The Dating Menu's lacking certain ingredients results in it not being able to fully satisfy (Film review)

  

The cast and crew met the audience both and before

the world premiere of The Dating Menu 

 

The Dating Menu (Hong Kong, 2026) 

- Amos Why and Frankie Chung, co-directors, and -scriptwriters (with Kong Yu-sing)

- Starring: Lo Chun-yip, Rachel Leung, Renci Yeung, Kearen Pang, Crystal Cheung

- Part of the HKIFF's Galas program 

 

"This seemed like a film made for you," a friend said to me after he bumped into me as we were both leaving the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, where the world premiere of The Dating Menu had taken place.  And then he saw my face and he realized that I hadn't loved this movie about a man for whom the name Zelda has a special meaning as much as he thought would be the case!

 

Over dinner a couple of evenings later, I outlined one nagging issue to him: Despite this cinematic offering that stars Lo Chun-yip as Hark Lam, a professional chef who offers to cook for women he hooks up with on a dating app featuring a lot of well prepared meals, this serious foodie didn't come out of the screening feeling at all hungry the way I've done with a whole bunch of food-filled films like God of Cookery, Eat Drink Man Woman or Oxhide II.  (And I don't think I can blame cinematographer Leung Ming-kai for not being able to shoot food well as, among other things, Memories to Choke On, Drinks to Wash Them Down, which he had lensed as well as co-directed and -scripted with Kate Reilly, got me pining to eat quite a lot of foods in that movie!)

 

To be sure, early on in The Dating Menu, I wondered if that actually was the plan; this not least since the film's first food scene involved Hark Lam not behaving how I'd expect a top notch sushi chef would, its second had the dinner he prepared causing his date (played by a sadly under-utilized Rachel Leung) to have an allergic reaction and the third resulting in the woman he cooked for (essayed by Renci Yeung) to remark that it lacked "feel".  But even after Hark Lam apparently took to heart that feedback, it still felt like ingredients were missing -- to make the work fully winning, even if not its protagonist's culinary creations!

 

In fairness, some scenes in the movie do work better than others.  I'm thinking here of those which had Hark Lam going and cooking for a single mother (portrayed by Crystal Cheung) and her two daughters and, upon being challenged as to why he had made simple food for them, saying that he figured that's what children would like.  (Not coincidentally, that was a rare occasion in The Dating Menu where Hark Lam explained the thinking behind his choices of dishes.  And yes, I think the movie would have been strengthened considerably by more of that.)

 

I also did appreciate the part of the film when Hark Lam went to the home of Yvonne (played by Kearen Pang) who revealed that her British husband had moved back to the UK but she was going to remain (alone) in Hong Kong.  For starters, the conversation between the two -- like another later on in the movie which takes place in his restaurant between old friends -- covered issues that many Hongkongers are thinking about.  In addition, Kearen Pang managed to give far more humanity and dimension to her character than the other actresses did for their parts which, frankly, felt far more underwritten -- and, well, under-cooked -- than that of the main male in the movie.

 

And therein may lie my main issue with The Dating Menu: that is, that unlike with, say, Amos Why's Far Far Away, which has a similar plot structure involving a bunch of female characters being linked to one another only by way of their all knowing one particular man, the women in this movie seem more like plot devices to further the man's story (and emotional development) rather than have stories to share in their own right.  I wouldn't go so far as to accuse the directors and scriptwriters of sexism but I would venture to argue that they weakened their movie by not giving due respect and care to the women in this work, and -- returning to the issue(s) I pinpointed earlier in this review -- certain salient parts of the culinary process too!

 

My rating for this film: 6.5        

Eating jajamen and gyutan in Morioka!

  

What I ate at my first meal in Morioka

 

What I had for my final meal in Morioka

 

In my previous blog entry, I wrote about having had Akita jidori in Kakunodate and possibly also Morioka.  While in the capital city of Iwate Prefecture, I also had a dish that's associated with it -- and food associated with the capital city of the neighboring prefecture of Miyagi!    

 

Here's the thing: Morioka is famed for three very different noodle dishes -- but since eating one of them (wanko soba) seems more like a challenge than pleasure and another (reimen) sounds too much like Korean naengmyeong (AKA naengmyun), which I've eaten loads of (in South Korea and elsewhere), I elected to pass up on eating those two noodle dishes while in Morioka.  Instead, the one specialty noodle dish I decided I wanted to try while there was jajamen: which may sound like another Korean noodle dish, jajangmyeon, -- that itself is considered to be a Chinese dish by Koreans! -- but actually is quite different from it.

