**** Luxury/Michelin-starred – Page 6

Superb Cantonese food at Ji Ping Court, Shanghai

Continuing the Shanghai Michelin Guide Scramble, I visited Ji Ping Court on a Monday for lunch. The restaurant is located on the third floor of a newly-built luxury building at 55 South Wulumuqi Road in the Former French Concession. It had one star in the 2019 edition of the Michelin Guide that became 2 in the 2020 edition.

Ji Ping Court is a new addition to the 2019 Michelin Guide and gained one star.

The dining room is elegant and intimate and tables are reasonably spaced. They also have three or four private dining rooms.

The visit

I booked by phone calling at around 9.30am and someone was already there to answer the phone. I arrived at around 11.30 and by noon the restaurant was bustling with action. Two of the private rooms were occupied and there were only a couple of tables free in main dining room.

I spent sometime on the exhaustive menu that includes all the classic Cantonese delicacies, including dim sum, and some original dishes.

I ordered one of their creative dishes in the form of a salad with marinated goose liver and grapefruit (but in the menu was indicated as pomelo). The goose liver came in cubes and the overall salad was fresh and tasty. This appropriately was the first dish to arrive.

Then I had a very classic crab soup with corn. This is a very common dish in China and I totally enjoyed it.

Then I had their braised beef brisket with daikon. It came in a pot in a soup full of flavors. While the brisket was not of the melt-in-your-mouth type, the pieces were mostly lean and absolutely tasty.

But the big-ticket item was their trio of Cantonese-style roast meat. From left to right, the dish sported roasted duck, roasted suckling pig and BBQ pork. I tried these types of meat in many other establishments and I can say that what I got was considerably superior to what you would get in the run-of-the-mill Chinese restaurant in Shanghai or even Guangzhou. The duck in particular did not come with any bone and was very tender and juicy. As you would expect the suckling skin was perfectly crispy.

I decided to close the meal with a panna cotta with strawberry that was also perfect.

The check

For what it was a very large meal for one person I paid 715 CNY or just a little over 100 USD. This was a luxury restaurant so this price point is expected. However, considering the quality of the offering, I do not regret this expense.

Overall, the experience was positive and I would have no reservations in recommending this restaurant for high quality Cantonese food. I hope to go back to try their dim sum dishes since what I could try in this visit is just a tiny sample of their large menu.

Also I had a positive experience with the service personnel that was attentive and spoke English, way better than in similar Shanghai restaurants.

Where in Shanghai:
3F, 55 South Wulumuqi Road, Xuhui
Info from the online Michelin Guide.

Feasting on Korean high cuisine at La Yeon in Seoul

In my first trip to Seoul I aimed high and I had a dinner at La Yeon; regarded as one of the best restaurants of the South Korean capital, it has been repeatedly awarded three stars in the Michelin Guide for South Korea and is on the list of the 50 best restaurants in Asia.

I contacted the restaurant through their web form and after a bit of back and forth they accepted to reserve a table for me (but only at 6pm and near the entrance).

The visit

La Yeon (that I am being told means “celebration” in Korean) is located on the 23th floor of the luxurious Shilla Hotel, along with a French restaurant. The venue offers a beautiful view of the surrounding neighborhoods.

I arrived punctually as always and I was seated in one of the seven spacious tables (yes, near the entrance, but that was not an issue actually).

Upon arrival at the table, I was promptly offered some nibbles: dried dates and some sweet potatoes crackers. I found them quite forgettable and hardly touched them during the meal.

I had a further look at the menu, but I already knew what to order. Actually, choosing was remarkably simple since they only had two sets menus for dinner: one called The Feast and one called Shilla that included some richer dishes, a beef dish and their famed royal hotpot. You could add the hotpot and/or the one (or more) of the beef dishes to The Feast menu for an additional cost.

At the last moment, I decided to add both a beef dish and the royal hotpot to my selection and that was kind of stupid because I brought the cost of The Feast menu slightly above the price of their Shilla menu and lost one dish… I should have opted for the more expensive menu directly. The staff well avoided to advise me on this point…

The initial welcome dish was cold bean curd pudding (tofu) and an iced sauce made with soy and green plum (with a sour flavor). The combination of the flavors was very good.

