Street food with Michelin stars always draws queues. Yat Lok is one of those places in Central. But if you go at odd hours, like at 10.30am or at 3pm, you might get a table in the small shop without too much wait. That’s what I did.
This is what the 2019 Hong Kong Michelin Guide has to say:
The signature roast geese glistening behind the window are marinated with a secret recipe and go through over 20 preparatory steps before being chargrilled to perfection. Char siu pork uses pork shoulder from Brazil for melty tenderness. Roast pork belly and soy-marinated chicken are also recommended. Expect to share a table with others. It’s been run by the Chus since 1957 and in this location since 2011.
The visit
Not much to say. I went for the classic, a quarter of goose with drumstick and some sweet iced tea.
The sauce was distinctly sweet, but in a good way. It was indeed quite unique, even if I am not sure that is something to deserve a long wait in line.
They also have other roasted meats, like pork and chicken.
On the menu they also sports some combination platters.
The check
I spent 185 HKD for the goose quarter and 19 for the iced tea, that’s 204 HKD or 26 USD. Whether it is worth or not, I leave it to your judgment.
Where in Hong Kong: 34-38 Stanley St, Central. Tip: a Venchi ice cream shop is just in front of the restaurant.
I am very lucky that I have some good friends in Hong Kong with whom I always share a meal or two when I am visiting. During my trip in June 2019 they took me to a traditional Hong Kong eatery in Wan Chai. It is one of those restaurant that is as large as a private dining room. On a Friday night it was packed. It must be a very popular place. Its English name is “Your restaurant”.
The visit
Dishes started to arrive pretty quickly. The first was a vegetable soup.
The main attraction of the evening was a garlic chicken served with tofu. The tofu was very tasty, almost as much as the chicken. In the picture above you can see the dish before the waiter poured the garlic dressing (see picture on top of the page).
Clams.
I particularly enjoyed this deep fried whitebait.
Glazed pork.
More chicken meat in soy sauce.
Some greens.
At the end everyone praised the house puddings. I had a coconut pudding, while the most popular around the table was the whisky pudding.
The check
It was 980 HKD for a huge feast. In the end we paid around 160 HKD per person (20 USD). Relly good value for money.
Where in Hong Kong: 3 Tai Wong St E, Wan Chai Open rice page.
Update September 2019: I have been informed by friends that the restaurant closed down. The owner just had it enough. Old Hong Kong disappearing.
I rarely enjoyed a dim sum meal like this. And it was not in a luxury location like Mott 32, the Swan Hotel, or Yi Long Court. It was an old-school dim sum joint in West Hong Kong with a quirky name: Three Minus One (Saam Hui Yaat 叁去壹點心粉麵飯). A friend explained me the story. Initially the restaurant was planned to have three owners, then one stepped down and the name was adopted.
The visit
The storefront with a sing using only Chinese characters.
The owner let me take a picture. He was a very friendly individual Luckily they had an English menu, so ordering was not an issue.
The classic shrimp dumplings were full of meat and super fresh.
The Chiu Chow (or Teochew) dumplings came with a perfect crystal skin and I could taste the aromas of the different herbs used. It is a vegetarian dim sum from a cuisine distinct from the classic Cantonese dim sum.
I am not usually a fun of these big steamed dumplings, but I enjoyed this one with a chicken filling.
Finally I had a pair of tasty meatballs.
The check
In total I spent 76 HKD (around 10 USD) including a pot of tea. It was a hearty and satisfactory breakfast. All the food tasted very fresh and was coming straight from the steamers. If you read this review and are visiting Hong Kong, send me a thank you for sharing this little gem.
Where in Hong Kong: 11 Pok Fu Lam Road, Western District. In Chinese: 西環薄扶林道11號.
I had had a dinner at Aqua restaurant 15 years ago. It may have had a different name, but the concept was the same as today: Italian and Japanese food under one roof. They are my favorite cuisines, so it seemed a good idea to go back at least once. I went for brunch on a Sunday in June 2019 that they call “Because”. Why I cannot say.
The visit
The restaurant is located on the 29th and 30th floor of One Peking, a skyscraper on 1 Peking street in Kowloon. It sports a beautiful view of Victoria harbor.
The brunch started with a dish of Italian cold cuts and roasted vegetables. Quite good.
There was also a bread basket with a nice hummus dip. It was not replenished during the meal though.
The second appetizer was a generous portion of burrata cheese. Also very good.
They had a station where the burrata was prepared on the spot.
One oyster.
More sashimi: botan ebi, salmon, hamachi, kampachi, a futomaki roll. Good quality. I am not sure that they also included the diced tuna with caviar that was included on the menu (I am noticing this only now that I am writing the review).
