This is a tale that has humble beginnings; it starts in the tiny little hamlet of Cefalù in Sicily and finishes in New York City. A dining buddy who I trust implicitly was having one of the meals of his life in a restaurant called Liska in the aforementioned little village in Southern Italy. A…
Tag: French
Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants # 32: Neighbourhood
Neighbourhood wasn’t really a restaurant on my must visit radar. Even after my foodie buddy Alex mentioned that she was ‘dying’ to visit, my attitude was still a little bit ‘meh’. It wasn’t until I saw that the little restaurant has made it to #32 on the recently published Asia’s 50 Best Restaurant list that…
London: The 2* Claude Bosi at Bibendum
Gee, you’ve gotta have bags of confidence to set up shop in the Bibendum… Otherwise known as Michelin House, the permanent UK headquarters for the famed Michelin organisation. You know the history, of course, a tyre company that started to tell folks about restaurants around the place…. Well, Claude Bosi is no ordinary kind of…
New Chef at the Two Starred Caprice
I’ve been having a lot of fun lately Of course, there has been the regular dining at amazing restaurants…. Always fun But there’s something special about helping someone discover the joys of international cuisine and Fine Dining. One of our gym buddies, let’s call him Matty, is relatively late to the exquisite joys of ultra-fine-dining;…
The best way to finish the year; Seasons with Lorenz Hoja
Talk about bittersweet. I’d just found out that big changes were afoot at one of my favourite Hong Kong restaurants. Head chef Oliver E was departing the restaurant that he’d helmed since it’s opening and was being replaced. Ordinarily, I’d have been heartbroken; I mean, I’d spent so much time at Seasons by Oliver E…
Meeting Joël Robuchon
If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you’d know that I have a certain penchant for French fine dining; more so, I have an absolute love of French cuisine. There is no one who personifies French fine dining more than the legendary Joël Robuchon; a man who has transcended being a mere…
London: Core by Clare Smyth
For whatever reason I pretend to come up with, I’ve essentially been too lazy to secure a reservation at London’s 3 Michelin Starred Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. So when I heard that the restaurant’s chef patron, and one of the very rare three-star female chefs, was leaving to establish her own restaurant, I thought I’d be…
Terroir Parisien: Pretty plating but a bit inconsistent
When I heard that Yannick Allèno was opening an outlet in Hong Kong, I immediately had visions of a new gastronomic paradise hitting our fair shores. With his two Parisian Fine Diners rewarded with 3 Michelin Stars each, including his showpiece; Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen entrenched in the #Worlds50best restaurants (#31): How could I…
Gaddi’s: That old world charm
I’ve been trying to think about my culinary journey, more specifically, if there’s been a restaurant that I’ve visited that has the history and grandeur of Gaddi’s; Hong Kong’s most treasured fine dining destination. When we were telling our friends that we’d booked in for a dinner at Gaddi’s, the response was almost unanimously ‘oooooh,…
Arcane: The tastiest of meals
What is it that stops a restaurant from achieving that all elusive Michelin Star? It’s a question that probably has no clear answer. I guess, if you could package up all the right ingredients, then everyone would have one. It was also something that I’ve long pondered about one particular restaurant. Arcane is a restaurant…
Rech: The Alain Ducasse replacement restaurant
At what point does a chef throw in the towel with a concept? Is it when dropping from two Michelin Stars to one? Or the final ignominy of losing that final Michelin Star? I never went to Spoon by Alain Ducasse when it was a Two Michelin Starred restaurant, but I did have the pleasure…
Montreal: Toqué! Canada’s #2 Restaurant
I was cut, completely disappointed. When I found out that Canada’s number 2 restaurant (then #1) was located in Montreal, a city that I’d be spending a few days visiting for work, I immediately set about making a reservation. All to no avail. It seemed that (like most places), Montreal’s top restaurant was hard to get…
Canada: Maison Boulud
It was a shock to my system, to be honest. I landed in Montreal with a temperature that was minus 17 degrees; yep, that’s right, a temperature where man cannot really survive for long. When you’re in the depths of winter, you really look for that hearty and warming meal that both keeps you warm,…
Paris: 2* L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon Paris St Germain
The original and the best? It’s what I hoped to find out when I recently made a pilgrimage to the original L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, located in the most Parisian of quarters; the 6th arrondissement. I’ve been to many of the L’Atelier’s around the globe; and there are many. It’s probably easier to list the…
12,000 Francs: Preservation is the name of the game
With a weird name that makes no sense initially, 12,000 Francs has delivered a meal that was incredibly rewarding. Let me explain. In 1795, a little fellow by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte offered a princely sum of 12,000 Francs to anyone who could devise a method of preserving food for his all conquering armies….
Paris: Arpège #12 & 3* in the World
Is it me, or is it you? It’s a question I’ve been struggling with for a little while now. I’m fortunate enough that I get to eat at some of the finest restaurants in the world, quite regularly. Lately, I’ve been contemplating just what it means to chase down meals at the world’s top restaurants;…
Shanghai: 2* L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon
You know the drill, one of the greatest chefs of the last 100 years, and it must be said probably one of the most canny restauranteurs going today. How else do you account for the squillions of Michelin Stars the guy has. Of course I’m talking about Joel Robuchon. I’ve been collecting Joel Robuchon visits…
Shanghai: 1* Jean Georges
I was taken aback by the casual elegance of the dining room at Jean Georges in Shanghai; it was a very welcome respite from the freezing cold of Shanghai in the middle of winter. Making my away across the river the Shanghai’s very cosmopolitan district, The Bund, had been a taxing affair; trying to communicate…
Shanghai: Mr & Mrs Bund
When I found out I was going to Shanghai, I was so excited. Not only had the Chinese city recently been bestowed with stars from the Michelin Guide, one of the Top 50 Restaurants in the world just happened to be located there too. Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet is described as one of the most…
1* Vea: Breathtaking food, visually stunning
Vea It’s the favourite restaurant for a lot of people I know here in Hong Kong. It also seems to be the darling of the Michelin Guide, having secured a coveted Michelin Star in its first year of operation. No mean feat! The fact that it’s taken over a year for me to get in…
FoodMeUpScotty 