Incredibly busy week at work.  Plus on Wednesday I managed to get the Nikon D800.  Learning this camera has been taking up almost all of my free time as there is a bit of a learning curve, even coming from the D700 as I am.  However, I have been posting almost daily updates on Spike’s Photos about my progress with it.  So check it out if that’s the sort of thing that interests you or if you just want to see some nice pictures.

BTW, my Nikon D700 body is now for sale, including the MB-D10 battery grip and 5 batteries.  Drop me a line if interested.

So that’s settled then.

The New York Times has a (ahem) blow by blow description of the run-in between U.S. Secret Service agents and the prostitute in Cartagena who led to their downfall.   It started “the morning after” when an agent tried to pay the woman who had spent the night with him US$30 – she felt she was worth US$800.  Their subsequent negotiations eventually led to the police arriving on the scene – apparently in Colombia when a prostitute feels that she wasn’t paid enough, the police are there to assist.  The agent wound up paying her US$225.  The woman, for her part, insists that she was worth the higher price because she was an escort, not a streetwalker.  ”It’s the same, but it’s different.  It’s like when you buy a fine rum or a BlackBerry or an iPhone. They have a different price.”

As far as I’m concerned, she was ahead on points until she equated a Blackberry with a fine rum or an iPhone.

My gf and I greeted the news that Mario Batali and partners would be opening a restaurant in Hong Kong with glee.  Batali is a celebrity chef in the US and we’ve been watching him on TV for years.  He’s got a bunch of restaurants, mostly in New York (he has two outposts in Singapore).  We’re big fans of the Spain …. On the Road Again show that he did with Mark Bittman a few years ago.  Batali’s as famous for his look – red hair and beard, plaid shorts, orange Crocs – as he is for his food, maybe even more so.  I know the whole celebrity chef deal, we had no expectation of him being in the kitchen, standing at the pass, personally supervising our food.  But we figured on an enjoyable evening and that’s very much what it was although the food itself was uneven.

I mentioned to a cousin of mine that we’d be going.  This cousin used to work for Batali in New York and dismissed Lupa as “pasta and peasant food.”  (One might accuse him of sour grapes but I’m proud to say that he won a James Beard award this year.)  At any rate, I told him that he didn’t know the Hong Kong market, that Batali’s approach would be somewhat unique here and we were looking forward to trying it.

So I booked Lupa for my gf’s birthday dinner.  I knew in advance that this was coming less than one week after their official opening and I’d heard there were some rough patches during their soft opening phase but it was her birthday so I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

If you look at Lupa’s menu, the first thing that will probably strike you is how reasonable their prices are, if you take into account celebrity chef, “fine dining,” Central location.  Many of the main courses are in the HK$200 range, more or less.  I spoke with one of the managers there, a local Hong Kong guy who has worked in many restaurants in town and he told me that when he first looked at the menu, he had to ask if there was some mistake, that the prices seemed too low.

(In case you’re wondering, there are no photos to accompany this review.  I don’t believe that taking food photos in restaurants is appropriate at times and this was one of those times.)

So we arrived at the restaurant, which is on the 3rd floor of the new LHT Tower on Queens Road.  You walk in and are greeted by this giant bronze statue of a wolf (“lupa”) suckling Romulus and Remus.  It’s dramatic but a little odd.  The room itself is nicely designed, not too formal, wood where it needs to be, kind of a classic but modern feel to it.  Despite having booked 3 weeks in advance, we were given a small table near the bar.  We asked if we could get switched to a larger table (the place was more than half empty at 7:30 but did fill up later) and were told we could be moved to a different location but same size table.  We decided to stay put.

The sommelier helped us select a wine and came up with something we liked at HK$380 – wines start at HK$300 and ascend into the stratosphere, as you might expect.  And then onto the food.

The bread basket came by and the guy put one slice of bread onto each of our plates.  One small slice of bread.  All by itself.  We had to ask the waiter if there was any butter or vinegar and then he offered up a small bowl of olive oil and balsamic.  Throughout the night we’d see waiters bringing these little white bowls to tables and had to wonder why it didn’t come at the same time as the bread – or at least get offered?

