A weekend in Hong Kong - Tsui Wah, Egg Tarts, Carbone's and yum cha

I’m a sucker for travelling. A lot. I love my trips often, rather than saving up for a month long trip once a year or something. 

So I often myself doing weekend trips (although this is partially because of something else I’m a part of, but that’s a different story), and often to Asia; which from Australia isn’t necessarily a short trip. 

So when I told people I was going to Hong Kong for a weekend (two nights) people thought I was nuts. 

But why not? It had been 3 months since my last trip overseas (long by my standards), I’d get in by lunchtime on Friday, and leave just after lunch on Sunday. That’s a solid two days, plus I was staying with a friend, so all I had to cough up for was flights and food. 

After an overnight to Malaysia (and a breakfast of teh tarik and nasi lemak which rock my world) and a flight to Hong Kong, I cannot tell you how it good it felt to get through immigration and be in Hong Kong. 

I adore travel and I adore Hong Kong.

It sounds so cheesy but once I dropped my stuff off at my friend’s and headed into the city to meet them, my soul felt like it had been released. This euphoric rush which was so liberating it sent tingles through my body and spread into a goofy grin on my face. 

So what do you do? 

Well your friends rush you into Tsui Wah, because you reveal to your friends you haven’t really eaten a proper meal since your breakfast 7 hours ago. 

 You slurp down fishball noodle soup, and munch on crunchy toasted bread covered in butter and drizzled in condensed milk. 

We’re on holidays here; no judgement can be had. 

Then as your friends go shopping for hiking boots, you hustle in to Tai Cheong bakery, to have the best egg tarts I’ve ever come across in my life. You think those little things at yum cha back home are good? These beasts are the size of your palm, golden in custard and in pastry and when you buy them from the bakery, they’re hot. Steaming in the drizzly cool weather, warm in the palm and melting in your mouth. Pastry crumbling into pieces as you try to clumsily save it all while carrying an umbrella, camera and hand bag. It’s real elegant business. 

Take some time to swan around the PMQ, what used to be a government apartment building, but now turned into a little creative hub with independent and local designers taking up small boutiques. There’s a couple of great little coffee shops to get your matcha and chai (and coffee too I suppose) fixes if you need a little breather from emptying your wallet out all over the place. 

Have dinner at your local friend’s favourite cantonese style Chinese restaurant, Tsui Hang Village, and eat every single type of protein that exists. The peking duck is obviously not to be missed, but don’t forget the char siu too. 

Wake up early the next morning and go local for breakfast. Although we actually originally intended to go somewhere more western…Hong Kong doesn’t do weekend mornings very well and a lot of these ‘cafe’ style places actually don’t open until 10am or so! What would Melbourne think?

So instead we pop into For Kee, where we squeeze through the crowded room, wave to the elderly couple manning the tables to indicate where we were gonna hang and have the best Hong Kong milk tea I’ve ever had. Normally I find it really bitter, but just stick with it because…well I ordered it. Here is where I’ve had how Hong Kong milk tea should really taste, brewed perfectly so it’s not bitter, with just the right touch of sweetness. Yes. 

My friend’s on a bit of a health/protein kick, so he gets ham and egg, and a pork cutlet sandwich with tomato, which is totally legendary. 

The noodles are a huge hearty serve, and are amazing value for money if you’re hungry. And I was.

You then go play Archery Tag and end up with bruises in places you didn’t realise you could have them. Not from the foam tipped arrows, but from diving into the ground constantly; good work Ash.

Don’t tell anyone, but when I’m in Asia, I love me a matcha latte from Starbucks. It’s even better after a whole 2 hours of Archery Tag and your friend accidentally orders you a Venti instead of a Tall. I’d never had a Venti before. It was amazing. It never ended! 

Who does pre-dinner? This mofo, obviously. On the way to our dinner reservation on Saturday night, my friend insisted we pop into his number one favourite restaurant in Hong Kong (a claim one never takes lightly), just to have a look.

