Union J (Closed)

...........If you listen enough to Mr. Choi Larn, someone whom I do admire to an extent and is quite knowleagable yes (at least better than me overall), yet sometimes I think I disagree with him on certain issues as he's slightly biased and gets facts wrong sometimes. I remember on the odd occasion I read one of his articles, when he mentioned that when it comes to Sydney vs Melbourne's food - he claimed Melbourne is far more famous for fine dining than Sydney. In that same article, he even got the Chef's name of Tetsuya's in Sydney wrong - it should have been Wakuda Tetsuya, not Ikuda Tetsuya. Duh.... Anyway, I'm not old-fashioned like Choi Larn and I certainly wouldn't bring tourists to Vlado's in Melb for a steak, that place is ho-hum, way out-dated compared to the newer and much better steakhouses. The world has shifted, but he is caught unaware. His general comment that Melbourne has better fine dining foods than Sydney is also pretty seriously false - Sydney has much more capable fine dining venues infact charging much higher prices, this fact is supported by the number of 3 Hatted Restaurants far out-numbering the Melburnian ones by around 7-8 to 2. To me, what's interesting about Melbourne is that there are so many Hearty Restaurants everywhere which makes great tasting food - they are not the Haute Cuisine type, because people there are too laid back and relaxed to really enjoy those (but if you really desire them, count on Vue De Monde and Royal Hotel at Dunkeld to deliver, which are seriously world-class acts, perhaps even Jacque Reymonds during Winter when he's less susceptible to making Japanese-Westernised fusion dishes as when he always does in Spring/Summer, due to his Japanese training!), but anyway, its more about the down-to-earth dishes that you eat day in and day out there that you become addicted to but which are impossible to find in places like HK. Union J's Food, operated by Eric Johnson and Jason Casey, the two talented chefs who had once worked in the Michelin 3 Starred Jean-Georges, kind of reminds me of those hearty dishes but in an Americanised way. Union-J does the approachable and Bistrot type of food which suits everyone every night..... Pity it will be closing soon, due to the landlord kicking them out soonish. ****************************The Food here are not as simple as it seems on the surface either. When I got to bite into each dish and then talking to one of the chefs, I realised that a lot of extra thoughts have been injected into each individual dish and dessert than is apparent on the surface, esp. compared to how its printed simply on the menu - there are always hidden, secretive ingredients which were added in to elevate your bistrot styled dish to another level. If you ask my honest opinion, I think the complexity of the dishes here are even more sophisticated than say the dishes served at Michelin Starred French restaurants such as Petrus and Caprice (which are rated using the Traditional French System), even Cepage or Drawing Room - its a pity not many eaters or Michelin reviewers will ever understand the extra-thoughtfulness and complexity mixed into each dish to create more tasting layers. But as a wannabe cook myself I certainly suspected there's something more going on in the background than is perceivable on the surface. We're really receiving a bargain here. Every single dish probably consists of 10+ or more ingredients combined which are far too subtled to be picked up easily, but they really do make a micro-level difference in the end, but only if you look out for them. I REALLY WISHED UNION-J WILL STAY OPERATING IN THE LONG RUN TO ASSUAGE MY HUNGER, I HOPE THEY FIND ANOTHER SPACE FOR ACCOMODATION AFTER HERE. ALTHOUGH THE EXTRA PRESSURE OF OPERATING A HIGHER CULINARY LEVEL RESTAURANT, ONE CLOSER TO HAUTE-CUISINE STYLE COULD BE MORE INTENSELY STRESSFUL, I REALLY FEEL THAT THE TWO J'S, "JOHNSON AND JASON" REALLY DO CARRY MORE THAN ENOUGH THE TALENT TO PULL OFF THIS STUNT MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE. PLEASE COME BACK AND SURPRISE US ALL IN THE END IN YOUR FUTURE ADVENTURES IN HONG KONG.... continue reading

