GOLD by Harlan

GOLD is a new restaurant opened by Harlan Goldstein after some drama involving severing ties with his business partner concerning his namesake restaurant Harlan in IFC. Chef Goldstein has now ventured out and started his own restaurant in the LKF Tower and has been the talk around town. The atmosphere is as as the name suggested- decked out in gold. But it was still very classy and not tacky at all even amidst the impressive amount of the gold decorations, wall papers, and lights. The pictures are a little bit dim as the restaurant had its lights turned down to create a romantic atmosphere. Using flash made the dishes too bright so I had to just turn flash off and hope for the best. The restaurant was classy, but it was not overly stuffy and there was also a nice outdoor seating area. It's location makes it a good choice for dinner where you can enjoy a lovely meal and then sashay off to the clubs right across the street.

Canadian Sea Scallop Carpaccio 
Slow Cooked Egg and White Truffle Dressing
The scallop was incredibly fresh and you could taste the sweetness of the succulent flesh once you take a bite of this dish. The poached egg was like a creamy dressing to the carpaccio and the truffle oil was aromatic and delicious. The one thing that would take this dish to the next level was if they had something crunchy because both the egg and the scallops were soft and a tad slimy. Therefore something crispy and crunchy would be able to balance this dish perfectly. 

Burrata with prawns and crab meat
Burrata is the lovely creamy cousin of the mozzarella and I am in heaven every time I eat it. Add in some fresh sweet prawn and crab meat and I am speechless. The shrimp was extremely fresh and had the perfect texture and flavor. The burrata was flavorful and creamy. I could eat this all day.

Tuscany Seafood Soup
Seafood and Roasted Garlic Crostini
This soup could be a meal in itself, the amount of ingredients in this rich soup is very impressive. There are large chunks of fish along with juicy clams. The soup itself is bursting with the flavors of the ocean and you can tell that a lot of quality ingredients were used to result in such a delicious broth.

Wagyu Beef Cheek Ravioli
12 Hours Slow-Braised Wagyu Beef Cheek, Foie Gras and Black Truffle Sauce
This is basically everything delicious on a plate. The beef cheek was melt in your mouth tender and it was all wrapped with a perfectly made ravioli sheet. Each ravioli had a generous filling of the amazing beef cheek and the sauce was thick and rich. 

Melt In Your Mouth Scottish Salmon
Clams, Spinach, Garlic, and White Wine Sauce
The name of this dish did not lie, the salmon was cooked so perfectly that it truly did melt in your mouth. The salmon was very fresh and the sauce and clams complemented it very well. My friend got this but I am planning on ordering this next time. 

Porcini Mushrooms Wood-Stone Fired Flatbreads
Black Truffle, Taleggio Cheese and Chive
The pizza was only so so. The crust was well made, it was thin and very crispy. I felt that the mushrooms were chopped into piece that I felt was too small, it almost felt minced. It would also have been nice if there were a variety of mushrooms instead of only porcini mushrooms. The cheese was also not gooey enough and I think a touch of truffle oil would be ideal because truffle oil and mushrooms are a match made in heaven. 

GOLD by Harlan 

Level 2

LFK Tower

33 Wyndham Street

Lan Kwai Fong

Central

Hong Kong 

知粥常樂

Congee has many variations and is a staple in various different cultures. It is a cheap and delicious meal that can be found at many traditional congee stalls across Hong Kong. It is very comforting and your entire body is warm after eating a bowl of congee. Congee shops don't only sell congee though, they also sell a large array of other dishes such as 油條 (fried dough sticks), glutinous rice dumplings, fried noodles, and rice sheet rolls. The congee stall I usually go to is in Causeway Bay next to a karaoke building but I do not know the actual address.

Minced beef and vermicelli congee
This is my favorite type of congee. There are a huge variety of what you can put in your congee but this is the type I order every time. The congee is piping hot and the clumps of beef and slight sprinkle of scallion makes it a delicious and comforting meal. 

Glutinous rice dumpling
This is a dish that is usually enjoyed during the Mid-Autumn festival but can be enjoyed year round at congee shops and some other restaurants. It is filled with yellow bean and fatty pork and dipped in a sweet soy sauce. Yummy! 

