Seafood at Sai Kung waterfront

Easy to please seafood dishes, well made crispy skin roast duck, couple with alfresco sitting right next to the sea, always means a pleasant evening.

Hansik Goo Korean restaurant, Hong Kong

Invited for a fancy tasting menu meal in one star Korean restaurant Hansik Goo. It is such a thoughtful treat after watching Culinary Class War Korean cooking competition program at Netflix. 

Immaculate service and execution of dishes, both in the cooking degree and beautiful presentation. The first time I have high end Korean fusion food. While I appreciate the chefs’ skill, I feel that it is a pity the flavor of unique Korean ingredients are not outstanding enough, well, may be that’s how they like it.

Favorite hiking trail in Hong Kong

I will do this trail a few times when I am back in Hong Kong, whenever the weather is good. Gorgeous views of 3 pristine beaches, clear water and no rubbish, stopping for Singaporean noodle in the middle.
The only pity is that the whole path is concreted now, couldn’t understand why the government cannot  use stone to make it looking natural, like in Norway, or Madeira.

Restaurant Ho Lee Fook, Hong Kong

So please that this restaurant still maintains a good consistent standard, in terms of quality of ingredients used and flavor of the dishes. It is a place for the food, not so much for talking with friends, as the acoustic is pretty poor.

 

 

Hiking in Sai Kung

Perfect autumn weather, sunny but with cool wind, so lucky with the timing to come back. Go out hiking everyday to get use to jet lag, and of course to appreciate the beautiful scenery. This one has the view of Sai Kung town and surrounding sea with many islands.

The trail is wonderful in the sense that the whole path is still natural, either bare earth or laid old stone, very few are like this now, mostly covered with cement.

Pomelo salad

Another eternal favourite dish to make in Hong Kong, with pomelo, a lot of coriander leaves, lemon juice, salt and chilli, roasted pine nut for the crunch. Another version adding persimmon for colour.

Ma Yau fish

Great to come back to Hong Kong to coincide with the appearance of seasonal Ma Ya fish. Bought a whole fish to be cut up into segments, salted and some wrapped up to be frozen for later use.

I like to add some juliennes of Kaffir lime leaves and ginger for extra fragrance, wraps with baking paper and bake at 200C for 15 minutes, rest with oven door ajar for another 5 minutes.

Venison saddle

Nice piece of wild venison saddle, with thick lean meat, best cooked  to pink and with a sauce. 1.Season venison with salt, black pepper, 5 spices powder and olive oil.
2.Place on baking tray with cooking apple, bell pepper around.
3.With a thermometer stuck into the middle of the saddle, bake at 230˚C until middle reached 50˚C, around 30 minutes. Rest with oven door open until middle reached 60˚C, around 10 minutes, perfect pink.

Garlic germinated

This year planted garlic bulbs a month earlier than normal, in end September, in order to have a head start for earlier harvest next year. 

Since November, green shoots started to pop up, now around 50 % germinated. Finger crossed for a success as hoped.

Green apple coconut milk Clafoutis

Have a good harvest of cooking Bramley apples and have been trying to use them up, on top of giving away to friends without apple tree.

Other than pies and cakes, this is a no carbohydrate way to enjoy an apple dessert.

1.Remove skin and cut apple into big cubes. Mix with a little brown sugar and cinnamon powder, place in baking dish. Bake at 200˚C for 10 minutes to soften.
2.Mix 500ml coconut milk with 2 eggs, season with a little sugar and a pinch of salt, pour on top of apple.
3.Bake at 160˚C until set, around 30 minutes.

Preserved veg 梅菜 steamed beef

This preserved veg is traditionally used to pair with fried and long steamed belly pork. Since I have a piece of rump to use up, I just use it to make a dish, delicious in its own way.

1.Soak preserved veg and loosen, cut into small pieces.
2.Stir fry with some oil until fragrant.
3. Season beef lightly with salt, black pepper, rice wine and cornstarch. Place at bottom of steaming dish and cover with preserved veg.
4.Steam until cooked, around 30 minutes.

Tomatillo salsa

A friend grows tomatillo this year, very good yield but too sour to eat as fruit. She turns them into a sour spicy green salsa and gave me a jar of it. It is sour, and fine to use as a sauce for oily food, but can’t use much. 

The last portion I used in a stir fry with beef, Brussel sprout, pine nut, pepper and tomato, added a freshness to the dish.

Dublin Dim Sum and HK Bakery

 

到首都Dublin 辦事，來回六小時車程，唯一安慰，是在「冇啖好食」的愛爾蘭（到星星餐廳吃大餐例外），起碼在首都可以吃到有水準的點心。

加上近年開的香港餅店，酥皮蛋撻、菠蘿包和老婆餅都值得支持。

而Dublin，在陽光下，在某些地段，也可以走一走。