 

Among other things, whereas jajangmyeon consists of noodles in black bean sauce (and chunks of beef and radish or potato), jajamen is topped with niku-miso and thin slices of cucumber and negi (Japanese leek), and served at the place I ate it at with a slice of pickled radish and some minced ginger.  And then there's the fact that jajamen is a two-phase dish!  For after you've eaten the bulk of what you're first presented with, you give the bowl back to a staffer at the eatery that you have the dish at (which tend to be specialist eateries for jajamen!); whereupon they'll fill your bowl up with hot water, you crack a raw egg into it and turn the concoction into something akin to egg drop soup that you then are expected to drain for the complete jajamen experience!  

 

While a modest dish (that's meatless), I enjoyed it quite a bit.  And, in all honesty, if I lived in Morioka, I could see myself having it monthly, if not more often.  But here's the thing: I think that it's one of those regional dishes (like Funabashi's sauce ramen, which I'd never have heard of if not for Funassyi!) that's next to impossible to find outside its home region/city/town!  Which, really, is too bad!

 

Still, I also have to admit that in the (relatively) short time that I was in Morioka, I didn't eat it again.  Because, well, there were other things I wanted to eat -- including the regional specialty of Sendai: gyutan (grilled ox tongue); which, funnily enough, I didn't have when I visited that city back in 2019 (because, then, I fixated more on the area's seafood)!

To be fair, I didn't expressly seek out gyutan while in Morioka either.  But while scouting out places to eat for my final meal in the city, I passed a place serving up gyutan that had such great smells wafting out of it that I decided that was what I wanted to eat there and then!

And so hungry was I that I went for a deluxe option that consisted of gyutan served on a hot plate and covered in a sauce that appeared to be a blend of tomatoes and garlic and was very yummy indeed; a (smaller) dish of conventionally grilled ox tongue; a bowl of mugi gohan (barley rice); and a bowl of clear oxtail soup.  Happily, I was able to do it all justice and polish off the lot!  Oh, and all this was nicely washed down with a bottle of nicely crisp and refreshing Kawatabi Cold IPA, produced by the Kibou no Oka brewery in Iwanuma, over in the neighboring prefecture of Miyagi! :)

Eating jidori in both Kakunodate and Morioka!

  

Oyakodon lunch set in Kakunodate

 

Bonjiri -- my favorite yakitori cut -- in Morioka

 

A friend and I were talking about dining strategies while in Japan.  He and his wife appear to be fans of Tabelog and target restaurants that have high scores on that crowd-sourced restaurant rating site.  I told him that I tend to be far more casual in how I decide where to eat while I'm in the Land of the Rising Sun; having few "must eat at" restaurants on my list and, instead, going for "want to eat" items based on what I've learnt that a region, city/town or prefecture is famous for.

 

In the past, I've done such as searched out specialist crab restaurants in Hokkaido, okonomiyaki in Hiroshima and sauce ramen in Funabashi.  And I targeted trying Hinai Jidori in the short time (i.e., less than a day) that I'd be spending in Akita Prefecture.

 

On a visit to Nagoya back in 2018, I had been introduced to jidori -- the chicken equivalent of craft beer (jibiru) vis a vis regular beer or craft ,micro-brew sake (jisake) vis a vis industrial-scale brewed sake.  And, truly, it was a relevation how much tastier and juicier the Cochin chicken I had there was than, well pretty much any other chicken I previously had in my life!  Like, say, Jeju black pig vis a vis normal pork.  Or, well, prime wagyu (like the Hida-gyu I had in Takayama) to regular beef!  

 

So when searching for a place to have lunch soon after I got to Kakunodate from Tazawako, despite the Heavens having opened shortly after I arrived in that historic Akita Prefecture town, I made sure to keep an eye out for places that served Hinai Jidori.  And after having found one, I actually went ahead and waited in line for about half an hour (much of it outdoors in the rain; albeit under an umbrella) for the privilege of eating an oyakodon (mother and child -- i.e., chicken and egg!) lunch set at a popular eatery where I was seated in the more traditional section where one was seated at a low table set on tatami flooring!

 

If truth be told, that seating arrangement was less comfortable than I'd like.  But it sure was nice to get out of the rain for a bit!  Also, the food was delicious -- though I must admit that I'm not sure if it was because I was ravenous at that point or because Hinai Jidori really is so much yummier than regular chicken!  At the same time though, the portions were quite a bit more generous than I expected or was used to -- and I must admit to struggling towards the end to finish it all; though, for the record, yes, I was indeed able to do that, albeit with a significant amount of effort!

