Hong Kong - Liberty Private Works

Cod and seafood dip

Snacks: Clam, Iberico 

Snacks: Quail Egg, Lamb

LPW Signature: Tuna, Sea Urchin, Espelette, Rice

Abalone, Butternut Squash, Risotto

Walu, Hearts of Palm, Celery, Apple

LPW Signature: Egg, Truffle, Parmesan, Caviar

Chicken, Foie Gras, Porcini, Crones, Black Truffle

Venison, Gingerbread, Cherry, Pumpkin

Banana, Chamomile, Fennel, Peach

Sea Salt, Caramel, Chocolate, Chili

Warm Madeleine

 Mochi, White Grape

Review: LPW is one of my favourite restaurants in Hong Kong. I think this actually might be my fifth visit! I still remember my first visit at its much smaller cash-only location on Wellington Street. The current Stanley Street location is dimly lit and boosts floor-length windows that show a great view of Central at night. The restaurant is one massive chef’s table that sits around 26 guests intimately. Throughout the 8-course meal you have a front row seat to watch Executive Chef Vicky Cheng and his team hard at work cooking and plating each dish. Vicky's creativity and passion shines through his visually stunning and equally delicious dishes. Congratulations on the engagement by the way! 

Yuls and V were my dinner dates for the night. We began our meal with a light cod fish dip and some finger snacks. We were then presented with a white tablet and a small test tube of rosewater. The white tablet was actually a compressed hand towel that reconstituted when I poured the rosewater over it. What a thoughtful way to begin our meal! We started with the signature spicy tuna, sea urchin and crispy rice.  I loved the contrasting texture of the tuna/sea urchin with the crispy popped rice. Definitely a decadent seafood party going on. Next up, the abalone was tender and sweet, almost earthy. The walu had a light crispy exterior and the apple-celery sauce brought a brightness to the dish. We also loved the signature egg and spinach raviolo nestled in parmesan cream and topped with caviar. This would have to be my favourite dish from LPW. Stuff of dreams! The egg oozed out perfectly when I cut into the raviolo and I mopped up all the egg/parmesan cream up with a freshly baked baguette. The caviar added a welcomed hint of umami. Did I mention that everything was perfectly seasoned? Next we had the foie gras wrapped in chicken with a generous shaving of black truffles. Our last savoury course was the venison, plated beautifully. Look at all the colours! At first I was a bit apprehensive of it but it was tender and slightly gamey in a good way. The cherry added a tartness to the meat and the gingerbread crumbs spiced it up. It was overall a well-executed dish because each bite brought something different to my taste buds. The desserts focused on contrasting textures and flavours. They weren't too sweet, which I appreciated. Don't leave LPW without trying a homemade mochi!  They're amaaaazing. We ended the meal with freshly baked madeleines straight out of the oven, and a mochi and a white grape test tube shot that looked identical to the rosewater napkin at the beginning of the meal. I love these fun little touches.

On a side note, Vicky's other restaurant Liberty Exchange (aka LEX, or happy hour invasion of that bit in between Exchange Square and IFC) serves up delicious and reasonably priced set lunches, small bites for dinner (think mini lobster rolls and salted caramel ice cream sandwiches) and brunch. I can’t wait to try the chicken and waffles!

Date of visit: January 10th 2015

Liberty Private Works
Address: 26/F, 11 Stanley Street, Central, Hong Kong
Phone: 5186-3282
Hours: Mon-Sat  7:30pm - 12:00am
Reservations open 4 weeks in advance

Hong Kong - Morihachi Yakiniku

Once I stepped out of the elevator, I was instantly greeted by the familiar aroma of delicious sizzling beef. I’ve been to Morihachi a few times before and I keep going back because of their good quality food and great value-for-money. The environment is super casual and you are pretty much left alone to grill your own food at your own pace which really works for me. Morihachi is known for beef and seafood, but they also offer an array of different items such as ramen, fried rice and sushi. Drinks are also cheap here. A glass of white will only set you back $38. We decided on the 4-person dinner set between the five of us, with an extra order of marinated beef short ribs.

