Cha Xiu Bao

The Japs are officially sicker than I am...

Fatty, marbled wagyu + iPod case = Some Japs to shabu shabu now!

Objects on Your Plate May Be Smaller Than They Appear

"The first thing I tell them is to round up every price that ends with 95 cents to 99 cents. You've got an item $10.95, raise it to $10.99. If it's $7.75, make it $7.79. All the chains have done it -- Applebee's, Chili's, all of them. It's just four cents and your customers won't notice, but that could easily mean $5,000 to $15,000 a year for the restaurant."

Inspiring read from the Washington Post on how restaurateurs fiddle with tricks to save costs against soaring food prices, which reminds me the sorry state of the supplier-driven dining scene here in Hong Kong, especially those in LKF, Soho, A-Ho and NoHo...

And always remember: eat smart, not hard. Mind over mouth, always!

The best noodles in HK you've never heard of - Part I

While the noodlicious "heaven in a bowl" writeup I did for SCMP last month leaves us in no doubt about the lure of these charming noodles joints, we must face a fact even the blind can see before we move on to plan another rewarding noodles jaunt forward: the piece is written for, well, N2N, novices to noodles.

I mean, look at the list. It practically bears no difference than pointing Robert De Niro or Al Pacino's when people asked for acting tips. For suave diners hankering a good nosh of noods, it's like -- my editor's gonna give me a nasty stare for saying this -- tickle your itchy foot without taking off the boot. List is full of shops so famed, hyped and so out-there that readers may doubt someone is just channeling a fabulous feast with leftovers. "Chaxiubao, that's it?! I can get a way better one from any celebitchy magazine selling on newstands."

But wait, doing things by halves isn't the Chaxiubao way -- and so -- allow me the indulgence to present you all "the best noodles in Hong Kong you've never heard of" series to redeem my reputation. Dare me to say, this is the list to make you feel like six inches tall even if you think you know noodles-dining in Hong Kong like the back of your hand!

HKBooks2Eat 2008

 

I have been wanting to partake in one of these books2eat/edible book festivals for ages, so it's absolutely delightful to know that we're accepting the mantle of edible readership on our own turf this Saturday.

Date                         :  Saturday, April 5th 2008
Place                        :  The Rotunda, Exchange Square, Central
Open Viewing             :  12-3pm (free of charge)
Winners announced     :  3 pm
Afternoon Tea           :  3-5pm (HK$150 for adults, HK$30 for children aged 3-10)

For more details, check out the website here.

I don't know about you but my chewchew entry is simple -- I don't even need to wet my hand making it; yet it's extraordinary intellectual at the same time! All I need is some kumquat, apple and ume and voila, a famed Chinese literature masterpiece is there for everyone's drooling pleasure before you knew it!

Anyone know what hot book I'm cooking up?

Welcome to my blog

"I always say that chicken, pork, fish and duck are the original heroes of the board, each with a flavor of its own, each with its distinctive style; whereas sea slug and swallows nest are commonplace fellows with no character, in fact they're mere hangers-on (despite their costliness). I was once invited to a banquet given by a certain Governor, who gave each of us 4 taels of plain boiled swallows nest, served in enormous vase as huge as flower-pot. It had no taste at all. While other guests were obsequious in their praise of it, I said: 'We are here to eat swallows nest, not to take delivery of it wholesale.' If our host's object was simply to impress, it would have been better to put a hundred pearls into each bowl. Then we should have known that the meal had cost him tens of thousands, without the unpleasantness of being expected to eat the uneatable."             "Recipes of the Sui Garden" Yuan Mei