In search for amazing dessert, my relatives took me to a famous dessert place in Yuen Long called Kei Kee B Jai Leung Fun (佳記甜品B仔涼粉). Kei Kee is a dessert shop that specialises in herbal grass jelly but serves up an array of other hot snacks as well.

On a Sunday afternoon, the place was absolutely packed and being a nice day there were plenty of tables and chairs outside. The crowds are so dense that no sooner does a table empties, it is occupied again within seconds.

Desserts range from $35-68 the most expensive being the B Jai Grass jelly fruit bowl which can easily be shared amongst 3. Being the overindulges we are, we ordered 4 desserts between the four of us.

The B Jai Leung Fun is the restaurants signature dish, which it could probably attain based on quantity alone. The bowl is a mix of grass jelly, topped with fruit, nato de coco, aloe vera jelly and a huge array of different fresh fruits. Yummy not too strong grass jelly and lots of refreshing fruit.

The mango ‘cheung fun’ was something kind of epic. Sweet coconut rice rolls encased huge chunks of fresh mango, all covered in even more mango juice. Delicious and by far the best dessert on the table.

Durian pancakes had enough durian flavour but there was just a bit too much cream inside for me to like this. In saying this I’m not a huge fan of mango or durian pancakes normally so I’m not the best person to judge this.

We also ordered a mango sago coconut milk dessert with added grass jelly. The sago was perfectly soft yet with a slight bite, and the coconut base was perfect – not too sweet nor savoury. Possibly the best sago dessert I’ve had since being in HK. And that’s a lot of sago I assure you!

Afternoon tea turned into an early dinner and we decided to order a few savoury snacks (post our dessert mind you!). Fishball cheung fun rice rolls were deliciously fresh and served alongside a peanut and hoisin sauce. We also ordered braised soy garlic chicken wings which were juicy and tasty.

Yuen Long is a bit of a trek, after all you can see the skyline of Shenzhen on entering the city, but well worth the trek for if just for a taste of old school Hong Kong.

Kei Kee Dessert 佳記甜品
Shop 7, Chi Fu Centre, Yuen Long

Today I visited Ho Hung Kee, a local noodle and congee shop awarded a star in 2011 few years ago based on the quality of the Beef Hor Fun (干炒牛河). The place is a no-frills, sharing table joint which has traded in the same location since 1946.

I ordered the Beef Hor fun (at a whopping $82 HKD).

I had been told that the portions were rather small, so I was surprised when a fairly sizeable plate was served. The noodles were smooth, firm and charred (wok hei) – though perhaps not as much as I would like. The beef was flavourful but had been tenderised, but not to the point where it no longer resembles beef. My major issue with the dish is the fact that it was absolutely swimming in oil. Don’t get me wrong, I understand how the dish is supposed to be cooked, but by the end of the plate, you can actually taste the oil with each bite.

In my own opinion it was a decently executed plate of beef hor fun. Not bad, not great. Decent. And herein lies the problem.

Today’s visit makes me wonder why the Michelin guide would dish out stars so freely. Good, local cheap eats are generally praised in their own light. Why put a put them head to head with high end Michelin restaurants who strive for across the board excellence? Local joints will never be able to ensure the consistency,  service levels or ambience require to maintain a Michelin star.

The other concern is that these establishments turn into a destination for food lovers seeking out ‘cheap michelin stars’ and subsequently prices (and wait times) are raised to match. Evidence to this is the fact that I paid a whopping $82 HKD for my beef hor fun and that the price has jumped up radically since the star was awarded. The rest of the menu is equally inflated – $40HKD for standard congee (congee at famed sang kee is still $20HKD as the regular patrons won’t pay more).

Ho Hung Kee have recently opened a shiny new outlet in the new Hysan Place mall and will sadly close their original Sharp St location by the end of May. Should you go? Well that’s up to you, but it is worth a visit, so long as you don’t walk in with ‘michelin’ expectations.

Ho Hung Kee (open until mid-may)
2 Sharp St East, Causeway Bay

Ho Hung Kee
Shop 1204-1205, 12/F, Hysan Place,
500 Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay

So who makes the best beef brisket in Hong Kong?

I visited two outlets famed for their beef brisket  - Kau Kee (九記牛腩) in Sheung Wan and Kwan Kee (群記清湯腩) in Tai Po. 

Kau Kee’s (九記牛腩) beef brisket is legendary. And the lines show it. Arriving at 14:00pm on a Monday afternoon, the line was at least 20 people long. Luckily dining solo I was seated fairly quickly but the line does move fast.

Crammed on a small table with 5 others, my order was taken literally 5 seconds after seating. For standard beef brisket, patrons have the option of noodles (flat rice, vermicelli or e-fu) and either a curry or clear stock base. The restaurant had run out of the prized song nam cut of brisket (爽腩) so I ordered a regular beef brisket in clear broth with rice noodles (上湯牛腩湯麵) HKD$36.

