Hong Kong: Big Binding Crab/ Big hairy crab 大閘蟹

I know I was raving about this last year here, but after my Big Binding Crab 大閘蟹 this year, I think I might take a break next season.

This year, I had the opportunity to try the full set meal consisting of 7 courses from one of the more famous Big binding crab restaurants in Hong Kong, East Ocean. This set came to $260 HKD per person (before gratuity), which is a steal, as buying just the raw crab and taking it home to cook would cost around $200 HKD per person.

The first course was a Chinese soup with Shark's Fin (魚翅佛跳牆). You name it, it basically had everything in it, from veggies, to dried scallops, mushrooms, pork, chicken leg (eeks), bamboo shoots and even a decent sized piece of shark's fin (Shark's fin is a fine delicacy to the Chinese, it's pretty much flavourless but with a good soup base, it turns it to gold).

Second course was the Crab miso soup dumplings (2 pieces per person) (蟹粉小龍包). A little bland in flavour, the flavour of the crab miso was taken over by the pork.

The third course that came was a little fusion; French garlic toast served with crab miso dip. I was quite happy with this. The dip had a very strong aroma and taste, unlike the crab soup dumplings, however as heavy as the crab miso already was, there was a thick layer of oil on top.After carefully scooping the oil out, I piled on the crab miso dip on my toast and was on my way to ecstasy. Yuummm...

The crabs came next, two per person. There was an abundance in crab miso; strong in flavour, served very hot, tasted especially yummy with our chinese wine pairing.  The restaurant provided a special sweet vinegar that essentuated the flavours, it worked, we polished our first crab inside out and onto the next.

Veggies came next. Just blanched veggies, needed something to wash my system out after this feast!

Dried shrimp udon came after. I swear, this was a neverending set dinner. I had a bite and gave it up. The hand-made udon was made extremely well; the soup base was sflavourful yet not heavy.

Finally, a dessert drink was served. It is a ginger tea with multi-colored sweet dumplings, supposedly this is  to make you feel better after the huge heavy crab set. This was a bit too sweet, not enough ginger and I think I need about 8 more cups of this to even be close to cleaning out my system (ulgh so heavy). The soup dumplings were multi-colored starch balls.. I just took it all out and drank the soup alone. Colored starch balls aren't my thing.

I fell sick for a week after this meal.  Although this is expected to happen when you have too much crab miso (which I did); and not enough ginger tea (which is also true), I can only bare with feeling like crap once a year. 

Overall, East Ocean has executed this ingredient quite well, I admire how they tried to add a little bit of variation with most these dishes and incorporating a mixture of light and heavy flavours.

East Ocean Seafood Restaurant

http://www.eastocean.com.hk/

Hong Kong: Rare Okinawan Cuisine

Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong are like burger joints, there's always a kaiten (Round-about) sushi restaurant or an Izakaya lurking around every mall or corner you take.  It's no surprise that there's an abundance of Japanese cuisine variety, there's the shabu-shabu, sushi restaurants, izakaya, sukiyaki, yoshoku, noodle houses, okomiyaki/takoyaki, even Japanese-style burgers (MOS and Freshness burger), you name it, and we'll have it all here in Hong Kong.  Being such a small city, Hong Kong has a large responsibility for serving the 7 million residents here PLUS all the tourists. In 2007, there was approxmiately 9720 sit-in restaurants. So technically speaking, if I tried 3 new restaurants a day, it would take me 9 years to accomplish this task! (Now don't even get me started on Japan.. they have over 20,000 just in Tokyo) Getting to my point, there's only THREE Okinawan restaurants in Hong Kong. I remember absolutely LOVING the food when I was in Okinawa, that was my first accquaintence with Onsen Egg (drooling just thinking about this), Goya (bitter melon that wasn't bitter at all), Umi-budo (tiny grape-like seaweed that is very much like caviar). I absolutely fell in love with the above when I was there, all of which can't be found made nearly as delicious anywhere else. Considering the large population and their undying love for Japanese food, it really made me curious why that was the case... so off I go for my first investigation.

Chura is my first stop, located on one of the busiest streets of Tsim Sha Tsui (Tourists galore!). It's located in the basement of Toy House building (it's quite a discreet yet interesting Japanese-style office building with statues of the Ninja Turtle hidden in the dim lobby), the basement is shared with another Japanese restaurant (Tonkichi)  that is strikingly popular, serving Tonkatsu (fried pork) with rice, which I will happily make another trip just to take pictures for my readers.

