Beard Papa custard puffs

For those that know my culinary tastes, you would know that I am very partial to beard papa's vanilla custard puffs. This franchise started in Japan but they have since expanded to Hong Kong, other Asian countries and even New York and San Francisco. There was a small store in Boston for a period of time - unfortunately, it closed. My favorite is their vanilla custard puff - the custard is injected into the pastry shell when order so that it stays crisp while the custard stays cold. They seem popular in Hong Kong since the overall puff is only light on the sugar. There were some new flavors in Hong Kong this time - vanilla custard with mango, green tea custard puff and the tiramisu puff (latter two pictured). The tiramisu was surprisingly good - the custard had a slight alcoholic aftertaste and the crunchy chocolate bits added more sweetness to the pastry shell.

Jean Paul Hevin Macaroons

Was walking through TST and couldn't resist picking up a box of macaroons from French chocolatier Jean Paul Hevin. They were all displayed like jewels in a case - green, pink, blue, gold - a myriad of enticing colors and flavors. Picking out 6 was hard but I finally went for mango coriander, pistachio, raspberry, fig, bergemot tea and creme brulee. Here they are displayed in all their boxed glory.

Dim Sum at Ming Court

Wondering how dim sum at a 2-star Michelin restaurant will taste, I took Mum to Ming Court in Mongkok's Langham Place Hotel today. The XO sauce with dried scallop was a perfect accompaniment for the shrimp dumplings (har gaw) and pork dumplings with whole shrimp (siu mai). We also had the shanghai soup dumplings (perfect flavoring although the skin was not as thin as Crystal Jade's) but the best dish goes to Ming Court's salty egg yolk custard bun. Run your fork through it and watch the beautiful golden yellow liquid run out....fragrant, sweet, salty - perfect.

B&G Oysters

Perhaps my expectations were too high - in any case, our wedding anniversary dinner at B&G oysters was more basic than expected. The oyster selection was impressive but at $3 an oyster or littleneck clam, it should be. We were given an amuse bouche - yellowtail tartare and beet (pictured). Paul had the lobster dish (pictured) with spinach and parsnip with cauliflower. I had a tasty lobster pasta dish - a special for that day. Our pistachio creme brulee was a disaster though - straight from the fridge. Even with the sugar caramelized with a blowtorch, the brulee was lukewarm but the bottom of the ceramic dish was still cold. We asked the kitchen for another warmer version but was told it was not possible so ended up ordering the caramel sundae. Snow and -5 degrees celsius outside and B&G Oysters had no warm desserts!!!