The broth is a rich, beef bone stock with a slight hint of herb. The beef has great flavour but to me was slightly chewy. I wouldn’t go so far to say tough, but it did have a slight bit of resistance which is something that I don’t expect from braised beef brisket. At least the brisket was fairly lean.

Catch the train 30 minutes north to Tai Po Market and you will find another famed beef brisket institution. Kwan Kee (群記清湯腩) has an equally long line, but inside they don’t seem to cram you in as much which makes a more pleasant dining experience.

Kwan Kee offer a huge range of beef cuts all served in clear broth. There isn’t a curry broth option for those who crave it. The restaurant is is most famous for it braised beef cheeks and also the tender song nam cut of brisket (爽腩).

My song nam clear broth rice noodles (HKD $42) was deliciously tender with a melt in your mouth, very thin fat flap layer on the brisket. Miles ahead of the brisket at Kau Kee. The broth was rich, deep in flavour though slightly fatty. Unlike Kau Kee you could taste the pure beef in the broth without it being overly reliant on salt for flavour.

There are probably a few more brisket places that I need to try before I can declare a clear winner, Sister Wah (華姐清湯腩) being one of them. So far however, Kwan Kee is by far my favourite.

Kwan Kee (群記清湯腩)
26 Dai Ming Lane,
Tai Po Market, New Territories

Kau Kee (九記牛腩)
21 Gough St,
Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Look at that smooth silky shine. DROOL!

Favoured by ex-British governor Chris Patten, Tai Cheong Bakery (泰昌餅家) makes a unique shortcrust base pastry using almond meal instead of flour.

The egg tarts are served hot which is almost torture as it takes a little bit of time to cool. And when it does cool down. Pure heaven.

I am generally more of a fan of a flaky puff pastry casing, but Tai Cheong’s buttery shortbread crust had enough butter to satisfy. The egg custard was piping hot as as smooth as silk. I honestly have never had a better egg tart.

At HKD $6 a pop, these are probably on the more expensive scale for egg tarts. The fact that the Lyndhurst Terrace location is up a steep hill means that you at least have to pre-work off the butter that you are about to devour. Tai Cheong has additional locations across HK.

Tai Chong Bakery (泰昌餅家)
G/F, 35 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central
Hong Kong

Yes all that ‘cheapest Michelin star’ in the world kind of hype. Which is why I can’t believe that we have never visited Tim Ho Wan (添好運點心專門店) for a meal before.

After being advised by countless friends to be in line at the crack of dawn, we woke early, skipped breakfast and headed into Mong Kok. Here is where we made our first mistake. Apparently the Mong Kok shop closed down ages ago. Starving and scared about the wait ahead, we hailed a cab which took us to the branch at Sham Shui Po.

On arrival, we were lucky to find a pretty near empty restaurant. We overhead a regular speaking to the waitress who mentioned that due to easter and Qingming holidays, the place had not been anywhere near as busy as it had in the past. Bonus for us as lines are notoriously an hour long, even at 10am in the morning.

Soon after ordering, our char siu bao (叉燒包) arrived. One of Tim Ho Wan’s signatures, they bake their buns with a crumbly almost buttery cookie flakes on top. The topping was slightly sweet and the insides deliciously moist and succulent. Pretty wow.

The siu mai (燒賣) was a succulent prawn-pork dumpling full of goodness. There was a perfect balance of texture, bounce, and flavour. Killer.

One thing we never fail to order is chiu chow dumplings (潮州粉果). Tim Ho Wan’s rendition is primarily water chestnut, nuts and mushrooms with a small amount of tender pork. The skin was beautifully glossy and thin and has a slight smoky flavour which lingered in your mouth after the bite had gone. In fact this dish was so liked, that we ended up ordering it again later in the meal.

The lor bak go (蘿蔔糕) was a slight disappointment. The cakes were perhaps not charred enough in the pan so it lacked distinctive crunchy texture. The inside was soft with plenty of turnip, though slightly flavourless.

We also ordered pai guat (排骨) which was pretty standard, as well as a fairly standard steamed sin jook goon (鮮竹捲).

Is this dim sum worthy of a michelin star? Probably not. But at the price of just over HKD$120 for 8 dishes for two, it is an absolute bargain. So much of a bargain that a week later I found myself joining the line at Tim Ho Wan’s IFC central outlet, waiting 30 minutes for a table for 1 at 15:30pm. No sooner was I seated, my char siu buns (叉燒包) and chiu chow dumplings (潮州粉果) arrived and a short 15 minutes later I was paying my bill, satisfied.

Tim Ho Wan may not serve the best dim sum in the world, but it sure is good. Is it worth an hour wait? I guess my return visit confirms that it is, but perhaps only for the Char siu buns, chiu chow dumplings and perhaps the siu mai.

Tim Ho Wan
G/F, 9-11 Fuk Wing Street,
Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong
also at IFC, Central

The star of the show here sweet tofu (dofu fa 豆腐花) $7HKD/bowl. Served either cold or steaming hot, it is best eaten with a spoonful of brown sugar to sweeten up the dessert. 