We walk into Yardbird, buzzing and full with the gorgeous people of Hong Kong. We look at the menu; because we are here to look, when the owner comes up to us and I find myself asking what he can serve us in 5 minutes.

15 minutes later, with a glass of umeshu, two shots of sake and incredible liver mousse served on milk bread with crispy shallots and we’re the ones buzzing as we hurry to make our actual dinner reservation. 

I’m usually a bit hesitant about eating non-local food when I travel, especially when I’m just there for a short trip. I may as well get the best of what I don’t normally find at home right? 

But shit. You’ve got to do Carbone’s guys. Originally from New York, they’ve really brought the New York Italian experience to Hong Kong; you might forget you’re in Asia for a bit. 

Dark wood, chequered floors, copious amounts of red and black curtains, cheeky humour from the waiters, it’s like the setting of the Godfather. May have also helped that we were all wearing black and looking super slick. 

Everything at Carbone’s is amazing. Crunchy toasted garlic bread and thin slices of fatty-melt-in-your-mouth prosciutto. 

The whole wheel of parmesan that’s just casually wheeled over to your table and picked at to make your serves. Think my eyeballs might have popped out of my head when I saw it.

Octopus is tender, but still firm, sweetened by a beautiful bed of roasted capsicums. Can’t go past burrata either, but really, really, the star here is the beef carpaccio. Oh my goodness. Wagyu beef with walnut and black truffle. You almost couldn’t tell it was there, so thin, it looked like it might’ve been ironed into the plate. But goodness, it was so tender, and just trickled with the right amount of olive oil and just a feather of bread crumbs for crunch. Could’ve had two.

Should’ve.

Pasta is as you expect it, simple, but hearty; the lobster ravioli is far better than I anticipated. 

My friend doesn’t stop talking about the meatballs before we arrive, and once we try them I get it. I do. These are the size of a fist each and despite being all meat, are surprisingly airy and light, not dense and richly meaty. The tomato sauce they’re sitting in is beautifully tart and sweet at the same time. 

How can you choose dessert when it’s brought out like this for you to choose from? Terrible.

We compromise with having 3 of the 4; the cheesecake and tiramisu are gorgeous; but surprisingly to me, it’s the carrot cake that’s the star here. So moist and fluffy; I adored the cream cheese icing as well. A must have. 

I don’t have pictures of here, but Foxglove bar in Hong Kong is a fabulous place to end your night. Follow the lit corridors, that feel like you’re entering into the Kingsmen headquarters (hell to the yeah if you’re a fan of the movie too!), with gorgeous walking sticks in glass cases on display, before entering the vast bar; that feels very 1940’s, Great Gatsby fabulous. Plush, curved everything, dimmed lights and live jazz band. It’s very chic. 

The next morning after booking AirBnb hotels for an upcoming trip to Tokyo like a boss, I made my way to the Landmark to pop into the Urban Bakery; purely for the salted egg yolk custard croissant. 

Way, way yum. It’s much crunchier on the outside than a usual croissant, but the salted caramel inside is the perfect savoury contrast to start the day with. The only thing I would have liked is if my croissant was properly warmed through, as I think that would’ve made the salted egg yolk custard taste even more amazing! 

A trip to Hong Kong isn’t complete with a yum cha session. If you have an afternoon flight like I did, the best thing you can do for yourself, is make a booking (they’re fully booked out for the whole Sunday session otherwise) at Lei Garden in IFC. 

Simply show up in the morning, check your bag through at the Hong Kong Airport Express counters, then stroll around the mall for a bit before heading upstairs for dim sum goodness. 

It’s definitely on the fancier end of yum cha, especially in Hong Kong, but the place runs a tight ship, and it’s damn delicious. They even give you plastic gloves to eat the pigeon with! 

And the great benefit of having lunch in IFC? Once you’re done, you just head down to the train station; hop on board and you’re in the airport in less than 30 minutes. 

Phew!

That my friends, is how you do Hong Kong in a weekend. I slept like a baby on the flight home! 

