Carbone - A taste of American Italian in Honkers

http://carbone.com.hk

I have to say, I'm not a fan of the huge portion sizes renowned by US style restaurants.  I remember tooling around New York hoping that we wouldn't get massive sized meals that we'd feel guilty about not eating.  Thankfully, restaurants in Manhattan seem to be immune from the oversized meals, with the exception of one restaurant (that we visited).  

That restaurant was Carbone and we simply could not eat all the food that was placed in front of us.

It's possibly one of the reasons why we'd not been to Carbone in Hong Kong, even though it had a reputation for first rate American Italian cookery.  

But, as these things go, we had a real hankering for some Italian and after trying to book at a couple of other HK hotspots, managed to secure a last minute booking.  

The Honkers outlet of Carbone is a collaboration of New York's Michael Carbone and the ubiquitous food group, Black Sheep.  I'd heard and read that the experience at Carbone was over the top and very 'New York' and it only took a few minutes at our table to realise that the stories were true.

AnOther Place by David Myers - great food but shame about the pacing

http://anotherplace.com.hk/

In a world filled with celebrity and Michelin awarded chefs, unsurprisingly I'd never come across US based chef, David Myers.  

That was until I'd arranged to catch up with my Singaporean based food buddy James, who'd booked us in for a dinner at Adrift at Marina Bay Sands.  James had come across David Myers on his travels and assured me that I'd have a fantastic meal at Adrift.

You can't find a more glamorous spot in all of Singapore than Marina Bay Sands, and the flashy looking and well kitted out Adrift ended up being a superb meal.  Our dinner was served to us as we sat in chairs suspended by wires from the ceiling and the ultra modern dining room felt like it would be at home in swanky parts of Los Angeles.

I really enjoyed the meal, but was pretty lazy and didn't write up the visit.

But I did remember the meal fondly and when I saw that David Myers, also known as the Gypsy Chef, was opening a restaurant in Hong Kong - knew that I'd get along and check out his interestingly named AnOther Place.

Beef & Liberty - bloody good burgers

http://www.beef-liberty.com/hk/

I'm a sucker for Australian beef, and even more so when that beef is ground up and forms part of a spectacular burger!

That's what I was hoping for when I visited Beef & Liberty, the latest in a long line of burger joints to hit the shores of Hong Kong.  Beef & Liberty started its life in Shanghai of all places, and picked the gentrified part of Wan Chai to establish it's first HK outlet.  

The team behind Beef & Liberty are pretty confident in their product and proud of their location, which they proclaim on their website as being the best location for burgers in Honkers!  I'm not so sure about that, but trendy Wan Chai is changing pretty quickly and the second floor location (above Pizza Express) in Wing Fung Street is very convenient.

Paying homage to the beefsteak clubs of old, Beef & Liberty takes its name from the beefsteak club phenomenon that (apparently) formed part of the 18th century's gastronomic culture:  I didn't really know that there was a gastronomic culture in the 18th century (outside of Paris), but you live and learn!  Whether or not the team have replicated the essence of the 18th century 'Sublime Society' founded by John Rich (look it up) or not is probably not too relevant, but what is pretty darn relevant is the approach Beef & Liberty takes to creating their burgers.

Casual Dining - The Chop House

http://www.wooloo-mooloo.com/hk/the-chop-house.aspx

After living in Hong Kong for around six months, I'm starting to get a bit of a feel for the food scene in this monolith of a foodie city.  Now, I'm not going to pretend that I've got it nailed, it's likely that will never happen, no matter how many restaurants I visit, but I am getting attuned to the vibe.  Most of the time, I find it pretty easy to track down a restaurant that feels right, a restaurant that I'd happily go back to again and again.  However, every now and then, I find a spot that doesn't really resonate, a spot that's pretty forgettable and sometimes a restaurant that is just plain terrible.

It's not as if you can pick the quality of a restaurant by an area in Hong Kong, there are gems in just about every part of the city.  Causeway Bay has some very fond memories for me, largely due to our regular haunt, Din Tai Fung (see post here), but also such gems as Penthouse By Harlan Goldstein (see post here) and Paradise Dynasty (see post here).  Wanting to expand our Causeway Bay dining experience, we made our way to Soundwill Plaza (the home of the aforementioned Penthouse) for an evening at the Wooloomooloo Group's The Chop House.

