[Review 3431] Agreeably fake British fare @ BRICK LANE

12/06/2014
BRICK LANE
金鐘添美道1號中信大廈4樓404號舖
Shop 404, 4/F., Citic Tower, 1 Tim Mei Avenue, Admiralty
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/agreeably-fake-british-fare-e2369197

I heard of Bricklane ages ago when they opened a branch at TST but from the photos of the food were not really British which was why I never visited.
Then one of the reviews at the Admiralty branch caught my attention because it was titled
"overated fake British" and it really intrigued me to try how fake it was.
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2364793

Going there was a bloody long trek because it was located at the CITIC Centre.
The cakes were just patisserie style and nothing like a real British cake.
Maybe they should go down to Shortbreadteas and take a look!

After I sat down, I had to wait 7 minutes for the menu.
Another 7 minutes to order, but food came fast though.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Combo breakfast:
Only tried it because it had Yorkshire pudding, black pudding and sausage with the breakfast.
The black pudding was rather different to the usual ones I have had and it had lots of nasty fatty bits in it, while the Yorkshire pudding was too soft and they don't taste like that and the sausage was just weird.
Lastly the benedict sauce was a bit strange.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
◎ⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓢⓤⓟⓔⓡⓖⓘⓡⓛ◎
Price: $ A rip off

[Review 3132] Dumplings @ 福元湯圓 Fook Yuen

29/1/2014
福元湯圓  Fook Yuen
北角炮台山福元街7號利都樓地下I-1舖
Shop I-1, G/F, Lei Do Building, 7 Fuk Yuen Street, North Point
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/dumplings-e2344082

If it was not for my friend, I would never dine at this place nor would I order from here because on my first visit I found the service quite.................

Anyway, Thanks to my friend for sharing some with me.

I don't normally have Chinese desserts so I don't know if this is the best but the dumplings were huge and there was so much black sesame paste inside.
I liked the soup more because there was a strong ginger taste.

[Review 2976] Chinese French food @ 法國鵝肝專門店 Le Monde d' Ulysse (Restaurant Galerie)

19/11/2013
法國鵝肝專門店 Le Monde d' Ulysse (Restaurant Galerie)
中環結志街9號地下
G/F, 9 Gage Street,, Central
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/chinese-french-food-e2331836

The lunch is only served Mondays to Fridays so don't dream of trying lunch on the weekends!

They do not take reservations for lunch but when I was in the restaurant there were clearly some people who reserved by phone and they won't let you in unless all your guests have arrived but when I was dining there, there was someone sitting at a table waiting for friends to arrive.

Nice and contradicting.

I just felt that the food here was Chinese styled French food~

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Foie GRas

The Chinese French style omelette was lovely but not enough foie gras.
I was hoping to photograph the foie gras bits but I only found 2-3 small pieces.
In terms of the Chinese omelette, it was very well done, the texture and taste was amazing, it was half runny and cooked.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Only the girl who spoke good English was nice.

[Review 2974] All you can eat Italian food @ Pizzeria La Gondola

9/11/2013
Pizzeria La Gondola
西貢市場街42號地下
G/F, 42 See Cheung Street, Sai Kung
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/all-you-can-eat-italian-food-e2331804

Sai Kung is a great place for food on weekdays because it is like a deserted ghost town!
Nearly every restaurant is trying to beg you to go in during the weekdays.
On this visit, the unlucky/lucky restaurant was..................Pizzeria La Gondola!!

Originally I planned to try a new place nearby but it was closed.

Anyway, walked past this one which I would not normally consider because there are plenty of great Italian restaurants in the Central/Sheung Wan but there was a promotion for ALL YOU CAN EAT ITALIAN which was rare and the restaurant was empty which was why I tried it.

At first the customer service seemed friendly.

Towards the last hour, it seemed the friendliness at the beginning was just an act or maybe the staff was just tired!
Then the last half an hour before the last order the staff was "either busy" or "hiding in the kitchen".
Hence the brief review on the food.

