Bo Innovation - Molecular gastronomy in Hong Kong

As luck would have it, I won a monetary voucher for Bo Innovation during last year's work Holiday party trivia quiz. Who knew a solid knowledge foundation of the artwork in the office would be so fortuitous?

Bo Innovation is one of those places you go to for a special treat. Bo Innovation holds 3 Michelin stars and it's where rebel chef Alwin Leung fuses Hong Kong food history with molecular gastronomy. The lunch tasting menu has around 8 courses so definitely one where you need a couple of hours.

First, let's appreciate the place setting. My hot water came in a unique porcelain cup and the napkin was tied with ma lian grass (used to tie Dragonboat Festival sticky rice dumplings).

The place setting

Instead of a bread basket, we were presented with a take on Hong Kong street food - a crispy waffle called "gai daan tsai" or little eggs. The interior was filled with a savory scallion and dried shrimp concoction. This was fun to eat while hot. 

Hong Kong street food elevated

We started with Bo Innovation's famed deconstructed "xiao long bao" as the amuse bouche along with a savory mochi bite. The "xiao long bao" looked like a dragon's eye with a strip of red ginger. When eaten, the room-temperature sphere burst into flavors of pork unami with ginger. Although interesting, it wasn't as satisfying as eating a real soup dumpling. The mochi which was presented in a wrapper, redolent of Hong Kong dried plum snacks was even less successful. The savory filling didn't seem to marry well with the mochi exterior. 

Amuse bouche

The next course was one of the best - diced Brittany lobster with caviar and on a bed of crispy noodles and dried shrimp floss with chinese bonito vinegar. The crispy was made from egg tart pastry. 

Lobster and caviar

The second course was also very successful - a Hokkaido scallop and iberico pork jowl in an aromatic preserved plum broth. The broth was particular delicious as it had also been flavored with dried scallop.

Hokkaido scallop

The next course presented the Japanese kinki fish in a blander preparation with barley, spring onions and ginger. Although I thought I would like this course, the flavors did not compare so well with the lobster or scallop courses. The plate was beautiful though!

Kinki fish

The next course was one of the best and full of punchy flavors. It was foie gras "3 cups style" with bamboo shoot and onion. In chinese cuisine, 3 cups is sesame oil, soy sauce and chinese rice wine which is used often to flavor meat. I particularly enjoyed the smooth mashed potato in this dish which carried the sauce perfectly. 

Foie gras

After this course, we were presented with a palate cleanser. This was corn in Pat Chun black rice vinegar with a scoop of sorbet. This was nothing special and I thought the corn was fairly bland and not sweet enough. 

Corn in Pat Chun vinegar

Next course was the main course where we selected some different options to try. Elsa opted for the wild cod which was sitting in a sauce base made from chinese almonds. Along with a slice of iberico ham, termite mushrooms and drizzled with vintage mandarin peel oil, this was a beautiful rendition of cod. The soothing almond sauce was particularly special and paired well with the delicate cod. 

Wild cod in almond sauce 

I selected a more expensive main (HK$150 supplement) which was a Carabinero prawn with hand-crafted noodles, West Australian black truffle and fermented shrimp oil. Alas, this dish should have been delicious but it was far too salty. The noodles were a perfect al-dente texture and you can't go wrong with truffle except when you are too heavy-handed with the salt. 

Prawn and noodles

The server even presented some extra fermented shrimp oil for me to accessorize the main dish. As mentioned, there was no need to use it due to the dish being overly-salty which was a shame. 

Extra shrimp oil - illuminated for extra theatrics

We finished with a fruity "shark's fin" dessert where strands of pomelo stand in for shark's fin. The broth was sweet and cold with chunks of white and magenta dragonfruit. The sweet soup was also housed in a soup container, traditionally used in chinese banquets. 

Fruity sweet soup for dessert

The tasting menu was a work of art and there was much to appreciate - from the unique flavor matches and the technique required to create the dishes. Although not every dish was successful, there were still many dishes that piqued the tastebuds. Having said that, due to the cost, I'm not sure I would visit again unless I had to bring a fan of molecular gastronomy to somewhere special in Hong Kong.

The Chinese Library

One of my favorite restaurants to take out-of-towners is The Chinese Library in Tai Kwun. Housed in an old colonial building that was the previous Central police station, the restaurant is luxurious and expensive. More importantly, the food is delicious and exquisite - some of the best dim sum I have had in Hong Kong. I have been there about 4 times now and each time, I find more dishes to enjoy on the menu.

