Lufthansa LSG Sky Chef - Culinary Excellence in the Air: Behind the Scenes

Many of us had our fair share of rants on plane food, no matter what class you are travelling in. Common complaints are often related to the lack of flavours, the level of moisture of your rice or perhaps how tough your beef is. True that in some cases, the quality of the food varies a lot depending on the airlines and their respective catering services, however, I often feel that many passengers forget the fact that they are having their meals at 35,000 feet, inside a pressurized environment with humidity close to 10% or even lower. To prepare food at this high altitude is no easy task and more challenging than many would expect. I always know how the boiling point would reduce to around 80C at that altitude which affects the temperature of the food being consumed after the reheating process. However, my recent visits to one of the world's largest airline catering service providers Lufthansa's LSG Sky Chef facilities in Hong Kong turned out to be quite fruitful in learning more on the limitations as well as regulations of how food must be prepared for safe consumption at 35,000 feet.

Kwong Wah Convenience Store 光華士多 (Hong Kong)

One word: Awesome! Thanks for the introduction and organization by @g4gary ! While it is named as a convenience store in Chinese, this little store front is a truly a wonderful neighborhood eatery solely operated by a single woman whom she likes to be called "Fat Mama." She cooks every single dish, take all your orders and act as the faithful cashier on your way out even when she is busy cooking. Diners grab their own soup, get their own rice and make themselves home by getting beer right from the fridge whenever you feel like. Frequent diners even help out by serving other patrons. That is one charming characteristic of this joint I truly love. Yes you will be seated plastic or even wooden stools, floor may be slightly wet, but you get air conditioning as well as TV while you enjoy the food. You can even bring your own wine (and glasses as well in our case, thanks @g4gary!)

Brat (Hong Kong)

I can be such a brat sometimes, perhaps it was the child within that makes me do foolish things at the wrong time, at the wrong place. It is often the learning process that matters right? My mom once said that I often play with my food when I was young and actually I still do but for a reason perhaps. At the newly opened hot dog shop Brat, I can't help but rearrange my food for the sake of the pictures. For those who know me well, I love hot dogs but in Hong Kong, it is quite difficult to find a good one indeed. I was quite excited to find familiar sausage names on the menu, namely, Italian and Gruyere sausages! So many I wanted to try!

Oolaa (Hong Kong)

Life cannot be better when you can spend a wonderful Sunday afternoon with 3 lovely ladies over Brunch + Desserts! It certainly made the my day before Monday less miserable. I wish every Sunday can be the as eventful but of course at different venues. The culture of Sunday Brunch has been trending over the last few years in Hong Kong based on my observation especially with the number of establishments offering such menus. However, there are only a handful to be honest and there are more people like myself who are getting used to getting up late over the weekends and then head for brunch. Another interesting thing I realized is that people heading for brunch nowadays are increasing more causal, particularly ladies who obviously choose not to put any make up on. Don't get me wrong but I am just surprised, that's all.

Feast @ Hotel EAST (Hong Kong)

As mentioned before, I rarely attend tasting events but this time would be an exception for the following reasons: (1) Mochachocolata Rita was joining as well, (2) the gathering was relatively small scale and (3) I could have the chance to meet Patricia of  Sù Yán Tiān Shǐ 素顏天使™ , the man behind Cha Xiu Bao Josh Tse as well as Nana Chan whose food writing I enjoy very much. However, it was to my disappointment that both Josh and Nana could not make it. Ah well, that certainly did not deter from from having a fun and entertaining evening.  Thanks for the warm invitation by Swire's Hotel EAST (Hong Kong), our night started off on the rooftop lounge Sugar overlooking the Victoria Harbour.

Duecento Otto 208

When I first steped into Duecento Otto 208, I truly thought I was at the scene of Sex and the City, at a restaurant somewhere in New York city. Why? Well, the decor was hip and trendy with beautifully decorated wall-tiles, but the key was the people, the crowds that were present at 7pm on a weeknights. For the brief stay I was there, the place was frequented by model like females and males as well. I mean many of the girls were either in 4" heels and ultra tight pencil skirts or 3" heels and really short skirts! As for guys, many were in tight jeans and pointy leather shoes with tight shirts that somehow lost the few top buttons. Were these good distractions elements for the rustic atmosphere? It is really up to your personal preferences and mood perhaps?

Franck

This French restaurant located in Shanghai's French Concession area has built up its name as one of the best in town and I paid a lunch visit during my short stay in town. It is located inside Ferguson Lane, a charming red-bricked, hospital-turned trendy establishment full of history and of course different upscale cafes, art galleries and restaurants. I thought I was in Europe as soon as I stepped through the gate. It was a bit surreal when there was such a big contrast in terms of atmosphere compared with the streets outside full of rusted bicycles and individuals street vendors selling home grown fruits. Anyhow, I am here to talk about food, my opinion on the huge income disparity issues will be discussed here later.