The first dish of the menu was some sweet red shrimps on a base of cabbage and yuzu flavored soy jelly. The shrimps were really sweet and fresh and was an enjoyable, even if not great, dish.

Then there was a chicken porridge dish with ginseng. This is a classic Korean dish and it was served with some kimchi soup. I was advised to alternate the two. Overall a nice dish, but really nothing special (you can easily find this in Seoul).

The third dish was char-grilled eel with soy sauce and a light touch of red pepper paste. I did not like this dish much as the eel flavor was not particularly well balanced by the dressings.

Next I had a beef dish: a few bites of Korean beef ribeye with some vegetables and salad. The beef lived up to the reputation of high-grade Korean beef and was sensational. The beef was super tender and juicy.

Then I was served the famed royal hotpot. This could feed two people. It came beautifully presented in a small hotpot holder. The royal hotpot is basically a glorified soup with rich ingredients. I could recognize abalone, beef cubes, white fish, a couple of ginkgo seeds, but there was more. The dish is called sinseollo in Korean.

Then the main dish arrived with a contour of small side dishes Korean style. The main was mixed rice and vegetables with beef tartare. I love beef tartare and Korean have a reputation for raw beef meat, but this dish was completely disappointing. Apart from the boring side dishes and the unremarkable rice, the tartare came in the shape of cold strips of marinated beef. They were very cold and that killed the flavor.

The dessert was a scoop of corn ice cream on a base of crème brûlée. It was a nice dessert.

The very last dish was two bites of Korean jelly with cold cinnamon and ginger tea.

The check

Total check was 295,000 WON (around 260 USD). The royal hotpot added 60,000 WON (I have noticed that in the new menu this add on is 80,000 at the time of publishing this review). The basic The Feast menu cost 175,000 WON, while the Shilla menu was 270,000 WON and included a beef dish and the royal hotpot.

I need to agree with Andy Hayler that it is very low value for money.

Overall, my reception of the dishes was mixed. Some were really good, like the beef, but there were also many disappointments.

If you go in this restaurant, shoot for the higher priced menu. It does not make sense what I did (taking The Feast and paying for the add-ons). The Shilla menu has more interesting components.

Shame on me that did not plan well enough (but initially I did not consider to take the royal hotpot and the menu). But also shame on the staff that did not advise me (but their English was not great).

Where in Seoul:
Consult the hotel website for address, current menu and inquiries.
Tip: take a taxi to get to the hotel, it is not practical to go on foot as it is perched on a hill. They do have a shuttle bus from the metro station (Dongguk University) to the lobby, if you go this way, budget some extra time.

Every dish a masterpiece at Taian Table in Shanghai

Taian Table debuted in mid 2016 and by October had gained a star in the inaugural edition of the Shanghai’s Michelin Guide. The restaurant, the brainchild of German chef Stefan Stiller, was named after Tai’an road, where it was initially located. The current location is on Zhenning Road, near Xinzha Road in Changning District in an office complex. The restaurant has retained its star in the second and third edition of the Shanghai Michelin Guide. This review is part of the Shanghai Michelin Guide Scramble. UPDATE: Deservedly, the restaurant got two stars in the 2020 edition of the Guide.

What is special about Taian Table that intrigued me was their changing menu. In some of these fine dining venues, modifications of the menu are infrequent if not rare. Contrast this with Taian Table team that, since its opening, has minted 17 different menus, sometimes with profound changes. This is an impressive degree of creativity. Even better, I love the current format. While Taian Table is a classic multi-course dining experience, only 8 dishes are fixed, then each guest can customize his/her selection with 2, 4 or 6 additional dishes chosen from “classics” and “specials”.

The visit

I booked through the website and it was very simple. I had to put down a 500 CNY deposit for each guest (I and a friend) that was easy to pay electronically.

I and my friend arrived at around 7pm and were welcomed in the dining room dominated by two L shaped counters enclosing the open kitchen. The counter sported high chairs, which I usually hate, but these were comfortable (also thanks to a foot rest space placed on the counter base).