One of the stand-out dishes is the Peking duck. Although many places in Hong Kong do a good version, The Chinese Library provides 6 different unique sauces to go with the duck. This includes a black truffle sauce and a ginger cream. The duck has to be ordered in advance so we usually only get this for large groups.

The dim sum is equally delicious. I like to get the black truffle shrimp dumpling (har gau) - with a skin gently perfumed with black truffle.

Black truffle shrimp dumpling

Other good dishes are the garoupa and scallion rice roll noodles. It's quite rare to use such an expensive fish in rice roll noodles (cheung fun) and it's a treat. Mushroom bao are shaped like shitake mushrooms on the outside and have a delicate filing of chopped mushrooms in the centre.

Mushroom bao

Fried beef puffs and spring rolls

Squid ink & pea dumplings in lobster broth

Fried eggplant chips

The steamed pork dumpling (siu mai) is elegantly presented - 2 with orange skins and 2 with green skins. What elevates this dish is the clove of black garlic in the middle.

Pork dumpling with black garlic

Aside from dim sum, The Chinese Library also offer a selection of a la carte dishes including stir-fried noodles and rice at the lunch service. The wagyu beef stone pot fried rice topped with bonito flakes is a favorite.

Wagyu beef stone pot rice

I haven't tried much on the dessert menu but we did wait for 20 minutes once for the baked mini egg tarts (baked to order). These were good but not astounding. Finally, since one of the visits to The Chinese Library was for Mum's birthday, the staff suggested a Longevity Bun to end the meal. The charge for "cake-cutting" was fairly hefty so I appreciated the suggestion - cost-effective and meaningful for Mum!

More food dispatches from Seoul

In 2014,  I visited Seoul with Paul for the first time. We enjoyed many types of Korean cuisine - Hansik, street foods, green tea, patbingsoo, bibimbap and barbecue. But even back then, I longed for all the foods I didn't get time to enjoy - chicken ginseng soup (samgyetang), Korean vegetarian temple food, ox bone soup (soulongtang) and pork belly barbecue (samgypsal).

Fast forward 5 years and Paul's dietary restrictions (no chicken nor beef) make it difficult to enjoy the full spectrum of Korean cuisine. Luckily, a shopping and eating trip with friends Elsa and Yvonne gave the opportunity to try these dishes and more!

Aside from enjoying Sinshon soulongtang, vegetarian temple food at Sanchon and fine Hansik cuisine at Yongsusan Biwon (see other posts), we also ate:


Korean porridge at Migabon

Migabon has the good fortune of being the shop above Sinchon Soulongtang. I've heard stories whereby those who could not wait any longer in Sinchon's queue would just go upstairs to Migabon. Since we visited Migabon in the morning, we often found the queue was at Migabon, as opposed to Sinchon! We purposely did not get the hotel breakfast so we could enjoy better food outside. This meant that Migabon became our go-to for early morning porridge. We tried abalone, beef and mushroom, ginseng chicken, pine nut and mushroom. Our favorites were the abalone with chunks of chewy abalone meat and the ginseng chicken which had jujube dates and a strong flavor of ginseng. Each porridge came with a few side dishes - kimchi, burdock root, radish and beansprouts.
Prices were incredibly reasonable - the abalone porridge was only KRW 8,000 or just under US$8.

Chicken and ginseng porridge in the forefront

Samgyetang at Toshokchon

Toshokchon is the place everyone writes about to get samgyetang. Housed in several traditional korean houses (hanok), Toshokchon is located close to Gwanghwamun gate and is just a short 5 minutes walk from Gwanghwamun station. We got the black chicken as well as the regular chicken version. The black chicken was more flavorful with wild ginseng. Koreans believe you fight "fire with fire" and rejuvenate the body in the hot summers with this energy-giving soup. Each chicken is filled with glutinous rice, jujubes, garlic and ginseng roots. We also ordered a kimchi pancake which was delicious.  At Toshokchon, unlimited cabbage and radish kimchi was presented in earthenware pots. We were also each given a thimbleful of ginseng wine. Although this was a delicious meal, I was unhappy to realize we were all very thirsty a couple of hours after. This is usually a sign that MSG was used in the soup broth which was a shame. Onwards and upwards - this means I will be hunting for the best samgyetang in Seoul for years to come. Your recommendations welcome!