Chandon in the City at the Emerson Rooftop

Disclosure: I was invited to dine as a guest

I know I often mention whenever I go to a regional restaurant how lucky we are that we have so many different wine regions within an hour from us…but even then, I still don’t find myself taking advantage of this fact often enough. 

Heck, when Melbournians are even reluctant to cross the river, why would they travel an hour (gasp) out of town? 

Domaine Chandon, one of the most well known wineries in the Yarra Valley (for plenty of good reasons), has considered this, and so, instead of having the visitors come out to them in the Yarra Valley, they’re bringing the cellar door and a taste of the vineyard restaurant, Greenpoint Brasserie, to the Emerson in South Yarra instead through the month of April.

Beginning from April 5th (I’m a bit late, sorry!) to the 28th, on Tuesdays to Thursdays from 5pm, visitors can pop up to the gorgeous Emerson Rooftop and either indulge in a dinner menu curated from Greenpoint Brasserie, or sample the range of wines Chandon have on offer; including some that are usually only available at the Cellar Door in Yarra Valley. 

Although you’d be missing the beautiful scenery out at the winery, you will instead get the beautiful skyline view of the city, so I suppose that’s not such a bad trade off!

Stay a while and tuck into the charcuterie board that should be appropriately matched to a magnum (it’s huge!), we loved the terrine and bresaola in particular or get stuck into grilled lamb cutlets on a bed of eggplants, raisins, pine nuts and ancient grains. Equally, if you’ve got to dash, the oysters with Yarra valley salmon roe and lime are simply superb and the cured ocean trout is meaty, gorgeously pink and perfectly paired with some herbed creme fraiche. 

Or you could just stroll around with bubbly in one hand and lobster roll in the other; what more could you want?

Speaking of bubbly, although from Chandon it is a given (and delicious), be sure to give some of their other wines a go. I loved how refreshing the rose was, not too sweet, and the vintage bubbles are sublime. 

Although you can pop up Tuesday to Thursday with a few friends to sample the wines, if you can round up 30; you can book out the rooftop and have a full degustation experience. Talk about luxury hey? 

The Emerson

143-145 Commercial Road

South Yarra 3141

The Lake House

I think a lot of my very good friends in life have really come out from the unexpected places (and often online). I don’t seem to strongly connect with work colleagues, or friends of friends and haven’t really stayed in touch with many school or uni friends over the years. You know the usual places you would expect to meet and get to know people.

Instead, from the girl who messaged me on Twitter, because I visited the cafe she works at, who I now see at least once a year when she’s back from London for a meal, to the guys who I spent much of my awkward teenage years playing video games with and travelling to New York with...I find my closest and dearest friends in the most unexpected places.

Take these guys; Adrian, Winston and I obviously met through food blogging, but somehow found we all had a common interest (other than food) that we built a very close knit friendship around. I’ve always said if I can enjoy being in someone’s company for well over 3 hours…we’re really good friends, and these guys have ticked that requirement time and time again over all night or all afternoon tv show marathons.

So it only seemed natural that for the boy’s birthdays in February, we’d have a joint celebration at The Lake House in Daylesford, naturally karaoke-ing up the whole way and back in a mini-road trip together. 

Nestled in a quiet corner of Daylesford, The Lake House setting is just stunning. Before going into the restaurant itself, we swanned around on the deck/patio overlooking the lake. It’s a stunning set up with lounge chairs, benches and plenty of greenery and trees. 

Going inside the restaurant doesn’t disappoint either, with lush, but bright and comfortable furnishings; like the most beautiful holiday home you’ve ever come across. A lovely mix of this and that, but with a definite distinctive style. 

Although I would normally always start a long lunch with a glass of wine, while perusing the cocktails and cocktails, the Lake House’s version of a non-alcoholic iced tea with Earl Grey tea and all things bright and citrus just looked to good to turn down and is the perfect way to start lunch, refreshing, fruity rather than sweet but also full bodied; particularly on this warm and humid summery day we visited on. 

