Frites Central - Authentic Belgian frites

http://conceptcreations.hk/frites/frites-central/

Not every meal can be had in a Michelin Starred restaurant (unfortunately) and sometimes it's just basic pub food you're looking for.  I'd just met the girl after work and we had to decide on a dinner location close to Sheung Wan, somewhere nice and casual.  I'd not had a heap of luck when deciding on casual dining spots in HK, with more than a few being quite the let down.

It just so happened that we were walking close to The Wellington, right on the border of Central and Sheung Wan and I remembered that there was a Belgium Beer House on the 1st floor. Frites sounded pretty interesting and the Belgium people are pretty well known for their frites (fries), so it seemed like an easy place to stop by on the way home.  We didn't have a booking and didn't really expect that it would be too hard to score a table.  Boy, were we wrong!  As we stepped out of the lift, the place was rocking with suits enjoying an after work beer.  Luckily, we were given a table on the promise that we'd be out of the place by 7:30pm - it was 6:15pm and an easy request to fulfil for a couple of speed eaters!

We were shown to one of the many bench style seats in the main dining room, which reminded me of an old style European bar; bench seats at one end and a traditional bar at the other.  It was quite comforting and warming inside, especially since it was a very rare cold winter's day outside. Placemat style menus were already at our table and showed off a wide range of typical pub fare, including a whole section dedicated to Mussel Pots, which were available in half or full kilo options.  A big pot of mussels sounded a tempting way to start a meal, but given we'd promised to vacate our seats in record time, we decided to forego starters and jump straight into mains.

Taipei: L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

http://www.robuchon.com.tw/atelier/main.html

There have been a number of cool new restaurants opening up in Taipei over the last twelve months, highlighting the growing popularity of fine dining in Taiwan.  Andre Chiang is perhaps the most well known of the new breed with the opening of his future #AsiaTop50 Restaurant RAW (See post here), but he is not the first, or best know chef to do so.  

Joel Robuchon is arguably one of the most well regarded chef of the last fifty years, with restaurants spanning the globe combining a total of 25 Michelin Stars across his global gastronomic empire.  Chef Robuchon had obviously seen the potential in Taiwan, opening an outlet of his famed L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon restaurants in 2009.  I'd been lucky enough to have dined at the Singapore  (see post here) and Hong Kong (see post here) L'Atelier restaurants, and wanted to add a third to my ever-growing list of top Asian restaurants I'd visited.

It took my third visit to Taipei to finally convince my buddy to come along and check out L'Atelier in his adoptive land.  The Big Boy had been living in Taipei for quite a few years and it had been a source of contention that he'd continually avoided committing to taking me to L'Atelier.  It was only with the promise of the fromages that I was finally able to convince the Big Boy that a classic French fine dining meal was just the ticket leading into Christmas.

Nobu Hong Kong - Japanese doesn't get much better

http://www.noburestaurants.com/hong-kong/experience/

I'll start off by saying I wish that I'd visited the original Nobu when we'd been in New York a few years back, it was my silly decision not to.  Instead, I'd made a visit to the Melbourne Nobu and had a  pretty mixed experience.  It's why I'd put off going to Nobu in Hong Kong for so long, that lingering doubt in my mind that renowned Japanese chef Nobuyuki (Nobu) Matsuhisa's vision didn't translate so well when the master was not overseeing the kitchen.

Known globally as the master of Japanese cuisine, Chef Nobu has a chain of restaurants that spans the globe, with accolades that include Michelin Stars and James Beard Awards.  So well recognised is Chef Nobu, he was noted as one of the eleven most influential chefs of the decade by Madrid Fusion in 2009.  Chef Nobuyuki started his dining empire with an interesting story: a collaboration with Hollywood legend Robert De Niro with whom he partnered in opening the original Nobu in New York City (1994).  I guess having a celebrity A lister as a business partner is a good way to start an empire!

Nobu Hong Kong one of the restaurants in the InterContinental, and while it doesn't have a Michelin Star it is rated as one of the 100 Top Tables in Hong Kong, usually a reliable indicator of a quality restaurant.  Continuing our recent trend of checking out lunch time menus, we'd decided to make our way over to the InterContinental on a Saturday afternoon and check out the Nobu Signature tasting lunch.  The facade of the InterContinental was quite dated, but as we walked through the lobby of the Hotel, we noted that the inside was had been completely remodelled at some point and looked pretty plush.

Mercedes Me - Luxury showroom and fine dining restaurant?

https://www.mercedes-benz.com/hk/mercedes-me/store/

As far as luxury brands go, Mercedes is one of the most enduring and well known brands on the planet, especially if you're a car nut.  I've always been more of a Beemer guy and BMW is my luxury car of choice.  But the world of luxury car brands is a competitive beast, and many of the well known brands are looking to expand their base with more accessible entry level cars.  It seems that Mercedes is taking another approach to help their luxury brand become a little more accessible with the introduction of the Mercedes Me concept.

Partnering up with Maximal Concepts in Hong Kong, the crew that run Mott 32 (see post here) and Blue Butcher (see post here), Mercedes Me is one of the first concepts stores that blends a Mercedes showroom with a full restaurant.   Located very conveniently in the Entertainment Building in Central (underneath HMV), the restaurant slash showroom is noticeable with a stylised logo that is both serious and whimsical at the same time...  Oh, and don't forget the flashy Mercedes vehicle that on the night of our visit was the safety car from Formula 1 Grand Prix.

I'd been keen to get into the restaurant for a while, and had been stymied by trying to book in on a Friday and Saturday night, it seemed that Mercedes Me was doing well enough that you couldn't book a decent time on a popular night.  As it turned out, we were able to secure a table as a 'walk in' early on a Sunday night, which suited me just fine.  Not knowing what to expect from a restaurant in a car showroom, I was impressed with the fit out.  I shouldn't have been surprised by the lux fit out that combined a very modern restaurant with a homage to one of the most recognisable car manufacturers on the planet.