Then there was a truffle risotto with Grana Padano cheese. This tasted a bit weird, too sour. I am not sure if this was the expected taste.
The cheese was grated from a big cheese wheel.
Back to Japanese cuisine, with a pair of pan-fried gyoza. Quite forgettable.
Next was prawn tempura (really basic) and an acceptable lamb chop.
The dessert platter was quite nice, it included also a couple of ice cream scoops.
The check
Final check 647 HKD (82.50 USD). There were some good dishes, but most of them were actually pretty mediocre. So the check is not really justified if not for the view. At least water was included.
I was really hoping Aqua would challenge the law of heights in restaurants: the higher you go, the more expensive the check and worse the food. It is a pity because if they had invested just a little bit on one or two dishes, it could have been a good brunch overall.
Where in Hong Kong: One Peking Road, TST. Website: aqua.com.hk.
Bo Innovation is the award winning restaurant of Alvin Leung in Hong Kong (three Michelin stars). I had already tried Bo Innovation in Shanghai and found it impressive. But I was not ready for a twenty-something tasting menu that characterize the dinner experience. Luckily the restaurant offered an abridged tasting menu for lunch that looked ideal. So by email I made a reservation for my June 2019 trip to Hong Kong.
The visit
The restaurant is located in Wan Chai (incidentally, above Five Guys) and the dining room was spacious with a modern touch.
The professional waiter pointed out that the dishes were antiques collected by the chef.
There was a spectacular welcome dish: an egglet pancake filled with spring onions and other herbs. As you may know, egglet pancakes are a fixture in Hong Kong street food. This was the right start.
The first dish featured a corn mousse and crackers, Japanese cauliflower, pinenut, and Pat Chun sweetened vinegar. Pat Chun was founded in 1932 by Mr Ng Wai Sum. The words Pat Chun「八珍」refers to a phrase in the ancient Chinese Book of Rites that described precious ingredients used in concocting hundreds of sauces with different flavors. The sweetened vinegar is their flagship product and a quintessential Hong Kong ingredient. The waiter proudly showed me the bottle of the vinegar that helped to fuse the dish elements together. Most of the dishes to come would feature such ingredients linked to the history of Hong Kong.
The second dish featured a lobster tartare, black truffle, and the signature ingredient, an oil called har mi (dried baby shrimps). It is obtained infusing the dried baby shrimps in the oil for 3 days before distilling it. It is Alvin’s invention once again using a popular Hong Kong ingredient. I was even offered a couple of jars of the juice to add to the dish at my discretion.
The third dish consisted of a meaty Hokkaido scallop, Shanghainese jolo sauce (a type of red rice fermented vinegar), sugar snap peas, and some “woba” (the name the crispy burnt rice that was the leftover in rice pots in olden days before the invention of rice-cooker). Bonus: here you can find the recipe. This was one of my favorite dishes.
The next dish was the celebrated molecular xiao long bao (soup dumpling). To be eaten all at once, it did recreate the flavor of a soup dumpling on the palate.
It was now time for the foie gras that came with bamboo shoots.
The foie gras was sprayed (literally, using a perfume dispenser) with Chu Yen Ching liquor. I do not like liquor and this was not a great add on form me.
The foie gras was accompanied by a charcoal mantou.
The palate cleanser was a green concoction with the prized Chinese wine Moutai (its bottle looks like a detergent, doesn’t it?), calamansi, and butterfly pea flower. It was offered on an imperial Chinese implement. Sorry, maybe it is me that does not like alcohol, but it tasted like a detergent. I just had a sip.
For main I could choose among suckling pig leg, cod, or beef. I went for the suckling leg with crispy skin and it was great. The plate was sprinkled with Pat Chun vinaigrette, some Sichuan peppercorns and a piece of pineapple. There were also some baby greens on the side.
To finish up, I was offered a bowl of Bo’s signature fried rice.
What made it special, was that the waiter shaved on it sun-dried abalone (very Hong Kong) and dried foie gras (made by Alvin). Delicious.
The final dish was Alvin’s “no shark fin”. Alvin is opposed to the use of shark fin in Chinese cuisine (it is still commonplace I can tell you) given the detrimental effects on the shark population. The dish is meant to resemble a shark fin bowl and is presented in a traditional implement specifically used for shark fin dishes in wedding and ceremonies. I once had a shark fin soup and it is just another of those Chinese delicacies like bird’s nest and sea cucumbers that my palate cannot understand: it is mostly tasteless. This dish was not tasteless at all. It was a refreshing dessert made with yuzu, osmanthus, peach resin, and dried persimmon.