On a Friday night, while passing by Tonkichi to reach Chura, there was a massive waiting line (approxmiately 2 hour wait), no one was standing outside Chura. A little scared but determined to accomplish this investigation, we stormed in. With intricate decor, running water and stone paths, the bright lighting conveyed a welcoming message. In we went, seated in an intimate booth close to the kitchen. 

We ordered a number of dishes, of which included umi-budo, daikon salad, lotus root cake, deep-fried seaweed tempura, grilled saba and squid-ink pan fried noodles with Kurobuta pork.

The umi-budo served on ice is my favorite, I just couldn't stop munching on them! With minimal dressing(just a special soya sauce), they were refreshing and something unique. Hey it's vegetarian caviar without the torture of the poor Beluga's and it's extremely healthy too, what's there not to like about this?

The daikon salad was just the plain ol' "daikon salad" you can get at pretty much any Japanese restaurant.

The lotus root cake was deep fried with pork. The combination tastes like it's very 'Chinese-influenced', as there's a Chinese cuisine that essentially is comprised of the same ingredients, lotus root and pork. The lotus root was very juicy, thus no sauce was needed. I think the lotus root cake would probably taste good even without the pork, although it does have it's distinctive flavours when mixed together.

We had the Seaweed tempura next. This dish, I didn't like at all. The seaweed was very starchy and tasted like a deep-fried "sponge". Crispy on the outside and a flavourless sponge on the inside. Not exactly my cup of tea. At this point, I was starting to realize why this restaurant isn't as popular as the one next door.

Finally, we had the squid-ink pan fried noodles with Kurobuta pork. Doesn't sound Chinese-influenced at all, except for the pan-fried part right? WRONG.. It tasted like pan-fried Shanghainese noodles except with black noodles instead of the tan coloured noodles. Pork, being one of the main ingredients in Japanese cuisines (as beef is in America), being called Kurobuta pork, the meat should be tender and very flavourful, HOWEVER (yes, you saw that coming, didn't you?) the "Kurobuta pork" was just like any other pork. The dish just didn't tickle my tastebuds.

Squid ink pan fried noodles with Kurobuta pork

Pan-fried Shanghainese noodles

After all that, the three of us decided that the dishes were too small and we were not yet satisfied (even went next door for dessert after this!), so we ordered a grilled saba.  This was ho-hum, nothing exciting, the typical grilled fish from any Japanese restaurant.

Verdict from my first investigation: The Okinawan dishes are mainly Chinese-inspired except for the umi-budo. Afterall, being in Hong Kong, why would you go to a Japanese restaurant for Chinese-inspired dishes? The Japanese dishes were not exceptionally good, the deep-fried seaweed tastes nothing like it does in Okinawa.  Basically, if this was my only accquaintence with Okinawa food, I probably wouldn't be too excited about trying other Okinawan restaurants.

I still have two more chances of hope in revisiting my memories of Okinawa right here in Hong Kong. I hope I have good news to announce soon!

Chura - Unit A, B/F, The Toy House, 100 Canton Rd., Tsim Sha Tsui, 3105-8950

HONG KONG: Oysters, oysters and oysters

Yes, I know, I've been gone, how inconsistent of me... the good news is, the foody is BACK!!


A friend told me about this hidden restaurant tucked away under a highway in North Point, Hong Kong. You wouldn't even notice it if you didn't know exactly what you were looking for. Oyster C. You'll recognize it by the glass windows with red, blue, green pen marks all over it. Takes up to a week to make reservations on weekends, the ambiance is casual and no doubt a fun one, scribbles all over the wall from lovers writing messages to each other to testimonials of the dishes customers gush about.

Don't expect to see a hostess, no one is free enough to just stand by the door, asking if you have reservations. Seated admist a crowd of laughing drunken customers, the ill-dyed-mafia-looking server comes to us asking us in the most casual manner what we'd like. He takes the menu out of our hands before we even had a chance to take a glance. He then asks us what we DON'T like. He goes on in his casual but warm manner, telling us what oysters he is going to choose for us. Satisfied with not having to decide what to eat, we just smiled and nodded.



