Private Dining at Courtyard by Marriott Hotel [Hong Kong] - Chinese Cantonese Tasting Menu inside Hotel Suite 沙田萬怡酒店總統套房

 Courtyard by Marriott in Shatin, has started doing a Lunch & Dinner Promotion where customers can pre-book one of the few Hotel Rooms or Suites on the Top 29th Floor, and enjoy a Tasting Menu starting from HKD $698 to $898.  The dinner session inside the rooms will end around 11pm to Midnight and to book the biggest Presidential Suite,  the minimum booking is HKD $10,000 per room including private space and bathroom facilities, and it suits up to around 10-12 persons.  

Night View from Up Top here at the Presidential Suite -
Courtyard by Marriott Hotel, Shatin

Private Dining Table - 

三小碟

Marinated Abalone, Smoked Quail Egg with Caviar on Fried Kataifi Pastry,  Scallop with Yuzu.  The Abalone was slow braised and absorbed in the liquid, but seemed slightly seared for finish which is a great touch.  The smoked quail egg is still runny inside, interesting dish when served with Kataifi.

佛跳牆 - Buddha Jumps the Wall

With Abalone, Fish Maw, Sea Cucumber, Mushrooms, Pork & Chicken, etc.  All natural tasting and not overly salty.

香蔥頭抽星斑球 - Fried Spring Onions and Garoupa with Ginger, Thick Soy Sauce 

An interesting dish because the spring onions are almost deep fried here,  and so was the fish filet.  A Cantonese concept but with a fried rather than steamed concept.

乾燒大明蝦窩巴 - King Prawn stuffed with Minced Prawn
with a Garlicky Tomato Chili sauce. Served with Rice Cracker.  Lovely execution and slightly spicy too.  This is a dish not everyone does well nowadays..

蒜片脆片安格斯牛粒 - Fried Angus Beef Cubes and Garlic Chips 
Surprisingly this was not dense at all, but bursts in your mouth with beefiness.  Very unique dish as usually when we get served this, it is inevitably overcooked. One of the most memorable dishes this night and even this surprised me,  may be too many duds before having this version made me skeptical.

荷香富貴鴿 -

Beggar's Chicken style but replaced by Young Pigeon(s), eaten with Pickles, Mushrooms, and both Steamed and Fried Mantou bread.  Really lovely fragrant dish, and the use of Pigeon was smart because they were individually wrapped in Lotus Leaves, which is more tedious work but looks more presentable.

鮮蟹肉薑米蛋白炒絲苗 - Tempura King Crab and Crab Fried Rice with Egg White & Ginger
With 6 taels of Crab Meat in the Fried Rice, this was lovely.  I hardly say this about fried rice with crab as usually you can't taste the seafood, but here it is hand shredded per order and the crab meat sang through!

Fried Sesame Balls, Almond Milk Tea, and a Layered Pudding -
The 蛋白杏仁茶 almost tea is interesting as there is a almond pudding layer underneath.  Overall a sensible Dessert Platter finish to the meal.

Interesting Option for Dining in Hong Kong -
Private Dining inside a Hotel Suite,  we were saying this suits families, company meetings or when you miss a proper Room Service!   Prices start from just $698 per person.  More details are available at:  Hong Kong Phone +852 3940 8888

Price: HKD $698 to $898 Per Person (Dining Experience Invitation by Courtyard Marriott Shatin)

Food: ♕♕♕♕ 1/2 

Address: 1 Sha Tin New Territories, On Ping St, Hong Kong

Ph: +852 3940 8888

Zafran, with New Chef from Barcelona - [ Hong Kong ]

 Zafran just one street up from Lan Kwai Fong bar district,  Central at Wyndham Street,  has always been one of the most mysterious underground Spanish restaurant and bar ever since they opened.  It has a low ceiling and I would say quite romantic,  I have been here a few times for either drinks or food,  but this time around it was for a Cooking Class with new Chef Pere from Barcelona who has been here for 6 months behind the background.  This round of a class only had basically myself and also organized by www.beinglordandlady.com who were present here too,  themselves successful Restauranteurs and in Marketing of the same field. 

We Brunoise Diced up initially some Piquillo Pepper,  Onions,  and decided to slice the larger Squid into Rings instead of Dicing them for mouth feel.

Have to say this might not be the most traditional Spanish way but hey we thought this worked well,  as Chef Pere said we can be open mined..   Mixed with Spanish Bomba rice for the upcoming Paella..

The Latest Menu -

Actually from my own memory of visits,  Zafran (meaning Saffron) has undergone at least 3 Generations of Chef changes.  Nowadays it is more Catalan or Barcelonan in accent to me,  yet modernized too.