 

And although I didn't plan for it to be so, it turned out that my dinner back in Morioka that evening also featured some more jidori: this time, in the form of yakitori sticks of chicken skin, liver and -- my favorite yakitori order, which is easily found in Japan but less so in Hong Kong -- bonjiri (Pope's Nose, aka chicken tail, aka chicken butt!)!  I must admit though that I'm unsure if the jidori in question was Iwate jidori or Akita's.  (It didn't help that the restaurant in question didn't have an English menu!)  Still, I do know though that it tasted good -- and hit the spot before I headed back to the hotel and hit the metaphorical hay after one of the earliest starts to the day I've had in a while! ;b    

Thinking about Hong Kong's political prisoners, and Glory to Hong Kong, on Midwinter Solstice

Sesame-filled glutinous rice balls in ginger sauce -- a dish

I ate last night but can imagine many people opting to eat tonight :)
 

It's the Winter (or Midwinter) Solstice today -- and many people are celebrating it with family and loved ones; with some shops closing earlier than usual to allow staff to do so and some restaurants not offering dinner service to enable their staff to have the evening off.  Which is why, I guess, my thoughts turn to the Hong Kongers in exile who are not able to do the same -- and, also, Hong Kong's political prisoners, of which there really are far too many for comfort; and with their numbers increased this week too.

 

Jimmy Lai was the Hong Kong political prisoner who dominated the news today -- thanks to the judges presiding over his national security law trial having upheld a sedition charge against him today following the defence’s argument that the charge was laid after a six-month statute of limitations had expired.  Sad but true: this was not exactly unexpected.  

 

As Samuel Bickett, who has had first hand experience of the brand of "justice" dished out by Esther Toh, one of the three judges presiding over Jimmy Lai's national security law trial, Tweeted: "In case anyone still had doubts—this is a pretty clear indicator of how the next few months of Jimmy Lai’s trial are going to go for the defense."  That is, there's not much that's going to be allowed to go the defence's way.

 

Jimmy Lai, for those who didn't realize, has now spent over 1,000 days behind bars -- the majority (if not all) in solitary confinement.   Another reminder: "Prolonged solitary confinement is a form of torture (according to the UN Mandela Rules)".  And yet that is what the former media mogul has been subjected to by the authorities here in Hong Kong.

 

Another Hong Kong political prisoner currently in solitary confinement is lawyer-activist Chow Hang-tung.  Incredibly, the apparent reason for her latest spell in isolation is that she had received "too many letters".  Yesterday also saw her latest application for bail ahead of her national security law trial being denied, with the judge saying that it's because it can't be guaranteed that she won't be a national security threat.  

 

A reminder: this is the Chow Hang-tung who's a Nobel Peace Prize nominee and recently awarded a human rights prize by the foreign ministries of France and Germany that "honours“civil society’s commitment to human dignity and the inalienable human rights of all people”". What kind of government would consider her a national security threat? I leave you to be the judge on that.

Yesterday also saw the addition of (at least) one more name to the shocking lengthy list of Hong Kong political prisoners. Marilyn Tang, the sister-in-law of jailed activist Lee Cheuk-yan, was given six months in prison for ‘perverting the course of justice’ after she pleaded guilty to removing electronic devices from her sister, Elizabeth Tang’s home following Lee Cheuk-yan's wife's arrest this past March under the Beijing-imposed national security law.

 

Here's the thing: Marilyn Tang did admit to having visited Elizabeth Tang's apartment and removed her sister’s phone and laptop, which was potential evidence. But the fact of the matter is that the police later found no evidence she had tampered with the devices, nor found anything incriminating on them. Yet she's been sent to prison -- for SIX MONTHS -- nonetheless!

Meanwhile, it feels like Hong Kong dodged a bullet earlier this week -- or, rather, to mix metaphors, kicked it a couple of months down the road to February 24th. I'm referring here to the Hong Kong government's appeal against a lower court's rejection of its proposed Glory to Hong Kong injunction that seeks to ban the dissemination of the 2019 protest anthem online, including via Youtube videos.

 

On Tuesday, the Appeals Court judges hearing the appeal decided they would need more time to hear the government’s arguments rather than make a judgement about it. From what was heard though, here's the government's case for the injunction in a nutshell appears to be that the song "amounted to a “weapon” for people to threaten the authorities".