No sooner do you yell out an order for a bowl, one is whisked out and presented in front of you. In fact ours promptly arrived no more than 15 seconds after Sam yelled out our order.

I have had my fair share of good sweet tofu dessert, but this one has to be up there. Often I experience a slightly grainy aftertaste with this dish, but not in this case. Those old school grinding machines must really be amazing as the tofu was so ridiculously smooth yet with a brilliant firm consistency. By the time Sam had finished taking the photo above, I was well on my way to finishing my bowl. So easy to gulp right down.

Had we not already been so full, we would definitely have ordered a plate of fried tofu stuffed with fish paste. These are being continuously stuffed and cooked-off on the hotplate at the entrance to the store.

Apparently there are further branches at Kowloon City and Wan Chai, the one in Wan Chai a little more modern. A must to hunt out.

Kung Wo Dou Bun Chong (公和荳品廠)
Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong

Lau Sum Kee also specialises in serving their noodles dry tossed in shrimp fish roe or har ji lo mien (蝦子撈麵). 

Sam ordered his noodles with a side of wonton whereas I ordered mine with a side of beef brisket. Essentially you can order your noodles with anything you want from the menu from pork knuckle to tripe.

The star of the show really is the dry shrimp roe bamboo noodles. The noodles have an incredible bouncy texture that is both bouncy/firm yet soft to bite. The shrimp roe tossed through the noodles is plentiful and gives the noodles an extra dimension of crunch and saltiness.

Despite the fame, this truly  is a no frills establishment. There is no English menu and be prepared to share tables. The kitchen is tiny at this establishment with just one noodle master, cooking and tossing the noodles in the shrimp roe mixture. 

The consistency of the noodles is truly incredible. Even without the shrimp roe (there were many regulars that came in and had noodles without the har ji) it would be worth a journey back.

Lau Sum Kee Noodles 劉森記麺家
82 Fuk Wing Street
Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong

Sha Tin in the New Territories was once a quaint old village that ‘city folk’ used to venture to get away from the big lights – or so I am told. The Sha Tin ‘village’ today still exists, though most visitors to the area will only see the bright lights of the modern shopping centres next to the MTR.

It is in the old ‘village’ side where you will find Lung Wah Hotel. Lung Wah Hotel has been serving up roast pigeon in Sha Tin for over 40 years, and the 70s decor looks it. The restaurants menu has whole page dedicated to pigeon dishes, but what most people come for is either the Roasted Pigeon (燒乳鴿) or Soya Sauce Pigeon (鼓油皇).

The Roasted Pigeon came out first (HKD 79 each)

With the roasted pigeon, you have the option to either have this whole, or cut into quarters. We were told that it is much juicier and crispier to eat the pigeon whole as the juices are not lost through cutting into pieces. Skin was crispy yet not oily and the pigeons were huge. Plenty of meat, not at all fatty with great flavour. In particular if you ate it with the dipping sauce and salt.

We also ordered Soya Sauce Pigeon. (HKD 79 each)

This restaurant is actually more well known for the Soya Sauce pigeon, but next to the Crispy roast pigeon it just couldn’t compare. The meat was really tender, soft and well marinaded. The skin also had a great elastic texture and flavour. but it just didn’t have the juiciness or crunchy texture that the roast pigeon had. Stand alone in another restaurant, this would have been an incredible dish.

Between 5 adults we managed to devour 7 pigeons, a fried rice as well as a plate of vegetables, ending the meal with a sweet bean curd dessert. We left very full and content but in desperate need of some exercise to work off the food.

Perhaps with bird flu on the rise at the moment, it may not have been the most appropriate time to pig out on pigeon, however we were told that the HK government no longer allows the live slaughtering of birds on HK territory and these birds are actually from frozen.

Did this pigeon revolutionise my life? Not entirely, but it was finger licking good and well worth the trek to Sha Tin.

Lung Wah Hotel 
22 Wo Che
Sha Tin, Hong Kong

The Typhoon Shelter Crab really is the star of the show here. Available as a small (HKD480) or medium (HKD680?) portion, the crab is deep fried, the wok tossed with a heaping pile of fried garlic and chilli. You also have the option to choose from 5 levels of heat ranging from Super Spicy to Slightly Spicy. Loving heat, we opted for a level 4 – Very Spicy medium sized bad boy, and boy was it spicy! 

The crunch, heat and flavour of the garlic chilli topping really is the star of the show. It has the right levels of salt without being too salty and has fantastic texture. The Very Spicy was perhaps slightly too spicy for us, but that didn’t stop us from shaking some of that spice off and devouring the sweet meat of the Typhoon Shelter Crab. Whilst the initial size of the plate looked rather daunting, you’ll quickly discover that there isn’t that much meat to the crab and our party of 2, easily managed to finish the crab.

We also ordered the Mantis Shrimp (HKD280 each) cooked in a similar way. We were a little unsure about his dish, especially given the high price tag per shrimp. What we received however was two giant 20-25cm long Mantis Shrimp’s cooked in the similar garlic chilli mix as the crab. This mix was perhaps a little more salty and a little less spicy. The mantis shrimp  tail meat was sweet, but the highlight was sucking the life out of the shrimps head. Deliciously tasty and incredibly satisfying.

