We dropped by this place accidentally while walking around Causeway Bay. This unassuming store is super basic with no indication of what was being sold inside. Plain white, with a counter and cinema seats for three, a sign stating Cheesess… and nothing else. It was this plainness of nothing that sparked our interest and got us to walk in and ask what was being sold. Cheesecake!

This store took over the old Awfully Chocolate location (which moved to another location nearby) and the owner is in fact the same. We got to try three different flavours. The Kyoto White Cheesecake, Kyoto Raspberry Cheesecake and New York Cheesecake. All three were pretty good, but it was the extremely light and fluffy Kyoto White Cheesecake that caught my eye and really made me want more. Yummm!!

At $118 for the Kyoto White and $138 for the Kyoto Raspberry and New York, they are pretty expensive, but worth it to try something good and different.

Recommended:

• Kyoto White Cheesecake

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Cheesess
Shop 15, G/F, 2-4 Hysan Avenue (Sun Wui Road), Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
2504 5500

Alinea. Probably the epitome of interesting and experimental molecular gastronomy now that El Bulli is about to shut its doors as a restaurant. I have to say that molecular gastronomy in general though, serves the type of food that you either like or don’t like. There really isn’t too much “in between” foods. Having said that, I personally enjoyed the experience whereas others in my company did not think it was that good.

Back in 2008, before the Michelin peeps arrived in Chicago, Alinea was already making a name for itself. And even though I was given the opportunity to try the now 2-Michelin starred Charlie Trotter’s, I was insistent on going to Alinea which, was rewarded its deserved 3-Michelin stars. Despite saying this, I cannot say that all the dishes were all that good, but there were quite a few that were simply amazing.

Arriving at the entrance of the restaurant, there is no hint that it is actually a restaurant. A very simple dark coloured house and a door. Push open the door and you are presented with a plain but coloufully lit hallway, still with no indication that there was a restaurant behind any door. Only once you get through the second door are you presented with a simple but modern and nice looking restaurant. I went with the 13-course tasting with wine paring.

King Crab – sudachi . avocado . bay branch
Cocktail of Henriot “Souverain” Brut with Banyuls Blanc, Farigoule and Chartreuse
This one bite king crab was an excellent way to start the tasting meal. The batter was light and there was some citrus taste that went well with the crab. It left me wishing I could have another bite. But then again, there were 12 more courses on its way.

Fava Beans – lavender . banana . pecorino
Eric Texier “Janrode” Condrieu, N. Rhone 2006
This was a strange one to me. There was sweet, there was savory, and then they mixed. The dish was layed on a pillow of lavender scented air which was released into the surroundings via the weight of the plate. While the lavender smelt great, I’m not so sure that the dish worked well for me.

Rouget – artichoke . garlic . bottarga
Fruhwirth Scheurebe, Steiermark, Austria 2006
YES, probably my favourite dish of the evening. In case you didn’t know, rouget is a fish. I’ve never seen it on a menu before, but this dish was just exquisite. Everything was pretty much deconstructed, and as you pieced it together and ate it, the fish just melted in your mouth with a slight crunch. The artichoke were the square bits, and the garlic was wrapped around the fish. The flavours were just perfect for me.

Lobster – peas . ramps . mint vapor
Lucien Crochet Sancerre Rose, Loire 2007
Another special dish. A bowl in a bowl. The outer bowl had a bunch of mint leaves in them, and the inner bowl was like a lobster soup. As the waiter poured hot water into the outer bowl, the mint vapour was revealed and hit our noses. The lobster pieces in the foam were sweet and tender and surrounded a green blob of peas. A green blob of peas? Yes… within a round green delicate casing, was liquified peas. As you popped this into your mouth and bite into it, remember to close your mouth because otherwise the surprise explosion will go all over the place. Excellent stuff!!

Short Rib – guinness . peanut . fried broccoli
Paolo Bea Montefalco Riserva “Pipparello”, Umbria 2003
This dish was ok. I enjoyed the fried and crunchy brocolli, and the short ribs were tender. But overall, it wasn’t a memorable dish.

Wagyu Beef – morel . smoked date . blis elixir
Prince Florent de Merode Pommard “Clos de la Platiere” 2003
The liquid nitrogen frozen wagyu was actually placed in front of us before the lobster dish came out to “defrost”. Two courses later, the wagyu was ready and the waiter laid the wagyu over a bed of morel mushrooms. Ok, so the beef was great. The mushrooms were good. But once laid out, there really wasn’t all that much and it was finished in an enjoyable but short two bites.

