[Review 314] Could be another choice @ Gastrobox by Okapi Cafe

Gastrobox by Okapi Cafe
22/06/2009
西貢萬年街67號
No. 67, Man Nin Street, Sai Kung
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/could-be-another-choice-e2006011

Wanted to try this place for a long time, was attracted by the wooden black doors and grand logo.
I was expecting high quality food from its design and menu range.

However I felt that top quality could probably be reached by ordering their most expensive items, because the set meals offered, could be offered by similar restaurants nearby and probably cheaper. I couldn't find anything distinguishing itself from other restaurants.

The tortellini tasted good, but this is really a ready made item, that is just baked and their sauce added on top.

The beef was rather tough and had lots of tendons in it, the vegetables that came with it were onion rings and broccoli, which i thought was not that balanced. Not even a potato to be seen.
The soup was OK and light.

[Review 313] The best place for snowflake ice @ 甜蜜子甜品店 Sweet C. C. Dessert

甜蜜子甜品店 Sweet C. C. Dessert
22/06/2009
尖沙咀柯士甸路15號金巴利大廈地下H舖
Shop H G/F., Kimberley Mansion, 15 Austin Avenue, Tsim Sha Tsui, Tsim Sha Tsui
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/the-best-place-for-snowflake-ice-e2006007

Firstly, i think I might be biased, because I like taro flavoured desserts, and not many places have it.

The standard of this one and China Town is quite good, both located in TST. But I preferred this one more, because apart from the usual toppings, you can also add mini puddings to it, such as mango pudding, milk pudding, green tea pudding, champagne peach Jelly etc.

As for the toppings range, there was a lot of variety from small crystal pearls to large crystal pearls. They also had my favourite black sugar jelly bits.
Usually I dont like the big pearls found in the Taiwanese drinks, a bit irritating to have to chew and drink at the same time, but with the desserts, it make its fun, to have cold ice in your mouth and something to chew at too.

Overall, everything was presented nicely, and the portion was decent, at least I felt full for the first time after eating a dessert.
The milk pudding was nice and creamy, and the green tea pudding tastes the same as the one in China Town, except here its present in a pudding form, and in China Town, its cut up into squares.

[Review 312] Reasonable Shanghai dishes @ 金滬庭京川滬菜館 Shanghai Restaurant

金滬庭京川滬菜館 Shanghai Restaurant 21/06/2009
將軍澳重華路8號東港城1樓160-161號
Shop No.160, 1/F, East Point City, 8 Chung Wa Road, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/reasonable-shanghai-dishes-e2005658

Among all the Shanghai cuisines in Hong Kong, this one is quite recommendable to foreigners, firstly it has a English menu with pictures, and frequently there will be foreigners eating there, so quite well established in that community.

I eat here quite frequently, so I will not review the little dragon buns, or the noodles etc.

In addition to the regular items, I ordered sliced abalone in mustard sauce, which is just canned abalone. For $54 is it a bit pricey, it is a rubbery texture you get from the cans. Also it is not in mustard sauce, there is a separate dish of soy sauce with wasabi for dipping.
To me if it was mixed in a creamy mustard sauce, it would taste much better.

As well as that I ordered the Sea cucumber and fish maw with prawn roe.

This dish was very delectable, rich and thick brown sauce, very pungent of prawn roe covered the sea cucumber and fish maw. The sea cucumber could have been softer, and the fish maw was perfect. Both the sea cucumber and fish maw are quite plain itself, so it tasted good with the strong sauce.

After I finished the dish, there was still sauce left, and so put some of my noodles in it, and made my noodles tasted so good as well.

The waitress was a bit annoying, because she was just about to collect that dish, and I said to her, its not finished, but she still tried to take it, I had to say it to her three times to stop her collecting it, or else I wouldn't of been able to put those noodles in that sauce.

[Review 311] chinese food gathering @ 彩雲軒 Chou Wan Hin Seafood Restaurant

彩雲軒 Chou Wan Hin Seafood Restaurant
21/06/2009
尖沙咀廣東道30號新港中心3樓 3/F, Silvercord, 30 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsuihttps://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/chinese-food-gathering-e2005647

Rarely go for chinese food, unless its a gathering, so not much to comment, ordered the usual roast pork, roast duck, etc.