After a few moments, 8 oysters were served with the usual cocktail sauce, shallot vinegarette and a special olive vinegarette that i especially liked. The olive vinegarette was rather sweet, highlighted the bursting flavours. We were quickly done and ready for round two. We had a total of three rounds with and array of oysters from New Zealand, the States, Ireland and South Africa, with South African oysters topping my list.


Our server came back and brought us our Tom Yum Goong soup with lobster. The lobster was served on the side as a sashimi plate. Did you know that Tom Yum Goong is one of the dishes that excites all your taste buds? It's a bit sweet yet salty and clearly sour and spicy. The lobster is fresh but served with the Tom Yum Goong, the flavours were washed out, a bit of a waste.

Now this is my favorite part of the evening, when the server came back again, we knew and he knew, it was time for the mains. We requested pasta and not too much as we were already quite full. He asked what we didn't like, I pitched in what I liked, mushrooms and what I didn't, celery and corriander, preferably not angel hair pasta as I find that it gets soggy. He said he will leave out the celery and corriander but to prove me wrong, he said he's going to specifically use angel hair pasta! He was so confident that I just HAD to say YES.


Soon after, our pasta was ready. Our parma ham-mixed-'shrooms on angel hair ensemble was perfect. The pasta was dry, texture went well with the wine sauce. The parma ham was crispy and the mushrooms were not soggy. It was a bit peppery and unlike most dry pastas, it was not overly oily. The pasta and mushrooms weren't too rich, the parma ham enhanced the flavours as well as the texture.

Although our tummys really couldn't contain anymore food, not even water, we still HAD to have a dessert. Souffle caught my eye and asked our guy to serve it in 20-30 mins while our stomachs digested a bit of our previous food.


25 Minutes later, a fluffy ginger souffle in a ramekin appeared, the sweet smelling dessert caught the attention of a few tables around us. Despite the heat, the dessert was gone in merely 5 minutes. The flavour wasn't too sweet, and the texture was light, melted pretty much the moment it hit my tongue.

It costed about $80USD per person, including one wine. Considering the quality of the food, it was good value. This is not your idea of a romantic date but definitely a fun, warm place to go to with a few friends. Oh, by the way, no corkage which is a big plus!!

Another dish that we tried on another night and proved to be just as delicious:


Garlic Toast and Crab dip: this was on the heavy side and very very filling

VANCOUVER: Cannery

Mmmm.. how I love the aroma of the Lobster Oil at the Cannery.
The drive into the restaurant builds up anticipation as you drive through the cargoes, you feel like you are in the middle of an action film, you have to pass on a secret code to an intercom at the entrance, driving through hundreds, if not thousands of cargoes.

As you arrive at the restaurant, you find yourself in what appears to be the inside of a fishing boat, with nets and anchors at the entrance. You have a gorgeous view of the water and a relaxing atmosphere that makes it very comforting while you dine.

As you are seated, a basket of bread is placed in front of you, the server comes along and pours out a orange oil, take a deep breath, is that lobster? Yes. Their renowned lobster oil. I cannot get enough of it. I usually stuff myself up before my appetizer comes.

We went for the Dine-Out Vancouver promotion a few years ago. Good timing for me to introduce them now as they are now taking reservations for Dine-Out this year. (I know, I am missing out!)

We started with the Roasted Parsnip and Fennel Soup with smoked Queen Charlotte sable fish. The soup was creamy, a little on the rich side, surprisingly the cream soup didn't overpower the fresh flavors from the sable fish.

The other entree we ordered was the Ahi-Tuna Carpaccio seasoned with wild paprika, lemon gelee, chili oil and avocado salad. Very fresh and the tuna was grilled ever-so-lightly, keeping the juices and freshness. Mmm.. sooo good.. The chili oil was an excellent choice.

The main courses just stole the show.

1.) Grilled Swordfish Filet brushed with arugula and almond pesto, chipotle pepper sauce.
- Meaty texture accented well with the sauce, I love how the flavours aren't too strong, hey, it's healthy too!

2.) Slow-cooked Pork Shank glazed with tandoori demi, served with tiger prawns, sesame seeds and cilantro.
- Sooooo tender and the tandoori sauce was such an excellent choice instead of the usual boring sauces.