Basement Restaurant

I know it is not an acceptable excuse but I really cannot find the notes I jotted down for my visit to this restaurant. I have to be very careful with the notes from now on! Anyhow, a group of us gathered here for our friend J's birthday celebration and we enjoyed the meal very much because I remembered how we all left with smiles on our faces. Perhaps it was the wine or the ice cream cake that put the smiles on our faces but one thing for sure, we had a good time. Since I lost the notes, I am not going go into details of the dishes but treat this entry as a photo-journal. I think I will return later to make up for the review for sure.

Paisano's Pizzeria and Sub Shop

Pizza! Where can you find decent or NY-styled pizza in Hong Kong? A very good and tough question indeed! I am still in search of that plus it is rather hard to define what a good NY-styled pizza is, more towards personal preference but one thing for sure, those being served at Pizza Hut is NOT what we are talking about here. I recently came across this little pizzeria in Sai Kung famous for their 24" pizza!!!!

Blue Smoke Bar-B-Que

To sum up my review in one word for Blue Smoke B-B-Que, DRY! I am sure Mochachocolata Rita * and Gastronomous Anonymous would agree with me. A fairly new joint located in the heart of LKF, do come here with an empty stomach for some hearty food selection but remember to order some drinks to go along with their rather dry signature ribs.

Carpaccio

Carpaccio is another venture from DiVino Group which operates Spasso Italian at Harbour City and the Divno Wine Bar in Central. Situated in the new iSquare shopping mall, the resto is quite easy to find if once you figured out which escalator of the the many to take from the street floor! If you feel lost finding your way in this shopping mall, don't panic, you are not alone.

Si Sun Fast Food 時新快餐店

When it comes to Hong Kong style burger, most people would point you to Si Sun Fast Food for its bargain hearty burger with homemade sauce and meat patty. For around HKD16 you get yourself a double cheese burger with fried egg! Do expect long queues and cramped seating arrangement on a first come first served basis. You can bring you own stool and sit outside if you like, no one is going to stop you.

Green Waffle Diner

There seems to be an increasing number restos in town offering hearty food items and Green Waffle Diner is one that I quite enjoyed. It was my second visit but it was a as enjoyable as my first. During my first visit I commented on some of the items and I wanted to check up on the improvements if any. The Fried Chicken and Waffle was indeed an unlikely combo I find them quite ... matching! The owner did improve on the marination of the chicken and this time the meat was more flavorful. It was the fact that they make an effort to improve on the food based on customer's feedback (valid feedback of course). The waffle was airy and crisp, a simple sprinkle of icing was all it needed in my opinion.

The Significance of Soup?

It was a valuable opportunity to contribute a short piece for Angliss’ in-house magazine, Foodtalk, for its May/June 2010 Summer Issue. I decided to reproduce it here in order to share my thoughts on an oft forgotten dish ... SOUP!

(... please click to enlarge)

Union J - Sunday Brunch Finally!

I know! I know! This entry is like my 3rd entries on Union J (1st & 2nd) , but hey, I like this place for being what it is! My foodie friend Babedolphin once mentioned that Union J is one of the few in Hong Kong where the chefs would actually deliver more than what are being described in the menu in terms of techniques and perhaps ingredients used. (Mr. Babedolphin put it in a slightly different way with more details of course, I will let him expand on his take in the comments section below) For me I like the atmosphere, I like the setting and I like how they don't try to pack tables close together even with the open spaces they have.

Did I mention my visit was on a Sunday? Yep, Union J started offering Brunch on Sunday ... wait, I mean they finally decided to OPEN on Sunday! Finally! So what do they offer on Sunday, particularly with its Sunday brunch offering? Well ... basically you can either go a la carte or pick from the list of 17 items! Took us quite a while to select because there were more than 5 items I want! I did not want to give up my Corn Beef Harsh for Smoked Bacon, I want both! I am not going to list all the items out, you can check out the menu below.

After a long 10 mins of thinking, I decided to go with Corned Beef Hash, Classic Egg Benedict, Spiced Pork Sausage, Huevos Rancheros and Bead Basket. Before I bring you to my dish, let us take a look of my friends' orders. I think we ALMOST ordered one of each items from the menu!