The all you can eat is priced differently at different times so your buggered if you choose the last session because you won't be able to order seconds.

Here was what I had from best to worst:

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Delicious pasta but the strands were all short which made it impossible to twirl the pasta with your fork!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Prosciutto and lettuce croissant

This tasted amazing, soft prosciutto ham sandwiched in a warm croissant with delicious greens.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Delicious golden oysters (not really Italian but more like a fried snack)
Tasted better without the salad cream
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

The pizza had a nice tomato base.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Bland tasting risotto.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

The usual chicken wings.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Just meatballs
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

On the menu it says "homemade sausages"
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Just the usual frozen skewers
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

Surprisingly these profiteroles were quite nice with frozen cream inside!
ie it was served directly from the freezer.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
They also have unlimited drinks at a small cost which includes canned drinks etc.

[Review 2690] Rebellious school @ School Food

05/08/2013
School Food
銅鑼灣勿地臣街1號時代廣場13樓1302號舖
Shop 1302, 13/F, Times Square, 1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/rebellious-school-e2312149

After reading the reviews on OpenRice, my Japanese friend decided to take me to this new restaurant called School Food.

Got there at 2pm and the restaurant was half empty.

There was no one at the counter so my friend went to one of the empty tables, but when we got nearer to the table, they told us to wait at the counter which we did.

Anyway, we were given a ticket and told to wait in some sort of weird language, I am guessing it was Mandarin.
While we were waiting we assumed they were going to clear that particular table but they did not and told us to sit at that same table so I am quite puzzled what the wait was for.

About 90% of the diners were English speaking and we natrually ordered in English but it seemed that they were not proficient with English as my friend asked "Whats the difference between the two dishes?" which was later simplified to "whats the difference?".
Then we tried to order the drinks so we asked how big the size of the jar was and whether it was too much for two people and they didnt seem to get it.
We thought what the heck and ordered it anyway because we really wanted to try it.

While I was waiting, most of the staff were looking at their watches because they close at 3pm.
The restaurant was pretty empty and there were a lot of customers outside so I couldn't understand why they did not allow them in.

After sitting there for half an hour, no food arrived and one of the waitresses asked us if we had ordered so we said yes, then a few minutes later, one of them comes out and saids that one of the items was sold out which really annoyed me because the minute they passed the orders to the kitchen, the kitchen should have told them to tell us that it was sold out or within 10 minutes, not half an hour later and immediately after they asked me if I had ordered.
It just seemed that they forgot to pass the order to the kitchen when we ordered.

We left because the item we most wanted to try was unavailable and fact they told us half an hour later and during that time the other two items did not arrive.
A lot of the English BBC/ABC diners had to order or ask in Chinese because the waiters did not really speak English.

Anyway, I might come back again, but hopefully all the items are available because it is really disappointing when you come especially for a specific item and its not available!~

[Review 2517] Better atmosphere in the evenings @ 黑瀧板蕎麥專門店 Kurotaki

18/05/2013
黑瀧板蕎麥專門店  Kurotaki
銅鑼灣告士打道280號世貿中心4樓P413-415號舖
Shop P413-415, P4/F, World Trade Center, 280 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/better-atmosphere-in-the-evenings-e2297400

Came here for a late lunch to try the noodles that I did not try on my last visit.
I have been here quite a few times and was surprised that I had to give it a negative review this time.

Since it was lunchtime, the lunch sets were posted on the entrance but as I was specifically here to try something on the A la carte menu I asked if the al la Carte menu was still available and I got this extremely rude reply from the receptionist:

"WHAT"

so I repeated myself, do you serve the a la carte menu as well?

Then there was this disgruntled WHAT AGAIN?

So OK, perhaps she doesn't understand ENGLISH so I said "MENU" instead of a la Carte and she finally understood.