Eating at this establishment doesn’t come cheap, and our 2 mantis shrimp plus a medium crab and tea came to a grand total of HKD1300 (Yes we didn’t order any vegetables!).Worth it? Absolutely. Unlike other spicy crab sauces, the chilli garlic mix is well balanced and keeps you coming back for more. Would I go back again? Perhaps with someone who has never been before, it’s just a bit too much of an expense otherwise.

Under the Bridge Spicy Crab
414-424 Jaffe Road,
Wan Chai, Hong Kong
4 other locations within a block radius

It has been so incredibly long since I have visited Hong Kong, without the pressure of time or family commitments. As I await the application of my Chinese visa, I see no other purpose for me aside from eating in this great metropolis that is HK. Barely in the country a week and already I have eaten yum cha 3 times. Twice at Lei Gardens (Shatin and IFC) and the third, a real treat at the T’ang Court @ The Langham.

Lucky for me, my brother spared me some time on his business trip to HK, and provided me with strict instruction to make a booking at T’ang Court for lunch. Who am I to disagree?

The restaurant is typical of what you would expect from a michelin starred hotel restaurant – dark wood, elegance, white table cloths. The dimsum menu is traditional yet concise with dishes ranging from about HKD40 a plate for a standard dish and up to HKD80 per piece for the more luxurious items. My brother quickly declared that he just wanted to eat these ‘luxurious items’ but I could order some ‘normal’ dishes if I liked. Again I obliged and followed my brothers lead.

Our meal started with an Abalone tart. BOOM.

The abalone was sweet, tender and braised in a rich, oyster style sauce. The pastry was a rich buttery, almost pâte sucrée in texture and was surprisingly sweet. Hands down the best item we ate.

A dried scallop and fish maw dumpling consumme  followed. Great contrast of texture and richness from the tender dried scallop and fish maw. Bloody delicious soup base. Rich yet ‘clean’ in taste.

A few other dishes we tried are pictured together in the following pic (anticlockwise from bottom left):

• Yunnan ham puff – Rich buttery pastry, moist filling, served at a perfect temperature.
• Siew mai dumplings – nothing to scream and shout about but consistantly good
• Pork and vegetable dumplings - this was probably the one disappointment of the meal due to a too thick pastry (not glassy) and not enough filling. The pastry vs filling ratio was way off.
• Fried beancurd rolls – slightly oily, but nice texture and filling
• XO pan fried cheung fun – Great texture, nice spice to the sauce

Overall the meal was pretty outstanding and incredibly reasonable given what we ordered and the cost of other high end dim sum establishments. Of course its never going to compete with the likes of Tim Ho Wan or Dim Dim Sum in terms of value, but you are hardly going to see a braised abalone pastry at either of the above mentioned establishments.

Service was absolutely impeccable and I cannot even try and fault it. Plate changes, attentive tea service and polite knowledgeable staff.

Overall a very positive, delicious experience. Whilst I have not tried dinner here, I can safely highly recommend hitting up this place if you are after a high-end yet traditional dim sum experience in Hong Kong.

T’ang Court
The Langham, Hong Kong
Tsim Sha Tsui

Well that’s not really an excuse but its a reasonable one. Getting married is a bad for a person who likes to blog, in particular about food. Aside from the fact that I almost drowned in ‘wedding’, the desire to ‘get fit’ eliminates anything remotely yummy… therefore without an interesting thing to say.

So why pick this up again? After an amazing 4 years in London, it was time for us to move on. Sam and I are making the big move to Shanghai which has motivated me (all over again) to want to discover a whole new city of eating. Now the only problem is how to get through the Great Firewall of China?

In the meantime I am in limbo in Hong Kong, as I commence the tedious task of applying for a China work visa. But I can hardly complain… Hong Kong is far from a culinary wasteland and I intend on eating as much as I can over the next few weeks.

Watch this space!

Whilst the addition of hua jiao Sichuan pepper corns is abundant in the cooking, there is a common misconception that all Sichuan food is hot and numbing (ma la). In fact some of my favourite Sichuan dishes such as Zhang ya zi (zhang tea smoked duck) and huo guo rou (double cooked pork) are pretty much mouth-numb free.

One night, after a big whine about how substandard non-southern Chinese food is in London, a mainland Chinese friend had recommended I take a trip to Earls Court to try No. 10 Sichuan. It’s where he gets his ‘fix’ apparently. Determined to seek out good Sichuan food we visited on a cold Sunday evening, arriving early to find the restaurant nearly at capacity. The restaurant is fairly small, fitting no more than 25 in a very tight, dark space. The menu is divided into two sections – the short one page Sichuan menu and the long ‘other’ menu. Looking around us, the mainly chinese student crowd were intently chowing down Sichuan classics, so it was clear that we should stick to this side of the menu.

