Yesterday the long-awaited Michelin Hong Kong & Macau 2012 guide came out as expected with a few surprises and disappointments.
It has been around in Hong Kong and Macau for the last few years; after being away from Hong Kong for many years, I flipped through last year's guide and was surprised by how some restaurants were lavishly praised with three stars, and others stingily given one star.
I soon found out that none of the reviewers were Chinese and so they probably did not understand the nuances in the various cuisines in China from the ingredients to the skill involved in cooking.
Nevertheless, as one hotel public relations person told me, "It's a GM [general manager's] dream, a PR's nightmare", as the former was anxious to boast about their restaurants while the latter has to issue press releases heralding or defending their stars.
But back to this year's list... and I can only mention those restaurants I have eaten at.
For three stars, Caprice at the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong deservedly retains its status, while it's wonderful to see 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo move up to three stars. Chef Umberto Bombana has had many achievements this year including the Miele Guide's Chef of Chefs award last month and now this praise. He will be opening another restaurant in Shanghai at the end of this year.
Meanwhile Amber at the Landmark Mandarin Oriental is excellent, slightly inconsistent but perhaps Chef Richard Ekkebus is now more focused on what he wants to do with the menu.
Shang Palace at the Kowloon Shangri-La gained a star and should do so, as their relatively new chef is doing some innovative Cantonese dishes there, substituting ingredients or creating variations of classics.
Another praiseworthy restaurant is Spoon by Alain Ducasse at the InterContinental Hong Kong. It's becoming more consistent and presents traditional but lighter dishes that better suit Asian palates and climate.
Finally Ah Yat Harbour View has one Michelin star, and I wonder if it was the stilted atmosphere that may have led to the lone star rating as it's a technically excellent restaurant with a fantastic view of Victoria Harbour, but when I went there were only three tables occupied and so it was very quiet...
Another place with an uncomfortable atmosphere is Cepage as it's dead quiet in the small space. As a friend said, it's not a place a man can bring his mistress. The food is beautifully presented and tastes divine, but speaking beyond a whisper is considered too loud.
Also pleased to see Cuisine Cuisine at IFC on the one-star list and it has the potential to grow by leaps and bounds with its innovative presentation, while stalwart Fook Lam Moon retains its one-star status.
Meanwhile one of my favourite restaurants Tim's Kitchen lost one star from two, and from my recent dining experience I can see why, as not all the dishes are consistent.
However it's curious to see Yue at City Garden Hotel get a star as I thought the chef made an admirable effort to be creative, but the execution fell through. It's a good standard Cantonese restaurant, but the new dishes needed tweaking.
This year it seems the Michelin guide is getting more in line with what most locals would consider an excellent restaurant. While the producers of the guide want to create more conversation around food, it's really a marketing ploy for restaurants to boast about their stars and in some cases charge higher prices.
Nevertheless we're proud to have Michelin-starred restaurants in our city, proving what we knew already -- Hong Kong is a city of amazing restaurants, many of them world class.
Friday, 2 December 2011
Thursday, 1 December 2011
Risky Business
Today is the 23rd annual World AIDS Day and condom maker Durex has released its latest findings in the 2011 Durex Sexual Wellbeing global survey.
And it seems globally people are taking more chances when it comes to not protecting themselves when having promiscuous sex.
In Hong Kong, almost 30 percent of Hong Kong men admitted to being unfaithful to their wives or partners, as opposed to 16 percent of Hong Kong women. The percentages are higher than those in Taiwan and the mainland. This is highly possible as there are many Hong Kong men who are either based in China or cross the border regularly.
The survey also found Hong Kong men have had at most 16 sex partners on average, while Hong Kong women had four. Perhaps the men included prostitutes as well...
Meanwhile in the United States, 60 percent of American men and women didn't use any form of protection against HIV/AIDS or sexually transmitted infections when they lost their virginity. The number is considered shockingly high when compared to lower rates in other countries such as Mexico (49 percent) and Columbia (47 percent).
About 24 percent of American women who risked not practicing safer sex said it was a mistake they regretted.
US men claim to have had an average of 20 different sexual partners in total, fewer than Canadian men (27) or Australia (24), but more than in France (19), the UK (17) and Mexico (15).
However, American women have had 10 partners on average, the same number as those in Britain and France, but more than in Canada (9) and Italy (8).
HIV/AIDS has been around for over 30 years and after all the AIDS education we've had, people are still taking risks with their lives when it comes to sex.
And probably Durex is even more disappointed that people aren't using its condoms either...
And it seems globally people are taking more chances when it comes to not protecting themselves when having promiscuous sex.
In Hong Kong, almost 30 percent of Hong Kong men admitted to being unfaithful to their wives or partners, as opposed to 16 percent of Hong Kong women. The percentages are higher than those in Taiwan and the mainland. This is highly possible as there are many Hong Kong men who are either based in China or cross the border regularly.
The survey also found Hong Kong men have had at most 16 sex partners on average, while Hong Kong women had four. Perhaps the men included prostitutes as well...
