ManMo Cafe - interesting but pricy dumplings

https://www.facebook.com/manmocafe

When we were looking around Hong Kong for a place to live, Sheung Wan was on a relatively short list of areas that I wanted to live.  We had a pretty demanding list of requirements, and as new residents to Hong Kong, didn't really have the right requirements on the list.  As it turned out, we  didn't move into the area, which in hindsight is a shame...  I really love the vibrancy and energy in Sheung Wan, oh, of course I love all of the the little laneways that are full of funky little cafes and restaurants.

It's not as if we live a long distance from Sheung Wan, in fact, we live just up the mountain in the Mid Levels, so it only takes us ten minutes to walk down the hill (up the hill is another matter). We spend a lot of time wandering around the area, just soaking up the vibe and last weekend, we checked out the Portobello Markets (unfortunately not the same as the Notting Hill version). Apart from meeting some really cool peeps (that we will be hanging out with for dinner soon), we found a little dumpling cafe that looked the goods.

ManMo Cafe bills itself as a 'contemporary dim sum with brilliant flavour in Sheung Wan' and serves up a contemporary mix of fusion and eclectic vegetarian friendly Chinese.  Normally, with a title like that, I'd run for the hills, but given we were pretty hungry and the cafe really did look inviting, we went in to check it out.

ManMo is an interesting name, and is labeled after a famous neighbouring temple and was conceived by Swiss-born Nicolas Elalouf to serve a burgeoning crowd of East meets West foodie.  Throwing everything into the menu, Nicholas has scoured the dining scene looking for input from chefs with pedigrees that includes Robuchon and Din Tai Fung.  As a result, ManMo boasts a menu that is contemporary and quite different from any other dim sum place around.

Biota Dining and Urbane Restaurant - 2 Hat collaboration = 4 Hat success

http://www.biotadining.com/     http://www.urbanerestaurant.com/

Sitting at home, mucking around on my iMac (as you do), I received an email from one of my favourite restaurants letting me know about a pretty special dinner.  I'm normally pretty absent minded and disorganised and good at forgetting about such emails, but this one piqued my interest immediately, it seemed like a once in a generation deal (I may be exaggerating).  It was compelling enough to forward straight on to SC and check that she'd be as keen as I was, with an immediate reply - 'of course'. 

You might be wondering what could garner such interest from a guy that eats out all the time?

2 Chefs - 4 hats - 1 Dinner

Then I read on.  One of the country's best chefs, Alejandro Cancino from our very own Urbane was teaming up with James Viles from Biota Dining in Bowral, who just happened to be youngest ever Chef’s Hat winner at the age of 23.  James has worked alongside some of the world's best chefs including Alain Ducasse and Hans Haas, so it's no wonder that his restaurant, Biota Dining, has been recognised as regional restaurant of the year, two years running.  Alejandro and James are well known for their strong commitment to sustainability and were partnering to design a six course menu, incorporating seasonal botanicals from our own local growers.  It was a meal not to be missed!

I've written about Urbane a few times (see posts here, here and here) which is a testament to how great the restaurant is, but I really wanted to see how two such revered chefs would work together.  I was especially excited about getting along to the dinner, it was petty unlikely that I'd ever find my self in Bowral...  I have to admit, the lure of four chefs hats in the kitchen was too much for me to ignore!

Breakfast Series - Felix Espresso & Wine Bar

Facebook - Felix Espresso & Wine Bar

As a foodie, I'm forever looking for those hidden little gems.  As a self confessed 'city-slicker', I get a huge sense of satisfaction stumbling across a little part of Brisbane that is new to me.  Combining the two into my food blog means that I get to tell all of you about these little parts of our fair city that you may not have known about. Felix Espresso and Wine Bar in Burnett Lane is just such a gem.

I must admit that I'd walked up and down Burnett Lane a heap of times before I even noticed that there had been an addition to the Brisbane bar and cafe landscape.  Tucked right out of the way, Felix fills out the space that for the last ten years has been used as Adelaide Street's Record Exchanges store room.  It's not until you actually stop, take a breath and look around you that you notice these things and it wasn't until I'd taken that moment that I'd even observed the other changes to the lane.

As is often the case, once it had entered my orbit, I was destined to get along to check Felix Expresso and Wine Bar out.  One of my good buddies, DruBoy, had been visiting Felix since the day it had opened and asked if I'd want to get along and share a breakfast with him one morning, in what had become his favourite city resting spot.  DruBoy did warn me that Felix was a little different to other cafes around town and that I'd have to be open to selecting something other than my usual bacon and eggs for breakfast.

We'd arranged to meet for a 7:30am breakfast on a Friday morning, which just co-incidentally happened to be one of the coldest mornings on record.  We both live within easy walking distance of Burnett Lane but I arrived just a little bit earlier and was able to secure us a prime spot in the very little cafe.  Felix, which is quite tucked away, is just up a flight of stairs that takes also takes you to the back of the Record exchange, has enough room to comfortably sit about fifteen people.  It's small, but it uses space spectacularly, with the main dining area residing in a sunken lounge area that looks out over colourful Burnett Lane.  The view is made even more colourful by the tinted windows that dominate the front of the room.

Aria Brisbane - tasting menu that missed the mark

http://www.ariarestaurant.com/brisbane

It's amazing how often the best laid plans can be disrupted.  A group of work buddies had asked me if I wanted to come along and check out the Aria tasting menu, and of course I agreed immediately.  Plans were made, dates booked, arrangements set for babysitters and hotel accommodations were locked in and we were all set to go. Then something came up and I couldn't make it and we all decided to change the date, with some considerable effort for some.

As the second date approached and plans were all set, again I gave the terrible news to the team that I couldn't make it and that they should go without me.  Again the date was changed as the team really wanted us to go together, and again the date was changed with much inconvenience.  This was all before my New York trip and the new date was scheduled well after the trip and was locked in, rock solid!

Finally, on the third attempt to get along to check out the Aria Tasting menu we managed to pull it together, albeit with a much reduced group, which I felt a little guilty about.  After the many false starts, there was a huge amount of anticipation about heading to Aria.  The team had read and loved my previous blog post about Aria (see post here) and all had the fine diner on their list of 'must do before I die' places to eat.  Aria, after all, is one of the best restaurants in the country.

Kitchen Sanitarium - The Vegetarian Experience

http://www.kitchensanitarium.com.au/

Vegetarian food is not a cuisine that I normally willingly submit myself to.  I'll be honest, I love meat in all of its forms, beef, venison, duck, chicken the list could go on.  When you're onto a good thing, stick with it I say.  I have a lot of friends who are vegetarians though, and they are forever espousing the benefits of a pescetarian, vegetarian or even vegan  lifestyle.  

There is a vegetarian restaurant in the CBD that is a stone's throw away from the front of my building and coincidentally right next door to my favourite restaurant Esquire.  Kitchen Sanitarium seems to be one of the more popular restaurants in town for lunch and I was keen to figure out why, so when the opportunity came to have a team lunch to say goodbye to a colleague, we decided to check it out.  Originally there were going to be two very dedicated vegetarians coming along with us to lunch, but at the last minute this number was reduced to one.  We would have to rely on the expertise of SG to get us through the lunch as our guide.

Kitchen Sanitarium is perhaps the best known vegetarian restaurant in the CBD and is run by the Sanitarium company owned by the Seventh day Adventist Church, who are considered pioneers of the health food movement in Australia.  Sanitarium are best known Australia wide for their successful breakfast series and one of my perennial breakfast choices, Weet-bix!  I would be interested in how Kitchen Sanitarium would go as a restaurant and if my poor previous experiences with vegetarian food would be repeated.