always my favourite but this one is soso. Seasoning is a bit under.



Fish sando (main course from set lunch)
To be fair, this is a burger but not a sando. Average. Nothing wow.





Overall, it’s really good value for a casual lunch in this area. But also there’s probably so much better choices as well.

Bistro Du Vin (西環)

A lazy Saturday in Kennedy Town. Perfectly spent in this lovely French bistro with my beloved friends.


I think I got extra appetite as I skipped dinner on the previous night. I immediately suggested to order from a la carte menu instead. 4 starters, 3 main courses, 2 bottles of wine. Sounds good?



Homemade Foie Gras $240
Foie gras is creamy and in big slice. We need to ask for more sourdough to go with it.



Escargots
Snails are earthy and buttery. Always one of my favourite French dish.



Clams Basque $200
Surprisingly the meat is quite big. Sweet and juicy in a rich broth.



Steak Tartare
Love this steak tartare especially the crispy onion on top. Gave a crunchy texture to the tartare. My friends really love it!



A table full of great food



Lovely, warm interior



Lobster Linguine Signature $280
Love a good seafood pasta with a rich sauce full with seafood flavour. We finished this in one goal in less than 10 minutes.



Beef Bavette 200g $340
O wow! Temperature is just right! Spot on! Tender and with strong flavour of beef.



Amazing bavette


Roasted Chicken Signature $600
Here it comes! I was so looking forward for this chicken for days. Different style as the one at Batard. The skin is so much crispier. Meat is so tender and juicy!



Love the grill garlic, potato and carrot on the side. A perfect main course to share!


Yup! I guess we had ordered a bit too much! But who cares? Good food, good wine, good company, and this is a perfect Saturday!