Duck – chocolate . blueberry . thai pepper
Mino Calo “Quarantale” Salento Rosso, Puglia 1998
Another dish that didn’t really make sense to me. But again this is because of the mixing of savoury and sweet tastes together. I agree that it actually does work sometimes, but perhaps I have a thing against chocolate… it just didn’t work out too good here. The duck is inside the chocolate bar.

Rhubarb – ginger . basil
Strawberry – violet . nicoise olive
Bacon – butterscotch . apple . thyme
These three courses came out at the same time. Two were good, and one I just didn’t understand.

First the bacon. I didn’t get it. While presentation wise, it was different and it tasted pretty good, I don’t know why I have to pay so much to eat a slice of bacon. The savory and sweet mix worked together well here, but I can’t see myself paying even US$1 for this slice of bacon… WHY???

Next the rhubarb. Another ball of flavours. This is meant to be taken as a shot, ball and all. Once in your mouth, close it so as not to let the explosion fly everywhere outside your mouth. The ginger and sourness mixed well together and was very refreshing.

Lastly, the strawberry. This was like a dessert and you could just pop it into your mouth and let the nice strawberry flavours melt out.

Sorrel – honey . fennel . poppy seeds
“Braida” di Giacomo Bologna Moscato d’Asti “Vigna Senza Nome”, Piedmont 2007
Great dessert as you mixed everything together. The honey and sorbet went well with each other.

Whole Wheat – almond . apricot . chervil
Tamellini Recioto di Soave “Vigna Marogne”, Veneto, Italy 2001
This dessert seemed to have a lot inside it, but overall, I did not enjoy it as much as the sorrel.

Chocolate – blueberry . hazelnut . thai pepper
Hmmm… it looks like a whole bunch of powder. In fact, it pretty much is a whole bunch of powder. Just take in like a shot again and let your mouth hydrate it back into chocolate. It was ok I guess… not one of the better dishes though.

Overall, I was impressed with the food. Not all of it, but like I said, you either like it, or you don’t. Hopefully I will be able to go back one day and try a longer tasting menu than just 13 courses to experience more interesting and experimental love and hate of food that I think this restaurant brings to the table.

Recommended:

• King Crab – sudachi . avocado . bay branch
• Rouget – artichoke . garlic . bottarga
• Lobster – peas . ramps . mint vapor
• Wagyu Beef – morel . smoked date . blis elixir
• Rhubarb – ginger . basil
• Strawberry – violet . nicoise olive
• Sorrel – honey . fennel . poppy seeds

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Alinea
1723 North Halsted, Chicago, Illinois 60614, USA
(312)867 0110

Knowing that this restaurant was hard to book, I tried to book a table one month in advance. But nope, all full. So in the end, I booked and waited three months before I could give this restaurant a try. I went with the 6-course dinner off the Signature Menu.

Bread
The bread came out nice and warm.

Snails lightly roast with parsley sauce and green asparagus
Not a big fan of snails, but this was not bad and the parsley sauce matched with them well. Colourful and well presented.

Vegetable tarte with eggplant, zucchinis, tomatoes, ricotta and basil with a tomato vinagrette
Really? Looks pretty good on the plate, but there really wasn’t anything special about it. Hard to justify the price with this dish.

Onion soup, crispy cheese and bread
This was perhaps the best dish of the night. For a soup to be the best I think says alot, but not to take away from it, the soup was light, refreshing and flavourful.

Tiger prawns with crushed potatoes and AOC olive oil, tarragon mustard black truffle sauce
Unfortunately, depite loving prawns, this dish disappointed. The prawns I think were over done as they were dry. In addition, with prawns this big, you would devein the prawn. But for some reason, the kitchen decided not and left the intestinal tract inside. Is this just lazy or what? I’m not sure, but surely for a restaurant like Mirror this can’t be the norm…

Veal tenderloin with celeriac puree, vegetables cooks in white wine and bacon emulsion
Pretty good dish as the veal was tender and the whole dish just smelt good.

Poached pear in winter wine and pear ice cream
This was a decent dessert as the pear ice cream tasted great albeit seemed half melted by the time it was served… I like pear and the poached pear definitely gelled with the ice cream.

Petits Fours
Other than some chocolate, do not remember what else there was. Sorry, no photos.

Coffee
The coffee condiments came out in test tubes and the milk was nice and warm. The coffee itself smelt and tasted good.