The check
After adding a bottle of water, the check was 1,078 HKD (or 137 USD). The full degustation menu served for dinner was around twice as much. There were also some lighter lunch options. Overall, I found this ten course menu the perfect size and very satisfying. There was a little bit too much alcohol for my taste, but I enjoyed all the references to traditional Hong Kong dishes throughout the meal. I could really see that the chef loves his city and has used his creativity to celebrate it.
Where in Hong Kong: 60 Johnston Rd, 60, Shop 8, J Senses. Entrance on Ship Street J Residence. Website: http://www.boinnovation.com.
Ningbo is a city in Zhejiang, an Eastern Chinese province. It is a manufacturing powerhouse and boasts its own cuisine. In Shanghai Yong Fu restaurant was awarded one star in the 2019 Michelin Guide and serves Ningbo cuisine.
The visit
The restaurant is located on the 12th floor of the historic Jin Jiang hotel (the building on the back in the first picture above). It is a very Chinese restaurant. To make a booking I had to go there and nobody would speak English. Initially they just asked me to leave. Eventually I was able to make a reservation.
As usual, they have a lot of private rooms (“boxes”) and a hall where I had my dinner. Their menu, as you might expect, is focused on Ningbo delicacies. The decor is in line with the vintage atmosphere of the hotel.
I started with a taro and crankling soup that was recommended by the manager (the only person speaking some English) as very typical of Ningbo. It was a very dense soup, very good.
Then I had marinated bamboo shoots that came in a weird bowl inside another bowl with two small fishes happily swimming.
A piece of bamboo fell into the water and one fish seemed to like it.
My main dish was supposed to be yellow croaker in a casserole with soy sauce and some braised pork. Yello coraker is indeed a fish coming from the waters of Zhejiang. However, it turned out to be cuttlefish! The translation on the menu was wrong, but they insisted it was croaker. It was not.
At least it was very tender. Overall a nice dish for two or three people to share.
Finally, I had two glutinous rice balls (Tang Yuan) with a filling made of sesame paste. It is a traditional sweet from Ningbo very popular durinh Spring Festival.
The final dish with seedless grapes was complimentary.
The check
I spent 389 RMB (around 54 USD) for a big dinner. Of course, this kind of Chinese restaurant is best experienced in a group that can order several main dishes. The yellow croaker, for example, could have been split between two people. Of course you could easily spend more if you start to order more expensive seafood.
I must say that all the staff was very professional and friendly and willing to try to explain me things. It is a nice restaurant and if you are looking for something different in terms of Chinese dishes, it is a very good place where to go.
Where in Shanghai: 59 Maoming Road, 12th Floor Jin Jiang Hotel.
Imperial Treasure is a chain of Chinese restaurants hailing from Singapore operating several formats: Fine Chinese Cuisine, Teochew Cuisine, Peking Duck, Shanghai Cuisine, Steamboat. The first restaurant specializing in Teochew Cuisine was established in 2004 in Singapore and the Shanghai restaurant that I visited was their first international location opened in 2012. It is a Cantonese restaurant and for some reason has two Michelin stars. They seem to do good business in Shanghai as they just opened another location using the Steamboat concept. You might encounter them also in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Incheon, and London.
The visit
I went for a brunch on a Saturday. I made a reservation on the phone. The restaurant is huge and occupies an entire floor of YiFeng Galleria near the Bund (across the street from the Peninsula Hotel).
At 11am the place was already packed. It must be their busiest time of the week. It is really a local favorite. For lunch they have a special dim sum menu, but also the standard menu with more delicacies is available.
I started with my bellwether dish for Cantonese restaurants: the crispy pork belly. It was exceptional! On par with Ji Ping Court, better than the one from Lei Garden (the skin was tender, but still super crispy) and juicer than the one I had at Canton 8.
I had their Teochew dumpling, that has a vegetarian filling. I had better ones in Hong Kong.
Their super classic pork dumpling siew mai was also ok, but nothing exceptional.
The fried wonton with shrimp meat were quite good.
The pan-fried carrot cake with Chinese sausage was also pretty ordinary.
Finally, I found excellent their black sesame glutinous dumplings wit grated peanut. The sesame paste filling was particularly tasty.
The check
Final check (also including a bottle of Evian water and a juice) went for 377 RMB (around 52 USD). The value is there, prices were quite reasonable and the setting was high class.
Do not get me wrong, the food was very good, but the two Michelin stars will remain a mystery to me (same with Canton 8… looks like in Shanghai they give you stars if you make a half decent dim sum).
