Author Archives: steve

Quay Restaurant

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Dulcey

Strawberry

Duck

Lamb

Smoked pig jowl and razor clam

Uni

Smoked wagyu

Carrots

View

**** (4 stars)

Usually restaurants with great views are on the top of tall buildings, but Quay is in the middle of its view of the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. And usually restaurants with great views don’t strive to provide particularly great food. Quay does try hard, though, and sometimes succeeds.

Every course is certainly beautiful, but not everything tastes quite as good as it looks. The tasting menu is the way to go, because its many courses offer the best shot at finding something delicious. Our favorites were the smoked pork jowl, the lamb, and an amazing strawberry snow egg.

The wine list is extensive, and although the markups are pretty high, it’s a brilliantly constructed list, divided up by wine styles, varietals and regions in the most organized fashion I’ve ever encountered. The Champagne section even has two-page spreads that lists winemakers, grape percentages, and other vital statistics. I wish all wine lists were like this.

Quay Restaurant
Overseas Passenger Terminal
Level 4
Sydney, New South Wales 2000
+61 2 9251 5600
https://www.yelp.com/biz/quay-restaurant-sydney-4

Intermezzo Ristorante

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Snapper and scampi

Pappardelle

Green olives, tomato, sourdough

Rocket, pear and reggiano

Front room

Exterior

Interior

**** (4 stars)

I think a lot of the reviews here are out of date, as they have changed chef and staff in the past two years. We had a great experience here.

The ambiance is upscale genuine Italian as you would find in Italy. There’s an extensive menu and an excellent wine list with a focus on Italian wines (of course) but plenty of other selections as well.

We enjoyed our green olives, tomato and sourdough bread starter, and the rocket, pear and reggiano salad was a nice palate cleanser.

The pappardelle with mushrooms was a lovely, light pasta dish, and the crispy skin snapper with prawns was perfectly cooked. I could have licked the plate to get off the last of the pureed peas!

Service was attentive, and they brought nice glassware and decanted our Amarone without being asked.

Pricing is not cheap, but not unreasonable for the expensive location.

Intermezzo Ristorante
1 Martin Pl
Sydney, New South Wales 2000
+61 2 9229 7788
https://www.yelp.com/biz/intermezzo-ristorante-sydney-3

Pierre

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Amuse bouche

Crab

Snails and mushrooms

Gambas

Grouse

Cheese

Grand dessert

** (2 stars)

Pierre offers a lovely room with a great ambiance and view. It’s the kind you’d expect to find in a top rated restaurant. Unfortunately, the view is about the only thing that is top rated about it.

At a price equal to or above the nearby Amber and l’Atelier, it’s hard to imagine anyone returning to Pierre for a second visit. The six-course tasting meal we had was, frankly, poor. There wasn’t a single stand-out course, and no one in our party had more than a taste of the grouse entree, which had a very unpleasant bitter taste. Mine even still had a piece of lead birdshot in it.

They’ve tried to make up in quantity what they lack in quality, with a half dozen small plates bearing amuse bouche at the start, and another half dozen plates of dessert at the end. But not one of them was truly good. It’s as if they’re firing scattershot, to see if they can hit anything.

Service was also hit or miss, with the wine list not even offered until the food began showing up, and empty water glasses sitting for long stretches of time.

At about $10,000HKD for our party of three’s food alone, this must be one of the worst buys in the city. And the wine prices are just as unreasonable.

Pierre
25/F, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, 5 Connaught Road Central
干諾道中5號香港文華東方酒店25樓
+852 2825 4001
https://www.yelp.com/biz/pierre-%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF-2

Cat Store

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Cat cookies

Exterior

Entry

Garlic toast

Caramel apple and ice cream

Toast

Smoked salmon pizza

Interior with JJ

**** (4 stars)

This was a fun lunch. It’s a bit hard to find the place, as the signage by the entrance to the building is very small, and then you take a tiny elevator to the third floor. But once inside the place is surprisingly spacious.