I ordered the “Selection of Carne Grande”, a selection of meats that included prosciutto, lingua, salame, coppa and testa for HK$188.  I wanted to get this because Batali’s parents are famous for their artisan salumi – I doubted that this would be sourced from them but figured that some care and attention went into the selection.  Served on a wooden carving block and drizzled with olive oil and that was all.  The various meats were nice but … just some pieces of various cured pork sausages on a block of wood to be eaten by itself?  It was a bit of a letdown.  I felt, rightly or wrongly, that they should have gone further, perhaps paired this with different cheeses, put a pickle or some sort of garnish on there (there was a tiny bit of green with the lingua), maybe a biscuit or something?

We wanted to share a salad and went with grilled radicchio with scamorza (HK$98) – grilled lettuce dressed with balsamic vinaigrette and with a layer of smoked mozzarella cheese melted on top.  I didn’t feel that the flavors were well balanced here and the cheese seemed lacking in taste.

On to the mains.  I had been staring at the hanger steak for a long time but at the last moment switched and ordered the veal saltimbocca (HK$298) because I couldn’t remember the last time I had veal and the menu said it was Dutch veal, which many will tell you is the best.  The menu said prosciutto, sage and spinach.  Honestly, I got no prosciutto taste from this at all and while the veal was pounded thin I think it could have been a bit more tender.

On the other hand, my gf ordered the braised pork shoulder with averna and cucumber (HK$208 – glazed in apple and Sicilian bitter liquor) and this was a home run.  We were told that it was braised for at least 4 hours.  It was fall-apart tender and had a beautiful char on the outside, and all of the flavors really came together well on this one.  My gf only allowed me to have one small bite and then she practically inhaled the rest.

We did have room for dessert and wanted to order the lupa tartufo but they told us they were out of it – and had been out of it for two days.   So we went with the peanut chocolate bar (HK$108), drizzled with chocolate sauce and a small scoop of gelato on the side.  My gf had previously told one of the managers that this was her birthday dinner and there was a candle on the plate and they’d written “happy birthday” in chocolate as well.  This dessert was also a winner.

We followed that up with a latte for my gf and an espresso for me.  The bill, including a bottle of wine and the 10% service charge, came in at around HK$1500.

So, what did we like?  We liked the pork shoulder and the dessert and the wine.  We liked the look and feel of the place and felt that the staff worked really hard to make us comfortable.

What didn’t we like?  I wouldn’t rush to order the same starter or salad or main dish again.  I might go for the hanger steak or one of the pastas next time.

Yes, there will be a next time, we think the place has promise.  One of the managers there, someone who has worked for Batali for a long time, told me he thought that a restaurant can open as a good restaurant but needs 6 or 7 months to develop into a great one.  It was the staff there more than anything else that won us over – friendly and helpful to the extreme.

By the way, Lupa also features a large outdoor terrace.  There’s no view to speak of from this terrace but it’s well-designed and comfortable.  The menu is slightly different – same starters and salads, no pasta or main courses, but adds 6 different types of pizza.  It strikes me as an alternative spot to stop for a drink after work if I’m feeling so inclined.  Next time we go together we’ll probably try the terrace and the pizza.

I know that posting here has been sporadic lately.  Just a lot of things on my mind that are not bloggable, some related to work, some related to life in general.  Also I’ve been giving more time and attention to my photoblog, Spike’s Photos, trying to build up interesting photo-related content there and build up the number of readers.

Of course music is a constant in my life and I thought I’d run down some thoughts on things I’ve been listening to lately.  In no particular order:

Dion – Tank Full of Blues – I guess you’d need to be around my age to recognize Dion’s name at this point.  Hailing from The Bronx, his big hits came in the early 60s, alone and with The Belmonts, especially Runaround Sue and The Wanderer and later on Abraham, Martin & John.  He’s now 72 years old and it may come as a surprise to you that he’s never stopped recording.  Not only that, he’s made some great albums along the way.  This is not a great one but it’s a good one.

The Explorers Club – Grand Hotel.  A new album by a new(ish) band, I was attracted to this by its mondo retro cover.  The music is crazy retro as well.  Goofy fun.

David Sylvian – Victim of Stars.  Sylvian is one of those guys whom I always knew I liked but never paid enough attention to.  This double disc retrospective, curated by Sylvian himself, strikes me as both a nice career summation as well as an excellent introduction to a sometimes challenging artist.

