Mak's Noodles

Without a doubt, the best won ton min in town, and always features on my patented tour of Hong Kong, along with Red Pepper (the ultimate gweilo Chinese), Dim Sum, the mad pork place not for the feint hearted, duck overlooking the harbour at Peking Garden and a final meal, pre-airport, at Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao. And, as C is in town, we're bound to be frequenting them over the next few weeks. Yey!

Super quick and very easy, the restaurant is small and clean and the staff are super friendly and speak English. Splash out and get a plate of spicy pork and a plate of steamed greens to share as well. The noodles are fresh and bitey, the won tons are made every morning by the gents who serve you (you can see this if you get there when they open at 11). The soup is divine - who knew a few tablespoons of liquid could taste SO good. It's a great hangover cure to boot.

Admittedly, it's not the cheapest bearing in mind it's hole in the wall food - a whole HK$36 for a small bowl of noodles with four won tons so if it's cheap you're after the place over the road does a bigger, less superior version for HK$16.

Note: There's no name in english on the outisde, though there's a few reviews in the window, next to the guy doing the cooking. It's number 77 Wellington Street.

Simpatico

With E being a super Italian food buff, I never thought we'd manage to find an Italian restaurant we could actually eat in, let alone return to on a regular basis. Only a quick stroll down to the Peak galleria, and we're at Simpatico, a relatively new Italian and dangerously close enough to entice us to throw caution to the wind and indulge in pasta and red wine booze on a rainy Tuesday....

Eating in a shopping mall never feels quite right (especially one as ugly as the Galleria), but once you step inside, you almost forget where you are as the huge sliding windows open out on to an airy terrace overlooking the south side and plenty of greenery.

The menu is not too big, with a good selection of dishes but not overwhelmingly so. And, from what we have sampled so far - it all has hit the spot. The carpaccio always makes for a great starter after you've wolfed down the warm bread selection. The pizzas were thin and crispy with a flour-dusty crust that you know has been freshly thrown and topped with good quality tomatoes and mozzarella. The pasta is just the right texture with a correct amount of sauce (we've had the pesto, bolognaise, broad bean and Parma ham and gnocchi - like I said, it’s just down the road..). I've yet to sample the carne part of the menu - the spring chicken always sounds tempting, but the lure of good pasta is just too strong.

As for the puddings – I’d skip them (the cheese plate would have left a wee mouse feeling peckish) and head over to Gino’s Gelato for an ice cream and a look at the view.

Shu Zhai

What better way to start a Sunday than Dim Sum and the papers, and if you can find somewhere to park, Shu Zhai in Stanley has some of the best.

The restaurant is classically fitted out with dark wooden furniture and panels with stark walls and floors - it makes for a cool retreat from the fierce seaside sun. We had large plump Har Gao, Crispy prawn wontons and some spring rolls, fluffy Char Sui Bao and flavoursome steamed dumplings stuffed with garlic, greens and crab. This was topped off with fried rice with ginger and lashings of tea.

Recommended - freshly made and well executed Dim Sum is in a different league to the mass produced trolley type - It's up there with my favourite Dim Sum joint. They also have a great looking full menu - I keep meaning to try it for dinner one weekend.

BeO

UPDATE: This restaurant has now closed.

So, we decided to check off another restaurant, BeO, on our list on Saturday night.

Despite the unfortunate name, the room itself is lovely - with large glass windows overlooking the greenery - I'd imagine it's a great spot for lunch.

The food was excellent - to start with, I had Black Cod with potato rostis and tomatoes - delicious, such simple flavours and the rostis where done to a tee with a perfect crunch. E had a New Zealand bleu cheesecake with leaves - again, excellent (though a little too cold - because they got the order wrong the first time, it had come straight of the fridge and hadn't had time to rest).

