Union J (已結業)

...........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.... 继续阅读

公司在云咸街, 所以逢同事生日, 开会之后, 都多是在云咸街或兰桂坊一带揾食, 这间Union J是少数食过又再食嘅.在这一区午餐收200元一餐的餐厅很多, 大多都说是载誉以来, 怎么怎么星级酒店做过, 或怎么米之连星级厨师, 其实很多不外如是, 都是在搞花臣, 应该味道才是最重要的. 这餐厅也会搞花臣, 但又keep到味道, 今次拣食蟹饼, 有两块, 虽然细细块, 但里面全是蟹肉, 没有加那些怎么猪肉呀菇呀来充数, 也喜欢他们的汤, 很鲜...唯一较差就是TIRA-MY-SU了, 大概这就是玩得太多花臣吧! 继续阅读

星期天要加班…幸好可以早个半钟头收工…虽然吃过早餐…不过吃得不多…所以收工就要去找东西吃…昨天其实已经到过中环…就是因为看到有很多餐厅都想试…所以今天又回到这里…突然记起之前在openrice看到有人写这里有任选三款食物的Sunday brunch…就决定要来试一试….差不多下午雨点...人客不多…待应安排我们坐在窗边的位置…阳光从大玻璃窗透进来…很悠闲的感觉…看到menu的时候发现本来应该写上$188任选三款的字…被新的一张贴纸盖著…变成了set brunch…只可以在烟肉和猪肉肠两者之中选…而不是可以在下面的a la carte任选三款…是有点失望的啦…幸好烟三文鱼和egg benedict 我也喜欢吃…所以最后还是点了这个brunch set….另外还单点了车打芝士烟肉薯饼和spicy sausage… 所有食物同时间端上来…好像很丰富…首先试吃车打芝士烟肉薯饼…薯饼由一条条粗粗的薯丝交织而成…很真材实料的感觉…表面呈橙金色…应该是车打芝士的颜色…看起来真的很吸引…不过当咬了第一口就出事了…薯饼温度不足…只是微暖…外层一点也不脆…有点淋…咬落也不香口…坦白的说我觉得M记的薯饼比这更好吃…车打芝士味又不突出…我们甚至怀疑这到底是不是炸了很久才端出来…还是可能是翻炸了….最后我只吃了一半就放弃了…….跟SET的猪肉肠和另外加的spicy sausage根本就是同一样的东西…但是名字确实是不同啊…至少单点的spicy sausage应该会spicy…可惜没有…味道普普通通的…没什么特别…烟三文鱼bagel…看卖相有点像我以前在挪威吃的那样…挪威四处都会卖这种面包…不论是涂在面包上的芝士酱还是三文鱼上面都加了很多翠绿的小葱粒…三文鱼好吃…不过下面的面包有点靭…就算用口咬也要用力扯…所以吃的时候有点狼狈…egg benedict是当中最正常的一款…波蛋煮得刚刚好…切开的时候流出小量的蛋汁…被垫在下面的面包完全吸收…上面的hollandaise sauce亦不俗…不过不算是我吃过最好的…最后的French toast…可能是我自己误会了…我真的以为是多士了…会涂牛油忌廉蜜糖果酱之类…但是是脆的多士…而这个就有点像热香饼…厚厚的热香饼…蜜糖和士多啤梨肉已经加在一起了…是热香饼还好…这个是凉的…我不是十分喜欢….最后生果很新鲜很fresh…不过莓类有点酸…刚刚想起就是原来当天我们没有点餐茶呢…including tea or coffee嘛…自己不记得…就连待应也不提醒我们…呃…也就算了….结果这一餐是以一个非常疑惑的心情结束…其他的人的食评都很不错啊…难道真的只是不合我的口味吗….? 不过我应该会再来一次吃午餐…试试慢煮三文和Long Island Clam Chowder的… 继续阅读

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. 继续阅读

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 继续阅读