Palamos Red Prawn Tartare,  Sesame Caviaroli,  Sea Samphire Asparagus,  Avocado,  Radish,  with Tostadas bread -  HKD $190

I jokingly said during the cooking class,  we barely helped to peel these.  I was actually surprised they decided to use the extra rare Palamos red prawns here from Girona Spain,  as they are so treasured they are hardly exported  (coming from a Red Prawn Seafood distributor myself).  There is an element of Spanish molecular cooking here silently behind the background too,  typical of the upcoming trend of kitchen fare especially from Spanish trained Chefs.  

65C Slow-Cooked Egg Fried with Bread Crumbs,  Wild Mushrooms and Porcini Cream, Chives and Pinenuts - HKD $80

I find it interesting with the Egg Temperature and cooking time.  Personally I do the same from 63 to 63.5 to 65C with varying times,  it is again quite molecular Scientific,  but within this micro-window it seems every Chef still have their preferred temperature vs cooking time.  Here on this day it was full of Porcini cream aroma,  whereas apparently the week before it was Black Trumpet,  my favorite.

Salted Cod Brandade,  with Black Garlic,  Fried Garlic,  Parsley Leaf and Oil,  with Piquillo Pepper Sauce - HKD $80

This was creamy and not overly salty,  overall a very satisfying dish for sharing.  Right on the spot I kept thinking the term brandade is quite French,  but then again Salted Cod is usually registered with Spanish or Portuguese cuisine....   As a Miss Universe might say,  if everybody can reconcile their differences,  let's hope for World Peace  

Our Squid Ink Bomba Rice Paella,  with Squid,  Baby Squid,  Garlic,  Onions,  Red Pepper, Catalan Saffron,  Dollops of Red Prawn Head Emulsion,  Garlic Allioli - $320 

This is what we were learning to cook and dicing up,  of course Chef Pere helped the final finishing touches.  

Socarrat 'Crispy' Layer - 

This is quite similar to Cantonese Bo Jai Fan rice,  but in a shallower dish.  I did enquired before we finished this whether this would be the traditional Bottom Socarrat layer or the Top Salamander finished Socarrat style -  I don't mind both although the former is more traditional,  but the latter style I have seen many times recently.  (Which I suspect they are pre-cooked just Salamander finished for efficiency).   Not here !  Expect a 20 Minutes wait as they adjust the fire during the course of cooking from scratch.

Price: $300 - $400 + 10% Per Person
Food: ♕♕♕♕ 1/2 to ♕♕♕♕♕

Address:  中環雲咸街43-55號地庫
B1,  43-55 Wyndham Street,  Lan Kwai Fong,  Central,  HK
Ph: +852 21168855

CHEFS Chocolate & Culinary School - (Hong Kong)

 Hong Kong is experiencing a surge in Culinary School openings and many of these are headed by High Profile or Celebrity chefs.    Chef Koo 甜心先生 from the highly regarded Black & White Patisserie has opened his own school,  and we were invited over to check it out and make some ‘pizza dumplings’ with Chef Reko today,  who supervises the savory courses here.   For more information,  contact their email :  marketing@blacknwhite.com.hk or like their Facebook page with updated information at https://www.facebook.com/chefs.official .

 

 

Chef Koo’s cake creations inside CHEFS !   
It’s found inside an Industrial Building in Kwun Tong district.

 

 

Very nice modern Set Up -
Lots of shining bits and new equipment. 

 

 

Love the individual steel benches.

 

 

 

Recipe for today’s mini Calzones,  or 6 Pizza Dumplings
This cooking course is $380

 

 

Multiple Oven set-up -

 

 

 

Let’s eat some cakes from Black & White first before the Course begins -
We were all a bit starving..

 

 

 

Our own Kitchen Steel Bench and ingredients -
To me,  it is important that in a Cooking Class,  the students can really practise making their own food from scratch,  and under the supervision of your teacher.  They do this well here.

 

 

 

Pesto being Made -
With basil, garlic, cheese, olive oil, etc

 

 

Making our Pizza Dough -
This uses a combination yeast and flour and a bit of seasoning.

 

 

 

Chef Reko demonstrating to us -
how to fold the Pizza Calzones properly so that they don’t separate when being baked and the puffs start to expand.  This is a tricky bit and you have to seal them properly with more clamping force.

 

Pesto Sauce -
This is used to brush both the inside and the external of the pizzas.

 

 

 

Rested then divided dough balls, 
before rolling out and folding our own creations.

 

 

 

My Finished Tray of mini Calzones -

 

 

My Finished Products from the Oven -
Improvements can be made definitely,  it takes a lot of practice to perfect the products from one batch to another!  Such is the fun of baking anything!

 

 

 

Taking them Home for Supper and Lunch on the next day!