We started off with the Shui zhu niu rou (Water cooked beef). The huge pot of steaming spicy broth, dried chilli’s, mouth numbing pepper corns, tender slices of beef and vegetables was topped with delicious red chilli oil. There was serious heat in this dish (we did tell the waitress to make it ma la) and boy did we need a bowl of rice to wash it down. The depth of the broth was rather addictive and the corn flour tendered beef was so silky, yet fiery hot at the same time. Sam found the dish a bit too hot, but at the same time, he couldn’t get enough of it – which of course meant he was happily in tears munching through this dish.

Next came a perfectly sour and sweet and spicy suan la tang (hot and spicy soup). The serving was fairly generous, thick and made spicy with a generous shaking of white pepper. We probably should have ordered two bowls as we found ourselves fighting over the last few drops of this.

To say our last dish was a disappointment would be an understatement. After high expectations were absolutely exceeded with the first two dishes, we were bitterly disappointed when our la zi ji (chicken cooked with dried chilli’s) was served. Expecting a huge bouquet of vibrant red dried chilli’s surrounding pieces of lightly fried boned chicken, what we got instead, looked nothing of that sort. So far from our expectations in fact that we actually called the waitress over just to check that it was the correct dish. Stir fried pieces of boneless chicken were served wok tossed with dried chills, onions and vegetables. To me the dish looked like it could be an acceptable version of gong bao ji ding (kung pao chicken). In fact it tasted more similar to a gong bao ji ding than a la zi ji. But alas according to the waitress, it was indeed their la zi ji.

Overall No.10 seems to produce some solid Sichuan dishes. Neighbouring tables were happy munching down dan dan mien (spicy pork tossed noodles), liang mian (cold noodles in chilli oil) and other Sichuan comfort food which I will definitely be back to try. Portions are large, prices reasonable and service rather friendly for a Chinese joint, but stick to the Sichuan menu – it’s fiery hot, but absolutely worth numbing your mouth for.

Around £40 for two including non-alcoholic beverages and service.

No 10 Sichuan
10 Hogarth Pl
Earls Court, SW5

The first stop on our gastronomic tour, The Harwood Arms in Fulham as I figured if I was going to wow him with a gastropub it might as well be a good one.

I have written before how much of a fan I am of Brett Graham, not just because he is a fellow Aussie, but because his food is simple yet brilliant. At his flagship restaurant The Ledbury, his simplistic, yet sophisticated touch lets the produce do the talking and I was very pleased to see this same approach in his more casual (yet Michelin starred) pub. 

There has been much written about the fact that the Harwood Arms in indeed still a pub and therefore fairly no-frills in terms of decor. They even still do Tuesday trivia. There is both a bar menu (snacks) as well as the restaurant menu and specials board. Like the Ledbury, the staff are mainly Australian and New Zealand, and their relaxed demeanor really suits the pub.

We started off with Scotch Eggs (£3.50 each) all round. Honestly I have never been a fan of scotch eggs, mainly because the few that I have had have been luke warm bordering cold, hard-boiled with a gummy sausage layer. The Harwood Arms version, rather looks like a croquette when served. The breadcrumb layer is very crisp (panko breadcrumbs?), the meat layer obvious without being too meaty and egg, perfectly soft-boiled with a runny core. Mixing the runny egg yolk into the crispy breadcrumb shell was just divine!

For our main course, brother J and I decided to share a whole rib roast joint for two (£39). Still loaded with meat from my Albion fix the week prior I was curious to see how the Harwood Arms would match up. Our perfectly medium rare slice meat was served on a huge chopping board (though perhaps not as good as the Albion’s) alongside crispy goose fat potatoes, buttered cauliflower, kale and beans, as well as two perky looking yorkshire puddings.

Brother J took one look at the yorkshire puddings and thought they could possibly be a pie of sorts. Whilst traditionally yorkshire pudding is left plain, this version was not too far off the ‘pie’ mark. Graham has geniusly encased slow butter cooked mushrooms at the bottom of the yorkshire pudding case, almost ‘self-gravying’ the pud. Our meat was tender and juicy, though in parts a little fatty. The serving size was phenomenal and the two of us struggled to finish our mains.

The Harwood Arms doesn’t claim to be something that it’s not. It offers great food, in a laid back environment. The only shame is that we all don’t have a local as great as this.

Harwood Arms
27 Walham Grove
Fulham, SW6 1QP

Over the course of the actual meal, there was so much going on, so many new berries, flowers, herbs and techniques to digest that it felt as if we were rediscovering food again – I didn’t quite know how to respond to that. It wasn’t until a few days later, after looking at our photos and reading our Noma book that we could truly appreciate what Noma is doing for food.

The restaurant is so far ahead of its time, and I don’t mean this in a molecular gimmicky way. Rene has created a menu that truly highlights his ingredients by treating the produce with the respect that it deserves. His food is so fresh, so vibrant, so alive.

