appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Andrew Sun

Philippine-born CJ Jalandoni is the head chef of pioneering Sai Ying Pun restaurant Brut. He spoke to Andrew Sun.
I grew up eating simple, home-cooked meals, with the same dishes rotated every week. When we did eat out, my family would usually go to simple Filipino restaurants.
It was not until later that I started exploring different cuisines, trying Arabic, other Southeast Asian and I even tried Ethiopian in New York. Today, I still appreciate simple food and am easy to please.
Hong Kong has so many great restaurants, but here are my standouts.
For dim sum, I usually go to One Dim Sum (209A-209B Tung Choi Street, Prince Edward. Tel: 2677 7888).
My favourite pizza is Baci (G/F, California Tower, 30-32 D’Aguilar Street, Lan Kwai Fong. Tel: 2344 0005). They make their dough perfectly.

For a hearty indulgence, Mirror Burger (194 Queen’s Road West, Sai Ying Pun. Tel: 5292 3545) is conveniently on my way home. Another good late-night snack is definitely the chicken doner roll at 27 Kebab (several locations including 25 Mercer Street, Sheung Wan. Tel: 3188 0676). Some things just taste better in the small hours of the night. It reminds me of my time in the Middle East.
For great cocktails, Coa (Shop A, LG/F, Wah Shin House, 6-10 Shin Hing Street, Central. Tel: 2813 5787) is my top choice. I always go for their coconut milk punch.
For dinner with a visitor, I would take them to Samsen (two locations including 23 Jervois Street, Sheung Wan. Tel: 2234 0080) for Thai food. It has an amazing vibe and the food is fantastic. I particularly love their khao soi and stir-fried flat noodles.


A more local experience is Sheung Hei (25 North Street, Kennedy Town. Tel: 2819 6190) for clay pot rice, followed by a walk along the promenade.
For a nice glass of wine, Crushed Wine Bar (Shop A, G/F, 6-8 Second Street, Sai Ying Pun. Tel: 5597 8774) is always a great choice. If in doubt, order a wine flight. Their mac and cheese is a hit too.
When it comes to splurging, my favourite spot is Roganic (Shop 8, UG/F, Sino Plaza, 255 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay. Tel: 2817 8383). Their food is well thought out and every single component has a purpose.


Outside Hong Kong, I love New York and enjoy all the different boroughs and districts of the city. Almost any kind of cuisine is available. My first time wearing a suit jacket for dinner was at Le Bernardin (155 West 51st Street, New York. Tel: +1 212 554 1515). The food is beautifully plated, very minimalist, but the sauces and marinades have so many layers of flavour.
On the other end of the spectrum was a kebab from Mamoun’s Falafel in East Village (30 St. Marks Place, New York. Tel: +1 646 870 5785) and a batch of Insomnia Cookies (299 East 11th Street, New York, Tel: +1 929 436 4708) from across the street.
Closer to home is my hometown Manila. Hapag (7/F, The Balmori Suites, Hidalgo Drive, Rockwell Centre, Makati. Tel: +63 917 888 5757) is a great new addition, doing a lot of fermentation to modernise Filipino food.
The cuisine is very regional, with different varieties of dishes throughout the archipelago. One specific barbecued chicken that hails from near my province is the chicken inasal. Thankfully, you can get some in Manila.
Every Sunday in Salcedo Village, there is a food market in a car park. A stall there called Nimitz Leggs (Salcedo Village, Jaime Velasquez Park, Makati) sells the best chicken inasal in Manila.


How Chinese caviar company N25 fought stereotypes to star at top global restaurants

How Mandarin Oriental Qianmen, Beijing pays homage to the city’s hutong heritage

Bear’s paw and monkey brain? Not in this US$2,000 Manchu-Han imperial banquet in Hong Kong

1 in 5 coffees sold in Europe contains pesticides: report

Food and Drinks

Pizza, ‘fantastic’ Thai food, late-night kebabs: a Filipino chef in Hong Kong’s favourite places to eat

Pad Thai at Samsen, one of the places that chef CJ Jalandoni likes to eat at in Hong Kong. Photo: Edmond So

CJ Jalandoni, the head chef of Brut in Sai Ying Pun, shares his favourite Hong Kong restaurants. Photo: Brut

Mirror Burger’s 3.2.1 Burger. Photo: Instagram/@mirror_burger

Pad Thai at Samsen in Wan Chai. Photo: Edmond So

Chinese sausage clay pot rice from Sheung Hei. Photo: Facebook/@Sheung Hei

Pizza from Baci. Credit: Instagram/@bacihk

Dishes from Roganic, where “every single component has a purpose”. Photo: Roganic

A food writer’s go-to Macau restaurants for Macanese classics, seafood rice and Goan fare, and an old Hong Kong favourite

A dish at Litoral in Macau. Photo: Juliana Loh

Writer and lecturer Annabel Jackson reveals her favourite places to eat, including a family-run restaurant in Macau serving Macanese and Portuguese food. Photo: Annabel Jackson

The inside of La Paloma in Pousada de Sao Tiago. Photo: La Paloma

Multiple dishes at SoSabi. Photo: Facebook SoSabi

Barbecued suckling pig filled with minced shrimp topped with caviar at Wing Lei Palace.