Wow, mine was a EGG FEAST! And such an pretty egg! Cannot see the items clearly? No worries, I zoomed in for some of them for your eye's pleasure! :)

The Classic Egg Benedict was pretty good, well prepare with yolk flowing out as it should be! The saltiness of the ham mixed well with the egg yolk and also the hollandaise sauce. Talking about hollandaise sauce reminds me of what Anthony Bourdain said and what I quoted from my breakfast venture at Mandarin Grill +Bar. I still like my hollandaise sauce so more the merrier!

The bread basket consisted of several kinds of bread and I liked the sourdough the most. I was getting a bit full at this point already!

This Huevos Rancheros was something new to me. I did not know what the heck it was when I was ordering it, all I know was that it has eggs and guacamole! Yum. However, it turns out to be rather disappointing in terms of of flavors which were rather weak and confusing in my opinion especially the spicy black beans paste (not spicy at all and very gluey ... interesting texture to be honest but flavors need some work) .... Almost forgot about the Tortilla chip which was ... soggy and almost impossible to cut apart or rip apart! Argh!

Look how pretty the egg was, I almost did not want to egg it and leave it there as it was for my eye's pleasure. Then again, I love eggs, I love food, how can I let decent food go to waste! Never!

Wait a second! Where was the Corned Beef Hash? Good question indeed, it was hiding under the pretty egg!! :) Nice touch! However, the texture was rather firm and flavors a bit too rich, but together with the egg the flavor balanced out so it was alright. Oh yes, the Pork Sausage was alright, no surprises there.

There were some disappointing items but overall it was a good relaxing brunch with good company and good atmosphere so I think I will come back soon to try the rest of their items

Likes:

• Atmosphere / Decor
• Wide selection of brunch items and portion was HUGE!
• Classic Egg Benedict - well prepared with yolk flowing out and flavors were good with the ham and hollandaise sauce

Dislikes:

• Huevos Rancheros - interesting marriage of flavors and a super tough Tortilla chips!
• Corned Beef Hash - texture was a bit too firm
  

Avg Spending: around HKD 250 per person

Union J
1/F California Tower,
30-32 D'Aguilar Street, Central
Tel: 2537 2368
http://www.elite-concepts.com/eatplusdrink.php?id=40


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MO Bar @ Landmark Mandarin Oriental

I always wanted to try MO Bar's breakfast buffet but since I am not an early person, I will give their brunch set a try first. Its atmosphere and decor are truly hip and trendy and I enjoy returning once in a while mostly for drinks. I seriously doubt that the place was designed for serving food in full scale or as a restaurant because those chairs / tables are definitely not what I call comfortable eating chairs. Perhaps it is just me and my semi-traditional mindset?

The selection of cold and hot dishes were only fair, I actually expected a bit more. The cold dishes include with various kinds of salads such as Mediterranean salad, chicken and cashew salad and other cold items as such sashimi, cold pasta, smoked salmon, hams, and oysters. There was the option to select a made-to-order hot item from the kitchen but we opted for the hot items from the table instead. The hot selection included a huge glazed ham and a huge beef wellington, yum yum!

Once again, the selection was decent and many of the items were fresh, I think it was more of the decor and atmosphere that I enjoyed, especially on a Sunday morning / afternoon.

There were only a handful of cheese selection and my personal favorite was the goat cheese.

They do offer a chocolate fountain but I didn't feel like chocolate this afternoon, I want something more fruity! :)

Likes:

• Hip and Trendy decor / atmosphere, good to spend a relaxing afternoon. Other same grade hotels which offer brunch are often jam packed.
  
• Beef Wellington - outer pastry was puffy (but rather too thick I think) and beef fillet was tender and beefy

Dislikes:

• Chairs & tables not really designed for full scale dining
• Food selection rather limited for a brunch (compared with other similar grade hotel)
  

Avg Spending: HKD 300 - 500 per person

MO Bar
G/F, Landmark Mandarin Oriental,
15 Queen's Road, Central
Tel: 2132 0077
http://www.mandarinoriental.com/landmark/dining/mo_bar/


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Sup 1

Many of my recent write-ups are long overdue reviews and this one is the same. The meal in the review took place on the 1st Jan 2010. I have been to Sup 1 several times and I often return not just because of their food but for their cozy, unpretentious atmosphere as well as attentive services. I prefer the upstairs sittings because of the coziness; if you want to talk about secrets, make sure you specify where you want to sit.

The quality of their food is decent and fairly consistence over the past year or so which I considered very important. We started off with Salad Frisee with Bacon and Poached Eggs. It looked rather plain when served but after mixing the yolk with the rest of the salad it became rather tasty with the ham giving off the the right saltiness to it.

Compared with the previous salad, the Caesar Salad was rather plain and no surprises.

