Eating Out, Eating In | From Korean at Hansik Goo to a tasting menu at Neighborhood, via care packages during Hong Kong quarantine, my July was a feast of good eating
- A seven-course tasting meal at Korean restaurant Hansik Goo started the month, and it ended with an amazing tasting meal at David Lai’s Neighborhood
- A week spent in quarantine was made easier by some tasty hotel meals and endless food packages from friends and chefs
July was a record month for me: I ate out only twice. In normal times, it’s more like twice a week, at least.
Don’t feel sorry for me, though: just because I wasn’t eating at restaurants didn’t mean I didn’t eat restaurant-quality food.
We were there for a friend’s birthday, and had the full seven-course tasting menu along with a couple of extra dishes sent out by chef Steve Lee.
Highlights of the meal were jeonbok yukhoe – the traditional Korean beef tartare dish made even better with the addition of seaweed and fresh abalone, and samgye risotto, a clever and delicious version of the classic Korean soup of chicken, rice and ginseng. It’s usually made with a whole small chicken simmered with ginseng root, but this was a roulade of tender, boneless slow-cooked chicken with rice and a subtly sweet ginseng broth.