The Wooloomooloo Group is responsible for a swag of premium steakhouses in Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as being named after one of Sydney's most famous inner city suburbs (Russell Crow's old stomping grounds - yes, I know it's spelt slightly different too!).  With Wooloomooloo Prime and Steakhouse the premium brands, the group have established a slightly more relaxed, casual dining experience called the Chop House.  

Motorino Pizza - New York comes to Hong Kong

http://www.motorinopizza.com

I love pizza!

It's a great way to start, right, stating the obvious.  Pretty much everyone loves pizza, and with good reason, it's a simple staple that just tastes great.  I've spent plenty of time in cities around the world where the pizza is supposed to be the best, including Rome and New York (see post here).  I found the pizza in Rome to be the best, but unfortunately, the pizza in New York was a mixed bag, ranging from completely amazing to pretty much 'meh.

Living in the Mid Levels means that I'm forever traipsing up and down the escalators (or magical anti-gravity machine) that runs from Central, right the way through Soho to Conduit Road.  It's hard not to notice that there is a little slice of New York, right in the centre of Soho.  Motorino Pizza is a little pizza joint that opened up in Brooklyn New York, a neighbourhood pizzeria with big ambitions. With outlets in New York, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore Hong Kong, the team from Motorino are bringing a slice of the Big Apple to Asia.

We'd zoomed up the magical anti-gravity machine dozens of times before we thought we'd stop in and see if we could be transported back to New York, and memories of our greatest holiday. Motorino is a pretty compact little restaurant and stepping through the front doors did transport us back to our time in New York.  Exposed brick walls were reminiscent of little cafes in the Little Italy and were very much a feature of many of the pizzerias in NYC.  

A night at the Spandau Ballet - Gold by Harlan Goldstein

http://www.hongkongin360.com/virtualtours/gold/001/

We have discovered that dining in Hong Kong is slightly different to Australia, in that it is more difficult to just walk in to a restaurant and ask for a table without a reservation, even if the restaurant is mostly empty.  With this in mind I had decided to make a reservation for dinner at Gold by Harlan Goldstein on a Friday night.  Unfortunately on the night in question FMUS was still suffering from a stomach bug, so we had to reschedule to the following week.  Finally that night was here, and we headed in for what we hoped to be a good meal at the flagship restaurant of one of Hong Kong's more prolific restauranteurs.

Harlan Goldstein is a New Yorker who worked under 3-Michelin starred chef Jean Banchet in Chicago, before travelling to Asia and working at some of the top hotel restaurants in the region.  He moved to Hong Kong and, after working at the Aberdeen Marina Club, has now opened his own stable of restaurants in Hong Kong.  We had eaten at one of his other restaurants very early in our Hong Kong experience (see post here) and were impressed with the simple yet tasty dishes served.  We were hoping that with a Michelin star, Gold would top our experience at Penthouse. 

Casual Dining - Papa Jack's

http://www.papajacks.com.au/

Southern style Americana is definitely the cuisine of the day at the moment and with a huge number of US of A restaurants opening, I thought I'd check out a place that's been kicking around for just over twelve months.  Papa Jack's didn't start the Southern American revolution but it certainly kicked off a second wave.

We'd been attempting to get to Papa Jack's ever since it first opened in the newish M&A Lane that houses a heap of other restaurants, including fellow Southern Belle the Mighty Mighty (see post here). Several false starts and and attempts to get along on really busy nights meant that we checked out every other M&A Lane restaurant before we finally got it together and paid Papa Jack's a visit.  In hindsight, that could have been a huge error!

We had a bit of a choice, go and see new Affleck flick, Gone Girl, or walk over to McLachlan Street in the Valley for a bit of Louisiana comfort food.  It was a tough choice, but we really felt like it was time, so made the twenty minute walk from the CBD and found ourselves on the front doorstep of Papa Jack's.  It's a spot that we've walked by many times on our travels and from the outside, Papa Jack's looks pretty neat and new, but it's a different matter once you step over the threshold.  It was like stepping into a vortex and finding ourselves in swampy old Louisiana.