 

Think about this for a minute (or more): this is a SONG we are talking about. But, then, the Hong Kong government has previous with regards to thinking that things most rational, sane people don't consider to be weapons to be so. Remember their saying this about umbrellas (starting from as far back as 2014)?  Also, remember the case of the female protestor arrested and convicted of assaulting a police officer with HER BREASTS?!

 

Back to the Glory to Hong Kong case: here's a reminder that the injunction application was rejected by High Court judge Anthony Chan in July   On Tuesday, "Acting as “a friend of the court” – someone who is not involved in a legal case, but who assists a court by offering information or insight – Senior Counsel Abraham Chan described the injunction pursued by the government as “unprecedented" and pointed out that "the song itself was not illegal, and there was no evidence that an injunction would help internet service providers remove the song if the publisher’s intent was unclear".  

 

"Chan also asked the court to consider provisions in the security law which stipulate that human rights and freedom must be protected."  One can but hope against hope that it does. And consequently reject the government's appeal come February 24th. Otherwise, I fear that yet another level of Pandora's Box will be opened; one that will lead to Youtube (and its parent company, Google) deciding to stop its services in Hong Kong -- something which it did in Mainland China years ago -- and, in the process, make it even more difficult for people here to stay connected to friends and family members living elsewhere in the world.

Rain couldn't spoil my visit to Kakunodate! (Photo-essay)

This week started badly, with my having nightmares two nights in a row -- the result of worrying about bad things happening in Hong Kong.  Last night though, I had a nice dream involving my being in Japan eating sushi.  I figure the dream was set in Japan in part because I finally got to viewing Hayao Miyazaki's magically evocative The Boy and the Heron yesterday -- and, also, because for some years now, Japan has been a place I have found myself visiting in the imagination, even if not physically (by way of movies, books (I'm a big fan of Keigo Higashino's tomes, among others) and food!).

 

Of course, I did finally visit Japan again this past October -- after a hiatus of some 4 years (thanks to the pandemic).  And there's still so much I want to share about that trip.  So, here's resuming doing so with this post about the next place I went to after visiting Tazawako: the former castle town and samurai stronghold of Kakunodate; one stop away on the Akita mini-shinkansen and, actually, now officially a part of the Akita prefectural city of Semboku along with Tazawako (though I must say that the parts of it that I visited sure didn't feel like a city)!  Anyways, you be the judge by way of the following photo-essay! ;b

 

It was still dry when I walked from Kakunodate's train station

through its Merchant District...

 

But the predicted rain came soon after I got to the Samurai District

(and stayed through the rest of my time in Kakunodate! :()

 

The first attraction I made a beeline to was the 

Aoyagi Samurai ManorMuseum, which actually

turned out to be a compound with multiple buildings...

 

...many of them chockful of treasures, including

samurai armor and swords (that I couldn't help thinking

that Funassyi, the history and katana buff, would LOVE)

 

Suffice to say that I most definitely came away from the visit

thinking that the Aoyagi family were serious collectors

of so much STUFF (including cameras and gramophones)! 

 

The second samurai house I visited, the Ishiguro House,

had far less STUFF inside of it -- but that might be true

only of the areas open to the public!

 

A cool element of this house -- parts of which remain occupied

by members of the Ishiguro family -- are the wooden panels,

designed and made in such a way that one's treated to a shadow show :)

 

Yes, I could have done without the rain -- but I also can see

what someone's said: that the rain can make the dark wooden 

buildings more photogenic!

An amazing ekiben with 30 different ingredients!

  

An ekiben with 30 different ingredients!

 

Healthy, and yummy! :b

 

Before this recent trip to Japan -- my first ever in the pandemic era -- I wondered if I should eat when on a train.  This even though not doing so would deprive me of something I get quite a bit of pleasure out of: eating on a train while watching the world passing by through the train window; with the pleasure quotient exponentially increasing when one's got a delicious ekiben (station bento) to eat.

 

I didn't eat anything (besides a couple of gummy candies) on the Narita Express from Narita airport into Tokyo.  But that train ride reminded me that the train compartments have about the same amount, if not fewer, people in them as a fairly small restaurant.  So on the next train ride I took -- the first of a number that I'd take on a shinkansen on this trip -- I got an ekiben to eat on it from a specialty ekiben shop with quite the variety of options.