We were immediately welcomed with the initial “snacks and nibbles”: some honey-glazed nuts and crackers with flavor coming from nori and kombu seaweeds. The nuts were nuts, but the crackers were remarkable, with a decisive “sea” flavor.

As part of these initial snacks we were offered a cappuccino with foie gras, chicken stock and Parmesan emulsion and some bread crumbs. It was something delicious.

More nibbles were waiting for us with a trio: a dumpling with tomato extract (I think reminiscent of Italian fagottini), a pastry with vitello tonnato and a salmon tart.

At this point we also had a chance to know the chef in charge of the kitchen, Mr Johnny Pham. Johnny would personally explain each dish to us throughout the rest of the evening.

The first “institutional” dish was called Foie Gras Snow. Foie gras flakes were covering a layer of lychee panna cotta and Riesling jelly. The dish was very refreshing, with no single flavor dominating others.

Next came a small work of art: thin slices of char fish (a freshwater fish found in cold mountain lakes) enclosed in equally thin slices of cucumber (and with trout roe on top). I admired this dish, but honestly it was probably my least favorite as I prefer stronger flavors.

The third dish consisted in snails covered in parsley. The white pearls in the dish were made of garlic. I am not a big fan of snails, but with these dressings they were very pleasant to eat.

At this point I was served the first of my two “free” dishes: a spoon of sea urchin on sour-dough bread (that appeared to be caramelized I think thanks to brown butter) and capped with a slice of apple. I ate it in two bites and I found that the sour-dough greatly enhanced the sea urchin flavor.

My friend opted for a piece of seared foie gras.

Then we went back to a dish made with French components with a bite of Dover sole and mussels in a sauce made with daikon and dill-oil. This was incredibly satisfying.

Then there was some more sea waiting with a charcoal grilled turbot fish on a layer of sauerkraut and capped with a teaspoon of caviar.

My friend opted for a bite of lobster (again in dill-oil).

The next masterpiece was the chef’s interpretation of the classic Oeuf en Meurette. In this case the poached egg came with a slice of crispy Parma ham and a wine sauce with pickled Shimeji mushrooms. I was later explained by chef Stiller that the pinkish color of the egg is the result of a brining process lasting for about 2-3 hours during which the eggs are soaked in a mix of beetroot juice and reduced port-wine. The inspiration coming from the Chinese Tea Egg.

Now time for a sorbet: a watermelon sorbet served with some borage (and at the perfect temperature).

But before entering the final act, we were served another big ticket item: a bite of slow-cooked beef short-rib with various condiments such as celeriac mash, chanterelle, and crispy beef tendon. I was able to cut the meat with my chopsticks.

Th last official dish was called ‘Îles flottantes’ (Floating island) and was a glorious lemon sorbet with various fruit condiments.

In the closing act, we were offered a trio of mini sweet pastries, a selection of chocolate pralines and a stick with cotton candy. More than enough to satisfy my sweet tooth.

The check

We spent 1228 CNY (177 USD) per person that was the cost of the 10 course menu (including two dishes chosen from the list of the classics). We did not drink wine and we relied on the house water. This means that this was the absolute minimum to dine at the restaurant. We opted for the 10 course menu with the idea to throw in a couple of additional dishes if we felt like it, but by mid-dinner we realized that 10 courses were more than enough for our appetite. Special appreciation for the staff that was very professional and not pushy in asking us to order wine or cocktails. I can only recommend to go for dinner with an healthy appetite since every dish is just phenomenal and it would not have been bad to try the 12 course option.

Of course 1228 is a handsome sum for a dinner, but I think the value and the creativity of the offering justify the price point. Many of these dishes required hours of preparation. Every single dish was unique and creative and, overall, provided a nice balance between Eastern and Westerner flavors.

I wish Stefan, Johnny and their team continued success as I would totally go back to try one of their future menus if I have a chance.

Where in Shanghai:
465 Zhenning Road, Lane No 161, 101-102, Building No 1
Address in Chinese: 上海市长宁区镇宁路465弄161号1号楼101-102号
Pro-tip: the restaurant does not seem to be listed on Didi, the Chinese Uber. If you use Didi, you can indicate “Anken South Gate”: the entrance of this complex is next to the location of the restaurant.
Reservation and menu on the restaurant’s website.

