Pizza, ‘fantastic’ Thai food, late-night kebabs: a Filipino chef in Hong Kong’s favourite places to eat
- Philippine-born CJ Jalandoni, the head chef of Brut in Sai Ying Pun on Hong Kong Island, appreciates simple food – but he loves to explore different cuisines
- His favourite pizza spot makes its dough ‘perfectly’, he takes visitors to a Thai place with ‘fantastic’ dishes, and he knows just the place for a drink
Philippine-born CJ Jalandoni is the head chef of pioneering Sai Ying Pun restaurant Brut. He spoke to Andrew Sun.
I grew up eating simple, home-cooked meals, with the same dishes rotated every week. When we did eat out, my family would usually go to simple Filipino restaurants.
It was not until later that I started exploring different cuisines, trying Arabic, other Southeast Asian and I even tried Ethiopian in New York. Today, I still appreciate simple food and am easy to please.
Hong Kong has so many great restaurants, but here are my standouts.
For dim sum, I usually go to One Dim Sum (209A-209B Tung Choi Street, Prince Edward. Tel: 2677 7888).
My favourite pizza is Baci (G/F, California Tower, 30-32 D’Aguilar Street, Lan Kwai Fong. Tel: 2344 0005). They make their dough perfectly.