For our main course, I had lamb rack with mash and a sprout (brussel) salad and E plumped for the crab linguini - again absolutely superb - the lamb was cooked to perfection, pink and tender, and the sprouts (separated into leaves) was an interesting twist on the usual greens. E's linguine (rocket and beetroot) had been made on the premises that day and was cooked with just the right amount of bite with a beautiful combination of flavours.

The puddings too were delectable - the best steamed fig sponge with almonds (much like the Ivy's sticky toffee pudding) and a lovely chocolate plate, with an assortment of textures.

So - the food was very good - well thought out, great ingredients, well executed - one of the best meals, food wise, I've had in a long time, however - the rest, which is what truly makes for a great restaurant experience, needs a lot more work.

For example - if the human race has spent several millenia working out how to make perfect eating receptacle (such as a plate, a bowl, a cup) why try to change them? The dinner service came in all shapes and sizes - wavy edged, tear drop shaped, often exblazened with the logo, just in case we forgot where we were. The bowl for the pasta was boat shaped and way too deep to get the pasta out of with a fork - E looked like he was trying to perform key-hole surgery throughout the main course and due to the shape of the coffee cups, we finished our meal by drinking out of a mini toilet bowls. The result was that the table looked like it had been furnished with a trolley-dash through ceramic seconds shop and the feeling was one of eating in a Dali painting.

Minor gripes, which could be applied to pretty much every restaurant in Hong Kong:
Music - why is this necessary, especially when the speaker is about two feet away from our heads? Please write the order down so you don't get in wrong and please don't take away my finished plate when someone else at the table is still eating. The Martini's also need some work.

It honestly had the feeling that the chef (a very nice Australian who came over to ask how our meal was) had been in charge of the food - which was well executed, but maybe his wife/interior design company had done the rest of the restaurant and the two had never consulted on a united aim.

I think this was also demonstrated through the menu - the descriptions were overly detailed and wordy, to the point of confusion - nothing leapt out from the initial peruse through and I thought I was going to struggle to order something I really wanted. Although the food that came out met the description on the menu in terms of the items given, you really weren't sure what you were expecting - I couldn't remember the full description of ANY of the dishes we'd ordered once I'd closed the menu.

So, would I go back? I think I'd give it another try in the next six months (E says purely for the fig sponge) and see if anything has changed - though I doubt it will have.

Grown up Chocolate Cornflake Cakes

So, we didn't end up having the marinated beef on Thursday, instead we gave in and hit Pizza Express for an American (for me), American Hot (for E) and two bottles of red (for sharing). Very naughty indeed. So we'll be having the beef on Sunday and there'll be No Drinking this week from Sunday to Thursday, honest.

Was a bit all out of ideas this Friday for the baking, so I whipped up some chocolate cornflake cakes.

Melt lot's of 70% Green and Black chocolate in the microwave, and stir in Kelloggs (a must) cornflakes. Spoon the mixture into foil cups and pipe with melted white for milk chocolate for prettiness.

Really, it doesn't get any easier than that. As a trial, I also did some where I used chocolate with Chilli - using either 70% chocolate or the chilli variation is a great grownup twist on a classic kids food - which is always well received.

I need to get thinking for more Friday Baking ideas - this week I think I might make my ginger cookies - tiny gingery mouthfuls that disappear in minutes - I don't think they have ever hung around for more than a day.

Weather: Glorious - just did 20 minutes each side by the pool.

Marinated Beef with Brown rice and Bok Choi

Quick and easy this one, and as per most of my weekday cooking, it's healthy, which is good, as I plan to go to either Beo (new organic restaurant with a badly thought-out name) or Zest this weekend.

Take about 200-220g of minute steak (enough for two), and put in a glad bag with a teaspoon of sesame oil and a few tablespoon of good soy or multipurpose seasoning, a sprinkle of dried chilli flakes and leave to marinate in the fridge if possible.

Cook enough brown long grain rice for two in some bouillon/vegetable stock as per the packet instructions.