 

Speaking of variety: the ekiben I chose was one that trumpeted its having 30 different ingredients!  The Japanese are taught to eat 30 different foods a day in order to have a thoroughly balanced diet.  I'm not sure how many Japanese people actually do this (regularly) these days though.  All in all, it seems quite the effort to do so -- and I'm meaning eat, never mind make, such meals!  And to have a single meal be made up of 30 different ingredients seems pretty amazing to me; all the more so when I can confirm that the ekiben I had was actually pretty tasty as well as felt healthy too!

Among the ingredients that I could make out are the following: rice (of course); seaweed; shisho (perilla leaf); ume (pickled plum); egg; potato; corn; at least one kind of fish (cod?); fishcake (made of another kind of fish?); shrimp; carrot; radish; corn; chicken; konnyaku (devil's tongue); pumpkin; a number of varieties of green vegetables; and a number of different beans (including edamame, peas and chickpeas)!  And flavour-wise, there were bits that were sweet; others salty; others sour; others umami; and something a little bitter by way of one of the green vegetables -- that was not a bad thing at all, actually!

All in all, a wonderful moveable feast.  And for the bargain price of 1000 Yen -- which, at the current exchange rate, works out to just HK$52 or so.  Would you be surprised to learn that I wish I could eat this regularly?  And I bet I'd feel -- and be -- a lot healthier if I did so too! :)

Fun times at my favourite (sake) bar in Tokyo/Japan/the world! :)

  

A brand of sake I've drank far more in Japan than Hong Kong

 

A Taste of Autumn is the name of this dish! :)

Some eleven years ago now, I went to a specialist sake bar for the first time in my life.  Sasagin was recommended to me by a friend then living in Hong Kong who had previously lived in Tokyo.  And despite not being a sake lover then, I went with another friend -- who was a Tokyo resident -- when visiting the Japanese capital city -- and had such a great night there that it's become a "must go to" for me on every subsequent visit to Tokyo since!

For one thing, the sake on offer there is very good indeed (with brands like Juyondai, Eiko Fuji, Tengumai, Hiraizumi and Kankiku (AKA Kangiku) among the offerings I enjoyed on this recent Japan trip).  For another, the food there's pretty tasty too.  (Among the dishes I had there on this visit: a refreshing persimmon and spinash salad with a creamy tofu dressing; healthy tasting simmered seasonal vegetables; other seasonal items, including cod shirako, chestnut, gingko nuts and sweet potatoes; and fried cheese dumplings!)  

 

And then there's the convivial "feel" of the place; particularly if one sits at the counter -- where other customers are likely to strike up a conversation with you, a total stranger, as well as being nearer to where Narita-san, the owner, holds court -- rather than at individual tables -- though that's perfectly fine too if you're happy to hang out with friends you already know (as opposed to make new ones!). 

 

On this recent Japan trip, I ended up going to Sasagin not just once but twice!  The first time was on the evening of my first full day back in Tokyo for some four and half years -- and I ended up drinking six glasses of sake (the majority of which were the Sasagin standard size of 150 ml)!  Amazingly, I managed to make it back to my hotel room afterwards, and didn't have a hangover the next morning.  I think it's because I drank all that over the course of some four hours and had plenty to eat as well as drink while there!

 

The next time I walked into Sasagin, Narita-san and the wait staff greeted me with big grins on their face.  I think it's partly because they were surprised that I had remembered that I had made a reservation for another evening there in the middle of that first evening of carousing there!  But it also felt like we were now old friends!  (While I did feel that already about Narita-san, the wait staff had only just started working at Sasagin less than a year ago -- and, in the case of one of them, just a few weeks ago, in fact!)

 

Speaking of old friends: On my first night there on this trip, I had met up with a Japanese friend who used to live in Hong Kong.  And before the end of the night, I had made new friends there -- one of whom decided to join me there the second time I went to Sasagin on this trip! 

This new friend lives in the area and Sasagin is a "local" for her.  (Envy, envy!)  She's Japanese but went to school and university in England.  By the way, my Japanese friend who I met in Hong Kong had gone to university in Australia.  Also, Narita-san actually lived and worked for a time in England.  So there may be more internationally experienced Japanese around than may be realised!  Including by other Japanese!

By the way, after I was seated at the counter on my first visit this trip, I spoke to Narita-san in English straightaway -- and when Narita-san replied in English, hearing his doing so startled the (Japanese) customer seated a couple of seats away from me!  Even funnier was when my Japanese friend who had lived in Hong Kong came in.  

