The Unlawyer

Mrs. Unlawyer and I first heard about Bo Innovation from watching the Hong Kong episode of Anthony Bourdain’s TV show No Reservations. What first caught our attention was its rather unusual name, unusual that is for a Fookien speaker. Even an utter novice as I am can tell that “Bo” in that language translates as “No” in English, so I thought why would anyone name a restaurant that claims to be at the leading edge of Chinese cuisine in such a fashion?

Only self-proclaimed and self-trained Demon Chef Alvin Leung knows. Or I could be wholly mistaken. It doesn’t really matter.

Seriously now, many describe Bo Innovation as a purveyor of molecular cuisine with Chinese characteristics. So on one of recent trips to this city I phoned in a reservation for two. Mrs. Unlawyer and I hopped in a taxi, and off we went to Ship Street in the Wan Chai district to finally try its Michelin-starred cuisine.

We sat at the open counter and ordered the chef’s table menu consisting of 18 courses. Warning: this is a picture-heavy entry.

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The Lung King Heen restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong has, for the second year in a row, earned a three-star ranking from the Michelin guide for Hong Kong. To date, it is the only restaurant specializing in Chinese cuisine to earn that honor. While the Hong Kong version of Guide may have earned no small amount of controversy since its introduction in 2008, everybody seems to agree that its chef, Chan Yan-tak, rightfully deserved the plum.

Here is what the Guide has to say about this restaurant:

“Ingredients here are of the highest quality – particularly the seafood which is impeccably fresh; all dishes are expertly crafted, nicely balanced and enticingly presented. The serving team is highly professional and describe dishes with great care and obvious pride.”

So one rainy night Mrs. Unlawyer and I took a taxi and had ourselves dropped off at the lobby of this hotel, located on 8 Finance Street within the International Finance Centre complex, and went up to the fourth floor to a very tastefully appointed and intimate dining hall.

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In a previous entry I said that the Tao Yuan Restaurant along Malvar Street in Manila serves the best Hainanese chicken rice in Manila.

Now I think this eatery has a worthy competitor for the title, and it isn’t even a full-service restaurant: STV’s Hainanese Chicken.

Owned by executive-turned-restaurateur Stevie Villacin, his reputation and that of his signature dish spread almost exclusively over the Internet, to be more specific among Metro Manila’s many food bloggers. Here’s an interesting fact: Dessert Comes First says Mr. Villacin only started producing his version of Hainanese chicken rice only late last year.

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When it comes to Sunday lunch buffets, there was a time that the Dusit Thani Manila hotel at the Ayala Center in Makati City wasn’t at the top of the list of such destinations, in the face of intense competition from the other hotels and restaurants in that city’s Central Business District.

That was the case, until sometime last year when it invented what its management calls a Crossover Family Sunday Brunch, and created what may be the best Sunday buffet in Metro Manila today.

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On our last full day in Shanghai Mrs. Unlawyer and I decided to take our children to the two tallest buildings in the city. We first visited the Jin Mao Tower and climbed up to the Grand Hyatt Shanghai hotel. As lunch was almost nigh we opted to take it right then and there, partly for the novelty of eating so high up in the sky, and after some reflection chose the Kobachi Japanese restaurant on the 56th floor.

The boys just love Japanese food, and we ordered soba and unagi for them. Mrs. Unlawyer and I chose the lunch set menu which, at RMB 280 per person, we thought was quite reasonable enough.

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One of the must-see, or to be precise a must-ride, attractions in Shanghai is not a museum, nor an architectural marvel of which this Chinese city is full of. It’s a technological wonder: the Shanghai Maglev Train, to date the only high-speed maglev in service anywhere in the world.

Here is some background information courtesy of Wikipedia:

“It is notable for being the first commercial high-speed maglev line in the world—during a test run on November 12, 2003, a Maglev vehicle achieved a Chinese record speed of 501 km/h (311 mph)(non-commercial top speed). The journey was designed to connect Shanghai Pudong International Airport quickly to the outskirts of central Shanghai where passengers could interchange for their final destinations in the city centre. Construction of the line began in March 2001 and public service commenced on January 1, 2004. The top operational commercial speed of this train is 431 km/h (268 mph), making it the world’s fastest train in regular commercial services since its opening in 2004, faster than previous record holder at 320 km/h with TGV in France, and also faster than the latest CRH conventional wheel train in China at 350 km/h. The top speed of 431 km/h (268 mph) is also faster than the top speed of any production street car, Formula One car, or MotoGP super bikes.”

With our kids clamoring to get on board, we just had to take a round-trip joyride on it!

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