Please read Noma – Part I, the snacks before reading this post…

The bread

The home-baked bread actually is worth of the mention on its own. Arriving in a beautiful petal felt basket, apparently the sourdough bread is baked twice-daily right before service and is served alongside the most satisfying ‘pork scratching’ butter. Not for the faint hearted, this butter is truly as rich as it sounds. One look at Samson and I could tell he was re-living a Tetsuya moment (the Sydney restaurant serves butter with black truffle specks) as he frantically tried to pick all the tasty ‘scratching’ bits out.

The 12 course nassaqq menu

It was only now at this point that our waiter came over and asked which menu we were to eat. Noma is truly once in a lifetime, so for us, we were willing to eat as much as we could get. However our waiter seemed rather surprised when we opted for the full 12 courses over the smaller 7 course menu.

Course 1: Shaved hazelnuts and Puree of lettuce. Juiced lettuce was combined with spinach puree to surround a hazelnut jelly and shaved hazelnuts. The dish was rather interesting, in particular the hazelnut jelly, but I honestly wasn’t the biggest fan.

Course 2: Dried scallop slivers with watercress puree, grains, squid ink. This was a rather interesting dish to get your head around. The scallops were thin sliced and dried and had a very strong flavour not dissimilar to dried Chinese scallops. The grains were a little hard for my liking, but the watercress puree and squid ink were rather delicious. Honestly I really enjoyed each component of this dish individually but as the flavours of each component was rather strong I didn’t really feel like it worked when eaten together.

Course 3: Shaved chestnuts with buttered roe. This dish was a little more to our palette, and clearly due to the French butter influence. The roe was sweet and though I did find the rawness of the chestnuts a little hard on the jaw, it was nice to be served a warm course after already consuming 10 courses of raw cold/room temperature food.

Course 4: Langostine rock with oyster seaweed emulsion. Warm stones are ceremoniously brought to the table and atop each is a mouth-watering langostine tail with artistic dots of green. This ‘green’ is in fact an oyster emulsion which has been made combining oysters and parsley and is finger-licking good. In fact Noma encourages you to eat this entire dish with your hands suggesting that you grab the quickly sautéed langostine tail and ‘swipe’ it across the rock to pick up the oyster emulsion. Not one shy about getting dirty, I used my finger to literally scrape off drop of the rich, delicious ‘green’.

Heston’s ‘Sounds of the Sea’ beware. I didn’t need an iPod to help me picture the ocean. Rene took me there with this dish. An outstanding course.

Course 5: Pot cooked oyster is served in a pot filled with hot rocks. Jamming open the shell reveals a perfect, fresh oyster served with tapioca (love the play on pearls!), wild beach herbs and a touch of cream. An amazing, perfectly cooked course with clean, fresh flavours.

Course 6: Grilled cauliflower with fern oil. This dish was probably the least interesting of the evening. Lightly poached then grilled, the cauliflower was a little overcooked to my liking. I actually expected a lot more cauliflower flavour to come out of the dish, but unfortunately it was very bland. The fern oil was rather delicious however. After this course, our waiter asked what we felt, we told him exactly what I wrote here. I was actually rather surprised that he didn’t take criticism of this dish well.

Course 7: Perch-pike cross with root vegetables, celeriac puree. The fish was perfectly cooked with an amazing thin crispy crust. The sauce was herby and slightly tart, but perhaps the highlight was the celeriac puree which was simply outstanding. The flavours on this plate were fairly subtle and really showcased the produce.

Course 8: Cook your own egg. Apparently a classic dish at Noma, this course is just a little bit gimmicky and it honestly failed to deliver. First, a bowl with greens and herbs is brought to the table alongside a spoon of thyme butter. This is soon followed a hot cast iron skillet with a duck egg in shell to the side. Our waiter poured hay oil into our pan and instructed us to crack the egg into the side of the dish that the oil moved to. After the 2 minute timer sounds, the thyme butter is added as well as the greens and herbs. The dish is finished with fried potato chips, a touch of salt and a last sprinkling of fresh herbs. The result a perfectly cooked duck egg. That’s the problem though, it’s nothing more than a perfectly cooked duck egg with some tasty green herbs on the side.

Course 9: Wild duck breast with apple. An intriguing ancient dagger is brought to the table prior to this course, which gets us excited even before we what we are about to eat. Special cutlery surely means something special and we weren’t mistaken. A duck breast is cooked sous vide for 15 minutes at 63 degrees is then glazed and served with baby herbs. The meat itself is deliciously blue, perhaps the most raw I have ever eaten my duck but it was simply delicious. The duck is intelligently surrounded by all things apple – curls of pickled apple, smoked butter cooked apple wedges and apple seeds made from malt. Topped with an apple based sauce, this dish was outstanding and a true treat for my taste buds.  The obvious presence of the herbs makes for a very bold dish, in particular as it is served so blue. Truly out of this world.

Course 10: Pear tree with thyme ‘sponge’. Noma has a rather unique approach to dessert. We were told that Rene has a preference to use natural sugars in his cooking rather than making things overly sweet. This is very much apparent in his Pear Tree and thyme sponge. The thyme sponge was very much reminiscent of the bread and butter ‘air’ pudding that we ate at La Alquiera, yet made completely savory with the use of Thyme. A slight sprinkling of salt on top of the foam made the thyme flavour even stronger. The pear portion of the plate is a half grilled pear with a thin slice of pickled (?) pear on top. Lemon thyme and flowers surround the pear and the dish is finished off with a vibrant sauce made from thyme oil.