Starters: Black Truffle Smoked Salmon and Cucumber Yogurt Salad and Deep-Fried Soft Shell Crab and Avocado Rolls (not pictured)

 Wagyu Beef Salad

 Starting from bottom left, clockwise: Selected Morihachi Style Short Ribs (嚴選汁燒和牛肋骨), Rock Oysters in Italian Herbs and Butter (意式香草牛油青殻岩蠔), Shrimps in Rock Salt (鹽燒花竹蝦), Ox Tongue in French Dijon Sauce (法式芥茉籽牛舌), Agu Black Pork (Thick Slice) with Rock Salt (厚切沖繩Agu 岩鹽燒)

Center: Hokkaido Matsuba Crab Legs (特上松葉蟹腳), Pot Marinated Chicken in Salt Lime Sauce (海鹽青檬壺漬雞腿肉)

A4 Saga Wagyu Beef Rib Eye (佐賀A4 極上和牛肉眼)

Extra order of Morihachi Style Short Ribs

 Vegetable Platter with Herbs and Butter

Japanese Wagyu Beef Fried Rice

Dessert: Strawberry Milk Pudding (not pictured)

Verdict: The bill came to around $250 each including one drink each and service. Solid meal with attractive prices, for both food and drink. Come with a date (they have booths) or book the private room for a large party to enjoy the casual grill-it-yourself environment without having to shout over your food to talk. It can get quite hectic in the main dining area. I think the quality of beef is quite decent at Morihachi, but serious beef fans can find higher quality beef and a larger variety of cuts at Futago. You can read my review here.

Extra info: Morihachi (Central location) has two seatings: 7-9 and 9-late. They also offer all-you-can-eat on more than 100 items and free-flow sake, wine and beer on weekends for $288 per person. 

I recommend: Morihachi Style Short Ribs, Hokkaido Matsuba Crab Legs, A4 Saga Wagyu Beef Rib Eye

Morihachi Yakiniku
Address: 3/F, 8 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central, Hong Kong
Phone: 2581-1933 / 2591-1816
Website: www.morihachi.com.hk

Creamy Crab Rigatoni

This is a simple yet decadent weeknight pasta dish that takes less than 30 minutes to make. I loved the chunks of creamy crab meat hiding inside the mezzi rigatoni (short rigatoni). However I must apologize for the quality of these photos. I left my camera at a friend's place so I had to use my phone. I tried my best to tinker with the editing on iPhoto, but the photos don't do this dish justice.

 Cook the garlic on low heat until fragrant.

Stir in the crab meat.

 If you don't want to, you don't have to peel them. But if you want a smoother sauce without bits of tomato skin floating around in it, it only takes a few minutes to do this step. I scored an X on top of each tomato and blanched them in boiling water for 30 seconds before peeling.

Add the stock and simmer on low heat until the tomatoes are soft.

After 15 minutes of simmering, the tomatoes have disintegrated into the sauce.

 Add the cream. Simmer for another minute.

 Add the cooked pasta and mix well. Turn up the heat to medium high to reduce and thicken the sauce.

Plate it up and add some shaved Pecorino. The salty cheese adds a nice sharpness. 

Recipe - adapted from here

For 2

Ingredients

150g tubular pasta, preferably rigatoni or penne
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can crab meat, around 150g
2 tomatoes, skins removed, roughly chopped
1 cup fish stock
100 ml cream
Salt
Pecorino, optional

Method

1. To remove the skins of the tomatoes, score an X on top of each tomato and blanch in boiling water for 30 seconds. Peel back the skins when cool enough to handle.
2. Heat olive oil in pan and added the minced garlic. Cook on low.
3. When the garlic is fragrant, stir in the crab meat. Season with a pinch of salt.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes and stock. Simmer on low heat until the tomatoes are soft and mushy.
5. While the tomatoes are simmering, cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain the pasta when it is one minute shy of al dente.
6. When the tomatoes are soft, add the cream and simmer for another minute.
7. Add the pasta and mix well. Turn up the heat to medium high to thicken and reduce the sauce.
8. Shave some Pecorino on top before serving, or alternatively, add chopped parsley.

Hong Kong - Yakiniku Futago

Futago is a yakiniku (Japanese grilled meat) chain from Osaka, Japan. It was opened by twins in 2010, hence the name "Futago", which means twins in Japanese. According to their Facebook page, their concept is to provide "selected fresh beef at half price and half volume, so you can enjoy many kinds of meat". I first learnt about this restaurant from Dre’s mouthwatering Instagram feed (follow her @ledre). She has been more than once and has raved about it. Laubaby, twins Big and Small (haha twins at "twins"! Me so funny) and I made reservations for 7:30pm and we arrived on the dot. We were seated about 10 minutes later at a table near the automatic sliding door, but before we ordered they switched us to a table further inside the restaurant. That was a nice gesture as it was too warm to sit near the entrance with the door opening and closing constantly. Each table had its own little gas grill and a powerful smoke suction device. 

Salted Sesame Cabbage Salad (芝麻鹽醬椰菜）

Thick Prime Beef Tongue (厚切特上牛舌）

Roasted Beef Sushi (火焰牛壽司)

Special: Roasted Wagyu Beef Sushi (火焰和牛壽司)

Can't remember what this cut of meat was, but it was delicious!

They add garlic, wasabi and grated daikon for extra flavour.

Hamideru Karubi (大得驚人牛小排）

They divide this huge slice of beef into 3 different cuts, to be enjoyed separately.