Elvis Costello & The Imposters – The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook.  As big a fan as I am of Costello’s, sometimes the last 25 years of his career leaves me perplexed.  This recent live set isn’t essential by any means but it does focus on his better material and includes a DVD of the concert as well.

Bruce Springsteen – Wrecking Ball.  Well, you all know that Bruce is #1 for me and has been for almost 40 years.  I intended to write a longer review of this but I guess I won’t get around to it.  There’s plenty of good stuff here, that’s an understatement.  I think it’s problematic that two of the songs are quite old and I think his admirable attempt to extent his sonic landscape via working with a different producer and some electronics backfires and takes away from the songs.

Punch Brothers – Who’s Feeling Young Now.  An alt-country band produced by T-Bone Burnett, the opening track almost seems more influenced by Philip Glass than Hank Williams.  Multiple listens have proved rewarding.

Hoodoo Gurus – 20 Golden Greats. I’ve got a real fondness for this punky power pop band from Australia and have always wondered why they never made it bigger than they did.

Madonna – MDNA.  You might be surprised to find out that I’ve been a huge Madonna fan from day one.  Nevertheless, this album is awful.  Cynically produced pop for the masses, this is the first album released under her mega-deal with LiveNation and it’s clear that the goal here is to sell concert tickets and not to produce lasting music.  She’s simply following trends and stealing from her older material rather than trying to get out in front again.

Big Brother & the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin – Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968.  Some are saying this is the best officially released live Janis album ever.  Considering the competition that’s not hard.  It’s also proof of how hopelessly inept Big Brother was as a band and why Joplin had to leave them.

Rocket Juice and the Moon.  Honestly, I’ve found many of Damon Albarn’s side projects borderline unlistenable and this collaboration with Flea and Tony Allen does nothing for me.  I take it as bad news that he recently announced that both Blur and Gorillaz are finished if this is what we’re gonna get.

Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday Roman Reloaded.  No less than the NY Times recently lauded Minaj as the most influential female rapper of all time and I’m a big fan of hers but this album leaves me puzzled.  There’s some good stuff here but you have to wade through a godawful amount of crap to get to it.

Dr. John – Locked Down.  The big news is that this was produced by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach and it’s already the best selling album of Dr. John’s 50+ year career.  I don’t much care for it.  I think too much Auerbach, not enough Rebennack.

Paul Weller – Sonik Kicks.  There are those who are fans of Weller’s increasing sonic experimentation – first on 22 Dreams and now here.  Yes, again, it’s admirable that he’s getting old and still trying to sound new.  Call me old but I wish he’d focus on the songs and leave the frills behind.

Chemical Brothers – Don’t Think (Blu-Ray/CD, DVD/CD).  This is one of the great concert films, shot at the Fuji Rock festival in Japan with 20 cameras and some great editing.  I’ve ripped this to MP4 and it’s on my iPad and I keep coming back to this.

Bonnie Raitt – Slipstream.  If I was only going to buy one album from all of these, well it would probably be Springsteen, but this would be my #2 choice.  I’ve been a fan of Bonnie Raitt’s since her second album came out back in ’72 or so.  I think her last few albums were a bit on the lazy side.  Now, after a 7 year gap, she’s back with one of her best albums ever, simply Bonnie doing what she does best.  Heartfelt bluesy ballads and lots of guitar.

Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls. Classic Southern rock, this is one of the bands pegged for stardom in 2012, Brittany Howard does indeed have a pretty good voice.  But like that guy in Kings of Leon, she sings as if she’s got a mouthful of marbles and the material is okay but not really memorable.  I’m told this all comes off better live.

Jack White – Blunderbuss.  Hard to believe it’s taken so long for White to do a solo album.  As odd as it may seem, I’ve never been a big fan of the White Stripes but I am a fan of White’s.  This album is all over the stylistic map but I think will hold up to repeated listens.

Johnathan Wilson – Gentle Spirit.  Gentle, slow burning psychedelic folk that sounds like California in the early 70s but was released at the tail end of last year.  Best for listening late at night with headphones on.