Course 11: Jerusalem artichoke, apple, malt and merian. Again this course was rather savory, and it did take some time to appreciate. Thin apple, malt and merian ‘discs’ atop Jerusalem artichoke and puree apple. The discs were crunchy and sweet, the apple puree added a refreshing acid to the dish. I am not really used to eating this much malt, so it really was a dish that I had to grow used to.

Course 13: Brown cheese, blackcurrant and beetroot granita
Our ‘cheese’ course arrived last and again is totally unexpected. The course is essential a puree of light, slightly pungent cheese, surrounded but a frozen granite of red beetroot. We are instructed to take spoonfuls making sure to pick up all ingredients on the plate. The beetroot and cheese pairing with the sweetness of the blackcurrant makes for a great and cleansing end to the meal.

The service

It’s nice to have chefs from the kitchen running most of the food as it allows them to express how passionate they are about what they do. Being Australian, of course we immediately got on fairly well with one Aussie chef who had previous stints in the kitchen of Ramsey’s flagship Royal Hospital Road.

It took our waiter/sommelier quite a bit of time to warm to us, only cracking a bit of a smile by the 6^th course. Whilst polite and professional, he was fairly focused on what he needed to do rather than making us feel comfortable. In saying that, he was incredibly attentive topping up wines and water so really can’t fault him.

Wines and Water

I quite like the fact that still or sparkling water is charged at a flat rate of 50DKK per head (£6). Water can add up to be a fairly significant amount on your bill, so it was a really nice surprise that this was the way they charged.

Ordering matching wines with our 12 course menu, I had read of Noma’s preference for regional ‘themed’ tastings and was pleasantly surprised when we found out that we were to drink wines from the Alsace region for the evening. How perfect was it that Sam was being served a degustation from his favourite wine region to accompany his 30^th Birthday meal at the best restaurant of 2010. Like any good restaurant the matching wines were ‘topped’ if you finished your wine prior to your course which in the case of the red, saw our waiter coming back to re-top a few times! At 1045 DKK the wines pairings don’t come cheap, but well worth ordering in order to live out the full Noma experience.

Wines listed below, all from Alsace.

2009 Riesling ‘Kritt’, Remy Gresser, Andlau

2009 Riesling ‘Zero Sulfites ajoutes’, Pierre Frick, Pfaffenheim

2009 Riesling Vieilles Vignes, Laurent Barth, Bennwhir

2009 Pinot Gris Grand Cru Altenbourg de Bergbietenm, Roland Schmit, Bergbieten

2008 Sylvaner ‘Zellberg-l’hernitage’, Julien Meyer, Nothalten

2003 Chateauneuf-du-Pape ‘Henri Bonneau’, Henri Bonneau, Vaucluse

2008 Pinot Blanc ‘Cuvee Vieilles Vignes’, Dirler-Cade, Bergholtz

2003 Pinot Gris ‘Vendange Tardives’, Marcel Deiss, Bergheim

Reflection

Rene is doing something truly amazing by inspiring the young chefs that are lucky enough to work in his kitchen. His stripped back approach to food, appreciation of produce in its raw state and lack of barrier between the kitchen and his customers is inspiring.

But I have to ask myself whether I would go back again. To be honest I am not sure. The food was truly outstanding and Rene is producing a food concept well ahead of most chefs in this world – well ahead of his time. I don’t doubt that this was probably one of the best meals of my existence, even if I don’t know it yet. So my only hesitation to return is whilst I have consumed my fair share of fine food in my life, I don’t believe that my palate is sophisticated enough to truly appreciate the simultaneous simplicity/complexity of his food concept.

It does blow my mind how successful Noma and Rene is at such a young age. Being able to produce such amazing food at this point in his career brings me to wonder whether or not we are even near experiencing the peak of his creative abilities…

Lastly, the damage? Around £300 per head, 22 courses including wines and service.

Noma, Copenhagen

Part I will review the 8 courses of ‘snacks’, part II (coming soon), will review the actual Noma Nassaq 12 course menu.

Securing the reservation

The ‘process’ began quite a few months back. Being Sam’s 30th this year, I wanted to take him somewhere special and his heart was set on Noma.

Noma has a unique policy where it takes bookings 3 months prior on the first day the month, for bookings for that entire month. So unlike say somewhere like The Fat Duck where bookings are taken for a single day only, you are essentially competing on phone lines with people who are booking for the whole of that particular month. With lines opening at 10am Denmark time, I was poised next to my phone (automatic redial on Skype) at 9am GMT. Fortunately, Noma are also set up to take online reservations and after 22 panicked minutes of simultaneously refreshing and redialling later, I managed to confirm my reservation for a table for 3 on Saturday 4^th December 2010. The day of Samson’s 30^th birthday. There are no words that can describe how elated I felt at that moment.