Love the unlimited kimchi in the pots (top left)

Charcoal BBQ at Wangbijib

Wangbijib is a chain of restaurants that still use charcoal fire. There are 2 branches in Myeongdong - we took a while walking over to the main branch -  only to be walked over to the other branch by a kind staff member. We enjoyed marinated beef galbi, pork cheek meat and assorted mushrooms. Luckily, it was all grilled by a staff so we did not ruin the food with amateur cooking skills. Banchan dishes included thin radish slices, kimchi and beansprouts. We wrapped the meat into lettuce parcels korean-style.

Marinated galbi grilling

Knife-cut noodles - Kalguksu

Chewy and al-dente, korean knife-cut noodles make for a satisfying lunch. We chanced upon a restaurant serving these noodles in the basement of Ssamziegil Mall in Insadong. This chain is known for their cold chicken knife-cut noodles. We also ordered noodles in a mushroom and perilla seed broth which was very good.

Mushroom and perilla seed broth noodles

Cold chicken noodles

More green tea cakes at O'Sulloc

Could not resist revisiting O'Sulloc for our green tea cake fix. Aside from the famous roll cake, we ordered a green tea torte, green tea tiramisu and the Hallebong cake with a chocolate base. Simple is sometimes best and it was the roll cake that shone through. All accompanied by O'Sulloc's speciality green tea. Of course, we ruined our appetites with this afternoon treat as we didn't realize what an amazing dinner we would have a few hours later!

Green tea overload

Souffle pancakes and other beauties at Innisfree cafe

My first time eating the souffle pancakes that originated in Japan! Light and incredibly fluffy, the recipe entails beating the egg whites to a stiff peak before folding gently into the batter. At Innisfree cafe in Myeongdong, we were told that the souffle hotcakes will take 20 minutes. Aside from the pancakes, there were some beautiful cakes, drinks and desserts. We enjoyed a canola-decorated green tea cloud tiramisu, strawberry latte and a pear and rosemary ade.

Souffle pancakes served with whipped cream, blueberry compote and a little fruit

A closer look at the canola decoration

The Innisfree cafe early in the morning

Specialities on display for cherry blossom season

Sinchon Seollangtang

Ox bone soup or seollangtang is one of my favorite korean dishes. It's particular good for cold autumn and winter days. The soup is milky-white, achieved by many hours of boiling shank bones. Enhanced with heapings of green onions and some slices of beef brisket, the soup usually comes with kimchi and rice. It makes a great breakfast, lunch, dinner or supper. As this soup takes a lot of time and effort to make at home, I'm always on the search for good seollangtang restaurants.

I was thrilled to discover that Sinchon Seollangtang was in the Myeongdong area where our hotel was located. It was also open 24/7 which made it an ideal location for a late supper when all other restaurants had closed by 10pm. We got a little lost walking around the streets of Myeongdong looking for this place, only to discover it was just round the corner from the hotel! We knew we had found the place when we saw the red ropes outside (to manage the queue at peak hours).

Salt and pepper is laid out on the table as you are expected to season the seollangtang yourself. However, we discovered the soup was already naturally flavorful so only added a little pepper. We ordered a standard ox bone soup but also ordered an enhanced version with ginseng and red dates.

Both soups were outstanding. The radish and cabbage kimchi was also the best we had in Seoul. I like my kimchi fresh and not so fermented which was Sinchon's version. Both kimchi were in stainless steel containers built into the table - all you can eat. We also ordered some mandu dumplings (these were just so-so) and a kimchi pancake which was quite good. The soups are really the star of the show though.

Korean vegetarian temple cooking at Sanchon

One of the more interesting meals we had was at Sanchon - located in an alleyway off the main Insadong shopping strip. Sanchon's cuisine is Korean vegetarian temple and it did not disappoint in its sheer variety of exciting vegetarian dishes. There was no cheese or diary in sight but plenty of wild greens, mushrooms, seaweed - all artfully prepared. Buddhist temple cuisine uses no 'stimulants' such as onions, scallions, garlic and chives. It is believed that these stimulants encourage negative emotions such as lust and anger which interfere with meditation. Plus the onion grows downwards in the soil which again is not seen as a good thing.

The owner was a Buddhist monk who had collected temple cuisine recipes from all over Korea including North Korea. He has written 5 recipe books to date and there was certainly a lot to buy in the restaurant - everything from the tasty snacks we enjoyed as appetizers and dessert, his cookbooks and even the beautiful napkins!