 

 

 

 

Price:   HKD $380
Ease of Access:  3.5/5  (Take MTR to Ngau Tau Kwok station or to Kwun Tong APM exit)

Address: 28 Hung To Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Ph: +852 23255663 (Hotline available on Monday - Friday, 12noon - 6pm)
Email:  marketing@blacknwhite.com.hk

Dolce Donna Kitchen Studio & 7-Eleven Onsen Tamago - (Hong Kong)

  Hong Kong’s own Truffle Queen Esther Au has opened her spacious private Cooking Studio  (website: http://www.moltodolce.com.hk/),  and I took 2 cooking classes within the same week here.   A normal class starts from around $600 and you learn to cook about 4 dishes ranging from Italian food,  Esther’s forte as she has spent quite some time there in Italy,  all the way to Abalone Dim Sums and Japanese food as taught by some very famous Michelin starred Chefs.   This event was a collaboration between Dolce Donna’s Black Truffle dishes with 7-Eleven’s brand new slow-cooked pasteurised eggs plus other brand new items.     The cross-over event sprang some surprises as it is very likely to save us a lot of time preparing certain dishes involving eggs!

 

Held at Donna Dolce,
Quite close to APM Shopping Mall in Kwun Tong -

 

 

 

Esther’s private Cooking Studio has Italian food classes,  as well as Dessert making courses,  and cross-overs with multiple Michelin Starred Chefs in town teaching you how to make dim sums.   *You need to email or call up to ask about the Chinese courses,  as the restaurants the Chefs come from are very strict on advertising using their restaurant’s or head chef’s names.  But trust me,  the best chefs in town are here.

 

 

 

Huge Winter Black Truffles -

 

 

 

Some Pancetta today,  for making a more laymen version of Carbonara today -
During an earlier class,  Esther used the more traditional Guanciale instead but since it was a much bigger group today,  she decided to use a more commonly available product.

 

 

 

Some Pots of Flowers and Herbs -

 

 

Food being Prepared from Scratch -

 

 

 

Here we go – Making our own Pasta Doughs!
Using a mixture of Italian eggs and 2 types of Flours,   I will let you find out about the final secret formula for a great pasta,  when you come here yourself! 

 

 

 

Rolling out and Cutting the final Pasta to the right size -
This time a Tagliolini pasta..

 

 

My fresh Tagliolini -
I made them quite long today.

 

 

Toasting some Bread –
These are actually available at 7-Eleven stores now!

 

 

 

Eggs Benedict of Spring Asparagus,  Onsen Egg, 
Truffled Hollandaise sauce, 
Mangalica Ham and Shaved Black Truffles -
The pasterized Onsen eggs are actually now available at 7-Eleven stores for HKD $9.90!   Amazing isn’t it?  The bread we toasted with butter was also their product.  The  Mangalica ham is made from Hungarian DNA hairy pigs in Spain,  they are actually really flavourful.  You can purchase them here at Dolce Donna for under $100 which is nearly half price,  and Italian eggs here are $8 each only!

 

 

The Egg is quite runny too..   
Keep it refrigerated and they can be eaten as is since they have been pasteurised.  The 100% raw version is also bacteria free,  also available at 7-Eleven stores.  Note that their egg-whites are slightly murky in color due to the quick pasteurisation process.

 

 

 

Our Home-made Tagliolini Carbonara with Egg Yolks, Pancetta,  Cheese & Black Pepper -
It’s topped with an onsen egg as well.   The pasta making process is hard enough,  let’s save some time by buying a pre-slow cooked poached egg!   Esther recommends the base Carbonara formula to use slightly less egg yolk if you have this additional egg!

 

 

Summer Berries Ice Cream Sandwich -
Trying out this new product!  Quite summery…

 

 

 

7-Eleven’s Curry Beef Rice with Egg -
This was surprisingly very good,  I was very shocked as this is potentially Yoshinoya beating stuff! 
The additional egg was added in by me but you could replicate this same dish at 7-Eleven outlets now and make yourself look like a fast food master!  

 

 

Raw & Poached Eggs (Pasteurized) -  $9.9
Making life easy with safe and readily purchasable eggs.

 

 

 

Kitchen Studio by night..

 

 

A Chitarra utensil to make ‘Guitar’ and also Tonnarelli pasta -
Cooking Classes here can be booked at Molto Dolce’s website: 
http://www.moltodolce.com.hk/

Follow their FANS Page on Facebook to keep up to date:  https://www.facebook.com/moltodolce.hk
The website is mostly in Chinese but they communicate fluently in English and Italian,  so the classes ranging from Italian to Chinese Dim Sums,  Japanese to Wine Classes can be held in multiple languages. 

 

 

 

Address:  Dolce Donna 觀塘駿業里6號富利工業大廈8樓B室
8B, Fully Industrial Building, 6 Ysun Yip Lane, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong
Email:  info@moltodolce.com.hk
Ph:  +852 21510609


Address:  7-Eleven Convenience Stores throughout Hong Kong