Although the tasting menu is on offer for lunch at The Lake House, the boys and I opt instead to go down the ala-carte option, each choosing a dish from the entree, main and dessert sections of the menu (we skip out on the cheese course). 

As we ponder over the beautiful ‘place-setting’ plates and whether we actually eat off them or not (we soon discover not), with artwork from the family painted on to each plate, the most gorgeous loaf of sourdough, baked fresh on site daily, with Powlett Hill biodynamic spelt flour, is popped down in front of us. 

I can’t stop cooing over how it looks like a dumpling, and we all simply adore the warm, dense yet fluffy crusty bread. I loved the nuttiness in the flavour of the bread, and we all couldn’t resist going back for another wedge of bread each, making sure to generously slather it with butter each time of course!

Our entrees arrived, looking like beautiful pieces of artwork - almost too pretty eat! 

I absolutely adored how delicate and light the ‘From Local Waterways’ entree was plated, with Murray cod, trout, smoked eel, yabbies, fennel and watercress, with a bit of fish jelly and crispy fish skin. For a dish with so many proteins and flavours, it all came together beautifully - the eel is soft and light yet fattily delicious, the yabbies compact but brightly sweet, the trout even sweeter, and fresh herbs just brightening up the whole dish. So stunning. 

The carpaccio of kingfish, spanner crab, lime, mint, fried jalapeño and green gazpacho, for being another seafood dish has a completely different palate, which I love. It’s much brighter, zestier and lighter in the mouth, whereas the ‘From Local Waterways’ although also light, has a richer, earthier feel to it. I swoon as the tender, cool and immensely sweet spanner crab finds it’s way into my mouth and the crunchy textures throughout are very welcome. 

The Sher wagyu breasaola and tartare, with house pickles and a little quail egg takes the richness level to another level, each slice of wagyu gently edged with a sliver of fat and cut so finely it melted into the mouth. Got to love the capers to cut through the richness too.

A bit of red wine and it was on to the mains, I opted for a single dish, whereas the boys couldn’t resist sharing a dish designed for two to share.

My roasted ballotine of free range duck with parfait, coffee roasted carrots, black barley, almonds, carrot top pesto  and elderberry was another immaculately presented dish, proving that main dishes can be as pretty and delicate as entrees! 

The duck was simply some of the best I’ve had in a long time, so juicy and tender. I’m going to use this description a lot, but it really did just melt in the mouth. The little cigar with parfait wrapped up inside was also gorgeously aromatic and luscious. Although I shared everything on my plate with the boys…that was just the one thing I couldn’t. Hehe. 

The boys shared the Flinder’s Islane rump of saltgrass lamb, coucous, currants, eggplant, green beans and dukkah. Although it’s said to be shared between two, you really could feed three people with it quite comfortably! It’s a real spread, with perfectly pink lamb, succulent and juicy, served up with all sorts of sides. It’s the kind of dish you’d expect that culinary whiz in the friendship group to whip up when you go over to theirs for dinner. A dish that looks effortless, but you know it definitely isn’t. I loved the generous strip of fat left on the top of the lamb as well, so much flavour. 

The veggies are definitely not an afterthought either, the beans are crunchy and so fresh and the pickles are tart but not overly so. 

Anyone who says you never need a side of potatoes is lying (and are not your real friends). The triple cooked Royal Blue potatoes with rosemary and garlic are as promised, golden and crunchy gems. Being the perfect size to pop into your mouth, you absolutely cannot resist going back for more. I dare you to try otherwise. 

Somehow after all that, there’s still space for dessert (albeit with an extended digestion break with some lemongrass and ginger tea to help the process along). 

We shared ‘The Summer Ramble’ with buttermilk, honey, elderflower, berries, ‘bark’ and basil, a peanut butter, black sesame, caramel and banana dessert and finally a mysterious dish just called ‘The Apple’. 

