When you start to appreciate food, you will start to appreciate the art of cooking. As a matter of fact, many people who love food will love cooking because tasting and swallowing the food is only part of the gastro-journey. Understanding each ingredient and learning the tricks of cooking them are far more interesting than just eating it.

I am not really a gourmet, and I have no idea why people like to address people like me as gourmet while we only like to eat. I never say that I am very knowledgeable in cookery, and I only enjoy food probably in the way you do too.

Sometimes, how a chef makes good food intrigues me. You know, say, carrots and chocolate, but you don't know how they can be transformed into a delicious piece of carrot chocolate cake. Cookery is not knowledge of just blending things, but is also a true mastery of time and knowledge in tools besides food ingredients. Also, understanding of cultures and cuisine is very important, and that will link to the knowledge of finding good materials from different countries. You will see that cookery is such a wide subject. A good chef knows more than just good cooking skills.

I don't cook often but when I am free during holidays or weekends, I will try to do something myself in the kitchen. I like to make cakes and this time I try soufflé. It is a relatively easy dessert because you don't need any flour for this, but you have to be so careful about each step so as to make sure the soufflé will rise in the oven.

I only made three this time to test, and it tasted good but very soon it collapsed out of the oven for 5 minutes. I realized the problem: I forgot to stir the mixture in the pan over the fire, and so it was a little too liquid and thus couldn't rise high enough. It is a really good lesson for me, and at least the three cups of soufflé were edible. Actually, much more than edible!

This is the video I was looking at before I did the soufflé, which is pretty good.

That afternoon I didn't stop and made this orange marble cake. Pound cakes are probably one of the easiest cakes to make, and they are perfect for my warm-up exercise.

I followed the recipe closely and I have no tips on this, to be frank. To make the marble layer, I separated the batter into two. One fifth was mixed with cocoa powder while the remaining with orange juice and grated orange zest. When I poured the orange batter in the baking pan, I filled only half of it and then added the chocolate part. I used a knife to make a zip-zap pattern over the cake to create the irregular patterns. I repeated the same for the upper half of the batter and that's it.

For those who are curious about the recipe, here you go:

Flour 6 oz
Raising Flour 2 oz (I actually used 1.5 oz)
Salt 1/8 teaspoon
Butter 8 oz (I cut to 6.5 oz sometimes, too fat it seems)
Sugar 8 oz (I cut to 6 oz too because some people don't want too sweet)
Eggs 5
Orange juice few teaspoon
Some grated orange zest
Cocoa powder 1-2 oz

Some people love the dimsum in Hong Kong, while others are more inspired by Hong Kong's signature skyline. In Hainan No. 1 you have the best of both worlds. Located at high level of iSquare in Tsim Sha Tsui, you can enjoy your Chinese food while overlooking the beautiful harbour.

This time we were lucky to try their special dimsum on the last day of the promotion period. The special dimsum included many of the old ones that you probably cannot find in today's Chinese restaurants.

Besides some of the typical dimsum like steamed rice roll 腸粉, this place also has fusion dimsum. These funny looking buns below are Japanese wagyu beef buns 和牛包.

Beijing Dumplings 京川餃子 is quite well done. I cannot take too much spicy things but this one is indeed a very good appetizer.

No one should miss the Crispy Roasted Pork Buns 雪山叉燒包. It is like a must for any yumcha session.

The first old dimsum was, umm, Duck Feet with Abalone and Chinese Yam Wrapped by Egg Slice. It is so hard to translate the names because the Chinese names are much more beautiful and poetic. 赤繩欣繫足, literally means Feet Tied by Red String. (red string is thought to be the connection between two lovers in Chinese culture). Yes, this is a name about relationship and love.

Anyway who cares. The duck feet was deboned and marinated, and then wrapped with abalone and Chinese yam slices before being steamed. The combination of different mixtures is very interesting: the soft skin from the duck feet mixed with fabrics of yam together with the chewy abalone. This shows the chef's understanding of food material and also his creativity in cookery.

The next one is 雞蓉乾蒸賣 Chicken Shumai topped with Crab Roe and Yolk.

Typical shumai uses pork and shrimp as the filling, but this one uses the meat from chicken leg. The outcome is a more tender filling, which probably means a healthier dimsum as it has less fat than pork shumai.