 

I think by that point, that customer figured out I was not Japanese.  But he also assumed that my friend (who speaks English with a very American accent -- despite having gone to university in Australia, not the US; something he ascribes to having watched lots of American TV shows as a kid in Japan!) was not Japanese too.  So when said friend then started speaking to Narita-san and the wait staff in (fluent) Japanese, that other customer looked at my friend in amazement and enquired: "Are YOU Japanese?"  And I think you could have knocked him down with a feather when he received an answer in the affirmative! 

 

For the record: on my second visit to Sasagin of this recent Japan trip, I had fewer glasses of sake than the first time: specifically, "just" four.  As I said to the folks at Sasagin, I felt calmer since this second time, only a few days had passed since my previous visit there -- in contrast to the previous time, where I had waited some four and half years to drink and dine there again!  (Thanks for that, Covid!)

A delectable lunch feast at a Shinjuku branch of Tsunahachi, a 100-year-old Tokyo tempura restaurant (Photo-essay)

Until I discovered the wonders of sushi, my favorite Japanese dish was tendon: a bowl of rice tooped with tempura.  But it's only in Japan that I go to tempura restaurants -- because eating tempura in Japan ruined things for me with regards to eating it elsewhere in the world, even Hong Kong where it's often been said (including by Japanese friends) that you can get sushi and yakitori as good as in Japan, only for about three times the price(!), but not such as tempura.  

So when I serendipitously walked by a branch of the verenable Tsunahachi, a specialist tempura chain whose original branch was founded back in 1923 (i.e., a century ago!), after spending the morning of my first full day back in Japan over at Shinjuku Gyoen,  I decided to have lunch there.

 

Disclaimer: I've eaten at a Tsunahachi (over in Takashimaya Times Square) on a previous trip.  But that time, I sat at a table where, at this place, I sat at the counter and was served my lunch course by course rather than all at once.  Coupled with the chef telling me what to eat with the tempura (with just salt for X, with wasabi powder for Y, with sauce for Z, etc.), this took things up several notches!  And while it felt intimidating at first (not least because I couldn't figure out what the appetizer actually consisted of), I ended up enjoying the lunch very much -- and, indeed, would say that this was the best tempura meal I've had in my life, at least to date! :D  

A mystery appetizer that consists of some kind of fish and 

something else (honestly, I don't know -- but it was yummy!)

 

Kuruma ebi (Japanese tiger prawn) tempura 

-- and yes, you DO eat the head! :b

 

Hotate (scallop) tempura on the left (eaten with salt); 

ika (squid) tempura on the right (eaten with wasabi powder)

-- lemon optional for both 

 

Beni imo (AKA murasaki imo; purple sweet potato) tempura 

on the left; maitake mushroom tempura on the right

 

Leaf salad (with tomato) from -- this was specified 

on the menu! -- Ebihara Farm

 

Anago (salt water eel) tempura -- and yes,

the bone's included (see the thing at the top) is a delicacy!

 

 

The last savory course: ebi (prawn) kakiage (tempura fritter?)

served with rice, pickles and miso soup

 

Even the dessert -- featuring chestnut, matcha (powdered green tea) 

flavored warabi mochi, red beans and vanilla ice cream -- 

was a delight! What a (lunchtime) feast it all was! :)

Back to Japan for the first time in four years!

What I had first as part of my first meal in Japan in four years :)
 

Straw-smoked katsuo (bonito), served up with two different

sauces and assorted items to top it with :b

 

In between my previous blog post and this one, I've been away from Hong Kong as well as took some time off from being online.  I'm still catching up on what's been happening in Hong Kong while I've been away and since my return.  So instead of adding my say to that, here's going ahead and blogging instead about some of what I did while away from the number one place I love and visiting the number one country I most enjoy visiting.  For, yes, four years to the month after my previous visit to the Land of the Rising Sun, I made another trip to Japan! 

 

With so much having happened (in the world at large as well as to Hong Kong) in that time, I did have some pre-trip anxiety as well as excitement.  And because I worried that things there would have changed a lot over there (as well as here), I decided to start the trip of with the familiar: a couple of days in Tokyo, a city I've visited multiple times (the first time back in 1982 and most recently in May 2019).

 

Upon landing in Japan though, the anxiety melted away.  It helped that I passed through immigration controls both in Hong Kong as well as Tokyo smoothly, and the customs too.  The train ride into the city went smoothly too; ditto check in to my hotel.  It help me to relax too that I had booked in at the hotel that I've stayed the most times in when in Tokyo and that the surroundings were largely familiar -- with many shops and eateries that I knew still being around (though it's also true enough that there were boarded up fronts and empty lots where a few familiar establishments used to be -- including *sob* a favourite sushi place)!