In a hot frying pan, break an egg and whisk until loosely cooked, add the cooked rice and a splash of light soy and stir, throw in a cup of frozen peas (the ubiquitous freezer staple) and remove from the heat.

Steam the bok choi (cut them in half length ways if they are big) until still crunchy, but the leaves have wilted. As soon as your bok choi is the steamer, flash fry the steak in a very hot dry frying pan, set aside and slice into strips with a sharp knife.

Serve in large bowls with the beef on top of the rice and the bok choi on the side.

You've probably worked out by now that lots of my recipes requires a bit of a marinade - don't panic if you don't have time, just as soon as you get started, chuck the marinade and meat together in a bowl and let sit whilst you prepare the rest of the meal (chopping, laying the table etc). 5 mins is better than none at all. I know in the past brown rice has been truly yucky - reserved for bad 70's hippy type fare only, but try something like this one, the mix has a great flavour and cooking it in stock really helps.

Weather: for the first time in about 6 weeks, it's not rained today yet....

Charred garlic and rosemary lamb, with roasted vegetable cous-cous

A very quick and easy one for a horrid rainy day (with awful PMT to boot).

Into a Glad bag place:

• two small (not more than about 100-120g per person) lamb loins
• a teaspoon of good olive oil
• a few fat cloves of garlic, crushed
• a few sprigs of rosemary and/or mint
• a large red onion, cut into medium chunks
• a red pepper into medium chunks

Season with S+P and put the bag in the fridge and leave until you want to cook it.

To cook - heat a griddle pan on the stove until very hot. Once hot, take the lamb out of the bag and put in the pan, pour the veggies and garlic all around them making sure you get all of the juices from the bag in there.
Using a spatula press down on the lamb loins to ensure that you get the nice char-grilled lines and even cooking (this will also help them come away cleanly when you need to turn them over). Cook on each side for about 3 minutes, remembering to press on them occasionally with your spatula. Move the veggies around the pan to soak up the flavours and char the edges.

Once the lamb is done, remove to a chopping board and cover to let rest. Leave the veggies in the pan if you like then nice and charred, but remember to move them about, and take them out them when you are happy with the colour.

To make the cous-cous, place your desired quantity in a bowl and cover with boiling hot stock (no need to be flash - a few teaspoons of powdered bouillon stired into kettle water will suffice). Cover the bowl with cling or foil or a small plate to keep the heat in and leave for a few minutes.

Whilst the cous-cous soaks, slice your lamb into thin slices and finely chop a spring onion. Then remove the cover from the cous-cous, and stir in the spring onion to fluff up the grains (and if you are not being low fat, a good slug of olive oil goes in very well here).

To serve, put your cous-cous in a large dish and make a well in the middle. Place the charred vegetables into the well and top with the sliced lamb.

Serve with natural yogurt on the side and a few squeezes of fresh lemon.
If you want to add a little juice, mix some harrisa, a teaspoon of oil, and some water (deglaze the pan?) and pour over your dish. A glug of good balsamic also works well.

Rainy day food.

Weather - Awful. Still.

Cenacolo, Yi Jiang Nan, Ragu Bolognese

Had probably the worst meal out in HK so far on Friday at Cenacolo on Graham Street, Central (fortunately with great company though). It was like eating in a Italian in Streatham circa. 1972 - complete with wooden cartwheels on the wall, because they look, you know, rustic.

Anyway, I had read a unfavourable review of this place first (sour milk Pannacotta anyone?) but as I hadn't booked it and am trying to rein in my Bossy Boots (or Little Miss Know-It-All as E says) tendencies, I didn't mention anything.

"Worst" makes it sound like it was so awful that we all spent the night being ill - it wasn't that at all - it was just a bit rubbishy - all the dishes came as the menu stated, but is was just so disappointing - the the menu was overly lengthy (pages and pages), the antipasto platter was exactly that only they had used the cheapest meats and accompaniments, the pasta was ok, but again, they had used the cheapest type of pasta, so the texture was poor, the calamari was rubbery (and a bit fishy), the main courses un-memorable and I don't think any of us finished them, and the medium-bodied red recommended wasn't. It wasn't that the food was bad (the service was good), it was just very poorly executed food - no passion or love or thought. In HK's fierce and excellent restaurant scene, I am amazed they can get away with it.

