I think I first heard about Estro at Sushi Shikon (of all places!). You know, when you sit at a sushi bar, it's easy to strike up a conversation with the people sitting around you. We met this woman who was obsessed with food. She couldn't stop gushing about Estro. She also lamented about how hard it was to book. After all, it was new, word was flying around about how amazing the food was, and . . . well, it was impossible to book.

Well, not impossible, but you had to contact them early. We ended up having a couple opportunities to go. In a lot of ways, I agree with the hype. The food really is very, very good. It's incredible to know that this Chef Antimo Maria Merone's first restaurant, opened in collaboration with the JIA Group.

Chef Merone is from Naples, and the aim of Estro is to elevate Neapolitan cuisine. He's done it tremendously well. The food is excellent, and I've really enjoyed every meal I've had there. The restaurant currently has one Michelin star, which is a fair and accurate rating.

Below are two meals that we had at the restaurant. My personal favorite dish is always the "bottoni", or button shaped ravioli. They have rightfully earned their status as the icon dish at Estro.

Lunch Menus - $680 - $980
Dinner Menus - $1,580 - $1,980

First Meal: February 2022

Second Visit to Estro - January 2023

General Thoughts - Estro HK

There's a clear reason why this place is so popular. The food is very, very good, and execution is very precise and at a very high level. The ingredients are great, the pasta is amazing, and all in all, you'll have a great time. Just know that you'll have to follow the chef's rules while you're there.

Estro Hong Kong
Level 2, 1 Duddell Street,
Central, Hong Kong

The post Estro Hong Kong appeared first on Tiny Urban Kitchen.

I first visited Belon in Hong Kong back in 2019. The cute French bistro in Soho nailed the perfect combination of top notch food in a warm, cozy, and casual environment. At that time, I wrote in my blog post, "I can't wait to go back." Though something called a pandemic put a stop to dining out, we did enjoy delivery from Belon several times in the past few years.

This past summer (August 2023) was our first time back. Aside from the name, the Michelin star, and the signature roast chicken, it's a completely different restaurant.

Previous executive chef Dan Calvert moved to Tokyo to head up SÉZANNE at the Four Seasons. New executive chef Matthew Kirkley (formerly Coi, Amber) came in. The restaurant also left its small digs in Soho and moved into a much bigger, much fancier space in Central.

Our foodie friends were visiting from out of town, so we wanted to find a place that was special and different. We were certainly curious about Belon, so we decided to try out this new 2.0 version of this restaurant.

There's a chef's tasting menu and also an a la carte menu with "entrees" (appetizers) and "plats" (mains). We opted for the a la carte menu, choosing to each order an appetizer and then sharing the signature roast chicken along with some other "plats".

Bread

According to Chef Matthew Kirkly, the bread, signature roast chicken, and mille feuille (dessert) are remnants from the old Belon. So in some ways, it maintains its French bistro charm with these classic dishes.

Cervelas en Brioche with Truffle Gastrique

Belon's Signature Truffle Roast Chicken

We remembered the roast chicken well from our last visit in 2019, so we decided we just had to have it again.

Belon uses local "Three Yellow Chicken", which is one of our favorites.

The chicken is indeed perfectly executed, and has a huge layer of truffle-goodness right underneath the skin. The mashed potatoes were decadent, and reminded me of the Joel Robuchon's ultra creamy mashed potatoes.

Haha, Bryan loves chicken feet at Chinese restaurants, and it's no different here! He was happy they kept the chicken feet on . . .

Aside from these carryover French bistro dishes, the rest of the menu has changed. Overall Belon has morphed into more of a high end French restaurant from its former casual French bistro self.

Sweets

The desserts were beautiful and created with such precision and care. We enjoyed them all.

General Thoughts

The new Belon is lovely. The service was great, the ambiance was comfortable, and the food was very good. Near the end of the evening, our friends had to relieve their babysitter, and thus had no choice but to bring their two elementary school kids into the restaurant. The restaurant was amazing. They didn't miss a beat and immediately set up a table for the kids (right next to our table), even giving them some sparkling water. I was impressed.

Belon has kept some bits of its old personality, but has refined itself in a lot of ways. The new space certainly changes the overall feel of the restaurant, as does the menu and the service.

For us, old friends who hadn't caught up in a long time, it was perfect. It was quiet so we were able to talk, yet we weren't afraid of laughing out loud. We could really relax and enjoy each other's company while enjoying exquisite dishes.

Belon Hong Kong
1F, 1-5 ELGIN STREET, SOHO
+852 2152 2872

The post Belon Hong Kong appeared first on Tiny Urban Kitchen.