Nom nom (we also got rice sheet rolls)

Pool Party

My friend invited us over for a pool party and my best friend and I prepared a pasta salad and also helped with some cutting and chopping. We did not take too many pictures and actually left before the meal was served because we had previous dinner plans but here are some snippets of what we made.

Gyotaku

I've been hearing and seeing a lot about this new Japanese restaurants in Central called gyotaku. The one dish that has been particularly catching my attention was the foie gras and wagyu fried rice. I have forgotten some of the names of the dishes for these were taken during the summer and I am quite behind on my posts! I am also going to forgo writing a review for each dish but overall the food was quite good. It was not mind blowing but everything was fresh and cooked well. I felt that the servings were a tad small but you could tell that there was attention to detail and the chefs put a lot of thought and care into the execution of these dishes. We got two types of fried rice and one thing I loved was the poached egg on top of the rice but I felt that the rice could be slightly more flavorful.

Seared toro nigiri

Wagyu and foie gras fried rice 

Uni and scallop fried rice 

Gyotaku 

12/F

11 Stanley Street

Central

Hong Kong

Sabah Malaysian Cuisine

Wanchai is not an area that I frequent but I know that there are many interesting and delicious restaurants there. My good friend suggested that we try out this restaurant one night and I was excited to get out of my usual comfort zone of Central and Causeway Bay for some scrumptious Malaysian food.

Fried turnip cake with shrimp, bean sprouts, and egg
Turnip cake is one of my favorite things to eat and mixed with all these other goodies made it extra interesting. The sprouts gave the dish a nice crunch and the egg added a delicious creamy aspect. The turnip cake was fried to a crispy perfection (I like it extra crispy) and resulted in a very fulfilling dish.

Chicken satays
The pieces of chicken were generous and the meat was juicy and succulent. The satays were full of flavor and had a nice smoky char to some of the pieces. Yum.

Laksa
The soup was quite flavorful and very creamy but definitely not as good as the laksa at my good friend L's house. I also didn't like how the noodles were thin vermicelli as I like the noodles to be a little more chewy and firm. Decent but not amazing. 

Banana roti
The rotis are made fresh and you can often catch the chef flipping the rotis into the air at one side of the restaurant. The banana roti was crispy on the outside and oozed out with a mushy sweet banana filling. I personally prefer the plain roti but this was made very well and tasted very interesting with the spicy and salty dishes.  

Beef rendang
This dish was bursting with flavor and it was a flavor explosion with each bite. It was quite spicy and had a very strong seasoning. The beef was tender and this went very well with the roti. Not something I could have all the time since it is quite strong but delicious for a once in a while treat!

Sabah Malaysian Cuisine

Shop 4-5

98-102 Jaffe Road 

Wan Chai

Hong Kong 

Fofo

Fofo is my go to tapas restaurant in Hong Kong. It's convenient location, delicious food, and mouth watering sangria make it a easy favorite amongst my friends. Be prepared for more posts regarding Fofo as I eat there quite frequently and I plan to be more adventurous and try something new each time!

Balic smoked salmon with sour cream and truffle honeyThe smoked salmon was of high quality and it rested upon a dollop of truffle honey, sour cream, and some sort of fruit puree. I felt that the truffle honey was not strong enough but truffle and smoked salmon didn't seem like such a phenomenal combination anyways. Although the smoked salmon was good the dish was not very special and I felt that I didn't need to be at a restaurant to eat this. 

Organic eggs cooked at 62° with crispy potato and onion nest with foie gras and truffle
This dish was delicious and decadent but after a couple of bites it felt too heavy and was no longer enjoyable. The egg was running and the yolk drizzled over the crispy potato and onion nest and this was perfect with the rich thick sliced of seared foie gras. The truffles were not very aromatic at all and the foie gras quality was only so so yet the dish all came together. It was definitely too heavy though so I would only order this if I was with a big group because more than one bite of this luscious dish would make you feel a little overwhelmed. 

Boston lobster juicy rice
The juicy rice is one of my favorite things to order. There are various other flavors but the lobster is the one I always get. You are allowed to get full or half portion which is great! The half portion comes with half a lobster and a substantial amount of rice smothered in a rich creamy lobster sauce. The rice is cooked perfectly (not mushy) and the "juice" is bursting with flavor. A must have! 

Fofo

20/F, M88

2-8 Wellington Street

Central

Hong Kong 

Caviar Dreams