Don’t expect to have a cat in your lap, but the cats were surprisingly interactive (it was feeding time) and very tolerant of the children who didn[t quite know how to interact with them in proper cat fashion.

The food was surprisingly good. I really like my iced chocolate coffee and apple with ice cream. The cat cookies were homemade and very tasty.

Cat Store
Flat D-E, 3/F, Po Ming Building, 2-6 Foo Ming Street
富明街2~6號寶明大廈3樓D~E室
+852 2710 9953
https://www.yelp.com/biz/%E9%98%BF%E8%B2%93%E5%9C%B0%E6%94%A4-%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF

Yum Cha

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Interior

Menu

*** (3 stars)

I admit I’m not a huge bao fan, so I wasn’t expecting to love the food here, and I didn’t. I felt the bao was mostly heavy-handed and thick, with little filling. But it was, indeed, very cute, which is really the reason to go here.

Service was friendly, and the place (once you find it) is fairly spacious.

Yum Cha
3/F, 20-22 Granville Road
加連威老道20-22號3樓
+852 2751 1666
https://www.yelp.com/biz/%E9%A3%B2%E8%8C%B6-%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF-2

Kaetsu Japanese Restaurant

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Interior

Sashimi

**** (4 stars)

I admit to being a bit underwhelmed by Kaetsu, but perhaps that’s just because the space is so beautiful that it sets high expectations. We had the multi-course menu, and everything was fine, but there were no standout dishes. It includes the Japanese standards such as miso soup, tempura, and sashimi. All were fine, but no better than I’d expect from most mid-level Japanese restaurants. Considering the pricing I was expecting a bit more sophistication. Still, if you’re staying in the hotel it’s convenient. I wouldn’t make a special trip just to dine here, though.

Kaetsu Japanese Restaurant
Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, 1 Harbour Road
港灣道1號君悅酒店
+852 2584 7088
https://www.yelp.com/biz/%E9%B9%BF%E6%82%85%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E6%96%99%E7%90%86-%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF

Amber

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Interior

Amuse bouche taste: sour

Amuse bouche taste: salty (oyster leaf)

Amuse bouche tastes: bitter and sweet

Caviar tart

Tomatoes

Langoustina

Octopus

Foie gras

Brill

A5 Wagu

Kabocha pumpkin and lemon sorbet

Solies figs

Chocolate

Petit fours

***** (5 stars)

Often I find myself at odds with Michelin’s rankings, but not this time. Amber is an exquisite restaurant, with food, service and wine that all deserve the acclaim they’ve received.

The ten-course tasting menu was spot on, with every course (and the many unbilled amuse bouche and petit four bites) all scoring high marks.

The accompanying six-wine Burgundy pairing was the most educational wine pairing I’ve ever encountered. What a treat to be able to compare, side by side:
Bourgogne Rose
Chablis “Les Clos”
Chassagne-Montrachet
Puligny-Montrachet
Meursault
Nuits-St-Georges
Gevrey-Chambertin

We also started with a bottle of Taittinger Le Comtes Champagne

The wine list is one of the best I’ve encountered, well organized, and with a range of prices.

Service was professional yet not stiff, and everyone was obviously very proud of their fine restaurant.

Amber
7/F, The Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 11-19A Queen’s Road Central
皇后大道中11-19A號置地文華東方酒店7樓
+852 2132 0066
https://www.yelp.com/biz/amber-%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF

Grand Cafe

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Interior

Menu

Tray set wok fried chicken

Mushroom sandwich

Tray set steamed tilefish

**** (4 stars)

This hotel cafe serves an extensive menu of Asian and Western dishes for breakfast lunch and dinner. There is also an extensive buffet.

The ambiance is sleek and modern, and service is friendly. Pricing was reasonable for a hotel restaurant.

Grand Cafe
Lobby, 1 Harbour Road
港灣道1號大堂層
+852 2584 7722
https://www.yelp.com/biz/%E5%92%96%E5%95%A1%E5%BB%B3-%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF-4