That’s about it for now.  Here’s the stuff cued up for the near future:

Frankie Rose – Interstellar

Wynton Marsalis – The Music of America

Black Country Communion – Live Over Europe

Leftfield – Tourism

Andrew Bird – Break It Yourself

The Decemberists – We All Raise Our Voices to the Air

Brad Mehldau Trio – Ode

Garfunkel & Oates – Slippery When Moist

Loudon Wainwright III – Older Than My Old Man Now

Ray Wylie Hubbard – The Grifter’s Hymnal

Doug Jerebine – Is Jesse Harper

Justin Townes Earle – Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way I Feel About You Now

Graham Coxon – A+E

Quantic & Alice Russell – Look Around the Corner

Spiritualized – Sweet Heart Sweet Light

Sigur Ros – Valtari

Rufus Wainwright – Out of the Game

Which of these have you heard?  What else would you recommend?

Frequent visitors to this space know that I love food.  I love to try new food and new restaurants.  I don’t do it that often because of the cost (since food blogging is just a small percentage of what I do, I don’t receive the invites and freebies given to those who have dedicated food blogs) and the distance of most of these “hot spots” from where I live.

Yesterday we were walking around the Hollywood Road area so we went for lunch at Brat (“purveyors of awesome sausages”).  We love sausages in all varieties and I’d heard good things about this place.  After trying it, I’d say that the sausages were indeed pretty awesome.  My gf had one that was loaded with a variety of different chiles and I went for one that listed bourbon as one of its ingredients.  The dogs were nice, the casings had snap, the buns were good too.  Our waiter forgot to punch our order for sweet potato fries into the computer so we didn’t get those until I asked and we were almost finished with our dogs.

The sausages seemed pretty unique for Hong Kong and we enjoyed them.  I doubt I would ever make a special trip to this place but if I’m in the neighborhood, I’d consider returning.

Even so, when I got the check, I had to pause for a moment.  Reduced to its bare minimum, we had two hot dogs, one order of fries, two soft drinks.  The bill came out to HK$319.  That’s roughly US$41.  Seriously.

Of course we all know why the price is so high.  The restaurant is on Elgin Street.  Who knows what kind of rent they’re paying to be there?  What percentage of the bill went just to cover that rent?

Yes, I know, before you say it, we could have gone to the dai pai dong just across the street and had a couple of bowls of noodles in soup and some tea for well under US$10 and sometimes that’s fine and dandy for us, sometimes it’s not.  We chose to go to this place, I saw the prices on the menu before I went in, I’m not blaming the (presumably) good people behind Brat who are trying something a little different (and apparently succeeding).

On a similar note, a friend and I went to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch one day this week.  She suggested it, I agreed because they do make a relatively decent burger there.  I ordered a 6 ounce burger (the menu pushes the 10 ounce burgers, which is just ridiculous; the six ounce ones are buried in small print at the bottom of the page) with bacon and cheese and an iced lemon tea.  She ordered a veggie burger and an iced lemon tea.  Our bill for that came out to just under HK$400.  Hard Rock’s rent in LKF is HK$1.4 million per month.

Delaney’s in Wanchai is rumored to be closing or moving because their landlord just doubled their rent (I have this as second-hand info).  Like ‘em or hate ‘em, they’ve been there for years and it’s a popular destination for many.

I’m just thinking that if the big landlords don’t like C.Y. Leung, that’s not necessarily a bad thing for the 7 million other people in Hong Kong.

If I haven’t written too many film reviews here lately, that’s because I haven’t seen too many films that have moved me enough to write about them.  Shame got inside my skull in its first few moments and I think it’s going to be stuck inside there for a long time.  It’s an astonishing piece of work from writer-director Steve McQueen (quite obviously not the deceased actor; McQueen is a British artist, awarded the OBE and winner of the Turner Prize, who has directed two feature films).

First off, note that in the US, this film is rated NC-17.  There is graphic sex and full frontal nudity (male and female).  There is violence.  There is drug use.  There is enormous sadness and, well, shame.  It’s not a plot-driven film per se.  In its first half it is more reminiscent of the character-driven films we used to get in the 70s and that indie cinema sometimes still brings to us.