Meanwhile in the United States, 60 percent of American men and women didn't use any form of protection against HIV/AIDS or sexually transmitted infections when they lost their virginity. The number is considered shockingly high when compared to lower rates in other countries such as Mexico (49 percent) and Columbia (47 percent).
About 24 percent of American women who risked not practicing safer sex said it was a mistake they regretted.
US men claim to have had an average of 20 different sexual partners in total, fewer than Canadian men (27) or Australia (24), but more than in France (19), the UK (17) and Mexico (15).
However, American women have had 10 partners on average, the same number as those in Britain and France, but more than in Canada (9) and Italy (8).
HIV/AIDS has been around for over 30 years and after all the AIDS education we've had, people are still taking risks with their lives when it comes to sex.
And probably Durex is even more disappointed that people aren't using its condoms either...
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Fire Strikes Twice
At 4:40am this morning there was a fire on Fa Yuen Street in the Mongkok area that left at least nine dead and 30 injured including a one-year-old baby.
Witnesses said they smelled smoke, something burning before flames erupted. It was first labelled a No 3 fire and then upgraded to No 4 -- the second highest category.
It took firefighters several hours to control the fire using 12 water jets and then it was completely extinguished by 1:28pm.
Four charred bodies were found at the staircase of two tenement buildings nearby.
Police are investigating and not ruling out arson.
The eerie thing is, a similar fire happened in the same area almost a year ago in December. It was a category 3 fire and that time no one died, but six were injured. A 33-year-old man was arrested for arson and setting several fires in the vicinity.
Chief Executive Donald Tsang went to Kwong Wah Hospital to console the victims.
"This is not the first time," he said. "Last year there was also a fire in Fa Yuen Street. It was discussed in the District Council. We have taken measures to separate the [hawkers'] booths from the residential blocks.
"We have also restricted the amount of stock stored [in the stalls] and the expansion [of the stalls]. We have done all these things, but apparently this is not enough. We need to review these measures to prevent similar accidents happening again," he said.
However there are concerns that putting restrictions on these stalls is not enough.
According to a BBC report, the building where many of the victims lived had been subdivided into small spaces called "cubicle apartments".
That's because rising property prices have made it difficult for young people and families to rent a decent-sized flat and must resort to these tiny places that have improper wiring and no proper exits for people to escape in a timely manner.
In June this year four people died in a suspicious fire in a subdivided flat on Ma Tau Wai Road in Hung Hom. One of the victims included a young teenager who was trying to shield her younger sister from the flames. She was an intern in our office. We donated some HK$20,000 to her family, but it will never bring their daughter back.
The government needs to act now on these subdivided flats. Why are they not inspected and then shut down? People's lives are at stake here and two fires in one year is two too many.
But even more so the Tsang administration has not done enough to help the poor when it comes to housing. They have resorted to living in these squalid places and landlords have no qualms taking advantage of their financially-strapped situation.
More subsidized housing should have been built years ago but instead the government was easily seduced by mainlanders invading the real estate market and jacking up property prices, making flats out of reach of lower middle-class families and working poor.
When is the government going to look after its own people first?
We are the flesh and blood of this city. We are the ones who make it run everyday.
Do we not deserve secure and reasonable housing to live in?
Witnesses said they smelled smoke, something burning before flames erupted. It was first labelled a No 3 fire and then upgraded to No 4 -- the second highest category.
It took firefighters several hours to control the fire using 12 water jets and then it was completely extinguished by 1:28pm.
Four charred bodies were found at the staircase of two tenement buildings nearby.
Police are investigating and not ruling out arson.
The eerie thing is, a similar fire happened in the same area almost a year ago in December. It was a category 3 fire and that time no one died, but six were injured. A 33-year-old man was arrested for arson and setting several fires in the vicinity.
Chief Executive Donald Tsang went to Kwong Wah Hospital to console the victims.
"This is not the first time," he said. "Last year there was also a fire in Fa Yuen Street. It was discussed in the District Council. We have taken measures to separate the [hawkers'] booths from the residential blocks.
"We have also restricted the amount of stock stored [in the stalls] and the expansion [of the stalls]. We have done all these things, but apparently this is not enough. We need to review these measures to prevent similar accidents happening again," he said.
However there are concerns that putting restrictions on these stalls is not enough.
According to a BBC report, the building where many of the victims lived had been subdivided into small spaces called "cubicle apartments".
That's because rising property prices have made it difficult for young people and families to rent a decent-sized flat and must resort to these tiny places that have improper wiring and no proper exits for people to escape in a timely manner.
In June this year four people died in a suspicious fire in a subdivided flat on Ma Tau Wai Road in Hung Hom. One of the victims included a young teenager who was trying to shield her younger sister from the flames. She was an intern in our office. We donated some HK$20,000 to her family, but it will never bring their daughter back.
The government needs to act now on these subdivided flats. Why are they not inspected and then shut down? People's lives are at stake here and two fires in one year is two too many.
But even more so the Tsang administration has not done enough to help the poor when it comes to housing. They have resorted to living in these squalid places and landlords have no qualms taking advantage of their financially-strapped situation.
More subsidized housing should have been built years ago but instead the government was easily seduced by mainlanders invading the real estate market and jacking up property prices, making flats out of reach of lower middle-class families and working poor.