Wagyu Prime Karubi (汁燒黑毛和牛肋骨）

Korean Style Karubi (韓式汁牛肋肉）

Beef with Sea Urchin (海膽牛肉) - watch the clip below to see how this dish was made

Verdict: We loved it. We had to order some of the dishes twice (beef tongue, wagyu karubi)! Great to go with friends who have big appetites! Most of the beef dishes were flavourful enough and didn't need the dipping sauce provided. I can't wait to go again. Futago not only offers delicious food at reasonable prices, but also friendly service and a fun environment. I liked how we were able to cook our own food but also sit back and relax while our server cooked the specialty dishes. FYI you receive a stamp for each visit, and when you get 10, you receive your very own gold tongs for use at Futago.

Yakiniku Futago HK
Address: Shop B, G/F, 1-5 Irving Street, Hong Kong
Phone: 2898 7707
Website: http://www.yakiniku-futago.com/ or go to their Facebook page for an online English/Chinese menu

Hong Kong - Manzo Italian Steak House

I had dinner with 3 of my classmates one weeknight, and I suggested we try Jamie's Italian. I told them it would probably be an hour wait only if we went at 6:30pm. I was so confident we could get a table if we went "early" that I didn't make any back-up reservations. We arrived at Midtown Plaza 2 in Causeway Bay at 6:25pm and there was already a queue (apparently people starting lining up at 5:30pm). And it wasn't even the queue for a table. It was the queue to get a ticket to queue for a table! We were told by the dude giving out tickets that it would probably be a 3 hour wait in total. I love Jamie but it seemed excessive to wait that long, especially since he wasn't even physically there. Guess I will go when the hype has died down a bit. We went up to three other restaurants in the same building but there were no more walk-in seats available anywhere. Defeated, we headed to Times Square. Fiona suggested Manzo. We arrived before 7 pm and were the first ones there. The decor was casual, with wood furniture and white walls. I had never eaten at Manzo before, so I did a quick search online and found that it is part of the Dining Concepts group (of Bistecca, Lupa, Bombay Dreams and the anticipated Bread Street by Gordon Ramsey). 

Cold Cut Platter ($198 for 3 kinds): We picked (L-R) Bresaola Air Cured Beef, Speck Smoked Proscuitto and Finocchiona Fennel Salami. My favourite was the salami, which had the perfect balance between fat and meat, and a delightful hint of fennel. The bresaola was a bit on the chewy side and the prosciutto lacked in pork flavour. The portion size was reasonable.

 

Grilled Thick Cut Bacon with Salsa Verde ($108): The bacon was sizzling hot when it arrived. The salsa verde (green sauce which includes parsley, garlic, vinegar, olive oil) was tangy and refreshing, which was nice against the fatty caramelised bacon. Interesting combination overall.

Spaghetti with Sauteed Shrimps and Green Peas ($188): I liked how the pasta was served in a cute pan. It made it easy to share the dish. The spaghetti was al dente and tossed in a lemon-garlic-butter sauce. The shrimps were sweet and the frisee kept the dish light and fresh with its bitter notes. We all enjoyed this dish.

Bucatini with Crab Meat, Spicy Tomato sauce and Basil ($198): This was not as good as the previous pasta. There was too much pasta and not enough sauce, therefore the dish was under-seasoned. The tomato sauce wasn't spicy, nor did I taste the crab meat. However, I liked how the basil brightened up the dish.

"Guanciale" Braised Beef Cheek in Red Wine with Stewed Vegetables ($228): I should've taken a better photo of the beef! It was so tender that you could eat it even if you had no teeth. The beef soaked up all the robust flavours of the red wine and vegetables. There were hints of rosemary and black peppercorn. The vegetables were soft and added sweetness to the dish.

Tiramisu Cake with Almond Gelato ($68): Hong Kong style tiramisu made without the strong coffee liquor (or maybe there was liquor but I didn't taste any) paired with almond gelato. The cake was alright, but could've been more moist. The gelato was creamy and rich, but I didn’t think it paired well with the tiramisu. Lemon Meringue with Honey Gelato ($68): Yum! This was delicious. The pie had just the right balance of sweetness and tartness. The lemon curd was silky smooth and the crust was buttery. It could've been more crisp though. I liked the generous helping of meringue on top and the sweet honey drizzle. The honey gelato went well with the lemon, but in my opinion the pie was fine on its own.

Verdict: Decent and hearty dishes. The meat dishes were definitely better than the pasta dishes. In hindsight, I should've tried their steak given that it was a "steak house".

Manzo Italian Steak House
Address: Shop 1104, 11/F, Times Square, 1 Matheson St, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Phone: 2735-3980
Website: http://www.diningconcepts.com/manzo/index.php