The following quote is a short profile that Victoria described herself when she was a contestant for the world championship last year:-

“I’m 20. I study to be real estate service specialist. I’m keen on playing the piano (music), but my main passion is coffee and latte art. I hope this is not my last World Championship, and maybe in the future I will be able to participate in them as a judge”

And this was what she said as to her secret in success for making great latte art:-

“There are no any secrets in my achievements. Good teachers, a large flow of visitors in a coffee house, mini-championships – this is the formula for my success.”

Like many things in life, even if you have talent, good teacher, hard work and lots of practice are always the formula for success.

It was great to see Victoria’s performance in great latte art that afternoon. The latte art were great of course!

All the photos were shot in RAW with Fujifilm X-Pro1 with Fujinon XF 35mm f1.4 R. The RAW files were processed with Capture One Pro with further processing in Photoshop CS5 before final output to the web.

The gears I used were Canon EOS 5D Mark III with mainly Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS USM Macro and a few shots with Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM. Lighting were provided by 2 flashes,  Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT and Canon Speedlite 580EX, both of them housed inside a Phottix Umbrella Lightbox. The flashes were fired with Phottix Odin TTL Flash Trigger.

All photos were shot in RAW. The RAW files were converted with Capture One Pro with further processing in Photoshop CS5 before final output to the web.

Thanks to the recommendation by a very good friend, who is Korean, I visited Jung Sik Dang during my Korean trip last Summer. It was one of the most memorable restaurant I went to during that trip.

Fusion cuisine is very common and popular in recent years. The common varieties that one commonly encounters are mostly Japanese, Thai or Chinese fusion. I must say this was the first time I have eaten Korean fusion cuisine. I have never previously thought about how you could blend in typical Korean flavors like kimchee harmoniously with western cuisine. I am glad to report that chef Jungsik manged to do so very successfully.

All the dishes are well presented of course. Superficially, they just look like any other western style cuisine, but the taste will surprise you with Korean flavors coming through.

The restaurant itself is nicely decorated with a modern theme. The service was excellent. There are 2 set menus to choose from at 100,000 and 120,000won. We had the 120,000won tasting dinner. For the quality of cuisine and service, I must say the prices are very reasonable indeed. I would highly recommend this restaurant if you were to visit Seoul.

All the photos were shot in RAW with Fujifilm X-Pro1 with Fujinon XF 35mm f1.4 R. The RAW files were processed with Capture One Pro with further processing in Photoshop CS5 before final output to the web.

The current chef Vicky Cheng before coming to Hong Kong and working at Liberty Private Works, had worked at some of the most acclaimed restaurants in the world including restaurant Daniel (New York), Canoe & Auberge Du Pommier (Toronto). During his time at Daniel, the restaurant was named one of the top 10 restaurants in the world by San Pellegrino and also garnered 3 Michelin Stars.

Chef Vichy Cheng had traditional French culinary training, but after settling down to work in Hong Kong, he is fond of incorporating Asian ingredients into his cooking, so I would describe his cuisine as modern French-Asian fusion.

Although it is restaurant that I have wanted to visit for a long time, for one reason or another, I have not been able to go until early last month. I am glad to say I was not disappointed.

Chef Vicky is very creative with his cooking. Thy are all nicely presented and they all tasted very good as well. The restaurant is surrounding for full length glass windows all round, so you will get a spectacular view of Central district at night. The “chef table” style seating with all the guests seated around a bar table encircling the kitchen area gave you a view of the dynamic happening inside the kitchen of a fine dining restaurant. Chef Vicky would usually personally explain every dishes to his guests.

For the quality of food and service, they charge a very reasonable HK$800 for an 8 course (excluding amuse bouche and petits fours) degustation menu.

All the photos were shot in RAW with Fujifilm X-Pro1 with Fujinon XF 35mm f1.4 R. The RAW files were processed with Capture One Pro with further processing in Photoshop CS5 before final output to the web.