The only thing I liked here was the egg white dish, a shanghai imitation of crab, very smooth and tasty, very good to have it with rice.

Also ordered the dungbor pork which was on promotion, it was a tiny portion served in a cute bowl. Frankly I dont know why the Chinese eat that, plain fat to me. In fact a large piece of fat.

The cumin beef skewers were ok, but the beef had too much fat in it, I would have preferred lean beef on skewers.
The roast pork was ok, the skin was crunchy, and the meat was lean.

[Review 310] Ramen salad @ Yoshinoya 吉野家

21/06/2009
將軍澳厚德邨厚德商場1樓135號舖
Shop 135, 1/F, Hau Tak Shopping Centre, Tseung Kwan O
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/ramen-salad-e2005635

The Yoshinoya salmon and roe rice bowl always tastes consistent, the only draw back is that it is not available as a take out item, which is understandable as the fish roe may go off.

I also tried their noodle salad side dish, which is ramen topped with fish roe, and shredded cucumber. I was expecting some sauce to pour in, it turns out the sauce is already mixed in, a light coloured thick sesame Japanese mayonnaise at the bottom.

Didn’t really taste that good to me, but if you like grounded sesame, it should be OK.

[Review 309] Weird Potato wedges in my noodles @ 金寶 Cambo Cafeteria

金寶 Cambo Cafeteria 21/06/2009
旺角洗衣街147號榮梅大樓地下
G/F, Wing Mui Buildling, 147 Washing Street, Mong Kok
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/potato-wedges-in-my-noodles-e2005634

After renovation, the process of eating there has become more convenient, it is not self service, you can sit down, place your order and pay at your table.

i did not like it much before, you had to order, then find yourself a seat, and then go over to collect it, just like a food court.

This time ordered the curry noodles with large prawns, was presented well when it arrived, not spicy or hot at all, despite all that red oil on the top.
The soup was not that strong, and the noodles strands were so short, it was so difficult to pick up with chopsticks.

Also there were potato wedges in it too, which I didn't like, the combination is a bit weird.
Perhaps, it is their interpretation of potatoes in curry so they threw in some wedges which are quicker to cook than peeling and boiling some potatoes.
The prawns were not that fresh, also had some smokey grease odour to it.

Food wise, you can say there is more choice or less choice, depending on what you like.
They have native bottled lime soda.
Anyway I miss the baguettes they had before with lots of liver pate in it.

[Review 308] Sweet china town @ 糖仁街 China Town Dessert

21/06/2009 糖仁街 China Town Dessert
尖沙咀厚福街11號地下
G/F, 11 Hau Fook Street, Tsim Sha Tsui
https://www.openrice.com/zh/hongkong/review/sweet-china-town-e2005628

Initially intended to visit another dessert place nearby, but due to limited time, I came here.

Anyway, ordering snowflake ice, has now become similar to ordering car noodles, choosing your ice flavour, toppings, fruits, sauces etc.

I ordered the Taro flavour as my snowflake ice flavour, and chose 4 toppings: caramel pudding bits, angel jelly (which is just grass jelly), green tea pudding, and rainbow pearls, and had black sugar syrup as sauce.

The taro snowflake was white in colour, rather than purple, so probably it was flavoured by taro oil essence rather than the powder used in the Taiwan milk teas.
It didn’t taste very strong of taro, but there were slight hints of it. As for the toppings, the green tea cubes had a texture of milk pudding, the rainbow pearls just had the normal chewy texture with a hint of citrus in it, yellow with lemon, green with lime and orange with orange. The rainbow pearls were not on the ordering form, you need to enquire for it.

The grass jelly, was a bit bland, but I preferred it that way with my dessert, or the strong taste would over power the sweetness. The caramel pudding bits, was slightly different, they were like hard gelatin, and quite sweet, cut to tiny rectangles, clear brown for the caramel, and the custard colored bits for the pudding.