 

If that sushi place had still been around, it would have been where I would have my first meal in Japan in four years.  Instead, I ended up opting for an izakaya in the area: one which I had never been to previously but, still, was familiar enough in terms of my knowing what to expect there -- including an otoshi (compulsory appetizer) to accompany my first glass of refreshing nama biru (draft beer) to start off and my being able to enjoy the Japanese equivalent of tapas-style dining.    

 

There was sashimi moriawase (assorted raw fish) on the menu but I opted for the straw-smoked katsuo, a photograph of which had been posted outside the establishment and enticed me to give this particular izakaya a try.  When the dish arrived at my table and I tasted the first generous chunk of the fish, I knew that I had made the right choice -- and, well, let's just say that it was a portend of what turned out to be yet another enjoyable, food feast-filled time in Japan!

 

Put another way: Japan, I missed you so -- and worried, among other things, that you might have changed (for the worse) and, also, that with each passing day, week, month and year of not visiting, I was over-hyping you up more and more.  But you delivered once again: not only in terms of delicious food and drinks, and interesting sights and experiences -- but, also, with the amazing omotenashi, courteous, gentle and friendly ways that many of your people have. Oh, and than there's things Funassyi... but that I'll talk about more in later posts (though I will state for now that OF COURSE I could not resist visiting Funassyi's hometown of Funabashi once more this time around)! :)     

Looking back at this past long holiday weekend

  

The nearest I got to the lantern displays at Victoria Park this year

 

...as I found the large crowd pretty offputting!

 

As those who read my October 1 blog post know, I did not go out at all all day, never mind that evening.  Instead, I celebrated World Sake Day this year by having quite a bit of sake at home, by myself, in the middle of the day -- something which made me so sleepy, if not super mellow, that I actually ended up in bed for much of the day!

 

Neither did I venture out the evening before -- although I did go out for part of the day to get prepared for an upcoming festival I'm very much looking forward to.  More specifically, I spent a good chunk of Saturday going about procuring tickets for this year's Hong Kong Asian Film Festival screenings.  And the ticketing system being expectedly awful (due in no small part for one month's worth of film festival screenings all going on sale at the same time!), I'd estimate that I ended up spending around 20 minutes queuing for tickets and travelling between screening venues to queue for tickets at their ticketing counters for each ticket I ended up getting!

 

A quick film diversion: Expectedly, a number of the Hong Kong titles that will screen at the fest feature among the list of nominees for Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards which just came out today.  And yes, they were among the films whose screenings sold out earliest.  Still, the film whose screenings appeared to sell out the quickest was actually Wim Wenders' Perfect Days, thanks to lead actor Koji Yakusho's popularity in Hong Kong and news that he will be coming over to grace this year's Hong Kong Asian Film Festival!  (And yes, I think it's safe to surmise that among the Hong Kong film fest crowd, Japanese films rule -- along with local Hong Kong offerings which truly have seen a renaissance in recent years!)

 

The one evening that I ventured out on this long weekend was Friday: the night of the Mid-Autumn (AKA Mooncake, AKA Lantern) Festival.  Until last year or the year before though, I didn't go to Victoria Park to view the lantern display there -- because I had seen the size of the crowd -- which undoubtedly was swelled by Mainland Chinese tourists here during Golden Week -- on previous nights and found them horrifying.  (I mean: Covid IS still around after all!  Just today, there's news of a new Covid surge in Singapore and I've also read in recent weeks of Japan experiencing a ninth Covid wave!) 

 

Neither did I end up going to view the Tai Hang Fire Dragon, which actually ventured out into the streets for the first time since 2019.  Ditto re the less well known Pok Fu Lam Fire Dragon which I still haven't caught sight of in real life -- but, hopefully will at some point!  Heck, I didn't even do any moon viewing -- even though this Harvest Moon was actually the last supermoon of the year!    

Instead, I went over on Friday evening to the flat of friends and had a mooncake party that involved our sampling a whole bunch of mooncakes (e.g., traditional lotus seed paste with double yolk, red bean paste with orange peel, trendy lava custard mooncakes, an Earl Grey tea mini-mooncake, a durian flavoured mini mooncake, Haagen Dazs ice cream mooncakes)!  And yes, it was a lot of fun!

