I’m still a wee bit knackered from the big hike last Saturday with the Hong Kong Chefs Association to the Buddha statue on Lantau Island followed by a huge lunch at the Olea restaurant at the Novotel Citygate in Tung Chung, but if you’ve ever seen a group of cooks on their day off you’ll know why I’m still beat. (51 Man Tung Rd., Tung Chung, 3602-8888).
Le French May: Starting Tue, May 1, the Gallic invasion will be in full force.
Launched in London five years ago and still the talk of the town, Japanese izakaya restaurant Zuma is soon opening in The Landmark, in a 10,000 sq. ft. two-storey space with an open kitchen, sushi bar, robata grill, nice big terrace and a couple of those must-have private dining rooms. Basically modern Japanese cuisine, authentic but non-traditional. A wine cellar with over 2,000 bottles of wine and a special sake cellar. Managing director Marc Bratland has yet to reveal the exact opening day.
Speaking of anniversaries Japanese restaurant Inagiku is five years old and head chef Fukata has gathered together the most popular dishes for an eight-course extravaganza with fave sushi, sashimi, tempura and signature teppanyaki dishes with a bottle of premium sake thrown in for $1,520. 1/F, The Royal Garden, 69 Mody Rd., 2733-2933.
My chef buddies and me heard L’Atelier du Robuchon just opened Mon-Fri for breakfast from 7:30am-10am so went on a bizarre culinary all-nighter with a rather expensive ending at 4/F The Landmark, Central, 2166-9000. More about that crazy night in a couple of weeks’ time.
Scenario: You’ve finally shelled out many hundreds of dollars for one of those wine dinners with some special guest Michelin-star chef, but it’s mid-week and you’ve been working flat-out with no time for lunch, let alone the laughable concept of afternoon tea (I want the job where’s there’s time for that every day). So you’re starving – do you
a) Rush straight over despite your howling stomach
b) Pop in somewhere for a quick snack – avoiding greasy fast food of course