Gaylord Indian Restaurant’s tandoor US Cornish hen in spiced yogurt. Photo: Gaylord Indian Restaurant

10 of the best new Hong Kong restaurants to try in May 2024, from Japanese and Korean to Singaporean and Malaysian

Wagyu and sea urchin clay pot rice from Sukiyaki Nakagawa, one of the 10 best new Hong Kong restaurants to try in May 2024. Photo: Sukiyaki Nakagawa

Wagyu and sea urchin clay pot rice at Sukiyaki Nakagawa, in Causeway Bay. Photo: Sukiyaki Nakagawa

Hamburger and rice from Hikiniku To Kome, in Central. Photo: Instagram / @hikiniku.to.come

Crispy fried chicken from BHC Chicken, which opens this month in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Photo: BHC Chicken

Sonny’s Pizza is now open in SoHo, Hong Kong. Photo: Instagram/@ Sonnys.hk

The service counter at the new takeaway concept and coffee bar Servo, in Central, Hong Kong. Photo: Servo

Tiffin Kopi House’s signature curry fish fillet and vegetables. Photo: Instagram / @tiffin_kopi_house

A grilled beef rice bowl from Yakiniku Yamagyu, in Wong Tai Sin. Photo: Instagram / @yakinikuyamagyuhk

Taco sushi from Wagyu Boss Concept, in Causeway Bay. Photo: Instagram / @wagyuboss

See Ya Later, in Mong Kok, serves up Taiwanese night-market dishes. Photo: Instagram / @ 886seeyalater

Grilled chicken banh mi from Banh Mi Nem, in Wan Chai. Photo: Banh Mi Nem

Fresh pasta, ‘exceptional’ wine, delicious duck: where an Australian eats and drinks in Hong Kong and beyond

Dim sum at Maxim’s Palace Chinese Restaurant. Photo: Facebook/@Maxim’s Chinese Cuisine

Kate Oliver, the Hong Kong-based executive producer of musical The Sound Of Music, shares her favourite restaurants in the city and further afield. Photo: Kate Oliver

Gaia Ristorante’s burrata-filled tortellini. Photo: Instagram/@gaiaristorante

Oolaa’s BBQ and hoisin glazed pork belly lollipops. Photo: Facebook/Oolaa Star Street

Madame Fu crispy chicken with foie gras paste. Photo: Instagram/@madamefugrandcafe

Squid ink spaghetti with cuttlefish and sea urchin at Cantina, Tai Kwun.

‘Old school’ dim sum, late-night street food, Italian brunch: a Hong Kong music entrepreneur’s go-to places to eat

Dishes at Oi Man Sang in Hong Kong’s Sham Shui Po neighbourhood. DJ and music entrepreneur Johnny Hiller shares why this cafe is his go-to for late-night street food, and reveals his favourite restaurants in the city for dim sum, Italian and more.

Johnny Hiller has been into food since he was young, and learned to cook when he was eight. Photo: Johnny Hiller

Sushi at Sushi Masa. Hiller says this Japanese restaurant in Hong Kong’s Sheung Wan neighbourhood is his go-to for lunch. Photo: Instagram @sushimasa_sheungwan 

Xiaolongbao soup dumplings at Din Tai Fung. Photo: Din Tai Fung

Barbecued Peking duck at Peking Garden. Photo: Peking Garden

Hand-cut tagliolini pasta with lobster, prawns and scallop ragout at Lucale. Photo: Lucale

Grace Choy enjoyed cooking so much she opened a restaurant, wrote an award-winning cookbook, then left Hong Kong for Japan

Grace Choy, who runs a Chinese restaurant in Japan and published a cookbook, tells Kate Whitehead about her childhood in Hong Kong and how itchy feet led her and her husband to Tokyo. Photo: Grace Choy

Choy, who runs a Chinese restaurant in Aobadai, Meguro-ku, Japan, in the family’s mahjong shop in Yuen Long. Photo: Grace Choy

Choy in her younger years. She went to Cavendish College in London. Photo: Grace Choy

Choy moved back to Hong Kong in 1992. Photo: Grace Choy

Choy met her husband, Kenneth, in a five-star hotel in Guangzhou. Photo: Grace Choy

Choy in Yuen Long. She spent 10 years in mainland China in the glove business before leaving to work for the German brand Miele. 

Black pepper soy sauce chicken from ChoyChoy Kitchen in Yuen Long. 

 Kenneth and Choy moved to Tokyo after she published her cookbook. Photo: Grace Choy

Choy at a book promotion in Japan for “Grace’s 60 Recipes”. Photo: Grace Choy

Choy in front of ChoyChoy Kitchen in Aobadai, Meguro-ku, Japan. Photo: Grace Choy

Lifestyle

Food & Drink

Philippine-born CJ Jalandoni, the head chef of Brut in Sai Ying Pun on Hong Kong Island, appreciates simple food – but he loves to explore different cuisines
His favourite pizza spot makes its dough ‘perfectly’, he takes visitors to a Thai place with ‘fantastic’ dishes, and he knows just the place for a drink


CJ Jalandoni, the head chef of Brut in Sai Ying Pun, shares his favourite Hong Kong restaurants, from a pizza joint that makes its dough ‘perfectly’, to a particular Thai place with ‘fantastic’ dishes.
