Honeymoon Dessert

Most people dismiss Chinese desserts as boring; and when I hear that, I use Honeymoon as a good example to refute that point. Honeymoon Dessert started in a seaside village called Sai Kung in 1995 and since they've rapidly expanded throughout Hong Kong and China. Different people crave different things on the menu, but for me it's the mango pomelo sago soup. I have never had one that tasted better. Other favourites are the sesame dumplings in ginger soup, or thai black glutinous rice with coconut and mango.
This is an essential part of any visit to Hong Kong.

*****

Roscioli

Rome's signature dish is spaghetti carbonara, and you will find one of the best at Roscioli restaurant. The restaurant has a well stocked deli with a selection of fresh mozarella cheeses, other cheeses, and fine cured meats. As an amuse for our meal we got a small mozarella topped with bottarga di tonno and olive oil. Roscioli is a few steps from the Campo di fiori market. Reservations are recommended since there is limited space in the restaurant and it's a popular spot for lunch. There is also a bakery (where you can get a much cheaper lunch, of around 5 euros) across the street.

****

Hutong

Hutong is one the few Michelin starred Chinese restaurants. The sparse number of stars awarded to Chinese restaurants isn't reflective of the the sophistication of Chinese food, but just the bias of the Michelin system, which is heavily focussed on US, Europe and Tokyo restaurants. Hutong is owned by the aqua group, and boasts a magnificent view of the HK harbour from 1 Peking Road. Book in advance since this is a popular spot for treating clients and out of town guests. My favourite dishes are the crispy mutton, served with a spicy soy sauce, and the drunken razor clams. We also ordered the signature chili soft shell crab which was too spicy for my taste; I suggest requesting less chili.

****

New Orleans

I haven't posted in such a long time and I realised that my trip to New Orleans last year definitely needs a post. Little did I know that New Orleans was not like the rest of the US and had a very distinctive taste and culture. My most memorable meal was my first one. Drago's grilled oysters. I still think about them to this day. Those gigantic oysters, freshly shucked, topped with a parmesan and breadcrumbs and grilled over a charcoal flame bbq. These are served with a piece of bread, which is used to soak up the oyster drippings.

The oysters are 5 stars *****

Other memorable places were:

Jacques-Imo's cafe which serves real 'nawlin'' food; a mixture of creole, cajun and french cuisine. Dishes woth trying are the shrimp etouffee, fried grits among others.

****

Cafe du monde's biegnets - deep fried dough covered in excessive amounts of powdered sugar.

***

Commander's Palace - Haute New Orleans food served in an old victorian house in the garden district. Order the Banana's foster served at your table.

***1/5

Lola's cupcakes

Met a friend in Selfridges in London and couldn't resist Lola's cupcakes. I ordered 3 mini versions of the cookies and cream, peanut butter and carrot cake. If only they had a place like this in Amsterdam. I noticed the other day that the Bijenkorf has started to sell cupcakes but they aren't very tasty. The frosting is too sweet and they all taste the same.

Bussia

Bussia

I chose Bussia for a work-related dinner last month because of it's location and it's high score on iens. I had never been there before but from all the reviews it looked like a safe bet. The restaurant is located in the nine streets of Amsterdam, in the Jordaan area, a good spot for out-of-town guests.

I can't remember the description of each of the dishes that we ordered. Most of us opted for the 4 course meal, with either a risotto or pasta as a primi, and fish or steak as a secondi. The food was beautifully presented and most of the dishes seemed inspired. I think the next time I go, I will order a la carte since the pasta dish left something to be desired.

***1/5

Reestraat 28

1016 Amsterdam

020 6278794

belgian endive with serrano goat cheese pillows

Made an easy salad for dinner with belgian endive, avocado, apple, and little pillows of serrano ham filled with goats cheese. The dressing included honey, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Topped with roasted pumpkin seeds for some crunch!

Au Petit Fer à Cheval

A nice place for lunch in the Marais, Paris - Au Petit Fer a Cheval. We ordered the Petit Fer a Cheval salad which has just about everything in it (belgian endive, selection of hams and cured meat, bread topped with goats cheese, apple slices and greens). And an order of foie gras which left me feeling quite gluttonous. I'm not eating fois gras anymore because I only recently found out how cruel it is.

Cibreo Trattoria

Cibreo is one of landmark restaurants of Florence, serving traditional florentine specialities like the one pictured above - stuffed chicken neck (not my favourite).

Florence - Cannoli

My favourite Italian snack/dessert would have to be the cannoli. A crisp pastry with a sweet ricotta cheese filling.

In de Keuken

In the Keuken on Utrechtsestraat is an undiscovered gem of a restaurant. The food is inspired, beautifully presented and the service is great. This combination is few and far between in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, I went a few months ago so I can't remember the exact description of each dish. I do remember that we were served a spectular amuse (pictured below), and we had a choice of a 4 or 5 course dinner. I ordered the 4 course, and each dish was innovative and the flavours worked. The staff were also extremely helpful with wine selection, and spoke at least 5 minutes for each wine at each course. This was something that my burgeoning wine afficionado boyfriend greatly appreciated! Overall, 5 thumbs up and will definately go again. They do need to place spotlights on the food so that I can take photos that will do the food justice.

In de keuken,

Utrechtsestraat 114

1017 VT

Amsterdam

Telefoon: 020 - 6167414

*****

Japanese home cooking

Appetizers for my last Japanese dinner. Tofu with sesame sauce, topped with julienned o-ba shiso leave and edamame, and scallop sashimi with a filo crown and an onion soy dressing. These are super easy appetizers to prepare - they involve almost no cooking so it's a low-stress way of keeping the appetite at bay before the main course.

Moscow

Borsch and Blini's with red caviar.

Mantoe

Afghan food in the Jordaan, Amsterdam. The restaurant is named after a small pork dumpling, wrapped in a thin sheet of pasta. It looks a lot like a chinese shu mai, and is probably etymologically related since the Chinese word for dumpling is mandoe, and the korean word is mandu. The food had many mediterranean influences also, with the yoghurt and tomato dressings, and of course chickpeas coming as an appetizer. The restaurant does not provide a menu, instead a multi-course meal for under 30 euro's. Unfortunately, when we went, we were served our meal alongside another couple. And finally at the last dessert course they were given chocolate poffertje's together with their sherbert and I found this pretty unfair. Everything about the meal was great except for the fact that our neighbouring table got extra service and food! We tried to figure why that happened, the natural assumption would be that those patrons knew restaurant staff. But that wasn't the case and it was simply unfair treatment. So for that reason, even though I pass the restaurant every week I would be hesitant to go there again.