Anyway, finally sat down and ordered the noodles which took ages to come, while I was waiting, one of the waitresses came over and asked if I needed anything else because they were taking their last orders.
I would rather they chase up my current order instead of prompting me if I needed anything else and perhaps the late arrival of my food was a punishment because the receptionist was irritated.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Soba trio:

Basically there were three different sobas, from left to right: Inaka Sobas, Shiretoko Zarusoba, and Sarashina.
My favourite was the Shiretoko Zarusoba (green), the Sarashina soba itself was salty without the dipping broth and the Inaka Soba was too al-dente and tasteless.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Soba soup:

It was my first time trying this soup so I did not know what to expect but I was expecting it to be refreshing according to the previous reviews, but the yuzi taste was not refreshing at all, I could only taste yuzu peel.
However the boiled soba taste was strong.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Overall, I would only recommend the Chilled sarashina sesame soba with natto and Chilled Shiretoko Zarusoba with sesame and black garlic oil sauce.

[Review 2167] Scammed 魚目混珠 珍珍假假食店 @ 珍珍食店 Chin Chin Kitchen

29/12/2012
珍珍食店  Chin Chin Kitchen
大澳大澳街市街13號地下
G/F, 13 Tai O Market Street, Tai O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/%E9%AD%9A%E7%9B%AE%E6%B7%B7%E7%8F%A0-%E7%8F%8D%E7%8F%8D%E5%81%87%E5%81%87%E9%A3%9F%E5%BA%97-e2276635

Finally this shop is listed, this used to be a shop just serving silky tofu and now they have changed their name to janjansikdim as they are selling other snacks.
Stopped by for some curried fish gas bladder (fish maw) for $20 because not many places offer curried fish gas bladder.

After I ordered, they took a skewer of fish gas bladder and removed the skewer and put the fish gas bladder pieces into the curry broth.
When it was ready, she put the pieces in the white bowl and I did not see her do that.

The pieces on the top were fish gas bladder but beneath it were at least three pieces of pigs skin!
I just felt they insulted my tastebuds if they thought I could not taste the difference!

But honestly, some people have said they could not tell the difference between the two but they should not use this to their advantage to profit!

I WAS NOT EXPECTING THEM TO PUT PIGS SKIN IN IT, WHICH WAS SO DISHONEST!
This place is definitely not HALAL and you should be careful and see what you eat if you cannot eat pork.

If she put the pigs skin there by accident, then it really shows they are not professional ie they are fish gas bladder specialists and they cant tell the difference between pigs skin and fish gas bladder.

There is a slight visual difference between them, the pigs skin is more translucent and the fish gas bladder is more cloudy and you cannot see through it.

The fish gas bladder has a slight fish taste to it and the pigs skins does not.
The fish maw is softer and has a gelatinous texture in the middle whereas the pigs skin is springy and tastes different.
The colour of the pigs skin was darker because it was more porous and absorbed the curry sauce.
The curry taste was extremely strong and spicy because they probably hope you cannot tell the difference between pork skin and fish gas bladder.

I really regret not taking photos of the pig's skin and going back to tell them.

[Review 2110] Fried treasures @ 有咸有甜 Yummy Yummy Cafe

26/11/2012
有咸有甜 Yummy Yummy Cafe
佐敦庇利金街45號地下
G/F, 45 Pikem Street, Jordan
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/fried-treasures-yummy-yummy-cafe-e2271849

I went to this snack shop because it looked clean and modern but its hygiene can shock you!
I was going to get the grilled chicken skewers but before I ordered I saw the lady who was grilling them accidentally dropped one on the floor and she did not discard that skewer but she wiped it and put it back on the grill!

So I got the fried snacks instead.

However they were cold!