The ran out of Baguette so they provided us with toast instead to along with the Duck Liver Mousse served with Baguette. Flavor was alright but it was rather too tough to be called a mousse. It was rather hard to spread it over the toast.

I don't think I will order this special platter next time. (Pigeon Confit with Parma Ham, Stuffed Duck Neck with Duck Meat and Black Truffle Merguez (Beef & Lamb)) No surprises at all and most of the items were rather salty, flavors were too rich.

I only tried a sip of the Bouillabaisse and it was too rich and too intense for my liking. I am not really into bisque related soup so cannot provide my take on this soup. But I think it was too watery, should have been thicker.

The Angel Hair with King Prawn in Tomato Basil Sauce was alright especially its sauce. The pasta and the king prawns were a bit overcooked but still enjoyable. Aside from the fact that it was tough the de-shell the prawns, a fairly decent dish.

an overly creamy Carbonara with overcooked pasta. Flavor was very good but just too creamy!

A very simple Roasted Chicken with Bacon and Mushroom but a rather well prepared dish which I enjoyed. Tender and moist with good flavors. Make sure you place this order as soon as possible because it takes some time for the time prepare with their one and only oven (as informed).

The Duck Confit in Casserole Rice was like a crossover between French and Chinese cuisine with the rice prepared in a Chinese style clay pot. I liked it. The seasoned shredded duck meat together with the semi-sticky rice gave it a nice chewing texture on every bite. It was surprising flavorable as I was expecting it to be rather salty.

Desserts were another story, the pastry we order was rather tough to chew on or simply overly elastic in my opinion. Good that we bought our own desserts!!

Woohoo! Milktop Pudding to share! Yum O!

Likes:

• cozy atmosphere and good services
  
• some interesting dishes like the duck confit casserole rice worth trying
• roasted Chicken with Bacon and Mushroom, simple yet tasty
  

Dislikes:

• Desserts are not their strength
• Carbonara too creamy

Avg Spending: HKD 200 - 300 per person

Sup 1
11 Gough Street, Central
Tel: +852 2522 5002


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Garlic Rosemary Rotisserie Spring Chicken

BFF (Best Female Friend aka my oven): Hellooooooo baby spring chicken! Are you ready for some roasting???

Spring Chicken: Yes I am! Can you please help me get a nice tan? I want my skin to be golden brownish!!!

BFF: Not a problem, it is one of my specialties! Before getting started, go ahead and get yourself a nice massage!



Alright, I know I am silly but hey cooking is fun, enjoy every part of it! It was my first time roasting a chicken so I picked an easier one to start with. Garlic Rosemary Rotisserie Chicken! (my BFF aka my oven has the rotisserie function so much easier to handle) I kind of followed this web recipe and added & removed a few steps as usually. I also picked a baby spring chicken for 2 reasons: (1) I was cooking for myself only & (2) spring chicken is smaller hence faster to roast.

Recipe

• Olive oil
• 2 - 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 roasting baby spring chicken (mine was around 350g)
• 2 - 3 mini potatoes

Step 1 - finely chop your garlic and rosemary. Cut mini potatoes into pieces, put them into boiling water for a few minutes and drain them. Set aside.



Step 2 - I am not sure about you, but I like to clean my spring chicken first. Clean with some salt and ensure wash the inside of the chicken as well, from the rear where my thumb is pointing in the picture below. Dry it with paper towel when done. (Don't un-tie the string because it is keeping the chicken in place, so be careful when cleaning the chicken)



Step 3 - Mix the finely chopped garlic and rosemary together with a tablespoon of olive oil (use butter if you like) and pinch of salt and pepper. Pre-heat oven 2o0C.



Step 4 - Time for rubbing the chicken! Apply the garlic and rosemary mix all over the chicken, ensure (1) the inside (2) under the skin and (3) outer skin areas got a bit of the mixture for an even flavors.



Step 5 - Now place the spring chicken on turnspit and secure it with the mounts.



Step 6 - Place the potatoes onto the tray first and then mount the turnspit onto the oven. Let me turn for 70 mins at 200C. Duration and temperature really depends on your oven, please consult your oven guide for the right temperature and time. Now go watch TV, Facebook, Play MSN, Tweets or watch an episode of Korean drama while you wait for the tanning cycle to be completed. Turn the potatoes in about 30 mins and move them to the edges of the tray to avoid soaking too much chicken drippings.



Step 7 - When done, open the oven door and let me cool for perhaps 10 mins before plating, untie the string and then sprinkle some parsley flakes and rosemary on it.



Step 8 - EAT! Eat with your hands! :)