The Shanghai Michelin Guide Scramble

Challenge completed in October 2019. Read my final reflection.

This post is to announce the following challenge: in the next year or so Check Please will dine at each and every Michelin-starred restaurant in Shanghai. Ideally, the quest will be completed by October 2019 (to keep it restrained to the current edition of the Guide), however we might go beyond this period.

This means visiting a total of 34 restaurants (this number was 30 last year and 26 in the previous year’s inaugural edition). With an average of 3 restaurants per month it should be achievable in one year.

I have listed below the target restaurants according to the 2019 Michelin Guide for Shanghai. I will italicize the restaurants that I have visited and link to their reviews as I go. Some have been visited prior of establishing this blog, but I was able to publish a review with original photos (in some cases take by friends dining with me).

Please note that I am excluding from this challenge the Bib Gourmands and other restaurants listed on the Guide without any star.

I will call the challenge The Shanghai Michelin Guide Scramble. Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with the Michelin Guide.

Three Stars
Ultraviolet

Two Stars
8 ½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana
Canton 8 (Runan Street)
Imperial Treasure
L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon
T’ang Court
Xin Rong Ji (Nanyang Road) (New)
Yi Long Court
Yong Foo Elite

One Star
Amazing Chinese Cuisine (New)
Bo Shanghai
Da Dong (Xuhui)
Da Dong (Jingnan)
Fu He Hui
Il Ristorante – Niko Romito (New)
Jade Mansion
Jean Georges
Ji Pin Court (New)
Lao Zheng Xing (Huangpu)
Le Comptoir de Pierre Gagnaire (New)
Le Patio & La Famille (Huangpu)
Lei Garden (Xuhui)
Lei Garden (Pudong)
Madam Goose (Minhang)
Moose (New)
Phenix
Seventh Son (Jingan)
Shang High Cuisine
Sir Elly’s
Taian Table
Wujie (Huangpu)
Xin Rong Ji (Huangou)
Yong Fu
Yong Yi Ting

Italian fine dining at its best at Romeo and Juliet (R&J) in Ho Chi Minh City

For years I had a recurring line with friends asking me to comment on Italian food in Saigon: “In Ho Chi Minh City there are a lot of Italian restaurants, but not really Italian food”. The joke illustrated the problem. Even the places run by Italians would be plagued by problems with personnel turnover and I found them very inconsistent and not going beyond the level of everyday cuisine. I can now confidently say that there is an exception to this trend and it is Romeo and Juliet (R&J) lounge and restaurant. And it is not just run-of-the-mill Italian food, but bona fide high cuisine fine dining (a rarity with Italian food in Asia). If you ask me what is my top pick for Italian cuisine in HCMC, R&J is now my answer.

R&J is one of the eateries of the luxury Reverie Hotel located in Times Square, one of Saigon’s iconic buildings, towering on two of the main central thoroughfares, Nguyen Hue and Dong Khoi. It features a heavily baroque dining room, but it is still intimate, with some booths for parties requiring privacy and the furniture is very comfortable.

Behind R&J, The Long and the other eateries of the Reverie and some sister properties there is a team mainly comprised of well-seasoned Italian chefs. Over the years I spoke, more than once, with their director, Giovanni, and I had a chance to speak to the new head chef of R&J, Enrico, that at the time of my visits had just overhauled the menu. Enrico hails from Capri, where he was working in a Michelin-starred restaurant.

The visit(s)

I visited R&J twice in July 2018. On my first visit I opted for one of their two set menus, Juliet. This was a five-course menu and provided a good introduction to the venue. On my second visit, I tested one of their lobster-based seasonal dishes. On both occasions, food and service were outstanding.

Let’s see what I got during the first visit. The service started with the bread basket and an amuse bouche. The bread basket alone is worth the visit! They have half dozen varieties of bread, all based on the Italian tradition, including delicious fritters with seaweed called “zeppoline” in Naples. The amuse bouche was also inspired by the flavors of Naples, admittedly one of the culinary capitals of Italy, and consisted in a bite of amberjack (“ricciola”) surmounted by zucchini and lumpfish roe, cooked in olive oil. Just delicious.