Anyway, plot, and I’ll try to steer clear of spoilers but can’t guarantee it.  Brandon is your typical upper middle class Manhattanite.  He’s got a nice apartment in Chelsea and what seems to be a good job (there are many scenes at his office but we never find out what he does and it doesn’t matter).  He also has a compulsion.  He is a sex addict.  His life is filled with prostitutes, porn and easy conquests in NYC bars.  He has no real relationships in his life and he’s okay with that.  Brandon, it should be noted, is not some 60 year old fat guy trawling through Wanchai style places.  He’s young, he’s good looking, he has money, he’s played here in an astonishingly committed performance by Michael Fassbender.  (Fassbender’s been in X-Men First Class and Inglorious Basterds and is in Ridley Scott’s upcoming Prometheus.)

One day his sister turns up at his apartment.  She’s played by Carey Mulligan in an equally brave performance.  It’s pretty clear that these two people are damaged people – damaged in different ways but each severely flawed.  We don’t find out why.  We can guess that their parents may have been monsters or perhaps they were abused as kids, but there are no flashbacks, no easy answers.  But there is this amazing scene in which Mulligan, a sometime nightclub singer, is performing in a club.  She’s seated at a piano and sings a radically slowed down version of “New York, New York.”  The camera remains in tight close-up on her face for almost the entire song.  What was a happy, bouncy song in the hands of Frank Sinatra and Liza Minnelli becomes tragically sad, an almost wistful look at a fantasy that the singer knows will never come true.

All right.  I’ll stop myself on the plot summary there.  But I’ll give away the theme of this film.  What happens when the one thing, the only thing in your life that gives you pleasure no longer gives you that pleasure?  What happens when you can’t find something to take its place, when you can’t stop doing it even though it brings misery and, yes, shame and not pleasure any more?  There is no Hollywood ending here.

There is, as I mentioned, a lot of nudity here.  But despite all of the sex that takes place on (and off) screen, despite the fact that almost everyone taking part looks great, almost none of it is erotic.  It’s not meant to be and kudos to McQueen for figuring out how to do that here.  Well, “almost none.”  There’s one scene that is erotic, very purposefully so, but it doesn’t end the way you might expect.  I could kind of guess where it was going.  I’ve known people like this.  Some might even say that I was once like this myself.

I will tell also tell you it’s not an easy film to watch.  In his 4 star review of the film, Roger Ebert writes, “This is a great act of filmmaking and acting. I don’t believe I would be able to see it twice” and I know just what he means.  Many of you who view this film either won’t be able to sit through all of it, many will hate it.  This is not film-making for the masses by any means.

As for my gf, she surprised me.  40 minutes in, she started getting restless.  ”There’s no story!” she exclaimed.  I paused the film.  ”We can switch to something else if you want and I’ll watch the rest of it myself later.”  ”No, let’s stay with it.”  She stayed with it.  And when it was over, we discussed it for 10 minutes.  That doesn’t happen to us with many films.

I’m kind of with Ebert.  I don’t know that I’m going to rush to watch this again, at least not any time soon.  I do know that I’ve steered clear of McQueen’s Hunger (also starring Fassbender) but now I’m quite anxious to see that.  And even more anxious to see whatever McQueen comes up with next.

I think the film is just opening in Hong Kong around now.  You can find it on Amazon – the Blu-Ray  edition also comes with a standard def DVD.  McQueen’s previous film, Hunger, can also be found on Amazon, in a Criterion edition Blu-Ray.

It would seem as if that’s the case, at least temporarily.  This is from the NY Times today:

As soon as the Department of Justice announced Wednesday that it was suing five major publishers and Apple on price-fixing charges, and simultaneously settling with three of them, Amazon announced plans to push down prices on e-books. The price of some major titles could fall to $9.99 or less from $14.99, saving voracious readers a bundle.

But publishers and booksellers argue that any victory for consumers will be short-lived, and that the ultimate effect of the antitrust suit will be to exchange a perceived monopoly for a real one. Amazon, already the dominant force in the industry, will hold all the cards.

The government said the five publishers colluded with Apple in secret to develop a new policy that let them set their own retail prices, and then sought to hide their discussions.

After that deal was in place in 2010, the government said, prices jumped everywhere because under the agreement, no bookseller could undercut Apple.

HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster settled the charges Wednesday, leaving the other two, Penguin and Macmillan, and Apple to fight.