3.) Grilled BC Salmon over oyster mushrooms and baby shrimp in a scallion basil cream sauce.
- The salmon steak was a medium rare. Didn't ask for my preference but that is what I always prefer. I loved it. The sauce wasn't that good to be honest, I didn't think the cream sauce was that special, something you could get anywhere, however, I did love the mushrooms.

Desserts...

Orange Cheesecake over coffee crust, semi-sweet chocolate sauce. The cheesecake was far too heavy, and not very orangey. I prefer my crust crispy, unfortunately theirs was not.

Velvet Chocolate Tower filled with brandied cherries and raspberry coulis. The name and description left me with high expectations of an actual "tower", turns out to be a regular-sized dessert. Chocolate mousse on the outside, was not exactly "filled with brandied cherries", but chocolate was rich. Can't go wrong with chocolate.

Their prices are reasonable relative to other restaurants in the same category. Overall, the Cannery is one of the best in Vancouver in terms of everything... it is unfortunate that this place is relocating in 2010, I've got to return before then.

HONG KONG: Thai Simple Kitchen

Christmas and New Years have come and gone, time to get back on track and target better restaurants this year!

It's hard to decide which restaurant to start writing about first as all I've been doing this winter vacation have been eating non-stop.

Let's start with Thai food. Random enough? So we tried a restaurant called Thai Simple Kitchen in the hustling and bustling Causeway Bay in Hong Kong. The entrance is a small little corridor outside of a theater that brings you to an elevator and when you reach that level, you'd be quite surprised to find at least 15 people in the waiting area. It's quite a big restaurant with a large patio decorated with small Christmas lights. The menu is diverse with a separate vegetarian section, and alot of the dishes are rather creative. We ordered the typical traditional Thai food, just so we could give their quality a try. A Pad Thai, BBQ Pork's Neck and the most untraditional one, we ordered a Tom Yum Gong Steamed egg. Most dishes are in a sizable portion and are great for sharing.

The BBQ Pork's neck was delicious, very crispy on the outside and the sauce it came with was superb, not too spicy yet tangy.


The Pad Thai was decent. It didn't surprise us at all, had the typical texture to the noodles and flavour was good, not too exciting. This Pad Thai however came with large shrimp. Not being a huge fan of large shrimps, i wasn't too impressed, it did add to the presentation though. Very nice presentation in fact.

The Tom Yum Gong Steamed egg was very creative. Kept the juices from the soup, and had more texture than the original soup. It's great for sharing and for trying something new. The flavours were nearly as good as what the traditional Tom Yum Gong soup would be like but I do admire the chef's sense of creativity. Sure adds a variation to the already-much-explosive-flavoured-soup.

VANCOUVER: C Restaurant

Who likes Seafood? What about desserts? C Restaurant along the waterfront provides them both with contemporary class. Incredible food is only the start of the many praises I've got for this restaurant. The ambiance is fun yet classy, everything in this restaurant has good taste, from the snow white interiors, to their lighting, their cutlery, glasses, etc. Their ever astounding creativity surprises me every time, you could order the same dish 10 times and you would get something slightly different, always looking good. Despite their inconsistent presentation of their dishes, the flavour, temperature and taste have always been consistently surpassing my expectations (and high is that).

There was however, one disappointment, the service of the servers there were not as attentive as expected from a classy restaurant like this, and making reservations was a pain. We made reservations 3-4 days ahead of time and when the hostess called to confirm the day before, instead of marking us down for a table of 6, she only marked down a table for 4 and thus we had to reschedule our reservations.

Be prepared for forking out extra money if you are planning on ordering wine as their wine list is overpriced.

Lobster Set Menu we ordered from consisted of Lobster Carpaccio, Lobster Bisque, Lobster and a Maple Syrup Creme Brulee.

The Lobster Carpaccio turned out to be very fresh and sweet, the chives complimented it well.

Portion for the lobster bisque was not very generous, however, the bisque was very light and foamy, we begged for more.

The Lobster was shelled and placed on top of spinaches and potatoes. They used an apple sauce as the sauce. First time for me to have lobster with apple sauce and it was superb. The lobster was fresh and the apple added just enough sweetness.

I absolutely adore maple syrup and Creme Brulee has been my favorite dessert since I've known of it. This combination impressed me so much that I literally cleaned the bowl with my tongue... just thinking about this is making me drool...