However, despite this we did have such a fun night due to the company - lots of chatting and wine (and cherry-topped drinks). We ladies had to be forced into in taxis at 2. Perfect.

All this was followed up by a lovely meal at Yi Jiang Nan on Staunton Street on Saturday, when we were both feeling a little sorry for ourselves and craving the comfort food of fluffy white rice and spicy chillies. The beef with scallions was excellent, as was the garlic sauteed Chinese broccoli. Also good was the fried chicken with chilies and the salt and pepper aubergine (though a little plentiful). It certainly hit the spot.

Yesterday we had impromptu lunch on our new dinning room table - square is the way forward, very sociable. I made fettuccine with ragu, whilst E brought some lovely Jambon Iberico (leg and loin) which we ate with Parmesan and honey for nibbles first, and a couple of lovely bottles of red and a pudding wine which we had with Friands - all very good. Followed by a few too many drinks down at the Peak Lookout, under the trees in the garden.

Ragu (Bolognese)

This takes awhile to make so I recommend making twice the recipe and freezing the rest – it’s very handy to have lots in the freezer, and you can also use it as a base for cottage pie and lasagne. It re-heats like a dream.

1 kg lean mince beef
50g Good butter
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 white onion, finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
1 small stick of celery, finely chopped
300ml dry white wine
200ml milk
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
400g tinned tomatoes (plum or Italian), chopped

Melt the butter and the oil in a heavy bottomed pan on a medium heat and add the carrot, celery and onion and cook until the onion is translucent. Add the beef and stir until all the raw red colour has gone (but it’s not fully cooked or brown). Turn the heat to medium-high and add the wine and stir occasionally until the wine has evaporated. Turn back to a medium heat and add the milk and nutmeg and stir until most of the milk has evaporated. Then add the tomato and stir until they bubble. Tune the heat down low and cook for at least and hour (if it reduces too much, add a little water)

Storage: Freeze in re-sealable bags. Make lots as it freezes really well.

Weather - as before. Really. Not good.

Breakfast Bars

Thursday is my Cantonese lesson, so no dinner last night - probably not a good idea as I feel a little woozy from the beer - I was practicing my ordering ok?

E was dispatched to school with his box of goodies - I bake something on Fridays for his morning meeting, which works out very well as it means I get to bake, which I love, without the consequences of having piles of cookie/cakes sitting around the house for us to eat - I try a couple, and then send the rest away.

So far the Friday meeting have had:

• Brownies
• Chocolate chocolate-chip cookies (Bakers)
• Chocolate chocolate chip cookies (Nigella's) - these were the best cookies, though probably something to do with the fact that they are more chocolate than cookie
• Raspberry Friands
• Buttermilk muffins with choc chips
• Millionaires Shortbread
• Carrot cupcakes
• Lemon Poppyseed cupcakes
  

Todays treat was a chewy breakfast bar - a kind of variation on a flapjack/muesli bar but with no fat and using condensed milk to get a milky taste for the breakfast theme. However, good though they were, I don't think they go moist enough without butter. The great thing with this recipe is rather than buy lots of separate ingredients you can just use a good quality sugar free muesli (such as Dorset Cereals - full of nuts and fruit). Feel free to throw in a bit more to your mix - sesame seeds, raisins, sunflower seeds etc - a rummage in the cupboard will usually produce something.

Take a box (about 800g) of the best sugar free muesli you can find and pour into a large mixing bowl. Warm a can and a half of condensed milk in a pan and when runny add to the muesli and stir until it's all completely coated. Scrape into a baking tin (about 32x22x4 should do it) and bake at 140c for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 15-20 mins before cutting them with a sharp knife into bars, then leave to cook completely - you should get either 16 big ones or 24 small ones.