The first dish was a burrata, on a base of tomato jelly and a piece of roasted tomato. Olive oil, oregano and basil completed the presentation. The burrata was imported from Italy and retained all of its flavor.

The second dish was an oyster on crème brûlée and salmon roe in a creamy and succulent fish soup. I wish soup was always so good.

With the third dish, the meal reached its seafood climax with a seafood risotto. This is a traditional Italian dish and there was a lot of seafood including prawns, squid, razor clams, a mussel and a clam.

The fourth dish was a slowly cooked piece of brisket (a cut that is not so common in Italy and it is a favorite of mine). The brisket came with a very rich dressing whose core element was mushrooms.

Finally, a very Italian dessert, a chocolate tortino and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. This kind of cake is served hot and comes with a heart of melting chocolate. I could not ask for a better ending.

The gallery below shows the individual dishes.

Burrata on roasted tomato and tomato jelly

Slow baked Wagyu beef brisket, purple potato, porcini mushroom, spring truffle

On my second visit I ordered à la carte. I wanted to try one of their seasonal dishes based on lobster from Nha Trang, a Vietnamese coastal city. I ordered three dishes.

The amuse bouche was an interesting combination of white asparagus, beef, a quail egg and sea grape. With my first dish, I sampled Vietnamese and French oysters. The French oysters were more meaty but the Vietnamese oysters did not disappoint. If you are hungry for oysters in Vietnam, go local. Then I had their octopus, imported from Japan and pan-seared, enriched by a lemony potatoes salad, salmon roe, and tarragon. Then, my main course was a special type of pasta, called “scialatielli“. This fettuccine-like pasta is typical of modern Campanian cuisine and became popular in the Eighties. Its main characteristic is that is is made with milk instead of eggs and with the addition of basil leaves, extra virgin olive oil and Parmesan cheese. The result is a velvety texture and a melt-in-your mouth effect. Apart from the half lobster, the pasta was prepared according to a modified Nerano recipe (Nerano is a city in Campania, an Italy’s region): basil, zucchini and shallot confit. All in all, this was a majestic lobster pasta dish.

Finally, during my visits, I was offered a chance also to try two other dishes: their lamb and their brand new fagottini. The lamb chop, coming from a fee range farm, was juicy and tasty and came with two potato mille-feuilles and spinach. It is a must-have of the Italian culinary tradition. The fagottini was a brand new dish. Fagottini is a type of filled pasta. In this case filled with lobster meat, dressed with caviar and sea grapes and enriched by asparagus and an extract of prawn. It was an incredibly rich and satisfying dish.

The check(s)

The first five-course dinner cost me 1,370,000 VND (around 60 USD), the second dinner with the lobster pasta cost me 1,492,000 VND (around 65 USD). I only had water, the cost of course can sensibly rise if you like a good wine pairing.

I found the pricing more than reasonable for what I got. In Vietnam this price point can be considered as luxury, but if you look at the wider region (Singapore, Greater China, etc.) this is actually great value for money. All the elements of a great dining experience were there: excellent service (with an Italian professional, Michele, overseeing the staff), comfortable environment, an optimal mix between local and imported top-notch ingredients, an equally optimal mix between creativity and respect for the tradition, masterful presentation of the dishes. This is fine dining at its best.

I have been in many Michelin-starred restaurants around the world. I can confidently say that R&J is on a par with many of the best restaurants I have experienced in my travels. I have to say that luckily the Michelin Guide has not come to Vietnam yet: as a result you can still find a team of chefs like the ones at the Reverie and at R&J that care about a great culinary product and are not just about getting stars from the Guide.

Needless to say, I highly recommend R&J for true high cuisine Italian style, something that you won’t experience anywhere else in Saigon. If you are looking for something more casual, The Long upstairs is also a great option (I recommend their original Naples pizza).

