Another day, another lunch in SoHo

As I walked along Elgin Street this afternoon looking for a new place for lunch, I came upon a new restaurant that had just opened the day before. The owner beckoned for me to enter, and seeing that they probably needed my patronage desperately in these hard times, I decided to oblige. La Luna is yet another Spanish restaurant in this stylish food street off SoHo in Hong Kong. The interior decor was warm and earth-toned, but didn't suggest anything Spanish about the establishment, so I was hoping the food would be the highlight.

I ordered the set lunch, consisting of a tuna salad, and a roasted chicken. Both dishes were well prepared, but nothing spectacular, in fact, they tasted a bit like standard hotel fare. But then again, this was lunch, perhaps dinner would be a whole different matter altogether. It's unlikely that I'd return though, if I wanted Spanish, there are better options in SoHo.

Pho Lemon needs more zest

I stumbled upon this little cafe along Elgin Street one afternoon when I had a craving for a bowl of Vietnamese Pho beef noodle soup. They were promoting several 2-course set lunches for HK$88 each, and I chose the steamed rice paper rolls as the appetizer and the Pho as main course. The steamed rice paper rolls were soft and thinly wrapped around minced prawn and pork and mushroom, accompanied by a sweet and spicy fish sauce.

It was very delicious and I almost wanted to order another round. The Pho main course on the other hand, was a bit of a letdown, mainly because it was rather bland and lacking in the usual aromatic beef flavor one expects from a traditional bowl of Pho.

The first one of the year - Si Bon

Ok, I confess, it's been a really long time since I updated this blog with a new restaurant review. Not that I've been avoiding restaurants, on the contrary I've found quite a few really good ones around Asia and Australia. Guess it's a long drawn case of procrastination. At least I'm not the only guilty party here. As we enter yet another new year filled with endless choices of new restaurants to be discovered and new cuisines to be savored, I'll promise to be a bit more diligent about blogging. Note to D Girl - How about trying some video blogging with your new Mino, eh?

So we'll start of this year's blog with a quick review of a new Japanese restaurant on Sentosa Island, Singapore. Probably the only restaurant that prides itself on serving Kushikatsu (or Japanese skewered food), Si Bon is a fantastic escape from the everyday mundane Japanese meal experience. What do I mean by this? You first need to get across to Sentosa Island and head towards the Amara Sanctuary Resort, where Si Bon is located. As you walk towards the restaurant at the far end of the resort, the scenery changes to lush bamboo groves and stone footpaths reminiscent of a private garden in Kyoto. The restaurant entrance appears as you round the corner, revealing a small brick house within the groves of green bamboo. The converted chapel that houses Si Bon contains a very small dining counter for 12 persons, facing the chef's kitchen where food is prepared and cooked in front of the diners. This reminded me of some of the tempura specialty restaurants in Tokyo where the chef cooks each tempura in front of the diners and personally serves them. We were there for the set lunch, which consisted of 3 appetizers, followed by 8 skewers of meat, seafood and vegetables, then a choice of udon/soba, steamed rice or sushi.

The skewers were lightly battered and fried to perfection and served immediately. The chef would then guide us to the appropriate sauce type to dip as accompaniment. Each skewer was a mouthful of delicately arranged tender morsels lightly battered and fried to perfection, and bursting with freshness and flavor. My particular favorites was the prawn skewer topped with fresh uni, and the duck and goose combination skewer wrapped in a shiso leaf. We opted for the steamed rice as it was a specialty from Osaka. The fluffy nori flavored rice was topped with thin slices of Japanese cucumbers, prawns, egg and pickles and was a good way to end the meal. The dessert was Japanese green tea ice cream with fresh strawberries. I have to say service was excellent, the wait staff were super attentive (probably because we were the only ones there that day).