Another awesome dimsum is this, Shrimp with Quail Egg (彩鳳隱龍懷 meaning a Pheonix having a Baby). The shrimp is pressed into shape with half of quail egg stuffed in the middle. It looks beautiful and the crispy shrimp tastes wonderful.

The following one looks like beef shumai, but instead of using typical wrapper made with flour, this one uses leaf lard. Yes, it is 網油牛肉卷.

Leaf lard is the lard around the muscle of a pig, which looks like a net. During the cook, it will bring out the flavour from the beef when it melts into the beef.

Before the dessert comes, we had a little Soup Noodle with Fish. It is light and filling, perfect to be a finale while not stealing the spotlight on dimsum.

Instead of the typical Hong Kong dessert like Red Bean Soup, we order something more traditional. The Stewed Apple with Jujube and Snow Fungus 紅棗雪耳燉蘋果. I cannot believe they really put a whole slice of apple in the bowl!

My friend probably tried to be special and ordered this Banana Cake with Vanilla Ice-cream. Maybe that is a perfect way to show how special Hong Kong is, which is city with merged cultures of east and west.

The meal was definitely enjoyable. Everything was delicate and well thought of. I am glad that while they are keeping the standard of dimsum at a high level, they also try to do something more creative like the wagyu buns. At the same time, they bring back some old dimsum and rare dishes (like the Beijing Dumplings). The only thing to complain is the service. As we are ordering, it takes long for the trainee waiters to realize our existence even that we are sitting in the center of the restaurant. Many of them have no idea about the old dimsum menu, revealing the lack of training in the team. Nevertheless, the soothing and quiet ambiance with the amazing harbour view forces us to complain no more, and to me, the slightly higher price is worth it.

Probably only this ramen shop in Hong Kong can create such a buzz in the city. Butao 䐁王 was originally started in a back lane of the busy LKF area at Central, and every day, even till now, has a queue of people waiting for their ramen before the shop opens at 11am. The shop only sells 200 bowls a day, and after that they just close. The owner of the shop Meter Chen is probably very happy to see this after grabbing the award-winning ramen master Ikuta Satoshi from Japan to Hong Kong to start the business.

The shop starts its second branch in Causeway Bay near Times Square, and creates another queue too. The shop is a little bigger than the Central one, but still filled with customers. If you want to grab a seat, it is best to do so around 5-6pm right before people are getting off work.

There is not much to choose from in the menu, but I guess you don't need many options. Besides the signature Butao King (original pork bone broth), you can also choose Black King (pork broth dyed dark with squid ink), Red King (spicy miso) and Green King (an Italian fusion soup made from a pesto-like combination of olive oil and basil). The ramen is the thin Hakata type, and when you order you can choose how concentrated your broth is or how much spring onion in the bowl.

I tried the Black King and the ink does not take over the taste of the noodle and soup. (squid ink actually has no flavour) The rich fat-slicked soup is done by cooking the pork bone for more than 20 hours, and you know you have to finish all the soup before putting down the chopsticks. It is so delicious!

The noodle is wonderful, but the pork (cha siu) is the real spotlight item. The marbled meat is sliced thin, and it indeed melts in your mouth. Don't miss the egg too, which needs to be added separately. The egg with the half-molten yolk, which comes as a whole unsliced egg, is like cream of a puff, adding another climax to the bowl.

It is said that ramen's soul is in the soup, and while I agree to it, Butao King actually does everything well, from the soup to the noodle, from the pork to the egg. Everything combines to form a whole new ramen experience that you can taste climax after climax. The place is cramped but that is probably where good ramen can be found. If you try it, you will realize later that the long wait is worth it, and you know that you will queue up again very soon in the future.

Extended read: Timeout Review by Dorothy So

Seriously I've never walked to the end of Kimberley Road near the junction to Austin Avenue. For most of the time, I only wandered along the part near Nathan Road, and I realize that the scene is very different once you are approaching the end of the road.

Instead of street snack shops, restaurants and fashion boutiques, you will find shops selling and renting night and wedding gowns, and then a group of Korean restaurants and bars. Interesting enough, many of the Koreans seem to know this place for a long time and gather at these dining locations. Signs and menus at the doorstep are filled with those strange alien-like Korean characters, and people are mumbling in the sound that I cannot identify (I have trouble distinguishing spoken Korean and Japanese). Eventually we go into this restaurant which has two Chinese characters above the door.