Where in Ho Chi Minh City:
The Reverie Saigon/Times Square Building (level B1), 22-36 Nguyen Hue Boulevard, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1.
You enter through The Long, the bar and restaurant between Times Square and Lucky Plaza (you can access it both from Nguyen Hue and from Dong Khoi).
Check R&J webpage to consult the menu and see what is going on.

Dim Sum feast in a Michelin starred restaurant for just 36 USD – Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong

Tim Ho Wan story is quit recent. It all started in 2009 when Mak Kwai-pui, formerly a chef in a three-Michelin-starred restaurant, opened a dim sum diner in Mongkok. The restaurant earned a Michelin star of its own in the 2010 Hong Kong and Macau Guide and it has retained the award ever since. The Mongkok location does not exist anymore; three locations in Hong Kong are listed under the one-starred restaurants in the 2018 Michelin Guide: Sham Shui Po, North Point, and Tai Kwok Tsui (Olympian City 2). A bit of clarity is in order: this is a real starred restaurant, not a Big Gourmand (a category introduced to acknowledge affordable restaurants standing up for good value) or a street food entry. Second point to be made: the famed Michelin Guide rates specific locations, not brands. This means that only the locations mentioned above deserve to be regarded as “starred”; this is not the case for the plethora of locations elsewhere in Hong Kong and across Asia and other countries (while this does not mean that other locations are bad of course, especially considering that the Guide does not cover all countries were Tim Ho Wan is present).

The visit

My visit to the Sham Shui Po branch dates back to early July 2018. I showed up at noon on a weekday and I was promptly offered a seat for me and a friend. Service is fast and people keep churning at an impressive rate. You can easily spot both tourists (with their trolleys) and locals. The venue is relatively small and do not expect any privacy: you will seat shoulder to shoulder with other customers. But this is the beauty of real dim sum in Hong Kong.

A word on dim sum in case you are not familiar with it (otherwise skip to the next paragraph). Dim sum refers to the small bite-size dishes designed for brunch in Chinese cuisine, in particular Cantonese (that exercises the largest influence on Hong Kong Chinese cuisine). Tea is a mandatory complement. Someone claims that there are hundreds of such dishes. In a typical dim sum restaurant you get a menu where you can tick off the specific items you like to order. Dim sum is not really the everyday breakfast for people in Hong Kong or elsewhere in China, it is more like the weekend or holiday treat. Having said so, in a city like Hong Kong, dim sum restaurants are open and busy all week long both for lunch and dinner. Nowadays, luxury dim sum venues are common in cities like Hong Kong, however dim sum remains a popular cuisine and, in my opinion, it is best experienced in places characterized by a mildly chaotic atmosphere. (Make no mistake, in a place like Tim Ho Wan they are ultra-efficient and very quick in delivering orders.)

Tim Ho Wan has a menu divided in six sections: steamed dishes, deep fried food, steamed rice, congee, vermicelli, and dessert. I could count 36 items, including a few seasonal offerings (marked by an asterisk). In the gallery below you can find a detailed description of the dishes we ordered.

Just a few general comments. The baked bun with BBQ pork (also known as Cha siu bao) lived up its reputation. Technically it is a pineapple bun (no pineapple involved, but the bun is sweet). The sweetness of the bun combined with the savory flavor of the pork and its sauce generate a unique irresistible fragrance. My favorite were also the deep fried shrimp toast (with sizable pieces of shrimp on a crispy toast) and the beef balls (right tenderness and texture). Also the classics did not let us down, including the dumplings and the glutinous vermicelli with shrimps. I was less impressed by the chicken. The green bean cold soup was listed as a dessert, but I found it appropriate to accompany the meal as a refreshing drink.

The check

Tim Ho Wan is consistently listed as one of the cheapest Michelin starred restaurants in the world. Truth be told, I and my friend spent 283 HKD, or around 36 USD, for a feast that left both completely satisfied. Tea was included in the 2 HKD per person cover charge. Yes, for once the value for money is out of question and not only because this experience does not cost you a kidney, but also because the food is genuinely good and fresh. I should clarify that in this case the lunch was a treat, but the final receipt, in this case two, is provided on the table as a form of order confirmation so I got the picture anyway and I am not letting out any secret. My friend from Hong Kong commented that the price is reasonable even within the same category of dim sum eateries: you can easily find worse places around Mong Kok or Sham Shui Po and end up paying more. I won’t discuss the heated topic of whether the Michelin Guide applies different standards to different territories (it kind of does…), but I want to say that I appreciate the fact that this restaurant did not sell out after earning its award but continued to offer excellent food at reasonable prices.