Snow, snow go away

With flights booked ex-Gatwick, the stress began early in the week when early December snowstorms crippled Surrey. A closed Gatwick airport meant no flight, which ultimately meant no Noma. In the days leading up to our flight, I must have checked a combination of the Gatwick Airport website, Gatwick express website, MET weather website at least once an hour.

Luckily the skies opened on the eve of our booking, and whilst delayed, Sam and I were almost in tears as we took off. One dining companion flying ex-Heathrow was too caught up in delays and actually only made it to Copenhagen an hour before our reservation.

If you were lucky enough to already be in Copenhagen last week, apparently it was a good week to score a last minute bookings as the restaurant told us that multiple reservations from England had been cancelled due to the weather. How my heart would have hurt if that were me!

Dining at the worlds best

The restaurant is simple. Bare wooden tables, beautifully designed chairs with only a rustic fur blanket as decoration. The lighting is rather dim, and the restaurant cosy and warm, which helped make the large, empty space feel more welcoming. Welcoming too was the reception that we received when walking inside the restaurant.

At first the Maître’D couldn’t find our reservation (I almost had a heart attack!) but Chef Rene lurking in the background came to our rescue and found my name on the list. Widely praised and at the young age of 32, Rene Redzepi still has a slight boyish aurora about him. When he speaks he is quiet, yet articulate but interestingly he comes across as rather shy – almost as if he would prefer to be lurking in the kitchen, not meeting and greeting guests.

Uniquely our waiter is also our sommelier and what makes Noma even more unique is that the chefs serve as food runners. Having chefs bring out and describe each dish is rather interesting and you really get the opportunity to understand the passion and process involved in creating each dish. The chefs too speak fondly of their weekly foraging expeditions, though at the present time due to snow, this is currently being outsourced to professionals.

The snacks

Before being handed the menu, Noma offers diners a series of 8 or so ‘snacks’ – a degustation of amuses if you will. All eaten by hand, the snacks are designed to capture the essence of Noma – clean, natural, fresh food; all in one bite.

Snack 1: Shallow fried reindeer Moss with crème fraiche. Chips and mayo eat your heart out. Here the moss was deep fried and dusted lightly with cep powder. Dipped into crème fraiche, the moss smelt fragrant and was surprisingly quite delicious

Snack 2: Sea-buckthorn leather with pickled rose hip petals. The leather is essentially berry puree that has been dried into paper-thin strips. The result is a tart, yet crisp film with a taste not dissimilar to asian haw flakes. The rose hip petals that accompanied the dish had been picked during the summer and pickled to be consumed during the winter months. The harmony between the flavours are no coincidence as both buckthron berry and rose grow side-by-side in Denmark where they were foraged.

Snack 3: Leeks deep-fried with garlic puree. Next we were served stalks of baby leek which had been cooked only at the ends. We were instructed to take only a bite of the sweet leeks, which had been coated with a bit of garlic puree. The stalk was creamy and sweet and roots crispy fried. A perfect bite of food.

Snack 4: Savoury cookies with speck and blackcurrants. A biscuit tin was presented to us, which we were instructed to open up. Inside we found three small savoury bite-sized cookies. The blackcurrant flavour was rather tart and speck layer smokey. Not my favourite dish but a perfectly fine bite of food.

Snack 5: Toasted rye bread sandwich with chicken skin, smoked cheese and fava bean cream. This snack was really quite special and I can only describe it as the most gourmet ryvita snack I have even eaten. The rye bread top was crisp with slight perforations to allow the sweet, smooth fava bean cheese to squeeze through. The crisp chicken skin base wonderfully fat-coated the base of my mouth and bringing richness to each bite. Texture and taste. A winning combination.

Snack 6: Pickled, smoked quail egg. One of Noma’s signature dishes, lightly hay smoked pickled quail eggs were presented to us in a ceramic egg resting atop a bed of hay. One of the biggest highlights of the evening was opening up the ceramic egg and taking in the smoky aroma. The egg itself was soft to the touch, richly runny in the yolks with just a slight smoky flavour.

Snack 7: Radishes & Carrots in soil. A small terracotta pot was presented with what appeared to be weeds growing from it. In fact, we soon found out they were raw radishes and carrots and should be consumed stalk, dirt and all. The ‘soil’ was made from hazlenuts and crushed malt, which dusted the vegetables coated with a yoghurt and tarragon mixture. The carrots tasted like carrots and turnips like turnips. Refreshingly raw.

Snack 8: Herbs, flower and duck fat crisp. A thin wafer sandwich topped with herbs, flowers arrived next. We quickly discovered that the top layer was in fact a duck film made from fat in a duck broth. Crisp, fatty and just downright tasty, the skin was intensified by a rich smoked scallop roe emulsion that was squirted atop the herb scatter. My absolute favourite dish of the evening combining freshness from the herbs, richness from the duck fat and overall just delicate.

To be continued… Noma Nassaq 12 course menu to follow in Noma Part II.