Taco Maria in Costa Mesa has always been one of our favorite Mexican restaurants in LA.

Chef Carlos Salgado is originally from Mexico but spent over ten years training in some of the best kitchens in the US, including 2-Michelin starred restaurants like Coi in San Francisco and Commis in Oakland. He opened Taco Maria in 2013.

Prior to achieving a Michelin Star, Chef Salgado was a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef West consecutively for the past four years, and was named Food & Wine Best New Chef in 2015.

Dining During Covid

Notoriously challenging to book, this Michelin-starred restaurant got even harder to book during Covid. They removed all indoor dining and limited seating to parties of four. They also opened up bookings only 1-2 weeks in advance, so Bryan diligently logged onto their website (at midnight in Hong Kong!) to grab seats for us during popular, coveted weekend slots.

Taco Maria - The Food

Bryan booked Taco Maria for our actual 20th anniversary (yes, we've been married for 20 years!) which also happened to be our first day in the US after flying in from Hong Kong. We went with Bryan's parents and got one of the best outdoor seats right under a huge olive tree! Bryan's parents loved it so, so much, so we went back a month later.

Honestly, everything is good, so you can't go wrong. The menu isn't very big. In fact, we (a group of four) literally ordered every single item on the menu. It was glorious to try so many dishes!

I love the blue corn tortillas, grilled avocado, salads, and Nantucket Bay scallops. Bryan loved the duck, and his dad was a huge fan of the steak.

This is one of those places that we will always seek out whenever we are in Southern California. Just remember to plan ahead in order to secure a booking.

Highly, highly recommended!

Update 2023: Taco Maria closed in July 2023 due to its lease ending. The owners are looking for a new space and hope to open again.

Taco Maria Los Angeles
3313 Hyland Ave
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Other Posts in this Series (Some to be published in the next 1-2 weeks)

Traveling During Covid – Our Three Month Trip Around the World
Majordomo Los Angeles – Part of David Chang’s Momofuku Empire
Celebrating Our 20th Anniversary at Taco Maria (During Covid)
Daybird LA – Best Szechuan Hot Chicken
Playa Amor Los Angeles – Amazing Mole
MÍRAME Beverly Hills – Modern Mexican

The post Celebrating Our 20th Anniversary at Taco Maria (During Covid) appeared first on Tiny Urban Kitchen.

It's always tricky to find good restaurants to book on Sunday and Monday evenings. A lot of higher end restaurants choose to close those days, yet oftentimes we are in a city for just a weekend, and thus finding a place to eat on Sunday day is a real issue.

We were thrilled that Impronte told us they were open on Sunday night. It wasn't until we arrived that we realized they had opened the restaurant for us.

Apparently most Italians have go out for lunch with their families on Sundays, not dinner. So, there wasn't another soul in the restaurant. We had the whole place to ourselves!

On the one hand, it's nice to have a quiet restaurant in which to talk. The service was attentive, no doubt, since there were no other guests around. On the other hand, it is a bit weird to be the only guests in the restaurant. It's almost a bit too quiet . . . and you know that the whole team is there just for you, so there's almost a sense of guilt at the end of the night when we stayed a bit later. Are we preventing the staff from going home early?

Nevertheless, we had a great time and really enjoyed our meal at Impronte. We're so glad they were willing to open, even if just to serve us.

Impronte has one Michelin star. Chef Cristian Fagone and his wife Francesca Mauri (front of the house) run the place. The food is influenced both by Chef Fagone's Sicilian roots and his Venetian professional training. There's a strong focus on seafood, and Chef Fagone is especially interested in exploring smoke and acid, as well as experimenting with flavors such as bitter and sour.

The Bread Course

We began with a delicious house-made bread and grissini (bread sticks).

Crudo & More

"Noodles"

White Truffles!

Ah, and then the intense fragrance of white truffles wafted towards us.

Cheese + Dessert

We ended with an assortment of Italian cheeses.

Dessert was not too heavy, which was nice.

Frozen grapes brings me back to my childhood, when we would eat these as kids. Chef provides an assortment of small bites for us to end this meal.

General Thoughts - Impronte Bergamo

Impronte has a huge crudo selection, and it was fun to try so many different types of seafood. We were also tempted by the white truffles that were in season, and thus ordered some basic, traditional, simple dishes to highlight the white truffles.

However, as a result of ordering a lot of simpler dishes, we didn't get to experience the Chef Cristian Fagone's own creativity as much. The few "creative" dishes that we did try, such as the uni pasta or the squid noodles, were excellent. I was indeed impressed by those dishes, and would be very interested to try more dishes from the chef.