Where in Hong Kong:
9-11 Fuk Wing St, Sham Shui Po
See website for other locations in Hong Kong and other countries.
Michelin Guide entry for the Sham Shui Po branch.

Fine Cantonese cuisine in an English-style club at Duddell’s in Hong Kong

From the end of the first Opium War that started the British rule the island and its territories to today’s megalopolis ultimately controlled by China, Hong Kong has always been a meeting point between East and West. This is reflected in so many details of its material culture and heritage. This premise to say that it should come to no surprise that you can find a place like Duddell’s in Hong Kong, British in style, beginning with the name, but with a strong Cantonese soul. Duddell’s is a restaurant, an art gallery, an elegant tea room and a club all in one. I visited it for the first time in July 2018 intrigued by its one Michelin star award.

The visit

I reserved a lunch through their website (that connects to Opentable). They confirmed the reservation calling me on my Hong Kong phone number the day before. I visited Duddell’s on a Monday; while I was one of the first diners to arrive at noon, by one o’clock the restaurant was almost full (and pretty noisy).

The entrance is from Duddell street 1, next to Shanghai Tang flagship store (you need to step into the unassuming lobby and take the elevator to the third floor). You are meters away from the bustling streets and offices of Central Hong Kong, but as you get off on the third floor you are taken in a different atmosphere.

I ordered their business lunch that, with its 6 courses, was expected to provide me a good introduction to Duddell’s cuisine. Here’s what I got:

Dim sum and barbecued selection: two pieces of glazed iberico pork (must be from Spain these days to get a Michelin star!), a shrimp dumpling and two spring rolls. All the three samples were excellent and I was impressed by the intense fresh flavor of the prawn.
Abalone broth with mixed dried seafood: it was a good soup, I cannot say that it was anything life-changing.
Steamed garoupa fillet with bean curd in soy sauce: very delicate seafood and the tofu was a perfect match keeping the dish refreshing.
Sautéed prawns with vegetables in X.O. chilli sauce: meaty and tasty.
Fried rice with crispy pork belly and preserved vegetable: I guess a rice dish could not be avoided. Excellent, but not much pork belly. If I am not mistaken, the rice also included some tofu that was a good complement to the other condiments.
Duddell’s dessert selection: it included a delicious red bean soup (with some nutty flavor), one more red-bean based jelly and a mini lemon bignè.

In the gallery below you can take a look at the individual dishes.

The check

The check came to 834 HKD (around 106 USD) after adding service charge and a bottle of still water. There was also a slightly cheaper set menu for lunch, but make no mistake, this was the cheapest option to get an introduction to the restaurant. The tasting menu starts at 1480 HKD (and it is available both for lunch and dinner) and you can easily spend thousands of HKD (if not USD) when you start ordering delicacies such as abalone, bird’s nest, lobster etc. Nothing surprising, you are in a Michelin starred restaurant in Central Hong Kong. Considering that you can easily spend close to 1000 HKD even in mediocre restaurants in Hong Kong, I think overall the check was reasonable to experience fine Cantonese cuisine with creative touches, fresh ingredients in an elegant establishment.

Before leaving the staff let me have a look at the tea room on the fourth floor: with a terrace and comfortable and colorful furniture seems a great place where to meet friends or just hang out (they have a separate snack menu for the tea room). I enjoyed the experience and I think I will go back to try more of the dim sum options, possibly during their weekend brunches.

Where in Hong Kong:
Level 3 Shanghai Tang Mansion, 1 Duddell St, Central
Menus and link to booking system on their website.

