The Underground Chef

A little early for Thanksgiving but given I had about 4kg of pumpkin puree (don’t ask) and a tart flan in my freezer, I thought it was a great chance to make this for first dinner hosting us.

The filling was mostly wing-ed, adding extra fresh ginger and cinnamon, with cream, egg yolks…. I blitzed it and kept tasting it before finishing in the oven till I thought it was satisfactory.

And satisfactory it most certainly was.

📸: .jy

Ah the impromptu dinners keep coming.

Home made fettuccine with freshly steamed Edamame injecting some serious umami into this dish.

Alaskan black cod flaked and deboned with lemon zest, white wine and splash of cream, butter. Porcini, which I seem to always have on hand, drizzled with Tabito and shavings of 24 month Comte.

Oh and of course collatura was a very elevated replacement for salt which gave the whole experience an oceanic depth to the senses.

Beautiful NZ blue cod fillets fried with beer batter accompanied by home made tartare sauce and super crispy pre frozen chips.

And a slice of lemon that always freshens up all the friedness.

Ahhh super soft sesame brioche buns from seem to warrant burgers!

Wagyu burgers, Tomatoes, avocados, air fried crispy bacon, butter lettuce, caramelised red onion and raw red onions, pickles with sauce made from French mustard, mayonnaise, bbq sauce and a touch of El Yucateco Green Habanero Hot Sauce for a little zip.

Crispy Fries (a la Heston method of freezing before Air frying for extra crispiness) with amazing truffle salt.

Nice to be able to still cook these winter classics whilst the weather is still mild.

三黃雞 Chicken’s feet with Duroc Pork Ribs braised in 鮑汁, 蒸肉餅 with the spring shoots, 臘腸,潤腸 and a lot of fresh spring onions and coriander.

Could have gotten the rice crispier for sure but when the rice tastes so good whotf cares?

醃篤鮮. A beloved classic Shanghai dish although I would say this was not very classic before all the Shanghai food purists come after me.

Beautifully aged 金華火腿, 豆苗, 勝瓜, 木耳, 金針, 三黃雞, 豬扒, 百頁結 (those tofu knot things) paired with rice and an array of chilli sauces. Oh and 春筍 recently acquired in my favourite place to shop of late .

And raspberry creme brûlée, sugar creme and fresh raspberries, what’s not to love.

Pan fried Grouper fillet sits atop this mound of delicious gentilegragnano shell pasta shapes, red Argentinian prawns and Japanese Scallops with lush pomodoro. Dried dill and a few (could be thinner) of 24 month Comte round up this heart warming dish.

Admittedly a slightly burnt crust with the “Aux Fines” a little too “fines” but drizzled with salted caramel to complete the job.

In other iterations we added a big dollop of whipped cream that helped it resemble Bannoffee pie more than tarte aux fines but regardless of the name, we still all chugged it down with “oohs” and “aahs”.

A simple Valentine’s Day dinner even tho we don’t really celebrate it much over here.

Sous vide Canadian pork chops before tonkatsu-ing at super high heat to get that oh so crunchy exterior.

Shredded cabbage and green bean salad with toasted sesame seeds and sesame dressing.

And of course dessert. Blueberry and honey madeleines. Wish I had the Matfer copper shells to get through crispy crusts but they r so frigging expensive here in HK.

Mmm time to look for alternatives in Shanghai Street.

恭喜發財!

Usually I forget to make this as CNY always creeps up on us so quickly, but since I had all the ingredients and a chill day ahead I put myself to good use.

I like mine dark with a lot of fillings and fried till it always crumbles apart. I used SRF Kurobota Pork Belly fat rendered to fry the fillings for extra flavour, a smidgeon of star anise, cloves, cumin powder and fish sauce to put a slightly alternative umami packed spin on this classic and of course drizzled with home made chilli oil.

Ah the festive CNY p**n Choi 盆菜

Always fun to reinterpret a classic especially as its origins can be found in my own deep roots even if it is a bitch to manage all the different parts.