Enjoy!


Weather: Rain, cloud and gloom - currently a thunder and lighting storm going on behind me.

Zesty Chicken Wraps

And tonight Matthew I will be......

recycling freezer food.

Much as I love having a freezer - who'd have thought I coped for 7 years in London without one - I do get very bored of the stuff that's in it. Every time you open it you feel like you've eaten: soup, half a ham, peas (always), filo pastry etc - and consequently never use them up as you are SO BORED OF THEM ALREADY. So, as I have to make room for summer ice lollies and ice cubes, I am trying to use it all up.

Therefore, defrosted organic chicken it is again (plus alot of stuff from last nights meal dressed up differently) - this time marinaded in a zesty spicy, almost BBQ-y juice and served with salad and oat wraps. Oat wraps may sound gross, but they are a lovely Aussie food that is like a very thin flat bread and is low in fat (none!) sugar (none!) and GI (errr low!) plus they keep in the fridge for ages, which is great for week nights.

A simple marinade done a hundred ways, an assorted mix of: Finely chopped garlic, soy sauce, lime juice with the bits, a few dashes of pepper sauce or a spoon of wholegrain mustard - Plus a teaspoon of sesame oil and heaped teaspoon of brown sugar or a squirt of honey. All shoved in a glad bag with the sliced chicken and left to soak.

When you cook the chicken (in a hot dry frying pan) throw in a chopped red onion as well for part of your 5 a day.

Serve the chicken in a bowl with the wraps and a salad (i'd normally use rocket but as I am clearing out we have cos, grated carrot, and a sad looking pepper) on the side and let poeple assemble their own. Also sprinkle of spring onions also goes a longway on the presentation front.

Yum. and Healthy. And Quick.

Weather: Hot and Clear - can see the islands miles away and for the first time in ages the dehumidifiers are off and the doors are open - yey!

Garlic and chilli chicken with noodle salad, peanut drizzle and steamed bok choi

Well, here we go.

In our ongoing attempt to be healthy and to make up for the huge consumption of booze and food at weekends, I thought I'd try something new last night. These often have mixed results (E still hasn't forgiven me for making him soup that "tasted of feet") but last night was a success.

The Chicken

• One large organic chicken breast (this should feed two easily - you don't need more than about 100-120g of protein per person)
• 2 red chillies (deseeded) and 4 fat cloves of garlic - all chopped very finely together

Slice the chicken into fine long strips and stick in a glad bag with the chopped chilli, garlic and a teaspoon of sesame oil. Mix it about and return to the fridge. This is best done in the morning so every time you open the door, give the bag a bit of a squish to help meld it all together. Tip: make sure when marinating you get all the air out of the bag when you seal it.

To cook, heat a frying pan (no fat/oil) until very hot, throw in the chicken and stir until cooked - make sure you scrape off all the yummy burnt garlic and chilli bits to serve with.

The Noodles

• 1/4 of a white cabbage and a fat carrot
• Rice Stick Noodles

Finely slice the white cabbage and carrot into 6in long and very thin strips and pop and set aside.

Boil up a section and a bit of noodles (they come on hanks all bundled together - normally 3 to a pack). Take care not to over cook, drain immediately and cool under running cold water and drain again.

When required throw the veggies into the noodles and toss

The Peanut Drizzle

In a mug, pop:

• a heaped teaspoon of smooth peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons of water
• 2 tablespoons of soy
• the juice of half a lime

Bung in the microwave for 30 secs, stir and repeat.

To serve: Split the noodle salad between to large bowls and douse with a tablespoon of soy, top with half the chicken each and drizzle with the peanut sauce. This is best served with some steamed Chinese greens of some sort - bok choi, pak choi, choi sum etc etc.

Enjoy.

Weather: cloudy and drizzly - not much change on the LAST THREE WEEKS.