[Review 302] Tofu @ 阿土麵線

04/06/2009
灣仔柯布連道3號修頓中心地下
G/F, Southorn Centre, 3 O'brien Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/other-new-snacks-e2001092

When this place opened in Wanchai, they only served the Taiwanese noodles, probably not attracting as many customers as it should.
Wanchai is a town packed with offices, and its location is not really a place for people to stop by to have a piping hot snack.

At lunch, for convenience sake, people will just go out to eat or buy a filling lunchbox and rush back to their offices, for money sake, I think they would rather have one filling item, than buy several things to fill them up. Also around $2x the typical HK person could get a lunch with that.

So the new snacks, could be an option for lunch, as they now serve rices.

However the snack I tried today was brine tofu in loshui sauce.
The tofu is a firm yet smooth, the one that is immersed in brine.
The presentation was good too, plenty of sauce, spring onions and grated carrots (red ones).
If there was an extra bowl or another paper bowl to support the plastic bowl, it would have been better, the dish was too hot for my sensitive hands. Although the tofu was firm, I would have preferred a fork.
Each portion is an individual block of tofu served as a portion, which is better than the ones in the shop where they can give you corners and edges.
The tofu is fully flavoured and soaked right to the middle in the loshui sauce.

[Review 301] Honey angel cake @ 星巴克咖啡 Starbucks

04/06/2009 Starbucks 星巴克咖啡
將軍澳厚德邨厚德商場159-160號舖
Shop 159-160 Hau Tak Shopping Centre, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/honey-angel-cake-e2001085

I rarely go to Starbucks these days, as Pacific Coffee is always nearby, and I can always grab the regular quiches, sandwiches and whatever takes my fancy.

This visit, I came with intention to try their Honey Malt Cake, which is the same one advertised by Maxims as the Angel Chiffon cake.
I would have tried the Maxims one, but it comes as a whole cake.

Anyway, the one here, had the honey comb pieces in a separate little dish.
When I ordered it, the staff asked me if I wanted it to be heated, which is rather weird, cos the cream would melt.
She then passed me the cake, which annoyed me a bit, cos I had the expectation to add the honeycomb pieces myself and sprinkle it where I want.

In general the cake tasted very nice, very soft, not too sweet, and the honey comb pieces gave it some extra sweetness.

I wanted to try their Apple fritter, but I will save it for the next time.

[Review 300] Very scarily full @ 馬泰 Ma Thai

馬泰 Ma Thai 30/05/2009
將軍澳重華路8號東港城197A舖
Shop No.197A, East Point City, 8 Chung Wa Road, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/very-scarily-full-e1999598


Finally there is some real Asian cuisine in Hang Hau, a suburb part of the Hong Kong offering Malaysian/Thai food.

Originally wanted to try their Laksa and Buk Ku Teh, but I gathered I could try these later as a quick dinner in the future.

There is a wide yet limited range on the menu, a wide selection, but not all available, most probably due to the location, the people in the suburbs will probably choose the basic and ordinary dishes known to them, rather than adventuring on specialized dishes.

Anyway we ordered the dinner for two, which includes a starter platter, soup, choice of 2 mains courses with rice or roti.

Our choices were as follows:
Starter platter
Soup
Scrambled egg with baby oysters
Hainanese chicken
2 x Rices

Some of the staff were quite efficient and ready to explain their dishes and some were just doing their job.

Anyway first to arrive was the Scrambled egg with oysters, very fragrant, and lots of oysters in it. There was a dish of chili sauce accompanying it too, which went well together, and tasted like the Big elephant brand chili sauce.

I scoffed the egg with rice as I was hungry, but the order of the dishes arriving was a bit messed up, after stuffing myself with that, I was a little bit full.
I would have preferred to have the appetizer first, which would be more appetizing, but the order of the dishes arriving were:
Scrambled eggs with oysters, soup, rice, starter platter and then the chicken.

The soup was placed on top of those artificial heaters, and it was scary, because the little burner kept making crackling and exploding noises, so I sat well away from it.
There were two choices of soup, Tom Yum and Seafood, so I got the seafood, which tasted strong of seaweed.

The starter platter contained thai style chicken feet, crispy roll, prawn cake, and fish cake.
The chicken feet were quite spicy, the prawn cake tasted ok, and the fish cake, I never like due to the herbs in it.

The Hainanese chicken was slightly dry, and the sauces were not as good as other places.

As well as our table, it seemed the scrambled egg with oysters was a popular pick, they were serving many tables with this dish.