The interior was dimly-lit with lots of mysterious antiques including a whole set of temple bells hanging from the ceiling. There was also a central performance stage where every night at 7.30pm, there was a brief show of traditional korean dancing and drumming.

We enjoyed the performance while sampling the appetizer plate with kimchi and a smooth black sesame porridge.

Appetizer plate with kimchi, black sesame porridge and carbonated tea

The black sesame porridge was good - reminiscent of Cantonese black sesame sweet dessert but with no sugar. I actually preferred this savory version so much more.  The appetizers came with a tangy cold tea that almost tasted like sweet carbonated alcohol. We were told though that it was definitely tea.

Sanchon only serves one set menu - which makes selecting dishes from a menu necessary. The price for the dinner set was KRW 45,000 (approximately US$45) which is very reasonable for the generous helpings. The set also comes with a free glass of wine, unlimited buckwheat tea as well as other speciality teas during the appetizers and dessert.







The main affair took up all of our table. A rustic basket of small dishes was presented - along with several other surrounding dishes. There were about 16 dishes - tofu, sweet potato, okra, mushrooms, burdock root, radish as well as many ferns and wild greens that I did not recognize. Every diner was also given their own scorched rice bowl and there was a tureen of soup for the table as well. The soup was very appetizing with all kinds of different mushrooms and tofu in a miso-based broth.

Vegetarian Food Heaven

The whole table

After our main dishes were cleared, we were presented with our dessert platter consisting of homemade vegetable chips with some cinnamon and ginger tea. There was sliced lotus root and burdock and one other vegetable I couldn't identify. The rice puffs were mildly sweet, chewy and delicious. The chips were not too salty which was good.

Dessert platter with cinnamon tea

Red wine included with the dinner set

The creativity needed to make the natural food stuffs taste good was astounding. I have always loved vegetables but rely heavily on using garlic and strong spices to create flavorful dishes. This meal definitely gave us a lot of food for thought.

Sanchon's Oriental Medicine cabinet

By the time we finished at 9.30pm, there were only a few tables left and the dimly-lit surroundings took on a mysterious and almost spooky atmosphere. We finished our visit by buying one of the cookbooks - looking at the pictures to draw inspiration on cooking Korean vegetarian cuisine.

This is truly an ideal meal for the overseas visitor who enjoys vegetarian food!  If you are vegetarian for ethical or health/enjoyment purposes, this is a great destination restaurant in Seoul. Further details can be found at Sanchon's website.

A beautiful lunch at Yongsusan Biwon

A recent repeat visit to Seoul enabled me to visit some notable restaurants. Yongsusan Biwon - conveniently located near Changdeok Palace is one of them. This korean restaurant is mentioned in the Michelin Guide, although it does not have any stars. The cuisine is North Korean Gaesung-style which is more clean and subtle than Jolla-style cuisine.

Entrance of Yongsusan Biwon

We visited on that day before lunch service to enquire about a table. Luckily, they were able to accommodate us at 1.30pm - perhaps it was because we were all dressed cutely in traditional Korean hanbok! This gave us just enough time to walk around the Palace and take photos.
























 When we got to the restaurant, the dining room was bustling. There were also private rooms. We were seated at a large table in our own private area. There were 3 of us and we all got the San Set Menu which was priced at KRW 35,000 (approx. US$35 per person). This was a steal for a beautiful set lunch in fine surroundings. The set began with a few mouthfuls of abalone porridge, watery kimchi and a side salad for each.

The appetizer of mung bean jelly salad was subtly delicious. There was a side helping of beansprouts with spicy squid. After some vegetable tempura, there was a dish of roast pork slices with napa. Similar to korean barbecue, we wrapped the pork in the napa leaf, adding kimchi for an additional flavor kick.

We then received a beautiful vegetable consommé, with dumplings and rice cakes. It was served in a photogenic dragon tureen.

A dish of bulgogi then arrived on its own. It was a good version, if a little sweet too. It would have been amazing with a little white rice to soak up the flavorful juices.

The set lunch came with a choice of either bibimbap, soup noodles or cold buckwheat noodles. The bibimbap was particularly beautiful - fresh vegetables, mixed grain rice. It also came with a cool radish soup. The cold buckwheat noodles with pork was a generous portion.

Bibimbap components ready to mix

The enjoyable multi-course lunch then finished with some omijia tea and a small cherry-tomato mochi dessert.