Perhaps it was because I had to reserve a table three months in advance to eat at this restaurant, but my expectations were definitely high. This may have skewed my review abit as overall, I was disappointed.

Recommended:

• Onion soup, crispy cheese and bread
• Veal tenderloin with celeriac puree, vegetables cooks in white wine and bacon emulsion

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Mirror Restaurant
6/F, 199 Wan Chai Road
2573 7288

The setting in Riquiqui is like a cute little dessert bar. The owners were great and the service were excellent. Three course dessert with choice of wine for $200. First course is an amuse bouche. Second course you have a choice. We chose the Chocolate Ganache Cake with Chocolate Tea Ice Cream and the Pineapple Polenta with Coconut Ice Cream. Third course were some petits fours. For the wine, we went with the Moscato d’Asti which is a sweet sparkling wine.

Amuse Bouche – I think this was a Chocolate Coated Ice Cream Lollipop
A nice refreshing starter.

Chocolate Ganache Cake with Chocolate Tea Ice Cream
The chocolate ganache was a bit too rich for me, but the chocolate tea ice cream was a real gem.

Pineapple Polenta with Coconut Ice Cream
Tasted great and went well with the coconut ice cream.

Petits Fours – apricot shortbread . coconut marshmellow . almond financier
Nothing too special here, but the almond financier was nice.

Honestly, the desserts tasted great, but perhaps the price is a bit heavy at $200

Recomended:

• Pineapple Polenta with Coconut Ice Cream

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Riquiqui Dessert Bar
2/F, 12 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong
2868 3302

It was Restaurant Week in Hong Kong and many of the best restaurants participating were booked out fast. Luckily though, new Italian restaurant Al Molo was on the list and available and I quickly made the reservation. A good thing too since soon after, it too was booked out.

Al Molo is a collaboration by chef Michael White who is famous for his pastas. The Restaurant Week deal was $158 for a three course lunch which included an antipasti buffet board, a main dish of either pasta or pizza and a desert buffet with coffee or tea. Clearly, when you are famous for pastas, why would you pick a pizza, so it was a no-brainer that we picked two pastas instead.

Al Molo is a cozy restaurant and on a nice cool day, it would be wonderful to be able to just sit outside and enjoy a pasta with beer. Regarding service though, considering some of the comments I’ve heard, the service was surprisingly impeccable. The staff was very attentive and even made jokes with us. They also made sure that we were taken care of at all times. But perhaps it could have been because it was mainly the restaurant manager serving us? Who knows… it was excellent service though.

Antipasti Buffet Board – crisp salads . cured meats . vegetables . bread
While nothing special, the antipasti buffet board had a lot to pick from. Some of the things include olives, salami, parma ham, beetroot, fennel, artichoke and of course my favourite rocket/arugula. The olives and the parma ham were particularly good.

Casarecci – semolina pasta, clams, squid, spicy tomato
Aside from the squid because I HATE squid, this was a great pasta dish. The homemade pasta was freshly made and you could feel it in the texture. The clams had lots of meat to them and were extremely juicy and the tomato based sauce had just the right amount of spice to it. Minus the squid, this would have been a good dish, but really the squid is not the fault of the restaurant.

Maccheroni – cured pancetta, carbonara sauce, black pepper
Oh my gawd! This was just one of the best pastas I have ever eaten. Its so simple yet perfect. Once again, the homemade fresh pasta shone through in its texture. Al dente and fresh… just perfect! The pancetta added to the taste of the dish and there was just the right amount of carbonara sauce so as not to soak the pasta. We were asked if we would like any additional freshly grated cheese and ground black pepper and I gladly accepted the offer. I can only highly recommend this dish.

Dessert Buffet – lemon cream puff . brownie . almond cake . cinnamon roll
There was mini dessert buffet available with the lemon cream puff and almond cake being the highlights. The brownie was also pretty good but probably a bit too rich in taste for me.

Coffee
The coffee had a nice fragrance to it, tasted great and came with some nicely whipped warm milk

Overall, I got a great first impression with this restaurant. We only tried two pastas this time round, but they were at least on par if not better than Babbo in New York. If you are looking for good pasta in Hong Kong, then I would seriously consider Al Molo.

Recommended:

• Maccheroni – cured pancetta, carbonara sauce, black pepper

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Al Molo Ristorante Italiano
Shop G63, G/F, Ocean Terminal, TST, Kowloon, Hong Kong
2730 7900