Amuse Bouche

Tuna, Sea Urchin, Esplelette, Rice

Lobster,Chorizo,Pumpkin,Coconut

Salmon, Oyster, Nectarine, Fennel yogurt

Egg, Truffle, Parmesan, Caviar

Cginea Hen, Winter Black Truffle, Iberico Ham, Pear

Venison, Mulberry, Cocoa, Muesli

Korean Strawberru, Tomato, Mascarpone, Rosemary

Fried Milk, Saffron, Manuka Honey, Bee Pollen

Petits Fours

Over the last year, they have started to win all kinds of awards and accolades, including their first Michelin star in the 2013 Hong Kong and Macau Michelin Guide, one of Asia’s Top 500 Finest Restaurants in the 2013 Miele Guide, SCMP’s ’100 Top Tables 2013′ and GAYOT’s 2013 Hot 10 Hong Kong Restaurants. I would like to congratulate chef Jonay Armas and The Principal on their achievement over such a short time!

Because I have dined at the Principal fairly often, chef Jonay has quite kindly started to cook some “not on the menu yet” dishes for me to try. So some of the dishes you will see are not yet on the menu, but you should be able to see them soon. Chef Jonay has kindly provided me with description of the dishes below each photo.

All the photos were shot in RAW with Fujifilm X-Pro1 with Fujinon XF 60mm f2.4 Macro R. The RAW files were processed with Capture One Pro with further processing in Photoshop CS5 before final output to the web.

Bacon custard, sturgeon caviar

Smoke haddock, artichoke, citric fruits, salmon roe, lemongrass

iFoie- foie terrine, guava, pedro ximenez

Onsen egg, sweet corn, white wine & cumin

crispy red mullet, saffron, mussels

venison, jerusalem artichoke, cheesnut, pearl onion, truffle, jus

carrot cake, orange creme, carrot sorbet, buttermilk snow

black sesame, macadamia,soy milk, miso ice cream

All the shots were jpeg straight from the camera with no post-processing. All taken with Fujifilm X-Pro1 with Fujinon XF 35mm f1.4 R and Fujinon XF 60mm f2.4 Macro R. I continued to enjoy using the X-Pro1. Autofocus could be faster, but was adequate. Obviously, if I were using the Canon 5D Mark III, I would have gotten more shots in focus, but the X-Pro1 was much smaller and lighter. A lot easier to carry and much less conspicuous than using a large DSLR.

All photos were shot in RAW with Fujifilm X-Pro1 with FUJINON XF14mm F2.8 R. The RAW files were converted with Capture One Pro with further processing in Photoshop CS5 before final output to the web.

I have only briefly used it for a day, but I quite like it so far. So just some initial impression about this lens.

• The construction of the lens is first rate like any other Fujinon XF lens
• f2.8 aperture is good for indoor and night shots
• There is very little distortion
• Image quality seemed good
• Although it is certainly not a macro lens, but with a closest focusing distance of 18cm, the macro ability is not bad in emergency use

Here are just a few photos of the packaging, the lens itself and some test shots. All are jpeg straight out from the X-Pro1.

The Expo 2012 Yeosu was the first-ever world fair held on water, it opened on May 12 in the southern coastal town of Yeosu, approximtely 455 kilometers south of Seoul. It was the second international fair hosted by Korea, after the Taejŏn Expo ’93.

The Yeosu Expo, among others, distinguishes itself from previous international fairs by being the first world fair to be held on the water. There were some event with the ocean theme but the Yeosu Eopo is the first to have the ocean as its venue. source : wikipedia.org

I went to the Expo last year. It was the first time I have been to a World Expo. I spent 3 days at the Expo. Unfortunately, the weather was not too good most of the time. In fact it was raining quite heavily some of the time. So I did not take too many outdoor shots. However, as all the exhibitions were indoor, so there were always photo opportunities.

The Yeosu Expo is considered as one of the smaller type of Expo, unlike the previous one in Shanghai. The good thing was that the total area was smaller and the walking between different part of the Expo was not as much. Also, the queues in general were shorter. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the stay there and it was a great experience.

All the photos were shot in RAW with Canon EOS 5D Mark III with Canon EF 16-36mm f/2.8L II USM and Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM. The RAW files were converted with Capture One Pro with further processing in Photoshop CS5 before final output to the web.

All photos were shot in RAW with Fujifilm X-Pro1 with Fujinon XF 35mm f1.4 R. The RAW files were converted with Capture One Pro with further processing in Photoshop CS5 before final output to the web.