李家 Chicken HOF & SOJU is a strange place. It is bright outside but so dim inside. Playing music videos of the famous Korean artists (I only know Girls' Generation and Kara), you feel like you are in an undecorated restaurant in South Korea. No doubt we start the meal with a Hite beer from South Korea, which tastes weaker and lighter than normal beer. It has less bubbles too, and I feel like I am drinking water. However, I like it.

One of their famous dishes is the Deep-fried Chicken with Spring Onion. Even that the chicken is the major thing on the plate, the spring onion is surprisingly delicious.

I cannot take much chilly thing, but I just fall in love with the chicken. It is definitely a must-eat item! Crispy outer with tender meat inside, you just cannot stop eating, and it is perfect to go with a beer!

Then we have another great dish, the Seafood Soup. However, we are tricked. The staff, who is a Korean speaking with just a modicum of English, said the soup was only a little chilly. It turns out later to be a super spicy thing!

After having just a few slurps, I feel my stomach burning. Despite the overwhelming spicy sensation, I can still taste the juice of seafood in the pot. Inside you can find shrimps, crab (a full one without the top shell!), baby octopus and mussels, and it is truly a seafood soup unlike the soup in some places which are more like seafood-flavoured water done with food additives and heavy condiments without any actual seafood.

There is a reason for Koreans or probably some local people to come back. There are not many things to choose from in the menu, but the food is delicious in big proportions. The music is a little too loud but you can choose the corner tables, and the high backs of chairs will shield you from any possible disturbance of other tables. Even if you are not into kimchi or chilly pork, you can still enjoy the deep-fried chicken with a glass of beer. Seriously, that is one of the best combos I have had!

Located at the JIA boutique hotel, the Drawing Room is definitely a wonderful continuation of the previously renowned Opia restaurant. I guess Timeout Magazine wrote a wonderful article about this place, and I would use it to for this blog before writing my notes on the food.

"There was a time, not so very long ago, when those looking for a classy and contemporary dining experience in Causeway Bay would gravitate naturally in the direction of JIA Boutique Hotel. But since the lauded Opia closed last year, the area seems to have lost some of its culinary cachet, forcing the glitterati to head back to Central and TST in search of sleek thrills.

Well, now they've got a reason to return in the shape of The Drawing Room, the casually elegant new dining concept from the Austro-Italian double-act of Roland Schuller and Bombana Umberto. The joint owners (executive chef and culinary director, respectively) have some serious form in the restaurant game, and it shows with a place that’s clearly the result of many well-spent hours on the drawing board.

Décor-wise, they've hit the bullseye with an interior that is both swanky and comfortable, combining an abundance of well-placed mirrored surfaces with tasteful soft furnishings decked out in a palette of creams, browns, copper, and bronze. A few carefully chosen pieces, such as Hong Kong artist Man Fung-yi’s signature chain-mail-tunic works, ensure the space also has a touch of soul to go with its ample swank. The main room isn't huge, but the place seats 36 while there are also two private rooms and a separate chilled bar area.

Settling down into a natty chaise-lounge-style couch, we were immediately impressed by the wine list. It wasn't the selection of 300+ bottles that caught our eye, but rather the prices. We've got use to forking out upwards of $400 for a standard bottle of wine at most restaurants, but The Drawing Room has tipples as low as $220, with roughly half the list under $500 and the vast majority under $1000. Their mark-up, explained the manager, is between 80-100 per cent, as opposed to the 200-300 per cent tacked on by most eateries at this price point, something which instantly earned them a stack of Brownie points in our eyes."

Now that you know about this amazing place, we will let the pictures speak. The bread is not warm, which is a little disappointing, but the small appetizer lightens me up.

Then the appetizers arrive. Mine is a Slow Cooked Egg with Bluefin Tuna Belly Tartare, and Porcini Mushrooms.

...while my friend had a Pan Fried Quail and Foie Gras with Hazelnut and Cherry Sauce.

Both are very delicately prepared, and I am very much surprised by my tuna. There is no fat at all in the tuna, and no trace of fishy smell. Instead it is like beef!

The French meal, as you can guess, happens in slow motion. After more than 20 minutes the waiters bring the entrees to our table. We have the Vegetable Risotto with Cheese and Duck Breast, and Homemade Tagliolini with Lobster and Confit Tomatoes.

I fall in love immediately with the pasta, which is smooth like typical angel hair but much chewier. The slightly tough texture makes a very interesting contrast with the crispy lobster. The portion looks small but is actually smaller at the right size to make you long for it more.