Having visited all the Michelin-starred restaurants in Shanghai with a sizable dim sum menu, I will say that Seventh Son beats all for quality while Yi Long Court has the best luxury dim sum.
Where in Shanghai: L402-403, Yi Feng Gallery, 99 Beijing Dong Lu.
You can read my extensive review of Da Dong at Reel. I enjoyed it so much that I did not mind coming back one more time to complete my Michelin Scramble in Shanghai. This time I went to the location in IAPM mall as it also has one star in the 2019 edition of the Shanghai Michelin Guide.
The visit
I had a reservation made by phone. Staff speaks some English. I have the impression that this location is less busy that the one at Reel.
This time I opted for a “normal’ duck. In my previous visit I had the baby duck. The difference in terms of size was noticeable. The regular duck allowed for two portions of nicely arranged meat, while the baby duck only for one. The baby duck was marginally more delicate. But also this one has the melt-in-your mouth effect that makes Da Dong’s Peking Duck special.
In addition to the usual condiments I got two sesame buns that I love.
Before getting the duck I enjoyed this original appetizer fusing quality ham and sticky rice (inside).
I also had a portion of pan-fried foie gras with hawthorn (a bit heavy overall, but the berries nicely balanced the flavor).
Finally I had cauliflower in a casserole with pork belly.
As usual, I also received a soup with duck bones.
And the final fruit platter with lychees was complimentary.
The check
It was 630 RMB (around 90 USD). Honestly this was a meal for two. I think there is always good value at Da Dong for uncompromisingly excellent food.
Where in Shanghai: L6-606, Iapm, 999 Middle Huaihai Road, Xuhui.
I ended up eating at Camillo Lasegneria by accident and I was intrigued by its format blending Italian and Korean elements.
The visit
On a Sunday, I reached the restaurant for a late lunch but it was still full. I had to wait 10 or 15 minutes. They had a bench in front of the restaurant for people waiting for their turn. The staff was super friendly, they even offered me a glass of water while I was outside. It was not an issue. Inside there was a long counter that accommodated most of the guests, plus a few tables. It felt to be in a kappo restaurant. The Italian owner was not there, but his staff seemed to know what they were doing.
The menu was quite simple. The main attraction was the lasagna offered in three versions: the classic, chicken, and seafood (chicken and seafood were their own creation, not something you would find in Italy). They also had some other types of pasta.
The lasagna (the classic in the picture) came in a set with some salad, rice, and pannacotta.
I was invited to add some of the lasagna sauce to the rice. This was a nice fusion touch.
I was so pleased that I ordered a second lasagna, a chicken one. This however was a disappointment. The chicken was nicely layered along the other ingredients, but it had cartilages that made it very unpleasant.
The check
The check for two portions of lasagna (one coming in a set) was 29,000 WON (24 USD). It was reasonably priced. Aside for my dislike for the chicken lasagna, the overall experience and the classic lasagna were excellent. It is certainly recommended for something different in Seoul. The owner also operates another Italian restaurant specializing in stews just around the corner.
Not all touristy locations are the same. Some are tourist traps, but some are able to retain some of their authenticity and remain an interesting destination. In my opinion Gwangjang Market falls into the latter category and it is a fun place where to try Korean street food. This is my experience of a visit at around 11am on a weekday.
The visit
My visit started from the exit 7 of the Jongno 5(o)-ga Station of the Seoul metro. From there, it was just 10 meters to enter the fray.
Eventually I sat down at the stall number 3 where an energetic lady served me some delicious kimchi dumplings.
Then I stepped inside a restaurant called Jinju Yukhoe specializing in raw meat. It was a waste, but I just had a mungbean pancake. This is a relatively crispy and thick pancake that I thoroughly enjoyed.
At the center of the complex, there was a stall specializing in knife-cut noodles made famous by a Netflix special.
The market is not just food. They are also famous for quality silk goods, linen bedding and hand-made goods. The market was formally established in 1962 as a spin-off of Dongdaemun Market.
The check
The food was very affordable and delicious. The pancake cost me just 5,000 WON and so much for the dumplings (they even gave me a little discount because I did not want the soup and they were considerably cheaper than from Bukchon Son Mandu).
This was my first visit and I played it safe with a couple of softballs like dumplings and pancakes. But I definitely would like to try the raw meat. Also, I was unable to find the stall specializing in spicy fish stew (Maeun-tang). For another time.
Where in Seoul: 88 Changgyeonggung-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul Metro: Jongno 5(o)-ga Station (subway line 1) exit 7, roughly 15m away. Euljiro 4(sa)-ga Station (subway lines 2, 5) exit 4, roughly 150m away. Website: www.kwangjangmarket.co.kr.