Trumpet Royal Mushroom Risotto sidestripe shrimp, spinach, lemon parmesan broth

Grilled 'AAA' Beef Striploin goat cheese gnocchi, parsnip, rapini red wine jus

Milk Chocolate and Cinnamon Mousse Cake white chocolate ice cream, dried cherry

BURNABY: Lobsterfest @ Hart House

There's a special festival every year held at the Hart House restaurant at Deer Lake in Vancouver. In case you've never been, it's right alongside Deer Lake, in a heritage house. Every year, they have a Lobster Festival that lasts for only 2 or 3 nights, unlike other restaurants that usually have it for the whole season.

Why is the Lobsterfest at Hart House any different from all the others? Value! For $48Cdn, you get a whole lobster to yourself, with a buffet of appetizers, side dishes and also a dessert buffet. If you arrive early, there's an unlimited wine tasting session from 6-7pm!! Trust me, my friends and I enjoyed this perk in particular immensely.

You are seated in the garden area of the restaurant overlooking Deer Lake, beautiful greenery and a beautiful view of the lake. Be sure to have your mosquito repellent as we're dining on grass, and the mosquitos are out to get you towards the end of the evening. This venue is great for those who love dining outdoors.

The lobster is not only big, but it's good too. In my opinion, poaching is the best way to cook lobster, allowing the lobster to be tender and moist and extremely fresh.


The desserts however, were a little of a disappointment, they were just like desserts at any dessert buffet, nothing stood out. There was a very small selection of cakes and they weren't very good either. Their fruits, on the other hand were fresh and sweet.

OSAKA: Za Don

UPDATE: Sadly, I think this restaurant must have closed down, I tried visiting this summer and it was gone!! It's either that or I've totally lost my way trying to find it. :(

In case I haven't mentioned before, I go absolutely schizo for Japanese food. Having lived and travelled there, every single meal had a story in itself (which I may/may not share later). I try to go to different restaurants as the selection is just massive, this one here called Za Don, I've actually returned to TWICE! Located in Umeda behind the infamous HEP5 shopping mall, a tiny tiny restaurant that just occupies a corner of the building. It's about a 400 square feet restaurant, to be more precise, like a fast food restaurant where you buy your tickets at a vending machine then giving your ticket to the kitchen and from there, they prepare your food.

What I love about Japan is how everywhere you go, regardless of price, it's always spotless. This restaurant was not an exception, immaculate, each seat had their own supply of preserved ginger, Soya sauce and Wasabi.

Now the surprise came when the food arrived. Now bear in mind that these rice bowls costed less than $10USD. We ordered a Negitoro Don and a Amaebi/Salmon Roe and Uni Don. (Don means rice bowl in Japanese btw)

Look at the portions:

Extremely fresh and delicious.

DEEP COVE: Hidden Jewel

Deep Cove - A cottage community on the West Coast of Canada, a great day trip from Vancouver . Beautiful scenery of the ocean, mountains, parks, forests - true West Coast culture.

Chefi's Seaside Restaurant Bistro is one of the hidden jewels in Deep Cove. Located on the main street, Gallant Avenue. A very small-sized restaurant, run by the owner herself, Jen. She has actually put together a small wine list, with every wine available by glass. Don't you just love that? Makes life so much easier.

The restaurant is small and nicely decorated, there's small patio with fresh flowers. I love the coziness of the ambiance, dimly lit and candles everywhere. It's such a romantic little restaurant, makes you feel like you've been transported to a small restaurant in Italy or something like that. And the service, it was excellent. Even if it wasn't Jen serving you herself, her servers were so sincerely nice, unlike the fake smiles you find in a lot of large restaurants. The servers at Chefi's were truly wanted you to feel like home.

Their menu selection is not big, but excellent value. For a Fillet Mignon, you're looking at paying $20Cdn. Their combination of their flavours is quite impressive with a restaurant of their size. Chefi's also changes their menu season to season, changing them subtly, keeping their favorites while offering new choices.
Their selection of seafood is always fresh, and I always order their mussels. The sauces are made well with a few selections to choose from.
Deep Cove is a secluded area with not much but scenery. It's a wonderful place for a quiet Summer Sunday afternoon, arriving just in time for lunch and leaving right after dinner.