The main course is the Roasted Colorado Lamb Rack with Artichoke, Purée and Green Olives. It is not as surprising as the others, but still very well done. No part of it is overcooked, and I like the way they out the mustard on the skin side to cook.

The dessert is as exciting as the previous dishes. The Apple Tart doesn't look like anything I saw in the past! Served with vanilla ice-cream, this is definitely one of the best apple pastry I have ever tried! My friend chooses a Chocolate Tart for her dessert.

After the meal, you are served coffee or tea. The waiter actually comes with a big boxes. Instead of printing selections on a paper menu, this restaurant chooses to display all the options for you in a more realistic way. When the tea pots come, the waiter also brings up a tray of cookies and candies.

There is hardly anything to complain about here. The excellent food under carefully designed deco together the warm services, the Drawing Room no doubt draws your full attention once you enter. Not many people find the prices affordable, but if you can spend, you will find this gastro journey is definitely worth the money.

I never thought that you could find a quiet place in the bustle of Mongkok district. This area is always crowded with hawkers shouting and teenagers swearing everywhere, and most of the restaurants are fast-food ones or cha chaan teng. If you want to have a less noisy place for some friendly conversations, some upper-floor cafes can do. However, this cafe is nothing like that. It is a place where you can find a taste of German cuisine!

I am quite surprised to come to BigPack Cafe, situated right above the Nike flagship store. Most of the people taking the elevator go to the Nike shop instead of to this restaurant. Make no mistake at all, here you can find pretty amazing German stuff here!

Like the name suggests, the place has a lot of big backpacks on the wall. Decorated with timber panels and wooden chairs, BigPack Cafe does look like a warm hut in the maintain area. Next to the entrance is a long bar table where many different kinds of alcohol are served, including the Germany black beer (schwarzbier).

Of course, juices are also available. I cannot believe they really serve fresh apple juice and mango juice, along with orange and watermelon juice.

The breads are hot, served with a slice of butter which is frozen in the fridge with the little bowl.

The starter is Potato Fritters with Salmon, which is amazed good. The fritters are not oily at all after deep frying, and the sweet honey mustard is a good companion with it.

The Green Mussels seem unrelated to German cuisine, and are a little unsurprising.

Kase Spatzle (chef homemade pasta) with Mozzarella Cheese and Cream is interesting. The whole pasta is not heavy at all even completely topped with beautiful cheese. It is chewy and the unevenness of the noodle (not sure it is really called noodle as it is more like shredded pasta) gives a funny texture. The next dish of meat is quite salty and this light pasta actually goes very well with it!

The main course finally arrives. They said 20-30 minutes were needed to prepare this platter, but actually it took only 15 minutes. The glass plate is filled with meat which includes the famous Roasted Pork Knuckles, ham, pork steak and Frankfurt sausages. I must advise you that if you should only order this if you have four people on the table, or else this can be a really harsh food marathon for yourself.

The meat is very well done, especially the pork knuckle and ham. The roasted knuckle has extremely crispy skin with juicy meat underneath. There is inevitably fat in between, but the fatty layer is quite thin. Much of the tender layers is preserved well, making me feel like enjoying Chinese beef brisket.

The only negative comment from me is probably that the meat is overall too salty. Even if this is "traditional" as they call it, it is a little overdone. Or maybe they expect you to enjoy the knuckle with some light pasta. However, that is still minor and the meal is enjoyable, and one will hardly expect food like this to be found in Mongkok area. If you are in that area next time, and if you want to take a break from the traditional Chinese noodle from cha chaan teng, come up to BigPack Cafe. You will not be disappointed.

It is pretty harsh in Hong Kong to set up any food business. You have to keep up with the trend by being very good or different, and then by continuously being very good or different. The Cantopop restaurant I visit nearly 8 months ago is gone and is now replaced by a western restaurant called Linguini Fini. As the name suggests, it is all about Italian food, and pasta is no doubt the spotlight.

The restaurant has two floors, connected by a graffiti-filled back-of-house staircase. The lower floor turns into a bar after five, with sofa booth seating on two sides and stools in the middle. Upstairs are less blaring dining area, though you should not expect a quiet place for intimate conversations. The deco is cool with beautifully designed menus and posters. The bread box is funny, but the bread is hard like high-density foam for construction. I wonder if it is bread.