So, yes, it's possible to have happy moments in Hong Kong still.  Except, of course, it's also impossible to completely forget that, these days, many Hong Kongers have loved ones and/or friends who are no longer in Hong Kong and/or are currently in jail for political reasons.  Including on Mid-Autumn Festival, which traditionally is a day where families gather and reunite, as well as October 1st, a date which previously would see protest marches take place -- something which I saw as a positive sign that Hong Kong was a free society despite it not having genuine universal suffrage, and during which I was happy to see familiar faces with whom I felt an emotional connection and solidarity. *Sigh* 

Looking ahead to some upcoming events without being inclined to celebrate all of them!

 

What's that blue inflatable object in Victoria Harbour?

 

On closer look, I'm guessing it's supposed to be a blue moon! :D

 

Some days ago, I read a post over on Bluesky (which I'm now also on!) from a man living in the USA complaining about how he's already seeing lots of Halloween decorations up in stores and such in his area.  I've already seen some here too in Hong Kong but, for the most part, their numbers (still) pale in comparison to the decorations for two other events that will take place before October 31st comes along.  

The first of these is variously known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, Lantern Festival and Mooncake Festival and is one of my favourite Chinese traditional festivals even though Hong Kong's temperatures whenever it comes along never strike me as autumnal, never mind mid-autumnal!  I do love mooncakes though, and also the lantern displays that are set up in locales such as Victoria Park.  An added bonus for this mid-autumn: the fire dragon will be parading through the streets of Tai Hang again for the first time since September 2019!

A few days after the Mid-Autumn Festival will come an anniversary that I'm not all that inclined to celebrate.  Some people and organizations are though -- or, at least, seek to look to be -- and have opted to bypass putting up lantern displays in favor of those involving the flags of the People's Republic of China (and sometimes -- but not always -- the flags of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region).  On even an aesthetic level alone, I tend to find this disappointing and, often, horrifying.

 

Maybe my mind's playing games on me but I can recall a time not so long ago when, even on October 1st, PRC flags weren't flying or hanging about in so many parts of Hong Kong.  In any case, as I told a few friends yesterday, I am planning to celebrate World Sake Day on that day since it also falls on October 1st, and -- let's face it -- I would be lying if I were to deny that I love sake far more than I love the People's Republic of China!

A Japanese feast in Hong Kong (which currently could not be offered in Mainland China!) (Photo-essay)

An update: it seems I was mistaken in thinking that China was "only" banning food products from 10 Japanese prefectures in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear plant discharging waste water into the sea beginning this Thursday.  Rather, China has decided to ban seafood products from ALL of Japan.  

 

Clearly, it's a political decision.  As noted in a BBC report: "Beyond China, no other country has even hinted at a total ban".  And with anti-Japan sentiments being whipped up in China, "Japan [has] told its citizens living in China to keep a low profile on Friday, including talking quietly in public".  

 

Over in Hong Kong, however, I really don't think Japanese folks have much to fear from the locals (who tend to be big fans of Japanese food and pop culture).  On a personal note: I've been partaking in quite a bit of Japanese culture in recent days; thanks to such as the ongoing Summer International Film Festival screening a number of Japanese films (including five works by master auteur Yazujiro Ozu) and a delicious (as well as visually enjoyable) omakase sushi dinner featuring seafood and other food items from those parts of Japan whose seafood products remain unbanned by the Hong Kong government -- a selection of which can be seen in the following photo-essay! ;b

 

Tako (octopus) that has been tenderised (I'd like to imagine,

by way of being massaged like shown in Jiro Dreams of Sushi ;b)

 

Onikasago (Japanese demon scorpion fish) sashimi (served with a slice 

of mushroom and wasabi) -- a fish I ate for the first time ever this week!

 

One of my all time favorite sushi toppings: 

kuruma ebi (Japanese tiger prawn) :b

 

Shima aji (striped jack, AKA white trevally) sashimi 

-- tasty and also beautiful, right? :)

 

Botan ebi (Botan shrimp) -- which was amazingly sweet and juicy!

 

Shinko (baby gizzard shad) -- a much looked forward to 

seasonal item, and so rare that only I was given it in my

party of five (because the chef knows I really love it)!

 

A decadent handroll featuring negi toro (chopped tuna mixed

with Japanese leek/green scallions) and uni (sea urchin)

along with rice and seaweed

 

A fat piece of rolled saba (mackerel) sushi! :)