When is the government going to look after its own people first?
We are the flesh and blood of this city. We are the ones who make it run everyday.
Do we not deserve secure and reasonable housing to live in?
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
The Race for Top Dog
It's now officially a two-man race for the Hong Kong Chief Executive position.
Both Henry Tang Ying-yen and Leung Chun-ying have formally declared their intentions and it's shaping up into an interesting race.
Tang is already out in the hustings, shaking people's hands and even allowing dogs to lick his face.
Meanwhile Leung gave an impassioned speech to appeal to the masses. "My mother had her feet bound when she was a child. The image of my mother walking with bound feet, carrying a load that weighed over 30 pounds, to and from the rundown plastic flowers factory for over 20 minutes on each trip, left an indelible print in my mind," he said.
He added each step he has taken up to this point "is like the step that my bound-foot mother has taken. It symbolizes my determination in pursuing my goals."
Leung is mulling taking his campaign out on the streets even though in the end it's a small group of elites who will be casting the actual vote. He wants to be seen as a man of the people while Tang will try to play down his wealthy upbringing as the grandson of a Shanghainese textile industrialist.
"I had no choice regarding my origin, but I can choose how I want to serve," Tang said.
It's also interesting to see prominent people already taking sides in the race.
In Leung's corner there's Shui On Group chairman Vincent Lo Hong-sui, Housing Society chairman Yeung Ka-sing, Dr Lo Chung-mau, head of surgery at Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong polar researcher Rebecca Lee Lok-sze and former chief secretary David Akers-Jones.
Leung has also declared he is not a member of the Chinese Communist Party and has not applied nor has he been invited to join.
In Tang's court, there's HSBC Asia-Pacific chief executive Peter Wong Tung-shun, former Monetary Authority chief Joseph Yam Chi-kwong and Bank of East Asia chairman David Li Kwok-po.
When Leung was questioned why he didn't have heavyweights among his backers, he replied he had no intention of showing off any "stars". "I need talented people who can perform -- rather than just those who voice support and then disappear right afterwards -- to join my governing team," he said.
And then there are animal metaphors abound.
Some are describing the race as being "between a wolf and a pig", referring to Leung's cunning and Tang's perceived stupidity. Both men diplomatically said the analogies were incorrect.
Leung said people would appreciate his honesty, while Tang declared that he was born in the year of the Dragon.
And now long-time Hong Kong resident Allan Zeman has weighed in in Tang's favour, calling it a "big panda versus baby panda" race.
"I would say Henry is a panda, because a panda is loveable. You want to hug him," Zeman said, while describing Leung as a baby panda who was "learning on the job, just about to mature".
Why are people giving them animal attributes?
The race will just degenerate into a zoo.
Both Henry Tang Ying-yen and Leung Chun-ying have formally declared their intentions and it's shaping up into an interesting race.
Tang is already out in the hustings, shaking people's hands and even allowing dogs to lick his face.
Meanwhile Leung gave an impassioned speech to appeal to the masses. "My mother had her feet bound when she was a child. The image of my mother walking with bound feet, carrying a load that weighed over 30 pounds, to and from the rundown plastic flowers factory for over 20 minutes on each trip, left an indelible print in my mind," he said.
He added each step he has taken up to this point "is like the step that my bound-foot mother has taken. It symbolizes my determination in pursuing my goals."
Leung is mulling taking his campaign out on the streets even though in the end it's a small group of elites who will be casting the actual vote. He wants to be seen as a man of the people while Tang will try to play down his wealthy upbringing as the grandson of a Shanghainese textile industrialist.
"I had no choice regarding my origin, but I can choose how I want to serve," Tang said.
It's also interesting to see prominent people already taking sides in the race.
In Leung's corner there's Shui On Group chairman Vincent Lo Hong-sui, Housing Society chairman Yeung Ka-sing, Dr Lo Chung-mau, head of surgery at Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong polar researcher Rebecca Lee Lok-sze and former chief secretary David Akers-Jones.
Leung has also declared he is not a member of the Chinese Communist Party and has not applied nor has he been invited to join.
In Tang's court, there's HSBC Asia-Pacific chief executive Peter Wong Tung-shun, former Monetary Authority chief Joseph Yam Chi-kwong and Bank of East Asia chairman David Li Kwok-po.
When Leung was questioned why he didn't have heavyweights among his backers, he replied he had no intention of showing off any "stars". "I need talented people who can perform -- rather than just those who voice support and then disappear right afterwards -- to join my governing team," he said.
And then there are animal metaphors abound.
Some are describing the race as being "between a wolf and a pig", referring to Leung's cunning and Tang's perceived stupidity. Both men diplomatically said the analogies were incorrect.
Leung said people would appreciate his honesty, while Tang declared that he was born in the year of the Dragon.
And now long-time Hong Kong resident Allan Zeman has weighed in in Tang's favour, calling it a "big panda versus baby panda" race.
"I would say Henry is a panda, because a panda is loveable. You want to hug him," Zeman said, while describing Leung as a baby panda who was "learning on the job, just about to mature".
Why are people giving them animal attributes?
The race will just degenerate into a zoo.
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