‘The Summer Ramble’ was a last hoorah to the warm summery weather Melbourne had been enjoying, a lovely harmony of textures from fluffy basil cake, creamy honey ice-cream (I think), crunchy honeycomb and juicy blueberries all coming together. It was a party with all sorts. Although a ‘summer’ dish, it was much earthier than I had expected; I particularly enjoyed the plump blueberries here!

The peanut butter, black sesame, caramel and banana dessert was stunning as well, with crunchy sesame praline and totally lush caramelised bananas. I found the peanut butter flavour a little weak, but otherwise totally enjoyed this dish - would have liked more of the bananas though, highlight of the dish for me for sure!

Lastly, our mysterious ‘The Apple’. A white chocolate sphere appeared on our table, sitting on a bed of green apple granita. The shell was so thin, breaking away instantly with not much force, to reveal a delightful mousse inside. I won’t give away much more, but this was my favourite dessert of the three, smooth, elegant, light and unexpected. There was definitely a fun element with this dessert for me. 

We finally finished on a little frozen lemon curd wrapped in soft meringue, which is exactly what you want to finish your meal on. A perfectly sweet but vibrantly citrus finish. 

The Lake House was easily one of the best meals I’ve had in a while, with so much casual dining in the market at the moment, I had briefly forgotten what fine dining (that’s still more relaxed than pretentious) had to offer, in both creativity, flavours and atmosphere as well. We were well waited on the whole meal, despite our obnoxious photo taking and perhaps slightly too enthusiastic conversations on occasion. I do enjoy a good laugh, what can I say? 

Whether you need a restaurant for a special occasion, or even just want an excuse to get a little decked out and get out of town for an afternoon, the Lake House is a perfect destination to spend a good half a day at. 

The Lake House

4 King Street

Daylesford 3460

 

Piccolina Gelateria

Just when you think we can’t possibly have any more gelato stores in Melbourne (and how could our gelato really get any better anyway)…Melbourne likes to prove you wrong. 

Fortunately for me this time, the newest addition to the gelato squad, Piccolina Gelateria, is in Hawthorn - a much shorter journey for me to satisfy my gelato cravings!

Opened Sandra Foti, the cheerfully blue gelato shop is located right next to the snazzy looking renovated Samurai (ah…those green tea milk shakes during my high school days) on Glenferrie Road and although the fitout is simple and playful, the gelato is seriously good. 

The difference with Piccolina? The gelato is totally preservative free, and they make all the ingredients in-house. If it’s not a fruit or something (which are sourced locally too) which is already raw; it’s all made themselves. Pistachio gelato? The pistachios are roasted in-house; even the bread for the ‘bread, butter and jam’ gelato is baked in-house. For their cheekily named ‘Better than Nut-ella’ flavour, they don’t use nutella, instead they make their own hazelnut spread which is rich, nutty and full of the chocolatey goodness we love.

As it is quite close to my place, I have popped in a few times and can definitely vouch that the gelato is damn good. In general the texture is a bit softer, which means you have to gobble it down pretty quickly (not that it’s a problem for me) but I just love how creamy and dense it is, and how intense the flavours are.

Pistachio is easily one of my favourites, although the colour is a bit lighter, the flavour isn’t lacking; it’s got a richer slightly roasted nutty flavour, which you don’t usually get which I think is just awesome. 

I’ve also had the ‘bread, butter and chocolate’ gelato which totally blew my mind and is definitely worth trying!

They’ve also got granitas on offer, which as promised are also full of flavour, the watermelon and mint one I’ve had once was perfect and so refreshing when the weather was still 30 degrees and higher (or just a really great palate cleanser after a big meal too I reckon). 

The only thing with Piccolina, in my opinion, is that the price is on the higher end of things, compared to what else is in the market ($5.80 for a single scoop, $6.80 for two, $8.80 for three); but considering the gelato is made with all real ingredients and no preservatives, it’s a very small extra margin for what’s essentially now a health food…(right…???) 

Piccolina Gelateria 

802 Glenferrie Road

Hawthorn