And never complete without a chief aesthetician (a la .jy ) to array all the good s**t on the top.

A Chinese feast is never without its carbo loading section, so we have glutinous rice steamed in a lotus leaf cooked with cured Chinese meats and a ton of spring onion and coriander to allow seeing the green trick us into thinking it’s somewhat healthy.

usher in 2024 and night before a big race no less.

The great thing about having a good pantry is being able to make things on the fly since u already have most of the ingredients already.

Chargrilled red chillies with 皮蛋 and dark vinegar.

Steamed Grouper with my perfectly Kyocera ceramic knife skills applied to scallion and ginger scorched with peanut oil from a kettle.

小炒皇 with garlic chives, air fried cashewnuts, baby squid, 臘肉, 蝦乾 elevated with the ubiquitous Vietnamese shrimp paste and aged fish sauce.

Crème brûlée with dark muscovado sugar brittle, winter berries and sprigs of mint.

Collabs are always the best especially with ur loved ones that u can share ur creative processes together. Thai night consists of pan fried pork neck with lime, salt and a mix of cumin, black pepper, star anise and cloves(too lazy to charcoal BBQ it). The delicious accompanying sauce is rock sugar, lime juice, fish sauce (from Vietnam), toasted glutinous rice, coriander roots, red 🌶️…The salad looking thing is wafer thin slices of Wagyu ox tongue, scallops lightly seared, celery, onion, spring onion, fennel, coriander, beans, cherry tomatoes…

One of the best ingredients to buy whilst in Vietnam is the local shrimp paste and here I’ve made savoury/sweet cookies that elevates the very pure taste of the shrimp paste.

Not for everyone’s palate admittedly, but for those who do love it, this is an easy way to get your dosage of this umami rich cookie form.

Ahhh for the final dinner of the year of the p**** tennis league led by our esteemed captain I had to treat for losing September and hopefully for the last time forever and ever. Freshly shucked Spanish Arousa 00 oysters (my supplier wanted to charge 300 per 12 oysters for shucking alone so was left to fend for myself) with Balsamic and red onion vinegar, Fresh lobster with gan lan oil, red prawn oil, ginger, spring onions, butter on a bed of egg noodles that alternate between oh so soft and oh so crispy. And finally moist pear cake that we actually got to eat before getting too wasted.

Ah let the festivities begin! Yule log with chiffon chocolate sponge rolled with chantilly cream with a dash of cognac and smashed cranberries to cut through all that rich chocolate. And smothered in rich chocolate ganache. I honestly didn’t expect this to taste this good.

Long time no risotto. Arborio rice (obviously), porcini mushrooms, portobello, iberico ham broth, asparagus, french beans, sake, cream, garlic, ginger, spring onion, coriander, collateral and Italian anchovies.

And this is the pie post. Tart crusts were always my royal pain in the arse, but after a few times and some finickity hacks later, glad to see I’ve finally mastered it.

Here we start with the chocolate pistachio, rich 61% extra bitter Vahlrona topped with crushed Pistachios. Salted Caramel Chocolate pecan for an alternative thanksgiving treat and the quintessential thanksgiving Pumpkin pie with a smidgen of cream cheese to smoothen out the pumpkin paste.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Fun meals this past weekend with a quasi thanksgiving feel. This is the protein post with M5+ Australian Marbled beef which after sous viding for 24 hours was insane, especially when soaked in gravy made from all the sous vide juices and sake. And the Alaskan black cod this time marinated for 5 days with mirin, sake, miso and coconut sugar.

Kvæfjordkak. Known in Norway as the world’s best cake filled with a ton of goodies. From the top red diamond strawberries, toasted almonds, meringue, genoise, pastry cream, genoiseand meringue with toasted almonds again. Surprisingly not too rich but every bite resplendent with a whole gamut textures and flavours that justifies the title of the worlds best cake

One of the best quick cheap and super tasty canto things to eat in a 茶餐廰 or at home.