If you're like us, then one of the must watch shows of 2014 was True Detective with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, a show set in the Louisiana bayou.  It's a brilliant show and some of it's set in seedy bars and while Papa Jack's didn't have that same seedy feel to it, it was un-mistakingly Southern American.  Adding to the feeling was the costumes that the wait staff were wearing and the French American accent of our waiter as he welcomed us and showed us to our seat. Owners Marco and Emily Nunes (who created Woolloongabba bar, Canvas), have faithfully recreated a Louisiana watering hole right in the middle of the Valley.

Casual Dining - Red Hook American Street Food

https://www.facebook.com/redhookbrisbane/info

I'm wondering if Brisbane was somehow annexed as the 52nd State of the United States, as with the amount of US style dining options now available, it's certainly starting to feel like it.  Be it a burger, a hot dog or southern style cooking, there now seems to be an endless array of American dining.  While this is not necessarily a new thing, think about the McDonalds invasion in the 80's and then Subway in the late 90's, it is definitely entered our dining consciousness like never before.

One of the coolest restaurants around, and one of my favourites, is Public down at George Street (see post here). Bonnie Shearston and Tom Sanceau, the team behind what was voted the best new restaurant a few years ago, have kicked off another venture that is a little more casual than Public.  Located in Gresham Lane, Red Hook Brisbane is the latest restaurant to fly the United States banner, this time with down to earth New York style street food.  

Gresham Lane is home to some of Brisbane's busiest lunchtime destinations and Red Hook has taken the last vacant space to be developed, at the site where it was once rumoured that Melbourne's Taxi would set up shop.  With the addition of Red Hook, the lane has quietly gone from lunchtime mecca spot to showing hints that a thriving night time trade could one day reign supreme.  Along with the Gresham whisky bar, Red Hook is open for extended hours, and has been doing a pretty decent dinner trade as well as a pretty manic lunch.

Eat Street Markets - A world of food and fun entertainment waiting to be explored

http://www.eatstreetmarkets.com/

Have you ever had the feeling that you didn't realise what you were missing out on until you stumble across something so awesome, that you wonder how you lived without it?  Well, that's the feeling I had when we finally managed to go check out Eat Street Markets.

I'd first heard about the Eat Street Markets last September when I had been invited to a dinner at the Hilton to check out Vintaged (see post here).  I was sitting at a table with a bunch of new friends (read that as people I hadn't met before) and heard one bloke talking about a new concept in dining opening up and that we should all get behind the concept.  He went on to say that shipping containers would be used and at the time I struggled to picture how it would all work in my mind and I promptly forgot about it.

Then late last year I started to hear some stuff about this new market that had opened up at Hamilton and it all came back to me.  The new marked was called Eat Street Markets and it was a place for foodies to check out.  So, as a foodie, I started to plot and plan about getting over to check the place out.

Eat Street Markets is only open on Friday and Saturdays from 4pm until late, so I'd struggled to get over but we finally had a free night to drive over to Hamilton and see what everyone was raving about.  Unfortunately, we picked just about the hottest day on record in Brisbane to drive over and even at 5:30pm, when we pulled into the markets car park, the temperature was still in the high 30's.  Phew!

The Mighty Mighty Cue & Brew - a mix of southern style in the big smoke

http://mightymighty.net.au/

Every Saturday morning we walk off to get our weekly groceries from James Street Market.  Yeah, yeah, I know that you're thinking 'sure mate, you eat out every night', but I assure you I do eat at home sometimes and when I do I get my groceries from The Standard over at James Street.  But that's not the point of this post, it's more about the journey I take to get to James Street each Saturday morning.  As part of the walk, we wander down McLachlan Street, which has been dominated for some time by construction work.

It's a funny thing when you watch a construction site go up.  At first there is the big mess that is created, usually as a result of someone digging a dirty big hole in the ground.  Not long after the trucks have carried away all the dirt, more trucks start to turn up with building material and things start to take shape.  At first, things happen so slowly you don't notice much change, but as sure as night follows day (or is it the other way round), you start to notice a building take shape.  I couldn't tell you how many times we wandered down McLachlan Street and speculated about the building.  Sure, we could have gone to the web site, but that would have spoilt the fun of our guessing games.