Before the main course we get ourselves a Casear Salad using local romaine, Pamigiano reggiano and anchovy vinaigrette. Not bad but the portion is for one person only.

The pasta is served on a big plate but the size is more for girls than for men. The signature Class Linguini Fini Podmodori doesn't taste special to me. The texture is a little chewier than typical pasta you have outside, which is actually fine with me. Some people may complain about that but after trying the orignal pasta from Italy, I believe pasta texture should be rougher. But still, it has no wow factor.

The Spaghetti Carbonara was, like the previous dish, not outstanding at all. It looks ordinary, and tastes ordinary.

And so is the On Top Of Spaghetti, which is just spaghetti with homemade meatball. To be honest, the meatball is most interesting thing on the table because it is huge! With shredded cheese all over the top, it looks like it has some kind of white mold!

The garlic bread on the side is however not garlic enough, and it tastes bitter like charcoal. At the end of the meal we also ordered a Picante, a pizza with mozzarella, spicy sausage, tomato and chili. This one is probably the best among all the others, as the thin bread is crispy with sizziling hot topping. The ingredients are typical, but they are all well balanced over the pizza.

It is a bit disappointing to see the effort to create an eye-catching brand with beautiful graphics and interesting interior layout, but not any attempt to pay more attention to the food. There is no surprise here on the plates, but everything has a passing mark. It is nonetheless a great place to hang out with friends who don't mind paying a little more for the music on the ground floor, yet don't expect something awesome, and you will have a great evening here.

Many of the customers have probably missed the Tipsy Peach Cake at LGB. The peach-cake with a layer of jelly on top looks ordinary but embeds extraordinary flavours. To be exact, it is not the flavours but the layering of them.

The cake is extremely light and it seems like the taste of peach is only supported by the jelly top layer. When you put a slice into your mouth, it is like the vanilla arrives first, and then the peach, and they finally well mix together before you swallow. The cream on the dish looks like a display of high cholesterol, but in fact it is a sweet-free whipped cream. It forms a wonderful combination of texture with the cake: soft cream, spongy cake and jelly. This is no doubt a great little dessert after dinner, a little sweet and a little taste of spring!

At the end of every year of Chinese Calendar, all the members in a family will gather and have a great dinner together. During the whole year everyone was probably separated and working on their own, and now the new year is coming and it is time for a reunion where everyone can share both their earning and stories with their parents.

No doubt, family is one of the biggest things in Chinese culture, as that is where everyone is originated from. This is just like the Thanksgiving or Christmas day in western culture, and nothing is warmer than having all the family members back in one place.

Reunion dinner is always a big thing, and many of the dishes have lucky names for better luck in the new year. No worry if you don't want to name your dishes at home, but at least do eight or nine dishes but not four. Eight sounds like "fortune" in Chinese, while nine means "endless" (nonstop fortune). Four sounds like "death" and of course should be avoided

This day is certainly the busiest day for my mum in the year, because making nine dishes in a row serving only four of us (including herself) is definitely an arduous task.

This time we had tiger prawns (middle) and chicken (foreground). Of course there were vegetables (furthest).

Since reunion dinners are big event in China before Chinese New Year, some of the food will have precious ingredients. Many different kinds of rare and expensive food are saved till this day. Nowadays, abalones (above) are not that expensive, but still considered as one of the spotlight dishes.

Below is stewed sea cucumber, fish gas bladder with winter mushrooms, certainly another expensive dish.

In fact, this was one of the most expensive dishes in my reunion dinner, the steamed tiger grouper (above). These days such sea fish are hard to find in my city, and most of them come from fish farms but not the ocean. For sea cucumber or abalones, we can buy in advance like months ago at a cheaper price, but you cannot do the same for fish. Fish have to be fresh, and when they are so popular in the market during Chinese New Year period, prices for real sea fish will no doubt go up.

We also had some deep-fried oysters with some seared scallops (below). Chinese people like to have such food on the table as it is golden yellow, symbolizing good fortune in the new year.

The reunion dinner is big, and is also the happiest meal in the year. You have so much food on the table, and most importantly, everyone is here after a hectic year and gathers around the table for the warmest dinner. Isn't that the best time of the year?

Sometimes, a relaxing weekend can be just so easy. A cup of coffee from Nespresso machine, then some little snacks from La Madeleine de Proust, that makes the perfect afternoon.