But for two people, it was a bit too much, or it may have been just right, if the order of food arrived accordingly. It included a dessert too, which tasted of coconut, and a chewy texture like the Chinese desserts. All that food for $202.

[Review 299] Cold Pie @ HABITŪ caffè

29/05/2009 HABITŪ caffè
灣仔告士打道77-79號華比富通大廈地下2Ba號舖
G/F, Fortis Bank Tower 77-79 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/cold-pie-e1999437



Initially came to try their sea salt chocolate cake, but it was rather cold that day, so decided to eat a pie and feel warmish and leave the cake for the next visit.

Was greeted by a rather busy waiter, who was talking on his cell phone, after he finished his conversation, I ordered breakfast tea and chicken pie.

The food arrived, but I wasn't very impressed, because parts of the pie was still cold, but I was too lazy to asked for it to be reheated.
For the tea, I wasn't given any sugar, so I had to ask for a sachet.

Anyway for heated foods, this has given me a bad impression. Compared with pacific coffee, 99% of their heated stuff is piping hot.

[Review 298] Mac fight back with quarter pounder and Banana Pie @ 麥當勞

麥當勞 McDonalds
29/05/2009
灣仔駱克道151號2樓
2/F, 151 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/mac-fight-back-with-quarter-pounder-e1999432


With all the new burger shops opening and large burger varieties, McDonalds introduces the Quarter pounder.

A more filling burger with melted cheese.

I am not sure if it is new in HK, but recently there has been a lot of promotion on it, but in England, it has always been on the menu since it opened.
I was too hungry and forgot to take a picture.

Also tried the banana pie, actually I don't like Banana, but I like to try anything new,
tasted rather sweet, with a cooked banana taste.

[Review 297] Pierce chicken @ California 加州紅Green Box

29/05/2009 California 加州紅Green Box
旺角登打士街56號家樂坊地庫
Basement, Gala Place, 56 Dundas Street, Mong Kok
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/pierce-chicken-california-e1999430


Firstly I am not a Green box person because I only go to Neway.
So basically I was already biased towards their karoake system and food before I even sat down.

We got there late in the afternoon, opted for the buffet and was told the buffet starts at 7.
I wasn’t very pleased, because Neway’s buffet starts at 6.30, and we were told, we could stay till 8.30 depending on how busy they were and 1.5 hours isn’t a very long time for food.

Anyway, sat down in the room, and ordered their Fruit punch, the only good drink they have, syrupy fruit punch, that isn’t very sweet, with bits of orange fruit in it.

After a while, a waiter came in with two large piping hot baked oysters, which was quite a relief, as I was very hungry and eagerly waiting for it to turn 7, so I could go out and get the food.
The oyster was topped with melted cheese, and the oyster surrounded with white mushroom sauce.
It all combined well together, and I felt a little bit better after that, not so hungry.

I took a look at their promotional flyers on the desk, and was amazed they have Pierce chicken, and serve their snacks, so I was wondering if that would be included in the buffet.

Finally it turned 7pm, and so I went out and collected the food, I picked stir fried instant noodles, and the chicken wings (which seem to be from Pierce). They tasted like the ones at Pierce.

For the dessert, I got this Thai thing with coconut milk, which contained sea coconut and these pandan flour things. The dessert was ok, a bit sweet, so I only scooped out the pandan things, which tasted good.

Overall, I got a better impression of the Green box, and they also issue you with an official receipt too.

I also saw them have a team meeting on how to improve things, which seems reassuring for their patrons, improving the floor standard, so that its not so slippery.

[Review 296] French toast @ kfc 肯德基家鄉雞 (KFC) Kentucky Fried Chicken

29/05/2009 KFC
灣仔莊士敦道112號雙喜樓地下4&5舖及1樓A&B舖
Shops 4 & 5 on G/F and Shops A & B on 1/F, Sheung Hei House, 112 Johnston Road, Wan Chai
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/french-toast-kfc-e1999427

Went to KFC for breakfast, already had in mind to order the chicken and cheese muffin, however saw this new sandwich, chicken, egg, hash brown sandwiched in between the Chinese French fried toast, the one dipped in egg and fried.

It looked big on the picture, but not that big when I got it, the chicken, egg, potato were not on top of each other, but laid side by side, so the sandwich was manageable.

Tasted ok, but the bread was slightly wet and soggy. There could have been more sauce, and the sauce wasn’t as orange as shown on their product photo.
I think if the muffin, had these ingredients, I would opt for muffin, not a great fan with french fried toast.