If I have any beef in the fridge, I like to slice it, buy some 河粉 (8HKD) and fat 芽菜 (5HKD) and wok fry it on super high heat with oyster sauce, soya sauce, ginger, celery, garlic, fish sauce (in this case 2 years aged from Vietnam) and leftover greens (beans and 芥蘭苗) and you have this awesome dish that is well balanced and serves 3-4.

The Auskobe wagyu short ribs (the bones all fell off) braised for approximately 12 hours with a whole bunch of s**t that I can’t even remember what I put in. Oh wait I know there was Okinawa black sugar, dried rosemary, thyme, chilli flakes and a whole bottle of white. The gravy was super addictive, I’ve seen people people drink whole jugs of my gravy.

I know not everyone likes durian but the flavour is quite mild and subtle. Durian chiffon cake with pandan, lime leaves and coconut mousse for a simple yet delicious cake.

Haven’t done a Chinese feast in a while.

I’ve upgraded the techniques in making this 8 Treasure Goose this time. Bare fistedly removing the carcass of the goose whilst leaving the bird in one piece. Glutinous rice and other goodies were fried and steeped in a 24 hour Yacon and 3 Yellow Chicken Soup and then stuffed into the beast of a bird and sous vide for 18 hours before finishing the skin in the oven.

The beauty of this is when you cut it open and let all the “guts” spill out in all its glory with tender chunks of fatty and tender goose enmeshed. Who said the Brits invented stuffing?

Fresh Boston Lobster steamed with Egg and Thousand Year egg topped with Tobiko and Ikura, fresh Coriander with a thin film of Oil extracted from Red Argentian Red Prawn heads.

4 Katty 海青班 pre ordered from lovely ladies at an obscure fish market who trade big fish in advance for you amidst the typhoon and black rain to ensure you get the size you need. Steamed in the traditional way with LOTS of spring onion, ginger and Fish Soya Sauce.

What better way to survive the super typhoon than to stay home cook great food, chill and sleep. Luckily I have a whole pantry of supplies meaning we can make what we like as we feel like and when we woke up with pancakes in mind, alas, fresh pancakes were made. Here resplendent with jumbo blueberries, whipped cream, butter and of course maple syrup.

Ahh how I long for the days when we could pick fresh rhubarb and strawberries from our back garden, when now it’s a hunt to even find rhubarb. With great ingredients simple recipes that highlight the freshness is always best. We have strawberry and rhubarb fools with pavlova brittle on the top for a bit of contrast in texture.

Ahh the amazing Mezzi Paccheri Rigati dry pasta from and procured via .hk.

What started out as meant to be light got a big heavier but we had to reign back some richer flavours to maintain the balance and enjoy the pasta in its purer form.

Here with crab meat, stuffed squid in its own ink, wild caught scallops, cucumber, spring onions, 2 years aged Vietnamese fish sauce, lemon zest and lemon juice and a drizzling of cream.

Simple but delicious cakes are one of life’s greatest pleasures. Red diamond strawberries r plump and juicy and so full of flavour, pair that with a Victoria sponge and freshly whipped cream and u have bitefuls of sumptuous and voila a perfect birthday cake.

Canele perfection courtesy of This is the masala chai flavoured one with the oh so thick and crispy crust. More S African Wagyu from and an elegant summer fruits and ripe mango pavlova dusted with pistachio dust.

Made for someone special. A frangipani pear and rhubarb in a sweet crust tart. The fragrance of the ground almond definitely lifts the whole thing and balances well with the tartness of the rhubarb and the caramelised pear. Combine it with our favourite ice cream and ur into a winner.

This weekend was all about the beef. This was a 10kg piece of M5 South African Wagyu Chuck Eye Roll that was sous vide twice with a 12 hour resting period in between and finished in the oven and rested. Accompanied by parsnip purée and a light blue cheese baby spinach salad and killer tools to hack this beast up courtesy of