Happy 25th (!!!) Anniversary! I went back through my blog posts and was SHOCKED by a few things. First, was it really five years ago that I wrote my last anniversary post, for our 20th, no less? Did five years just go like that?
Second, I noticed that I just recently passed 2000 posts on this blog (2011 to be exact) since it started in 2007. That's almost 100 posts a year . . . . (and many wedding anniversaries). My first wedding anniversary post was at Craigie Street Bistrot in 2007. That's 19 years ago!! Can't believe I've been doing this relatively consistently for so many years.
Next year will be the blog's 20th birthday. Whoa.
So, there's many reasons to celebrate. I noticed my last anniversary blog post started all the way at the beginning and walked through 20 years of anniversary celebrations (from when we first met to our wedding in 2001 all the way to 2021).
So I thought, why not take a brief look back at the past 5 years, thus providing a full record of how we've celebrated 25 years of marriage?
2022: Sushi Shikon
It was a strange time. The world had moved on from the pandemic, but here in Hong Kong we were still masked, needed to quarantine, and couldn't travel easily (though we personally had a heckuva travel year).Who would have known that within a month from when this photo was taken, Hong Kong would lift all hotel quarantine requirements, moving onto just requiring a "0+3" self quarantine at home.
For our anniversary that year, we decided to enjoy a fantastic sushi omakase at our favorite sushi place in Hong Kong, Sushi Shikon. As always, it fabulous. Chef Kaki-san is indeed a master of his craft, which is why we continued to go back over and over again.
2023: Osso Buco at Home (Typhoon Signal 10!)
Our anniversary occurred during a super typhoon "Saola". Hong Kong raised its highest signal for this massive storm, something it hadn't done since 2018. Of course almost all restaurants were closed, so we planned ahead.
I made veal osso buco, a meal we traditionally eat every year on Valentine's Day. For the special occasion, Bryan opened up a special bottle of Chateau Haut-Brion from 2005.
The storm was indeed HUGE! We live pretty high up, and we could definitely feel the building swaying (kind of like a boat) when the wind blew really hard. We even had to put some towels along the window, since water was sort of seeping in vertically! Certainly a memorable anniversary!
2024: Roganic
We've always been fans of Roganic (by Simon Rogan), and we've dined there several times over the years. In 2024 we heard they were going to close the restaurant in the old Sino Plaza location in Causeway Bay. We heard that the concept would change, and this restaurant as we knew it, would disappear.
We decided to celebrate our anniversary at Roganic during a short period when the restaurant revisited its "greatest hits" from the past 10 years. It was a great meal, and I have such pleasant memories of that place. One of my friends, a very talented self-taught chocolatier, even made us a special Doraemon themed 20rd anniversary box of chocolates! Isn't this just amazing?
As a side note, we also had a second celebration with friends at Arbor a few days later. What a week!
2025: Arcane
I've long been a huge fan of Shane Osbourne's restaurant Arcane. The first time I ever dined there in 2018, my impression was "[i]t's hard to describe the feeling I get when I finish a phenomenal meal where everything exceeds my expectations."
It was the perfect place for us to celebrate our 24th wedding anniversary. We even had a chance to chat a bit with Chef Osbourne, to learn a bit about his story (like how he still travels between Australia and Hong Kong while running this restaurant . . . impressive!).
The food was elegant, refined, thoughtfully designed, and just overall delicious.
2026: Noi
This brings us to 2026, our Silver Jubilee. 25 years sounds like such a long time. Bryan said the other day, "we've been married longer for more than half of my life." Considering that I started this blog in 2007, it means that some of you (faithful readers) have actually journeyed with us for most of our 25-year marriage as well (!).
We decided to celebrate at Noi by Chef Paulo Airaudo a the Four Seasons in Central. Chef Airaudo is no stranger to us. We first visited his original restaurant, Amelia, during our epic San Sebastian trip with good friends back in 2019. We loved San Sebastian so much we planned to return in 2020.
Well, the pandemic derailed all of our travel plans that year. However, in a funny twist of fate, Amelia came to us instead, opening up a second location in Hong Kong!
The pandemic was tough on restaurants, especially in Harbour City. Amelia closed, but Noi opened. Noi quickly achieved two Michelin stars and has been receiving much accolades since.
The food was fantastic. I'll write a whole separate post on it in due course. For now, if you want a sneak preview, you can check out this video:
Happy 25th Anniversary!