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fried fishballs:
These were delicious and boneless, however they were cold and the msg in it was heavy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Fried red sausages:
These were cold too and the sausages were too chewy.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★

[Review 2052] Seeing red and getting a red moment @ 紅嚐坊 Red Moment Coffee Express

26/11/2012
紅嚐坊 Red Moment Coffee Express
灣仔謝婓道130-146號建利大廈地下13號舖
Shop 13, Kin Lee Building, 130-146 Jaffe Rd., Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/seeing-red-and-getting-a-red-moment-e2271753
My last visit to this place was a few years ago because their attitude was really pushy and rude.
Decided to come here again and the service was still the same.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Coffee:
All sandwiches come with a drink but she does not tell you nor does she ask you what drink do you want.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Beef sandwich HKD21:

The beef was thinly sliced, slightly seasoned like pastrami and the sandwice tasted ok.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Ham sandwich:

The sandwich was buttered heavily so there was a strong taste of butter. I was surprised there was slightly more ham in this than usual.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
The service is really crap as they expect you to pay with the exact amount, when you don't they frown.

[Review 1905] Its a price guessing game with rude people @ 真美味

22/10/2012
真美味
旺角奶路臣街5–6號舖
Shop 5-6, Nelson Road, Mong Kok
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/its-a-price-guessing-game-with-rude-people-e2265181

Decided to try a skewer of octopus as I have never tried the snacks in MK before because I always get food poisoning.
Before I ordered I looked around to see how much it would cost but there was no pricing.
Anyway I ordered a skewer thinking it would not cost more than $10 but I was wrong!
I gave a $20 note and only got $8 change!
What’s worse was their attitude, it was like take it or leave it!
As for the octopus it was reheated in boiling hot water so it was extremely chewy and tasted bland.

[Review 1723] Appalling food and customer service at the pond @ 金凱鮮庭 Golden Pond

24/08/2012

金凱鮮庭 Golden Pond
北角麥連街寶榮大廈地下I舖
Shop I, G/F, Po Wing Building, Merlin Street, North Point
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/appauling-food-and-customer-service-at-the-pond-e2253607

I have always wanted to try this place because they specialize in seafood and lobster with E-Fu noodles.

I was intending to try their E-fu noodles with lobster and the crabs.

Anyway when I got there the service was not particularly welcoming and when I asked about how their noodles were cooked they were really rude and just regurgitated the menu.
I did not know the difference between 燴伊麵 and 湯伊麵.
The answer I got was "燴就係燴羅, 湯就係湯伊麵羅," so as I did not know if the 燴伊麵 had sauce, so I asked if it had sauce and she answered in a sarcastic way, "of course it has sauce".
In English I was roughly trying to ask the two different methods they used to cook the noodles and the answer I got back was roughly "stir-fried means stir-fried and boiled means boiled" so if you don't know what boiled means they do not really help by repeating the the word boiled, it would be more helpful if they explained the process.

Apart from their attitude, I loved it the way the menu had attitude too, it states clearly there are no free drinks or soups included after lunch time!
In the end I just ordered two noodles and skipped the crab because I might as well spend the money elsewhere.

★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Lobster with E-Fu noodles 燴伊麵 [wui style]:

When it came the E-Fu noodles were covered with clear gravy topped with slices of lobster.
I was expecting the lobster to come in its shell! Perhaps only the baked version comes in its shell.
There was not much lobster meat, luckily the noodles were not rancid, but the gravy was quite salty.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Scallops in black bean garlic sauce with E-fu noodles

This was really nice because the steamed garlic sauce went on the noodles but the scallops were extremely tiny and I was expecting them to be bigger according to previous reviews.
The ovaries/roe part was almost invisible, after they were removed you could see how tiny the scallops were.
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
For both noodles, the amount of vegetables were amazingly stingy if you look at the previous reviews.
I chose this place because the picture showed lots of vegetables which led me to think you could get a balanced meal here.

[Review 1665] Good and cheap vegetarian dishes but rude service @ 珍豆漿

18/07/2012
珍豆漿 (已結業)
灣仔灣仔道181A地下
G/F, 181A Wan Chai Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/good-and-cheap-vegetarian-dishes-but-rude-service-e2246146

Being vegetarian can be expensive especially when the places serve processed vegetarian items such as soybean patties and similar items.