Luxury omakase chez Sushi Tanabe – in Sapporo

Omakase means more or less “I leave it to you” and it is a code word for luxury multi-course meals in Japan where the chef decide what you get. Typically an omakase involves sushi and this was the case with Sushi Tanabe, a premium dining venue in Sapporo, Hokkaido. Sushi Tanabe has been around for around 13 years (my visit dates back to July 2018) and 3 years ago moved in the current location a stone throw away from Sapporo station in a fancy commercial tower, The Rokkattei Building, on the 9th floor (where, by pure coincidence, you can find another interesting venue, Molière Café, the coffee shop spin-off of one of the most renown restaurants in town). In 2012 it was one of the 4 restaurants to get three stars (the highest award) in the inaugural Michelin guide for Hokkaido. The stars were abruptly dropped in the 2017 guide (more on this later).

The visit

I was able to make a reservation for dinner (it is not open for lunch) by email (a, rarity in Japan), but it does not look like a sold-out location any longer so walk-ins are probably possible. By the way, they have a pretty large location, with a big counter seating 13 guests and two cooking stations for two chefs to work simultaneously (they also have two private rooms, but the beauty of an omakase is to seat close to the chef).

I ordered the basic omakase set including an appetizer, 10 pieces of sushi and desserts for 10,500 yen plus plus (more on this in the “the check” section). Two more menus were available with additional grilled dishes and sashimi (the most expensive being priced 16,800 yen or around 150 USD).

As it happens in this kind of restaurants, the chef personally grated the horseradish to use in the sushi rice (no horseradish/wasabi available for the diner, all is taken care by the chef including the soy sauce) and cut the ginger (that was not replenished during the meal).

On the contrary of what happened in my previous omakase in Osaka, the chef served multiple customers arriving at different times and ordering different menus.

Here’s what I got:

Appetizer: a succulent oyster from Hokkaido with vinegar (but it was a small bite, I did not have the time to dip it).
Hirame: white fish usually translated with halibut.
Maguro: classic slice of tuna.
Kohada: gizzard shad is a small fish (around 5 inches) and the preparation involved to cut the fish slice on the surface, I guess to make it softer and get the flavor to emerge). According to the Sushi Geek, this fish undergoes extensive preparation and is marinated in vinegar.
Hotate: a meaty Hokkaido scallop, cleaned on the spot by the chef from the shell.
Aji: Japanese horse mackerel, with spring onion.
Kin medai: a reddish slice of golden eye snapper.
Uni: served on rice sprinkled with salt.
Sake: salmon, a piece with a bit of skin attached for extra flavor.
Ikura: a generous amount of salmon roe.
Miso soup.
Anago: a melt-in-your mouth saltwater eel.
Tamago: two bites of Japanese omlette.
Two desserts: Japanese tea and a cup of crème brûlée and ice cream with a bite of Hokkaido melon.

From the drink menu I ordered a Japanese peach juice. You can browse the gallery below to see pictures of each dish.

All dishes were delicious and executed by the book by the chef in front of me.

The check

The total damage for the dinner was 12,398 yen (around 112 USD). For an omakase dinner like this I find the price acceptable. I was put off by the flat service charge of 1,500 yen (that’s 13.5 USD) that I had not seen mentioned on the website. I know that it is normal for Japanese restaurants to levy cover charges (usually in exchange for a small appetizer called otashi), but I would have preferred them to embed this charge in the menu price or declare it on the website. While overall I was satisfied and I got my omakase, the large space and the fact that the chef was serving multiple customers with different orders at the same time made the meal less intimate than my omakase in Osaka. I would call this omakase “by the book”. Everything was executed well, no complaints, but I found the chef a bit too mechanic and hasty. Maybe was this the reason the restaurant lost its Michelin award? This is just speculation, but I felt there was no soul in the overall experience and I was in a cookie-cutter type of operation. This is not meant to be a disparaging comment. I would certainly recommend the place to others, especially considering that they are accustomed to deal with foreign customers and that’s certainly a plus. Personally, now I know what I want: in the future I will scout for smaller and more intimate places where I can see the chef/owner truly involved and enthusiast about the food he or she is preparing.

Where in Sapporo:
The Rokkattei Building 9 floor, 3-3, North 4 West 6, Chu-ou-ku, Sapporo city
Address in Japanese: 札幌市中央区北４条西６丁目六花亭ビル９階
See website in English for more information.