Hong Kong - Food Heaven ; )

Some of my favorite places to eat in HK

The Splurges *

Mandarin Bar & Grill

• My favorite go-to place for good steak
• Great dish presentations and serving
• Changes menus regularly, but you are bound to find something tasty on the menu
• Though their sashimi are fresh and of high quality, I didn't think it was worth the $$$. Spend it on the oysters instead if you want to eat something raw
  

Recommendations: Any beef dish, but the Beef Wellington was amazing; Lobster Bisque; Alaskan King Crab with avocado and tobiko (might not be on the current menu anymore)

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

• Great Set lunches (HK$390 for 3 course lunch with coffee/tea and mini appetizer); haven't tried dinner because it looks way pricey $$$$$$. But I highly recommend lunch.
• Menus are also changed regularly, but for each course there are always 4 choices.
  
• When I went, the pre-appetizer was a foie gras mousse. I had the Alaskan king crab rice paper roll for appetizer, beef tenderloin cubes with crimini mushrooms and garlic for main, and grapefruit jelly with sorbet for dessert. All very tasty and well-portioned. May want to eat a small breakfast that day before visiting though!

LIAN (IFC)

• I would go there just for their Beef Pho! The soup base is so tasty, remind them to give you some fresh chili, a little kick of spices go a long way! The beef is from the states and is of very consistent good quality ; )
• Soft shell crab rice paper roll is always a delight. The sauces may taste funny at first try, but I think it's an acquired taste. You may love it or hate it.
• Thai spring rolls: spring roll itself is pretty standard stuff. But they give you fresh lettuce to wrap the spring rolls, gives it an extra crunch and freshness. I like ; )
• Haven't tried anything else but I'd say the above dishes are very safe bets, esp the pho!
  
• They also have these wine tasting promotions, where you can sample 13 different kinds of wine (red, white, rose and sparkling; usually from a specific country) in a 2-hour span for around $230. Might try this next time!
  

Zuma

• Felt kinda like a tapas place because their menu is so extensive. Many Japanese/Asian inspired dishes. Pretty romantic atmosphere with dim yellow lights, would be nice for dates ; )
• Grilled miso black cod on hoba leaf. So soft and buttery! On the pricey side for around $200 a piece tho.
• Also had the Boston Roll, which had lobster, avocado and mentaiko. Was pretty delish! There were at least 15 types of rolls on the menu to choose from.
• Salad greens was the only salad they had on the menu so wasn't really expecting much, but, it tasted surprisingly good! Loved the deep fried tofu in it. I think I liked the sauce too.
• Deep fried calamari - very standard. Not amazing but wasn't bad either, but will prob skip this and try something else next time.
  
• There were so many things I wanted to try on their menu! I'm gonna have to go back a few times to try all of them ;p
• Drinks: were expensive. $98 for martinis/cocktails, but offered a great creative selection. Worth trying! Wine was rather overpriced, I'd skip it.
  

For OYSTER lovers

• After trying a bunch of oyster bars/restaurants over winter break in HK, I have made a list of the good and bad ones we've tried
• The good: Mandarin Grill - fresh, overall good quality oysters. Offered around 12 kinds. To give you an idea of prices, half a dozen of Kumamotos would set you back $368. Pretty overpriced, but they were presented very beautifully.
• The good: Zzip at the Loop (Wellington Street) - large selection of oysters, around 20+ kinds to choose from; offer a happy hour special everyday from 5-8, $98 for 3 oysters (selected by restaurant) and a glass of house wine. Regularly, Kumamotos are around $35 each. Prices of the oysters range from $30-40ish.
  
• The good: Oyster Express (Yiu Wah Street in Cwb) - the menu lists around 30 kinds of oysters, but depending on what time of the day you go, they may not have all of them in stock. Kumamotos are $34 each, and the most expensive being Belon 4'0' for $128 each.
• The bad: Sheraton Oyster Bar - tried their oyster box and some French oysters, rather disappointing because Sheraton had a good rep for their oysters, but the ones we had were very mediocre. They also didn't offer very much selection, but could be because we went there during happy hour.

To be continued...