Some of the Chinese style vegetarian dishes are really unhealthy especially the soft tofu puffs in sweet and sour sauce, curry sauce etc.

I have always wanted to try this place but you have to battle with the busy traffic, air pollution and smokers before you get there.

I like the variety at this place and the prices are fairly inexpensive.

Before coming I called to make an order but as the it was noisy on their end and they couldn’t hear they just slammed down the phone which I thought was a rude.

Anyway, went there another time and ordered the spare ribs with preserved vegetables and rice and I also wanted to get the prawn dumplings however it was discontinued so I changed to some other vegetable dumpling.

When I started eating it, people who did not know this dish was vegetarian asked if it was spare-ribs so they must have looked like spare ribs.

Overall it was really nice and oil free, however the preserved vegetables were not washed and there was plenty of sand in it and the rice had a piece of man made fibre/hair.

hair in the centre of the pic!
As for the dumpling it was fairly nice with sweetcorns and mushrooms inside.

[Review 1641] Exclusive at this branch: Prawn Tempura + No Photos allowed WTF @ 吉野家 Yoshinoya

07/07/2012
吉野家 Yoshinoya
旺角彌敦道721-725號華比銀行大廈1樓
1/F, Belgian Bank Building, 721-725 Nathan Road, Mong Kok
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/xclusif-dis-branch-prawn-tempura-no-fotos-wtf-e2244241

xclusif @ dis branch: Prawn tempura + No fotos WTF

Walked past this branch and saw this advert for the PRAWN TEMPURA BOWL WITH RICE so had that in mind to try.

However when I went to the Wan Chai branch and this other branch in Tseung Kwan O it was not offered.

Since I had to collect something in Mong Kong I went past again to see if it was still on promotion and it was so I went in for the PRAWN TEMPURA.

Went to the counter and ordered the Prawn tempura with rice.

After paying as I normally would do, I started taking photos of the menu, however the waitress said no photos were allowed, so I spoke to the manager and said I was a food blogger writing food reviews and asked if I could take a photo of the menu and I pointed specifically to which menu I would like to take a photo of but she said I should contact customer services.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
First picture I took before I was told no more photographs!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
An example of what I was going to photograph (from IVYCWKs review) but the food items were different.
http://static3.openrice.com.hk/UserPhoto/photo/3/2YF/00L0U7079F513DA9B8FB55l.jpg
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Anyway, the reason I wanted to take a photo of that particular menu was because it had some exclusive items that are not in other branches of Yoshinoya.
I also asked about the Prawn tempura and she said it is only available in four branches in Hong Kong, this branch, Tung Chung and the other two I cannot remember.

I was quite surprised that photos of the menu could not be taken and I could not see any NO Photograph signs around.
If this is the case, they should sue every reviewer on Openrice that takes pictures and posts a review!!
I am posting pictures because I would like to share with people which is the point of writing a review and especially because some of their food items are exclusive items not many people have seen before.

Surely they would want people talking about their latest food items and getting more people to know, but it doesnt seem so in this branch!
I really do not understand what liability they are afraid of or what they are protecting themselves from.
I had already disclosed myself as a food blogger and my clear intentions I was going to write a review and specified the particular menu I would like to take a picture of....

Anyway, now about the food.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

PRAWN TEMPURA BOWL WITH RICE
The bowl of rice was really big and on top were the usual sides of vegetables: beans, cauliflower and broccoli which were the frozen types defrosted, boiled and served.
There were four pieces of prawn tempura and a side of sauce.

It was good they separated the sauce because you can control how much sauce you want and the tempura remains crispy.
The prawns were quite nice but the tempura batter was too thick and it was not the real Japanese tempura batter.
But anyway, it is a good alternative to salmon and salmon roe with rice if you do not eat beef.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++