公司在雲咸街, 所以逢同事生日, 開會之後, 都多是在雲咸街或蘭桂坊一帶搵食, 這間Union J是少數食過又再食嘅.在這一區午餐收200元一餐的餐廳很多, 大多都說是載譽以來, 怎麼怎麼星級酒店做過, 或怎麼米之連星級廚師, 其實很多不外如是, 都是在搞花臣, 應該味道才是最重要的. 這餐廳也會搞花臣, 但又keep到味道, 今次揀食蟹餅, 有兩塊, 雖然細細塊, 但裡面全是蟹肉, 沒有加那些怎麼豬肉呀菇呀來充數, 也喜歡他們的湯, 很鮮...唯一較差就是TIRA-MY-SU了, 大概這就是玩得太多花臣吧! continue reading

星期天要加班…幸好可以早個半鐘頭收工…雖然吃過早餐…不過吃得不多…所以收工就要去找東西吃…昨天其實已經到過中環…就是因為看到有很多餐廳都想試…所以今天又回到這裡…突然記起之前在openrice看到有人寫這裡有任選三款食物的Sunday brunch…就決定要來試一試….差不多下午雨點...人客不多…待應安排我們坐在窗邊的位置…陽光從大玻璃窗透進來…很悠閒的感覺…看到menu的時候發現本來應該寫上$188任選三款的字…被新的一張貼紙蓋著…變成了set brunch…只可以在煙肉和豬肉腸兩者之中選…而不是可以在下面的a la carte任選三款…是有點失望的啦…幸好煙三文魚和egg benedict 我也喜歡吃…所以最後還是點了這個brunch set….另外還單點了車打芝士煙肉薯餅和spicy sausage… 所有食物同時間端上來…好像很豐富…首先試吃車打芝士煙肉薯餅…薯餅由一條條粗粗的薯絲交織而成…很真材實料的感覺…表面呈橙金色…應該是車打芝士的顏色…看起來真的很吸引…不過當咬了第一口就出事了…薯餅溫度不足…只是微暖…外層一點也不脆…有點淋…咬落也不香口…坦白的說我覺得M記的薯餅比這更好吃…車打芝士味又不突出…我們甚至懷疑這到底是不是炸了很久才端出來…還是可能是翻炸了….最後我只吃了一半就放棄了…….跟SET的豬肉腸和另外加的spicy sausage根本就是同一樣的東西…但是名字確實是不同啊…至少單點的spicy sausage應該會spicy…可惜沒有…味道普普通通的…沒什麼特別…煙三文魚bagel…看賣相有點像我以前在挪威吃的那樣…挪威四處都會賣這種麵包…不論是塗在麵包上的芝士醬還是三文魚上面都加了很多翠綠的小葱粒…三文魚好吃…不過下面的麵包有點靭…就算用口咬也要用力扯…所以吃的時候有點狼狽…egg benedict是當中最正常的一款…波蛋煮得剛剛好…切開的時候流出小量的蛋汁…被墊在下面的麵包完全吸收…上面的hollandaise sauce亦不俗…不過不算是我吃過最好的…最後的French toast…可能是我自己誤會了…我真的以為是多士了…會塗牛油忌廉蜜糖果醬之類…但是是脆的多士…而這個就有點像熱香餅…厚厚的熱香餅…蜜糖和士多啤梨肉已經加在一起了…是熱香餅還好…這個是涼的…我不是十分喜歡….最後生果很新鮮很fresh…不過莓類有點酸…剛剛想起就是原來當天我們沒有點餐茶呢…including tea or coffee嘛…自己不記得…就連待應也不提醒我們…呃…也就算了….結果這一餐是以一個非常疑惑的心情結束…其他的人的食評都很不錯啊…難道真的只是不合我的口味嗎….? 不過我應該會再來一次吃午餐…試試慢煮三文和Long Island Clam Chowder的… continue reading

second time around, i was disappointed as soon as i was led to the table.... or bench i should say.lucky i was in pants.anyway, the squid salad was great, but the maincourse was not that great. i had the chicken legs, it was too salty. my friend had the cheeseburger and she said it's not great at all. oh well. at least the bread was still soft and great. continue reading

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 itemsLikes: -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 sauceDislikes:-Huevos Rancheros - interesting marriage of flavors and a super tough Tortilla chips!-Corned Beef Hash - texture was a bit too firmAvg Spending: around HKD 250 per personOriginal Blog Post: http://www.jasonbonvivant.com/2010/03/union-j-sunday-brunch-finally.html continue reading