Then one day, you notice it's looking a little different, maybe even a little finished.  Amazingly, this all happened over what seemed to be about eighteen months and one day, there it was, it was finished.  What started out as a hole in the ground became a fully fledged building.  What was better was what lay beneath the building, a shiny new laneway with restaurants and shops, but mostly restaurants.  M&A laneway was born and it was time to finally check it out.

New York Series - WD-50

http://wd-50.com/

There are few restaurants around the world that excite me as much as WD-50.  I love experimental chefs and restaurants that push the boundaries of food and one's perception of dining.  Of course there have been the better known restaurants that are seen as the absolute pinnacle of experimental dining, such as elBulli, Fat Duck and Noma, but I personally put Wylie Dufrense's self named restaurant, WD-50, in the same category.

Located in Manhattan's Lower East Side, the restaurant is named WD-50 after Wylie's initials and the street number, 50 Clinton Street.  It's not a huge restaurant, seating around 65 people, but it is a very intimate restaurant that is only open for dinner, seven days a week.  There is an exciting vibe in the area that feels gritty and real, with narrow streets and lots of action occurring at all times of the day and night in any of the great restaurants or bars and clubs.

I had always planned to visit WD-50 and early on in our trip to Manhattan, we had scoped out the restaurant when were were checking out the Lower East Side.  There is so much to explore, I was pretty stoked when we first 'found' WD-50.  It's very unassuming from the street with an exposed brown stone facade with the only clue that this was one of the cities best restaurants, a small neon sign that barely lights up in the daytime (but as I would find out, was like a beacon when the sun finally set).

Casual Dining - The Smoke BBQ

http://thesmokebbq.com.au/

Talk about hard to get into.  The Smoke just about takes the 'kewpie doll prize' for that.  I guess it was partly my fault too, I kept calling up on the day I wanted to go to try to get a booking, mmmm, good luck with that.  I had been trying to get the planets to align and visit The Smoke BBQ, and after a few false starts I managed to get a mid week booking.  CI and I were trying to head out for a boys night out eating meat. The Smoke BBQ was a place that CI had been to a few times before and quite liked, while I was going for my first time.  I was keen to find out why this place was so popular.

While I am a big lover of protein, especially pork and beef, I've only come to eating American style food recently and was still buzzing from my last experience at Carolina Kitchen (see post here).  The Smoke has perhaps the biggest reputation as an American style food joint, so I was pretty excited to get stuck in.  The only other American BBQ experience that CI and I had shared before was over at the SSS Steakhouse in the CBD, which I thought was pretty good.  With those two experiences in mind, I was raring to get stuck into some authentic American style ribs.

The Smoke BBQ has been around for quite a while and opened its doors to New Farm locals in 2006 and has steadily built a reputation as the BBQ joint in town.  Founded by American restaurateur Steve Johnson, the concept was created by Steve's desire to bring a genuine American BBQ to Brisbane.  Steve specially imported a smoker from the United States to ensure authenticity.  The place was originally called Blue Smoke BBQ but after some renovations in 2010, which included an outdoor patio area, it was renamed to The Smoke BBQ.

Cheap Eats - Carolina Kitchen (A bloggers night off, sort of)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Carolina-Kitchen/183652371654871

The American revolution is here!  You might say that I'm quite a bit behind the times by that statement and you may be right.  What I mean is that Southern American food is hot right now and there is a joint just like Carolina Kitchen in a suburb near you!

How did I end up in Carolina Kitchen with a couple of other food bloggers on a Friday night?  Great question.  The trick is to try and find an eating spot where none of us had previously eaten, was pretty casual and one where we all wanted to try out.  My new buddies ML and JC and I were pretty excited to all meet up and chill out and just talk a lot of crap.

Carolina Kitchen is in the most unlikely of spots, a side street in Coorparoo and if it wasn't for my trusty sat nav, I think I would have driven around for ages looking for it.  After parking my car and walking up to the front door, I was surprised by how small Carolina Kitchen was inside, just room for a couple of tables.  Taking a seat and waiting for ML and JC to arrive I thought that the place was the quintessential local hang out.