Summer is here and I decided to take it easy, because like a lot of you, I’ve been travelling (let me know if you want to read about where to eat in Tokyo and Seoul!). I still managed to visit three venues, one four-hands event, and an old favourite.

Fortunately, I was back in Hong Kong in time to meet David Toutain, owner and chef of the eponymous Michelin two-star restaurant in Paris, who was here for tastings at his new establishment, Feuille. Toutain and the Feuille chef, Joris Rousseau, are using sustainably raised local produce on the vegetable-focused menu (it’s not a vegetarian restaurant, though). The menu is divided into sections of “grains and seeds” (small bites), “leaves, stems and roots” (appetisers and mains), “flowers and fruits” (desserts), and “origins” (the mignardises). That translated into delicious dishes that included refreshing lemon tree kombucha with chia seeds; sweet potato with quinoa and thyme; green peas with clams, almond milk and green almonds; and our only meat course of the evening, a succulent pigeon with beetroot and hibiscus.

I also paid a visit to an old fave, Salisterra. Last year, a new chef, Cary Docherty, came on board. I’d eaten the chef’s food several times at the Lobster Bar at the Island Shangri-La, so my friends and I were eager to celebrate a friend’s birthday with a taste of his Mediterranean-inspired dishes.

We started with a beautifully light ajo blanco – a chilled almond gazpacho, usually made with raw garlic, but here it was replaced by black garlic, which gave it a mild sweetness and made it less pungent. We tried several summery and satisfying vegetarian dishes: starters of roasted broccolini with garlic yogurt, almonds, zaatar and romesco sauce;  stracciatella di bufala with Japanese fruit tomatoes; and a main of green pea risotto with pea shoots. Non-vegetarian dishes included salad Nicoise – made with fresh, seared tuna and confit tuna belly; the hand-sliced Polmard beef tartare; and roasted barramundi with scallop, potatoes, fennel, and preserved lemon beurre blanc.