Timeout: Manzo

(From KC's Review in Timeout)

When you talk about the Dining Concepts restaurant group, the first thing that comes to mind is steak. And plenty of it too. Recently, they’ve opened up yet another new outlet in Times Square, offering steak done the traditional Italian way.

To start, we ordered the baked eggplant with mozzarella and tomato ($98). The three classic ingredients are served sizzling hot in a cast iron casserole, seasoned nicely by fresh leaves of basil. The aubergines are baked until they become meltingly tender with the stretchy mozza cheese adding a lovely dimension to the wonderful appetiser. Next up, roasted veal marrow ($158) is served together with sliced toast on an iron plate. As a marrow lover, I couldn’t wait to greedily scoop the runny bits out of the bone and slather them onto the crisp pieces of toast. Unfortunately, the marrow was lacking a pinch of sea salt, which could’ve elevated the dish to a whole different level.



Of course, steak is a must here and we decided to go with the pure wagyu sirloin ($688). Ordered medium rare, the 11oz meat from Oakleigh Ranch, Australia, was grilled just right with a lovely, crusty char on the surface that yields to a moist and bloody red centre. The marbling on the wagyu provided a flavourful taste and an extremely tender and near melt-in-the-mouth texture. All beef lovers should be satisfied with this steak. We tried the top sirloin rump ($178) as well – a select US Department of Agriculture angus that was a bit chewy and rough, but still provided a juicy and tasty meat flavour.



We opted for the olio d’oliva cake ($68) to end the meal since we were told that it was one of the restaurant’s most popular items. The orange cake has a nice spring to it but, unfortunately, doesn’t carry much citric fruit flavour. Luckily, the hazelnut praline made up for that, and the rich and smooth chocolate ice cream on the side was also a crowd pleaser.



Being a steakhouse, the beef selection here is relatively inadequate with only eight choices provided on the regular menu. We were told that the restaurant will be adding more choices later on and we’ll definitely come back for a taste when that happens.

Kung Fu Dim Sum

(From KC's review in Timeout)

Following the success of Michelin-starred Tim Ho Wan and One Dim Sum, there has been a rapid increase of eateries specialising in dim sum. Among the newcomers is this Tin Hau restaurant. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon to find the two-floor place packed with people with a long queue outside the shop. Luckily the turnover of customers was really quick and we were seated after a brief 15-minute wait.



The dim sum items are all prepared on an à la minute basis. The menu is divided into six categories (steamed, deep-fried, rice roll, rice pot, congee and dessert). To start, we had the double-boiled seafood soup ($28), which was delicately flavoured with a light aftertaste. Next, we tried several traditional steamed items, including shrimp dumplings ($12), siu mai ($10), char siu bun ($14) and Malay sponge cake ($14) – all served piping hot. The shrimp dumplings were really tasty with fresh shrimp fillings and a thin, non-sticky skin. The pork filling in the siu mai was juicy and meaty, but I would have preferred a more traditional version with less shrimp. The char siu bun was steamed just right – not too soft while retaining a bit of chew. But the pork inside was too sweet and thin. The Malay sponge cake was especially delicious, soft in texture and full of brown sugar sweetness. This is one of the must-try items.



We also opted for some innovative deep-fried items. The sesame radish cake ($20) was a combination of radish cake and sesame-studded Chinese pancake. Despite the greasy, crunchy sesame surface, the radish fillings were tasty and sweet. The long garlic shrimp spring roll ($19) was much crispier than the traditional versions. We also tried the char siu pork rice roll ($19) and found the exterior too thick and starchy. The meal ended with the sticky rice and mango roll, which was soft, sweet and deliciously chewy ($16). With no service charge, the total bill came to about $80each. This is not expensive, but it’s still surely not on the cheap side.

飯局報名處：香港仔魚市場海鮮餐廳

各位朋友，

第一次在部落開帖子報名飯局。

是次活動詳情如下：

地點：魚市場海鮮餐廳（食評參考請按此）
日期：2011年10月8日
時間：下午十二時三十分

報名安排如下：

1. 是次活動公開報名的位置是兩圍(26人)
2. 如果未是KC Facebook上的朋友又未「like」KC在facebook上的專頁的，大家很難同檯吃飯，請大家做左fb fd及like左我的專頁先。（KC在facebook是「KC Koo」，專頁是「KC賞味隨筆」）
3. 請在這裡的留言欄留下名字，並在Facebook上如我message去確認報名。
4. 所有位置先到先得，如果人數太多，之前參加過KC飯局的食友有參加的優先權。
5. 如果第一次來的朋友可能會被要求落足訂，因為我給人放飛機的情況也太多，唯有參與的朋友要信我
6. 吃什麼，KC會發辦，沒人有權干涉。幾百食友跟我吃了這麼多年，也是如此。
7. 因為未到最近幾天也未知找到什麼最好的海鮮，所以是次在開飯前未必出得切餐牌，對不起。

謝謝大家。

KC