If I do go back to Bergamo, I would love to return to this restaurant and try one of their normal tasting menus.

Impronte Bergamo
via Cristoforo Baioni 38
Bergamo, 24123, Italy

Closed Tuesdays. Only open for lunch on Sat/Sun (but you can always ask!)

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I would like to think I've had my fair share of very good yakitori.

Although I don't seek it out nearly as often as I seek out sushi when I'm in Japan, I've still dined at some pretty good places, such as 1-Michelin starred Bird Land (made even more famous because it's located next to Sukiyabashi Jiro) and another lovely slightly less-discovered place called Nakameguro Iguchi. Because of that, I think I have a pretty decent benchmark when it comes to yakitori.

We knew about the insane lines and never-ending popularity of Yardbird in Hong Kong. In general, Hong Kong diners have short attention spans and constantly seek out the newest, latest, hottest restaurant. It's hard to stay "hot", yet Yardbird has managed to stay in high demand for seven years, even after moving from Soho to a bigger location in Sheung Wan at the end of 2017.

People say they love that the restaurant is family-owned and not run by a huge restaurant group (which describes many of the non-Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong). They feel that the restaurant has heart and passion. Chef and co-owner Matt Abergel is from Calgary, Canada, and fell in love with yakitori during a trip to Japan when he was 17.  He pursued that passion, moving first to Vancouver to work at a Japanese restaurant before spending time at Masa in New York, Zuma in London, and then Zuma in Hong Kong.

He opened Yardbird in 2011, and lines have been out the door ever since.
Mushroom salad (HKD135) shungiku, mizuna, and wasabi

Our strategy to avoid the lines: arrive right at 6PM opening time. In fact, we arrived about 10-15 minutes before opening and stood outside to wait. There were about 10-15 other guests who had the same strategy. There was no problem getting a seat.

When we arrived, the server asked us whether we wanted to sit in the front or the back. The front has high top tables, the bar, and standing tables (for bar patrons and people waiting for a table). The back is quieter and all the seats and table are normal height.

"Which one's more fun?" I asked.

"The front."

"Alright then!"

Sweet Corn Tempura (HKD 110)

Although chicken is definitely the focus, there are other things on the menu such as salads, various types of vegetables, tartare, rice and noodles, and soup.

We were thrilled to learn that you can request half orders of the menu items. For example, the Sweet Corn Tempura (HKD 110) typically comes with four fritters, but we were able to get just a half order of two fritters, one for each of us.

Chicken skin HKD45

Of course, the chicken is the star here, and you have to order at least a few yakitori skewers. Yardbird uses really special local Hong Kong yellow chickens. These chickens, which come from the nearby Sheung Wan market, are slaughtered same day.

According to Chef Abergel, the yellow chickens in Hong Kong are better than any other chicken in the world. He says he has tasted chicken in Japan, Australia, and France, but "nothing comes close in flavour to the Hong Kong yellow chicken."

Come early, for certain choice parts get sold out quickly. This is what the board looked like around 7PM, not even an hour after opening. Sometimes it's surprising to see what's popular.

Chicken Neck with yuzu kosho and pepper was fantastic. [HKD45]

Chicken liver [HKD45]
 
One of my favorites: Chicken Meatball served with tare and an egg yolk (you're supposed to mix the tare with the egg yolk to form a dipping sauce). HKD48

Yum. So good!

Chicken gizzard came covered with crispy garlic. [HKD45]

Bryan loves Chicken hearts, and Yardbird's version, smothered in fresh spring onions and ginger, did not disappoint. [HKD45]
 
We ended the meal with a unusual Chicken and Egg Rice [HKD165]. The chicken fried rice with peas came topped with crispy chicken skin and an onsen egg. Of course we had to break the egg and mix everything up.

This was good too, and it was nice to have some rice to balance out the protein-heavy meal.

Yardbird Hong Kong

I am not at all surprised why this restaurant is so popular. The yakitori is excellent. I especially enjoyed the little creative touches that they put on the various pieces so that it's not just pure chicken chicken chicken. There's yuzu kosho with the neck, crispy garlic with the gizzard, and mounds of spring onions and ginger with the heart.

For even more variety, there are many, many great dishes to choose - everything from tartare, salad, and scotch eggs to fried rice, noodles, and soup. I can't wait to come back and try more things, especially some of those exotic ones that sold out so fast.

Update: Short Video below!

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Yardbird Hong Kong
154-158 Wing Lok Street
Sheung Wan HONG KONG

This is the eighteenth post in the updated #50Postsin50Days – Take 2 Challenge. Other posts in this series will be added to the bottom of the original post.

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