I haven’t had time to check through my want list on Amazon to see if prices have indeed dropped.  I’ll be doing that this weekend.  Anyone else notice any price changes yet?

Had it not been such a rainy night last night, I might have tried to get some outdoor photos to show a bit of Tseung Kwan O, one of HK’s so-called “new towns”.  In this case, the new town consists almost completely of huge blocks of apartment towers sitting above interconnected shopping malls.  I lost count of how many malls are there.  The newest one opened just last week.  It’s called Popcorn.  Apparently that’s the best name that some marketing genius could come up with, possibly to facilitate the heavy marketing they were doing all over HK with semi-celebrities and pseudo-models handing out free popcorn to draw attention to this spot.  All the marketing worked – last night, a rainy Good Friday evening, the mall was pretty busy.  One promotion right now is free parking – so there was even a line-up to get into the car park.

People are going on and on about how this is an upscale mall – too upscale for the area.  Perhaps those people have never been to IFC or Elements. I’d say it was vaguely mid-scale and that was more because of what isn’t there – no fast food chains like McDonald’s (though there are branches within 20 feet of the mall in every direction), no supermarket or other obvious anchor store.  While I did spot a Rolex-branded shop, mostly it was chains like Royal Sporting House, Optical 88, Mannings, blah blah blah.

Over at Optical 88, they were having a sale on choosy frames.

There’s no Broadway or Fortress but a few smaller scale electronics shops.  There’s a New Vision selling Apple stuff and this place which had signs for the Nikon D4 (but none on display) and the new Fuji X-Pro1 in stock.

While the mall has a multiplex cinema, one other thing it seems to be missing is the usual over-sized Cantonese seafood restaurant.  The two largest restaurants here appear to be California Pizza Kitchen and Crystal Jade, both of which had huge crowds waiting for tables.

Crystal Jade was the draw for us.  Having a branch of this Singapore-owned chain just 20 minutes from where we live was irresistible.  I love the food here – mostly Shanghainese and bits of Sichuan and other Chinese cuisines represented.  It’s fresh, it’s relatively cheap and always quite tasty.  But with the line-up to get into the car park (parking garages at the surrounding malls were also full) plus the 30+ minute wait for a table, I told my gf it would have been quicker for us to drive out to the airport and eat at the branch of Crystal Jade there.  We weren’t the only ones tired from the long wait.

Eventually we did get a table and we did get an enjoyable meal (6 dishes for HK$385) but something went wrong with their normally world class xiao long bao (or “soup buns” as Americans call them).  The wrapper was a bit thicker then usual and all four of them fell apart when we tried to pick them up.  On the other hand, their Sichuan style hacked chicken bits with cashews had a sweet smoky flavor and just a little bit of heat (could have used more actually).  The winner was a huge bowl of sliced beef and noodles (I think these were made from potato flour – broad, translucent, slightly yellow in color) that was middle-of-the-range spicy and tasty as all hell.

What strikes me as really odd is that there are going to be two hotels attached to this mall.  Two hotels?  In Tseung Kwan O?  Whatever for?  It’s not a business district and it’s not a tourist area.  The closest thing to a reason for staying here would be that it’s convenient to the MTR for getting the hell out of Tseung Kwan O and going some place else.  I can only guess that these hotels are going to be pitched at mainland tour groups.

And that’s where things get a little funny, Hong Kong style.  There is a significant segment of the population that is concerned about the growing “China-ization” of Hong Kong and takes very vocal offense to any perceived slight against local HKers.  When Popcorn opened up last week, the mall’s branch of Agnes B Cafe had signs in English and Simplified Chinese, but not in Traditional Chinese, and people took to the internet to voice their discontent.

agnès b. café uses simplified Chinese in residential area, which is humiliating the dignity of Hong Kong culture. Everyone please don’t tolerate. Take action to defend the dignity of Hong Kong. We all have been humiliated enough. It’s time to act now. Fellow Hongkongers, let’s shout, “agnès b., brand of shame!”

And sure enough, while almost every restaurant and shop in the mall was crowded, there were only two customers seated at Agnes B.

Verdict?  We’d go there again for Crystal Jade but I don’t see any other reason to return.

From a college survey.  Found on Dangerous Minds.