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!

Epic Family Meals - CNY 2014 version

This blog would not be complete without a post on this topic - the epic Chinese New Year family meals Paul and I enjoyed in Hong Kong earlier this year. With the Law family re-united under one roof, my mum wasted no time in utilizing her formidable cooking skills. Here is an example of a regular family meal:


Mum's home cooking at its best

These dishes may look simple but are fairly complex - made up of several steps. The pork-stuffed tofu would have required:

-  mincing and marinating the pork with shittake mushrooms and scallions
- scooping out the tofu centers
- pan-frying the tofu packets meat-down
- braising the whole dish in an oyster sauce.

This dish would been made first and kept warm in a clay pot while other dishes such as the pan-fried fish are prepared. There is also a slow-cooked soup which needs at least three hours of careful simmering. From the soup ingredients on the table, it was a pork and watercress, corn and water chestnut soup. My mother's cooking gets better every time I visit - and she is also adding new dishes to her repertoire which I have not tried before. This time, it was a steamed fish dish topped with marinated dried wood ears, chinese chives and pork (on the right in the photo).
During the Lunar New Year, there are several key moments where a family comes together for food. Some occasions may vary according to household tradition but the last meal of the old Year is universally important in Hong Kong. It is an absolute no-no to eat alone and local workers leave work early to ensure they are back home for this meal. For our New Year's Eve meal, we came together with the Wan family (my mother's side) where my uncle cooked up the necessary number of dishes. There is always a lucky number of dishes - eight (the word eight sounds similar to wealth) or nine (sounds similar to longevity) dishes is popular.



The table is groaning

Our line-up included a whole chicken, a whole duck, braised dried conpoy and dried oysters, two vegetable dishes, roasted pork belly, the family's famed braised pork belly and taro dish, shrimp and a whole fish. It's important that the fish is kept whole (including the head and tail) so that no luck is lost. For auspicious meals such as this one, certain foods such as the whole chicken and whole fish are always featured. Shrimp is also a popular lucky dish as the word sounds like laughter in Chinese. White-colored foods such as tofu is not a good idea as white is the color of death nor is squid (as the word for squid sounds like losing your job in Chinese).

Braised dried conpoy and oysters on a bed of lettuce

My favorite finger-licking dish was cooked by my uncle - his "secret recipe" for  sweet and tangy shrimp. Although I don't have the full recipe, I'm told Lea & Perrins worcestershire sauce is his magic ingredient.


Uncle's tangy whole shrimp

After the huge New Year's Eve dinner, neither meat nor fish is consumed in the first meal of the first day of Chinese New Year, as per our family tradition. This requires a bit more creativity but again, my mother had it covered by cooking up the following:
- corn soup (made from fresh corn kernels)
- Buddha's delight (vegan lotus root, water chestnut and Chinese celery stir fry)
- braised tofu skin with gingko nuts and wood ear fungus
- two leafy greens dishes


Vegan for the 1st day of the Year

The 2nd day of Chinese New Year is another blow-out family meal. With so many people around this year, we decided to have "poon choi" - a Hakka speciality whereby all the various dishes are layered upon each other in a large bowl. Obviously, we didn't think the ordered "poon choi" was luxurious enough so we added our own braised abalone!

The poon choi - we added our own abalone!

 Usually, one "poon choi" is enough for the meal but as we are talking about this excessively food-loving family, all kinds of additional dishes also appeared. Namely, a steamed whole fish, roast duck, chicken, a vegetarian stir-fry, shrimp and more leafy greens. Needless, to say there was plenty of leftovers.

One big bowl is not enough for the family

Chinese New Year is a wonderfully festive time - when the family comes together through various traditions and rich celebratory foods. Unsurprisingly, after three days of excessive gluttony, palates get jaded and fearing for our arteries, we yearn for the simple and reach for that oatmeal breakfast....



Green tea Everything - Hong Kong version

I previously wrote about my love for green tea and all its permutations in the world of desserts. It was bliss for my taste buds to find stunning matcha lattes and cakes in Seoul. Seems like most people in Asia feel the same way as I also found some incredible matcha treats in Hong Kong. Let's start with this matcha green tea pudding available from Patisserie Yamakawa.

Power matcha

The pudding provides an unassuming first impression - simply encased in a small plastic container with the name of the Patisserie in gold font. One small spoonful though and your mouth is filled with smooth pudding texture, bursting with matcha bitterness. You don't need a lot to feel totally sated with an intense matcha high. I loved this one! Patisserie Yamakawa products can be found in the Citysuper branches in Hong Kong.

At Sushi Kuu in Central, a work colleague and I finished off an excellent sushi set lunch with two impeccable desserts - their signature Hokkaido milk pannacotta as well as a green tea pudding. Both were beautifully presented.

Desserts at Sushi Kuu

 Walking around Sha tin, Paul and I found a plethora of matcha dessert treats. Or rather I led Paul on a hunt for green tea treats. Found in Citysuper - this ice cream float was green tea soft-serve ice cream in a hot cup of green tea!

Green tea hot and cold sensation

In Sha Tin New Town Plaza, we stumbled across the aptly-named Maccha House which specializes completely in all things green-tea flavored. This exciting dessert was made up of Japanese pancake filled with mochi, vanilla and green tea ice cream, decorated with green tea sweet syrup. It was delicious!

Green tea sugar heaven

We also enjoyed an iced matcha shake with whipped cream and a dusting of chocolate.

Green tea brain freeze

Asia truly is a place where I can indulge my green tea taste buds. Unfortunately, Boston does not offer much in this department - perhaps I need to start making my own?